Questions and Answers on Heaven

By Jim Hammond

The Limitation of Earthly Images

Eternal Questions are the most important questions to be considered. Yet, how does one approach questions about heaven? Where do we get any information? Let me explain why I believe the Bible has answers about these questions. I believe we need something outside of our box to answer questions about life outside of the box. Scientists already have a difficult time answering questions about matters outside of the empirical box. Why? Because there is no empirical data to answer questions outside of the box. Nevertheless, many scientists believe there is a reality outside of the box. For example, although scientists have come to a conclusion that our universe has a starting point, they now ask what was there before the “big bang”. Unfortunately there isn’t any way for them to answer the questions about matters before the starting point? Those matters are outside of the box. But once you acknowledge that there is a box and something outside of the box it opens up all kinds of questions outside of the box that cannot be answered scientifically.

I believe we do live in a box and that there is something outside of our empirical box. Elaborating on an analogy might help here. Do you remember the children’s toy called an Etch-A-Sketch? It is a little flat panel box with a screen with two knobs below the screen that the allows the operator to draw lines on the screen by maneuvering the knobs. Imagine our universe as a giant Etch-A-Sketch. Imagine then that our earthly existence is comparable to living in an Etch-A-Sketch world, and that heaven is comparable to life as we understand it now when we aren’t imagining we live in an Etch-A-Sketch. Okay, so heaven is 3 dimensional, colorful, but existence in the Etch-A-Sketch world pales by comparison to Heaven. Imagine that our earthly colors are nothing but the gray colors of an Etch-A-Sketch compared to heaven. Imagine that the motion, and action, and movement of our world is 2 dimensional like on the screen of an Etch-A-Sketch compared to the dynamics of motion and space outside of the box. In the heavenly realm the time/space dimension is different. Imagine from your Etch-A-Sketch world, getting glimpses through the lines on the screen into the outer world. That is what it is like in our world now, we have had such glimpses as if through the lines of an Etch-A-Sketch. Call these glimpses revelations. From these revelations many within the box have come to believe there is someone outside of the box that affects our world. It appears to us that there is a God that maneuvers the knobs. He causes things. He is the outside cause of many things.

If heavenly realities exist, and I believe they do, then this “outside world” would be described much like the Bible describes heaven to us. To describe images outside of the box you are in, you would have to use “inside” images in grand terms to express a dimension we don’t understand very well “outside”. Images of heaven in the Bible use the most picturesque earthly images to convey beauty. I have come to believe that even earthly images pale in comparison to the reality.

Before you write me off, consider what the Bible claims. It claims to reveal matters to us that are outside of our box. It claims Jesus was someone who came from outside of our box into our world, to tell us about what we can experience with God forever. If Jesus is correct, there really is a reality outside of our box and he really knows all about it. We have many reasons to seriously consider these realities. The biggest reason in my opinion is the evidence we already have from history and from Jesus. He rose from the dead. There are whole books on the historical and empirical evidence that this is credible. So from our Etch-A-Sketch world we got brief limited glimpses of that other dimension, glimpses through tiny lines of revelation in the glass to that outside reality.

Every educated person wants to know truth. I think educated people must consider the Bible’s answers since we are all on the threshold of eternity, and the Bible claims to have information about eternity, life outside of the box. If you want information about matters outside of the box, you have to get it from a source outside of the box. The Bible makes this claim, and Jesus does too. Don’t you think the best source of information about heaven is from someone who has been there? I do.

I find the Bible’s answers to the questions about life after death to be very intriguing, exciting, and most of all comforting. These truths comforted me greatly when my mother died.

The Following 10 Questions will be discussed below:

Does the soul survive death?

Is Paradise the same as Heaven or is it merely some kind of a waiting place?

What kind of body will we have in heaven?

When will the believer receive his "imperishable" body?

With "heavenly bodies" will we know and recognize each other in Heaven?

What is heaven like?

Will everyone go to heaven when they die?

Can those who are in heaven now see us now?

What is the sequence of events for the Christian?

How Can I Make Sure I Will Go to Heaven?

1. Does the soul survive death?

According to Jesus, even the books of Moses prove there is life after death. Jesus argued from the ancient scriptures that “God is not the dead but of the living.” This was Jesus’ rebuttal to the skeptical Sadducees who only considered the Torah to be authoritative. Jesus argued from the Torah and God’s own claim to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as proof that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not “dead”! (Matthew 22:32) Jesus proved to those who believed the Old Testament that there is life after death, and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not dead but alive.

After a change of heart one of the thieves that was crucified with Jesus said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” to which Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:42-43

2. Is Paradise the same as Heaven or is it merely some kind of a waiting place?

The interchange between the word "heaven" in 2 Corinthians 12:2 and the word "paradise" in 2 Corinthians 12:4 demonstrates that the two words refer to the same place. In this passage the "third heaven" refers to the dwelling place of God. The ancients used to consider the "heavens" in the plural, the first heaven being sky, or atmospheric heaven, the second being where the stars are (what we call outer space), and the third heaven was beyond that, where God dwells.

There is no waiting period for God's people before entering heaven after death. In one story that Jesus told about heaven and hell he said, "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried" (Luke 16:22). The righteous beggar immediately was transported to heaven where Abraham was. Jesus tells the story from the vantage point of the tormented unsaved man who looks and sees the blessing of the saved man content in heaven. Is this merely a story to make a point about one’s just rewards, or is this a gruesome truth that those who do not make it to heaven actually get glimpses of what they miss, making their own experiences even more bitter?

The Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:8, "We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." Physical death is the separation of man's soul from his body or "earthly tent." (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1f.) When Christians die, their soul immediately is at home with the Lord. There is no waiting period. This explains the strange dialogue between Jesus and Martha at the funeral of her brother,

"Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:21-26)

In effect Jesus is letting Martha know that Lazarus who died was not in limbo, or "soul sleep", waiting for the resurrection. Though Lazarus underwent physical death, separation from his earthly body, he had not died spiritually, which is a separation from God, that death which is called the "second death" in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).

3. What kind of body will we have in heaven?

Paul answers this question in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. We will be given imperishable bodies that are different from the bodies we now have.

4. When will the believer receive his "imperishable" body?

According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51- 54 whether Christians are already in heaven or still living on earth, it will be at the time of the second Coming of Christ that we receive our imperishable bodies.

5. With "heavenly bodies" will we know and recognize each other in Heaven?

Yes. Here is the evidence:

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

2 Corinthians 4:14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.

This being true, relationships will be different in Heaven, However

Jesus said (in Matthew 22:30) At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage;

6. What is heaven like?

To answer this question one must answer a better question-- What will the new universe be like? There is going to be a new "heavens" and a new Earth.

The New Heavens and New Earth

2 Peter 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 65:17 "Behold, I will create [new heavens] and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

Isaiah 66:22 "As the [new heavens] and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure.

Romans 8:18-22 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

Revelation 21:3-5 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

"Heaven Can't Wait" for the harmony of Heaven and Earth

Matthew 6:10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Revelation 6:10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

John 16:28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."

7. Will everyone Go to Heaven when they die?

No. Though much could be said here, to put it simply, those who have accepted God's provision for forgiveness through Jesus Christ's payment of our debt on the cross for our sin are the ones who go to heaven when they die.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

When you accept God's provision for you through Jesus, you can respond with Paul, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

8. Can those in Heaven See us now?

Though some use a passage from the book of Hebrews to say “Yes” they can, I don’t think so.

Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1 follows the famous Faith’s Hall of Fame chapter (Hebrews 11) where the faithfulness of the heroes of the faith are recounted. After this recitation we read the above verse about the great “cloud of witnesses”.

But I don’t think this implies those heroes of the faith are in heaven’s grand stand watching us below. They do not “witness” as if they are spectators. They bear witness through the historical record of their faithfulness. This testimony cheers for us, those who follow in their steps, an encouragement to do the same.

Some other related texts to the Question “Can they see us from Heaven?”:

In Deut. 18:9-14 it clearly teaches that attempts to talk to those who have died are strictly forbidden.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (NIV) ⁹When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. ¹⁰Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, ¹¹or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. ¹²Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. ¹³You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

¹⁴The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.

Job 14:21 (NIV) ²¹If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.

The context of the above verse: Job in speaking about death, makes it clear that the one who has died does not know whether his sons are honored or brought low after he has departed.

I think it would be painful and cause grief to those in heaven to be able to watch what was happening on earth, and the Bible speaks of heaven as a place were every tear is wiped away and there is no more grieving.

9. What are the sequence of events for the Christian?

1. Death ushers Christian Believers immediately to Heaven

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;

2. There in Heaven, Christians Confidently wait for the time of Fulfillment

Revelation 6:10 (NIV) ¹⁰They [the martyrs] called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

Notice that there is “time” in heaven. A sequence of events the martyrs were waiting for the fulfillment of all things.

2 Corinthians 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Those in heaven NOW are in a Joyful and greatly Peaceful condition (2 Corinthians 5:8; and Phil. 1:23; Rev. 14:13)

Revelation 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

3. Christians are "Clothed" with their Imperishable Bodies at the time of Christ's second coming.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. {17} After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

4. You can have a taste of Heaven now while still on Earth

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, {21} who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

You can Know! You Can Rejoice!

Luke 10:20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

1 John 5:13 (NIV) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Earthly Glimpses of Heavenly Realities

Matthew 17:1-3 (NIV) ¹After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ²There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. ³Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

What I like about this passage is the fact that Moses and Elijah (who died long before) were identifiable, looked to have a spiritual “physicality” of some sort that is observable by the senses even before they had received their immortal bodies, they conversed, retained their personalities, etc. The miracle was that the disciples were given a chance to see them. I believe the miracle was the opening of the disciples’ eyes to see heavenly realities much like when a person sees an angel, when the spiritual dimension becomes visible to our eyes. I take comfort in the fact that those I love who have already gone to heaven have retained their personality (as Moses and Elijah did) only now their personalities have been purified and made holy, and they converse with the whole host of heaven. Everyone in heaven of course can see with spiritual eyes each other’s spiritual selves even before the fulfillment of all things in the new heavens and new earth.

The scripture indicates that we will be like Christ when we see him face to face.

1 John 3:2 (NIV) Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Does the phrase “we shall be like him” mean only morally? Might the phrase also relate to the form of imperishable bodies we receive? Could it be that our beings will radiate with glory, a glory the disciples glimpsed at the transfiguration? Will we be able to zip from one place to another as Jesus did when he “appeared” in the locked room after his resurrection? Or when he was suddenly gone from Emmaus, then appeared in another geographic location? Obviously the properties of "being" operate by rules of a different dimension.

10. How Can I Make Sure I Will Go to Heaven?

For the answer to this question, let me suggest that you see the Billy Graham Association link Steps To Peace With God and if you need to know more about Jesus, see the Campus Crusade link “Who Is Jesus?” If you decide to receive the gift of Eternal Life that God offers to you, be sure to link up with a local Bible believing and Bible teaching church and get baptized. This is the God given covenant ceremony whereby you identify yourself with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. For more about Baptism see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.