Simple Bible Answers - A web site to further understand the Word of God.
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Simple Bible Answers - A web site to further understand the Word of God.
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Heaven- Is it real and where may it be if real.
Q. Is Heaven for
everyone? Q. Is Heaven a real place? Q. If it’s real were may it be? Q. Has science lent a hand with where Heaven may be?
The writers of the
Bible (which were inspired by God) believed in three Heavens. Paul makes mention
of the 3rd Heaven in 2 Cor. 12:2. When we read the Bible remember to keep this in mind. The translations we use don’t always present it clearly. Look to see in what context Heaven is being used, and unless there’s reason, take the one that makes the most sense. Don’t “spiritualize” a passage if there’s a plain meaning. Look at passages from all view points and take the one that makes the most sense. The only time you won’t, is if the passage doesn’t blend with the rest of the Bible. God never contradicts Himself. Any reading must work with the whole. Test all scripture against scripture. Also if you haven’t figured it out, keep what is intended for the Jews, with the Jews. Keep what is intended for the Church, with the Church. Two different systems, both are in play, the Church HAS NOT replaced the Jews, Israel is alive, and back in the game. So from the Christian perspective we look to Paul’s time for writings on Heaven to compare with the Old Testament writings, and we get a better understandings of Heaven. The first heaven is what we consider our atmosphere. What is around you everyday. The birds fly in this heaven (Deut. 4:17, Jer. 8:7) (but in the English translations they use air or sky), the clouds form, the rain falls (Deut. 11:11, 28:12). We still use terms like “heaven is raining down”. This is not Gods Heaven. Angels don’t float around on clouds, the heavenly Host isn’t sitting back playing harps and bowling among the thunderheads. The earth is below us and this heaven is around and above us. The second heaven is outer space. The universe as we know it. Stars, planets, novas, galaxies, etc. This heaven has been laid out like a tent, covering all. Like the heavens around us this heaven was stretched across the sky (Jer. 51:15). Science will tell you this “tent” is expanding at an accelerated rate. Don’t worry it won’t get so large God looses control. When the end comes, God will roll this up just as easy as He laid it out (Isa 34:4, Rev) . Most believers and non-believers can agree on these two heavens. These can be seen and measured. Unless! They are Hindu, which believe all this is an illusion. If they are right and everything is an illusion, then I’m paying way too much for my house. So unless your Hindu (or maybe Shirley Maclaine) we all agree on these, “heavens above”. These two heavens are under the supervised control of the “prince of the air” (Eph. 2:2). This is the domain of the devil. I say “supervised” because he can only operate within the guidelines that God has laid out. The devil can’t just do what he wishes. Like we can see in Job (Job 1:12), he has to ask for permission when he wishes to work outside these guidelines, as with Peter also (Lk. 22:31). Some demons tried to step over these lines (Gen. 6:1-4) but found there are severe penalties for crossing the line. Demons can, and are, imprisoned for stepping over these lines (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6). God will again bind them, and their leader, so man will be able to learn just how corrupt they are without any help. Then they are released for a short time. After the release the devil, all of his followers (both angelic and human) will be bound forever (Rev. 20:1-15). They (the devil and company) don’t have cart blanc. Man “signed” the lease for the earth over to him in the Garden of Eden. The good news is a new contract has been written up, and is about to take effect. It’s the third Heaven were believers and non-believers get confused and/or disagree about. Heaven isn’t a mind set, a spiritual plane; you don’t get to it by chanting, doing yoga or taking drugs. Heaven is real, it’s just not on Map-quest (seems the post office doesn’t have a zip code for it, may I suggest the number “1”). God is on His throne, Jesus sits at His right hand (Eph. 1:20), The apostle John was taken to it (Rev. 4:1-2), the devil has been booted from there. Jesus refers to Heaven as if it is a place (Jn. 14:2-3) "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also”. God does live in this Heaven (Matt. 6:9). This Heaven is a little of a travel also for angels and man, by way of what can be at times unfriendly territory. The angel that came to Daniel told of being sent to him, and for 21 days was blocked from getting to him till the angel Michael kicked butt (Dan. 10:12-13). Don’t worry we now have the Holy Spirit (who is God) with us, so for the Christian we take the “express”. Always remember Angels, and man, are created and have limits, God transcends time, space, and matter. God is everywhere He wishes.
