What happens to the righteous when they die? (8) (Heaven)

Read Hebrews 12:18-29

We are thinking about heaven and what happens to the righteous at death.

·        Where is heaven?  This is the question children often ask but one that is fair to consider, even though we will have to say that the Bible does not answer that question exactly.  The Bible does place the emphasis on a place; Jesus, for example, in John 14:1-4, seemed to be quite emphatic about this.  It is that place where the righteous will know the presence of God (2 Thess. 1:9).  It is the location of the eternal throne (Rev. 4-5).  From that place Christ will return (Col. 3:1-4); in that place we are seated with Christ (Eph. 2:6); and because of that we are in fact our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 2:20).  I believe that the closest we get to coordinates comes from the third heaven reference in 2 Cor. 12:2.  As we have noted already we believe the first is the heavens of the birds and clouds and the second is that of the planets and stars.  This may suggest then that the third is beyond and that the frequent references to heaven as above are not just symbolic.  It is the dwelling place of God.  But having said that we are also reminded that God is not confined to the heavens, even the highest heaven (1 Kings 8:27).  

·        Who inhabits heaven?  Various verbal paintings of heaven reveal the presence of various beings as well as the absence of others.

o    Rev. 4-5, in describing God’s throne room, speaks of the presence of God Himself, four living creatures (cherubim, angelic creatures, similar to what Ezekiel saw in Ezek. 10:20), and twenty-four elders (often considered to be representative of saints from before and after the cross, Israel and the Church).  

o    Heb. 9:11-12,23 and Rev. 21-22 also speak of heaven as the temple of God, the true eternal temple, and thus the place of God’s dwelling (that is what a temple is, the abiding place of a god; cf. 2 Cor. 6:19).  In the New Jerusalem there will be no temple because the Father and Son ARE the temple (Rev. 21:22).  

o    Heb. 12:22-23 speak of the inhabitants of heaven as an innumerable company of angels, the true Church (church of the firstborn) and the saints from Old Testament times (the spirits of just men made perfect, those who awaited the cross and resurrection for the completion of their redemption, Heb. 11:39-40).

o    Be forewarned.  Only those whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God can be there from humanity.  All the rest are outside (Rev. 22:14-15).