Everything New

Heaven. What’s it mean to you? What do you think about when you think about heaven?

Most of us think of heaven as the place we go when we die. It’s the afterlife. It’s eternity with God. Maybe you imagine floating on a cloud with a toga and a harp. Or streets of gold. Or some other vision of delight. Like retirement but with unlimited funds.

But is that what heaven really is?

The word “heaven” shows up in the Bible a lot. In fact, it’s right there at the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Basically, the heavens are everything that isn’t earth. The sky? That’s heaven. Clouds? Heaven. The stars and sun and moon and all the outer space you can see through the Hubble Telescope? That’s what the Bible means when it first talks about heaven.

And what do the heavens do?

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalm 19:1

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.

Romans 1:20

So the heavens above, as part of God’s creation, glorify him and testify to his existence, his character, his holiness and righteousness and grace. When we look up at the skies at night, we are reminded of God’s vast love for us. Or at least we can.

But what else about heaven? Is it just the naturally created space…up there? It’s more than that. In the Hebrew Bible especially heaven is the place where God dwells. Solomon proclaims this in 1 Kings 8:49, but a couple dozen verses earlier he makes it clear that “the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you” (v. 27). And Jesus even tells us the same, that we should pray to “our father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

So heaven is the literal, physical realm of the skies. It’s also where God lives, whether that is an actual space, another reality, or just an interpretation of how God is not contained by the same boundaries of science that we are.

Jesus once told his disciples that he would go away and prepare a place for us (John 14:3). That means that we will one day live with God forever, and it seems that means it will be in heaven. Of course heaven and earth will pass away and be made new (Revelation 21:1). The place Jesus is preparing for us is brand new!

But more than that, heaven is a place where holiness and righteousness rule. Where sin has no place. Where everything is perfect.

And here’s the kicker. When we talk about heaven, and when we think about how great it is, we usually think about a time in the future, someday, if we’re good enough, where we get to live. But Jesus doesn’t want you to think of heaven like that. He wants us to believe that it’s a reality for us right now!

Right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer you’ll see it. “On earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, don’t wait! Bring heaven down here! Start living like you’re already living in heaven. Start treating others how you would treat them in heaven. Start acting like you would act if everything were righteous, if every person was caring and loving, if every decision was made with a holy intent.

Don’t wait. Do it now!

The message of Christ making all things new is one of those “already but not yet” things. He has already done it. There’s not another thing we are waiting for. But it hasn’t happened fully, not yet. One day it will. But until then, we need to live like it already has.

That’s the tension we hold as followers of Jesus. This world is old and dying. Our bodies may be wasting away. And one day we will be rescued from death. But until that day…we live like it’s already happened. We pray like it’s already happened. We live heaven now.