There is a Heaven as it is now, and a new one to come. But in both we are without pain, fear, illness, or much of the physical limitations we now suffer under. Age won’t slow us, our minds will be more in line of Jesus (we can’t have the mind of Jesus because Jesus is God). We will have a better understanding of what we could have done, and will be able to do. Rewards will be given to God’s children, and judgment will be dealt to those who didn’t receive Salvation. When those who are saved die, they go straight to it and wait with Jesus for His return to earth. At this time they are in Spirit for their bodies sleep here on earth (the spirit doesn’t sleep, just the body). When Jesus returns, and the dead raised, that body will be remade and then rejoined with the spirit in the sky. That all happens in the time it takes for light to reflect off ones eye. God will remake Heaven and earth (Isa. 65:17, 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Rev. 21:1), just like He was able to make the first one. When all is done we will live in that “New Heavens and earth”. This new Heaven is unshakeable, it will last forever (Isa. 66:22) and is where God, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the saved will dwell (Rev. 21). Read Revelations 21 for more insight, in fact read all of Revelations, it’s the book that gives a blessing to all who read it.
In the next section here there is some different opinions. I do feel that there is reason to believe that much of this is true. That is, Heaven may well be due north off the top of the earth.
You can’t give a direction to a mind set. And that may well be why some don’t wish to believe this. I leave it to the reader to decide, but the most important thing that I wish the reader to understand is Heaven is real. The rest of this we can agree to disagree if you don’t look at it the same way. There are essentials, and there are non-essentials. Heaven being real is essential, agreeing on where it is in the “heavens above”… non-essential. In the Bible it speaks of Heaven located in the north. I tend to believe this. I’ve seen some try to read the “north” as Jerusalem. You may be able to force a few verses to fit, but most won’t. You’ll notice that most of the time Jerusalem is “up”. Heaven is up also, but Jerusalem isn’t referred to as north (unless it is New Jerusalem in Heaven which would be both up and north). No matter if your heading north, south, east, or west, people go "up" to Jerusalem. Makes sense since the city is up on a mountain. Here is a few of the verse’s that has Heaven as being to the north. Some think that Genesis is the oldest book in the Bible because it’s first in the book, and because it speaks of the beginning. By most who study the Bible agreed that Job is the oldest, he also speaks of the beginning, and the formation of Heaven. Job 26:7 says, "He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." We’ll take a look at this empty place in the north in a bit. Seems that it may not be as empty as this line applies. Again we have the north as to where God has placed Heaven. He has stretched the heavens around the rest of the way. But it looks like He started in the north. But the empty place may still be there, but empty only to the eye. The main argument against this is much of Job is in poetic language. He refers to “the pillars of the earth” and other things in this language, and it is poetic. Hanging the earth on nothing and giving a direction are descriptive, in sometimes poetic language, but foremost they are stating a fact. Leviticus 1:11, "And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar." Eze 1:4 'And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north'. I remember before I was a Christian reading a book that explained much of this as being UFO’s. I bought it hook, line, and sinker. Sometimes the road to the truth is a long one. If there was a strange, odd, weird, or alternative way of belief or religion, I studied them, all. I didn’t come to believe the Bible as the unerring, complete truth, till I had taken it apart looking for kinks in the armor. I came to the truth kicking and screaming all the way. To tell the truth, I still look at the Bible in that critical eye. My wife, bless her heart, is by pure faith, the Bible says it, it must be so. Her way of thinking is the truth. The Bible is one hundred percent dependable, I wish my faith and mind ran that way. For me it’s “show me” (and I wasn’t born in Missouri). My faith and trust in the completed work of Jesus is my Salivation, which I don’t question, everything else is fair game. I’m happy to report all the questioning has only strengthen my resolve. The Bible is fact. Isaiah 14:13 "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north." This was the devil himself when he was planning to take Heaven for himself. Hard to sit on a mount if it’s a mind set. Again this mount is in the "side of the north". Psalms 48:1-2. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." This is one that they try to fit for Jerusalem. Jerusalem and the temple were to mirror the Heavenly city and Temple, they never came close. When taken in context one can see this is the New Jerusalem that will one come from Heaven. The great King is Jesus. Jerusalem at that time wasn’t the joy of the whole earth. The New Jerusalem will be. Psalms75:6 "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south." This implies that salvation (what promotion is here) comes from the north. The New Jerusalem comes down to earth; again it must be coming from somewhere…. Heaven is real, it is located out there and a good chance to the north of earth. It isn’t viewable to the human eye, unless God wished it. The battle in the spirit world can’t be seen here on earth just like we can't see heaven, and we won’t be able to see heaven either no matter what size telescope we were to put in orbit, unless God wished it. I say, unless God wished it, because we are blinded from it all. A whole spirit world intermingles with us all the time. A battle is always in process, very seldom do any of us have a clue. There are times when a person may meet a angel unaware, but most of the time we live our lives in blissful ignorance. But a time is coming, (and if you were to listen closely the sound of hoof beats can be heard in the distance) when this battle will not be hidden. You can see the affects of this battle on the world now, but soon the world (and most definitely the Jews) will be dragged into it, front and center. The only way out is by way of Jesus. Remember Elisha talking with his attendant, who was sacred of the army that had surrounded the city? Elisha pray for the mans eyes to be opened. Was not the hills filled with chariots of fire? Did not he say "those who are with us are more then those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:15-18)? They're still out there, and just like Heaven they can't be seen at this time, but in either case that won't be forever. You still don't have nothing to fear unless you aren't saved, then I wouldn't sleep till I had corrected that oversight. I believe heaven is north and may be across, and in, a great expanse. Why there? Well….
Now for some of what has been reported by science.
I mentioned at the beginning that there would be a little on how to view the newest finds that science has as it may pertains to the Bible. Science and the Bible need to work hand in hand. If they are odds then it’s the science that is wrong, or the facts are being looked at in the wrong perspective. (click here for more on Science and the Bible…). But on this page I need to note why we can’t jump on new finds in science unless our proof is rock solid. If you haven't noticed there are two standards in the world when it comes to the Bible and science. Science can be wrong. Check how many times the “big bang” theory has changed. Evolution as I learned it in school is only a ghost of what it is now, in some regards. By the time a new science book hits the schools, and the hands of our children, it’s already in need to be rewritten, in the areas of creation (universal and human). You don’t see the media jumping on this, retractions are almost never done, after all the writers are only human and “hey, it’s science”. A few years ago I was watching “Good morning American”. They were all excited, they were going to announce one of the greatest finds in the fossil world. They had found the fossil of a winged lizard. In a way it was a “missing link”, proof of transition between species. I poured some coffee, sat down and thought “this should be a interesting misconception”. China has a wealth of fossils but it’s not easy for our diggers to cover it all. China is big and they don’t care for outsiders much, or when those outsiders take their “stuff”. To help the situation the scientist pay these backward, dumb, and poor Chinese farmers for any fossil finds they turn in. And these rubes had found a key one, for the world of evolution. This news hit the papers for weeks, National Geographic was doing a special on it, teachers in classrooms were covering it “live” while bi-speckled youths with pocket protectors hung on every word. That morning I was watching right along with those nerds (my wife says I’m a nerd at heart but “nerds for Jesus” just doesn’t have a ring, geeks for Jesus?....maybe). And there it was in full living color, Katie, Matt and the most of the interested world were awed. I just thought, “I wondered how they pulled this one off”? My faith was in God's Word so I knew something had to be up. I followed this for a while and then it just disappeared. No more headlines, no specials, not a peep. After some digging I found the reason. Seems those rube farmers weren’t so backward or dumb, and after this they weren’t so poor. They had pieced together a couple of fossils to make one of a feathered lizard. In their rush to have proof, the science world just ran with it. Once it was found to be a fake they just went “opps aren’t we silly” and shut their mouths. No big retraction, no newspaper headlines, instead the few papers that did have a retraction, more often then not ran it for a day somewhere between the canned pears ads, and some recipe for cold fish pop-tarts. To this day there are teachers that swear to their students that winged lizard fossils are out there, they’ve seen one. Now if that was a find in support of the Bible it would have been harder to find then their retraction. They aren’t printed at all for the most part. But if they are found fake (a Bible proof), that is major headlines. It will make every news cast, specials would be made, clippings would turn yellow with age in every classroom in America. "See you can’t trust those Christians, they’re full of it. See the Bible is all fantasy". The Bible is held to a higher standard, and rightly so. Is it fair(?)…no. But we must never lower our standard. Let the world raise theirs. If they won’t then at least we Christians must view their finds by the higher standard, and the “lens” of the Bible. With that in mind lets discuss a interesting find of late. Unless you are in willful denial, or been brainwashed by the world and/or false beliefs, and bad church teachings, we all agree Heaven is real. Whether Heaven is to the north we can disagree. I believe there’s a good chance, if someone doesn’t, I wouldn’t think any less of them. Again when it comes to science we must be careful and make sure we have all the facts before using it as support for our faith. Remember there are two types of science, "hard", which is based on hard facts that can be observed and tested, retested, and tested again. And "soft" which may have some facts but can’t be observed or completely tested. Thermodynamics is a hard science. We may not know how it all works but it can be tested and observed. You have heard that every action has an equal and opposite reaction? This can be tested and observed. Theories can be hard science; the theory of relativity still hasn’t been fully tested but more and more is coming to light. Much of what can’t be tested can be observed. Evolution is a "soft" science. They take a few facts (fossils) and built a whole belief system on it. It can’t be observed (no matter how hard you try a fish stays a fish, dogs can’t have kittens, and the best man can do is observe change in a species, never a change of species). And it can’t be tested. So no matter how much a new discovery seems to support the Bible make sure that it can be tested, observed, and based on facts. If not, you can share the information but be careful about being dogmatic about it. If the facts you’re presenting come to be false in the future, it has a tendency to color the Biblical facts that you tied to them, as false also, and the Bible is fact. Don't turn the Bible into a "soft" science. So let’s take a look at some new info that science has come up with as far as where Heaven may be. Yes there’s some neat stuff out there. In a police investigation this would be circumstantial evidence. We have smoke; just don’t have fire, so one doesn’t want to be screaming this from the mountain tops, but it is interesting to consider. In California there is a 200 inch telescope in an observatory on Mount Palomar. They found something of interest one day, and since, it has been studied by at least 2 other observatories. Now with the naked eye the stars seem to cover the whole sky with gaps in between. With large telescopes perched high up on hills and mounts, away from the ambient light of the world, the heavens have so much to show. Those “gaps” between stars fill in. In those “gaps” are stars, novas, black holes, galaxies, and a number of other items that are either too faint to see, or can’t be seen (black holes, dark matter, if they are real) with the naked eye. A whole tapestry proclaiming Gods handiwork is just outside our earthly visual grasp. Like sand on a beach at sunset, viewed from a distance, we see what is lit but in the shadows of the ridges and pockets, only areas of darkness. We know sand is in the shadows, we just can’t see it. What the telescope does is throw a light into the shadows. One shadow doesn’t seem to want to light up yet. This shadow is due north. To the naked eye it’s just a “gap” but when the telescope “lights” it, nothing appears. This gap is like a “corridor”, or path way out of our galaxy to an area that is “empty”, a void in what otherwise is a close nit “tent” of celestial objects. This empty space has been descried as being so large 2000 milky ways could fit into it. What also has been found of late is there seems to be a “signal” coming from this area. All signals are a form of energy. All energy has a wave pattern; some can be seen, as with light, others can’t as in radio, microwaves, etc, but all energy falls somewhere on this spectrum. The signal that is coming from this “empty space” is pure and can’t be put into any range. Add that to the fact one can’t see anything (visually, and non-visually), no effects on other objects can be seen (as with black holes, energy clouds, dark matter, etc. that may have effects on surrounding objects), and you get an enigma that leaves one to ponder. Could this pathway be in a sense “Jacobs’s Ladder”, is the signal coming from top of this "ladder", coming from Heaven? Since the universe spins, the earth revolves itself, and around the sun, north wouldn’t point the same way forever. With modern mans thinking the location of this hole wouldn’t mean anything, if millions and millions of years is what the universe is in age, the hole more then likely would be “new” and moving on. But looking at it with the eyes of the Bible, 6000 years doesn’t change much. Also a “hole” wouldn’t mean much too early man, but now, for man in this day and time, maybe. Some say since the whole galaxy is spinning this hole is only there for a short time (short in science years is longer then the earth has been here in Biblical years). Would it be outside the realm of thought that God would give us just another in a long list of signs He is real, and so is Heaven. “The Heavens proclaim His majesty”, is this just another proclamation. Is the timing of this “empty space” for the benefit of this age, the first age advanced enough to see it? Would God produce a sign in Heaven to proclaim the coming of the Lord that could only be seen in this age? He did it before, no other “star” has shown up over Bethlehem. Is this a “star” for another age? To the Christian at this time, at best, it's just something to ponder. But it may just be another warning that time is running short. Look at the papers on your door step, watch what is happening in the world, taken as a whole the “signs” can’t be ignored. Has this sign been waiting for a time when man, with his very finite little minds, could just catch a glimmer of where Heaven is? Is God starting to open our eyes, or starting to shine His light into the shadows? I wish I could say but my little mind isn’t any better then anyone else’s. At least this can open discussions between people, and in that discussion show that the Bible is still relevant for study. At worst it is proof God still does things that make those who think their wise, look foolish. For the fools this will just be another thing to be studied, reported about, measured, but not fully understood. The ways of God are not the ways of man, so unless we can think like God (and we can’t), some things for us can only be witnessed, but never fully understood. How important is any of this to us. Well the fact that God and Heaven are real is very important. The rest not so much so. Unlike the muslins who must pray one direction, the Christian has God with him, by way of the Holy Spirit, and can pray standing on his head and spinning (not recommended by the way). So we don't need to pray to the north, even if that is where Heaven is. Maybe man will throw enough “light” into this shadow and something will appear, but whatever it is, it’s still a wonder that begs for us to admit there is a Weaver to this “tapestry” we call our “heavens”.
Some of my answers aren’t as short as I wish, nor as simple as I desire. But I try, sorry. So to wrap this up.
What we can know;
What we can consider;
What we can just ponder;
If you don’t know the short-cut take time to read What is Salvation and follow the link at the bottom of that page. The path is for all, but few will find it. That link may help you find the gate.
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Last modified: 12/15/07For a FREE downloadable KJV Bible click here. Opinions or questions: Mail@SimpleBibleAnswers.com
Re:22:18: For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
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