Pastor D.L. Richardson, PhD Instructor

Who And What Is In Heaven

The Father is there, and that’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in

heaven, Hallowed be thy name” (Matt. 6:9). Jesus Himself is at the Father’s right hand.

Hebrews 9:24 says, “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

So our Savior is also in heaven, where He intercedes on our behalf (Heb. 7:25).

The Believers are there, too. Hebrews 12:23 says that in turning to God we have come “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” Our departed loved ones in the faith are there. Every Old and New Testament believer who has died is now in heaven.

Our names are recorded there. In Luke 10:20 Christ tells His disciples, who were casting out demons, “Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” And by saying that our names are written in heaven, Christ assures us that we have a title deed to property there. This is our inheritance. First Peter 1:4 says we are begotten in Christ “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.

“Our citizenship is in heaven,” according to Philippians 3:20 (NASB). In other words, heaven is where we belong. We’re just “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). Our goals therefore should not include the accumulation of possessions here. Our real wealth—our eternal reward—is in heaven (Matt. 5:12). In Matthew 6:19–21 Jesus says that the only treasure we will possess throughout eternity is there.

WHAT IS HEAVEN?The King James Version of the Bible employs the word heaven 582 times in 550 different verses. The Hebrew word usually translated “heaven,” shamayim, is a plural noun form that literally means “the heights.” The Greek word translated “heaven” is ouranos (the same word that inspired the name of the planet Uranus). It refers to that which is raised up or lofty. Both shamayim and ouranos are used variously in Scripture to refer to three different places. (This explains why in 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul refers to being caught up into “the third heaven.”)

There is, first of all, the atmospheric heaven. This is the sky, or the troposphere—the region of breathable atmosphere that blankets the earth. For example, Genesis 7:11–12 says, “The windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” There the word “heaven” refers to the blanket of atmosphere around the world, which is where the hydrological cycle occurs. Psalm 147:8 says that God “covereth the heaven with clouds.” That is the first heaven.

The planetary heaven, the second “heaven,” is where the stars, the moon, and the planets are. Scripture uses the very same word for heaven to describe this region. For example, Genesis 1 says,And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.

The third heaven, the one Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 12, is the heaven where God dwells with His holy angels and those saints who have died. The other two heavens will pass away (2 Peter 3:10); this heaven is eternal.

The Eternal Soul and Spirit

Every living person is an eternal soul and spirit.•Everyone who has ever lived will always live; no one goes out of existence. Everyone whom God has created is eternal.. It is God, Zechariah said chapter 12 verse 1, who forms the spirit of man within him. And that spirit of man is an everlasting spirit, everlastingly self-conscious, everlastingly able to reason and think and feel and understand, everlastingly alive.

• It is the spirit of a man, Job 32:8 ,that the breath of the Almighty has given understanding. This is self-consciousness. It is to exist and know you exist, it is to think and know you think, it is to reason and know you reason and why you reason and to what you reason. It is to feel and know you feel, it is to love and know you love, it is to hate and know you hate. That's what self-consciousness means. And that will never change.

• When Job asked the question in Job 14:14, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" The answer is, of course, yes, a resounding yes. You will live forever, everyone will live forever.

The Believer’s spirit goes immediately to the Lord at death. Stephen, Acts 7, was being stoned he said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He knew there was no intermediate state. There was no limbo, purgatory, waiting place. He knew that his spirit was going immediately into the presence of the Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:8 he said, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." place. So when a person dies, instantaneously they are in the presence of the Lord forever, spirit, body in the grave, the ground, the ashes, whatever, so that until the resurrection which hasn't happened yet, the soul exists without a body. • .

PURGATORY. The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is taught no where in Scripture. It was devised to accommodate Catholicism’s denial of justification by faith alone. Here’s why:Scripture very clearly teaches that an absolutely perfect righteousness is necessary for entry into heaven. Jesus said, “I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). He then added, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (v. 48)—thus setting the standard as high as it can possibly be set.

The Believer’s spirit is groaning for its body while in heaven. The spirits and the souls now in the presence of the Lord, enjoying all the full perfection that a spirit can enjoy are still not complete because they don't have their bodies. Romans 8:23 says that there's a groaning among us, waiting for the redemption of our body. "This corruptible shall put on incorruption. This mortal shall put on immortality." And by the way, there will be a resurrection for the wicked and the righteous. Right now the wicked are suffering in their spirit and in their soul without their resurrection bodies.

The Believers and Unbelievers will be given a resurrected body. Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 28, "Do not marvel at this, an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice." Jesus had the power to give life to the bodies of all who have died in the history of the world and all will come forth. Some to a resurrection of life, some to a resurrection of judgment. Verse 29, all who have ever lived will be raised. There are bodies fit for hell and bodies fit for heaven. Bodies in which the souls that are damned will dwell and bodies in which the souls that are glorified will dwell.

The Believer will be resurrected first. Four components of this resurrection are: The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:6 teaches that we were raised together with Christ when He was raised from the dead.

The resurrection of the Church (Rapture) 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13 to 17).

The resurrection of the Old Testament saints at the end of the Tribulation along with the Tribulation saints (Daniel Chapter 12).

The resurrection for anyone who dies during that thousand-year reign of Christ described in Revelation chapter 20.

Relations With Angles

Reside with the Angels (Hebrew 12:22): When we come to heaven we come to the dwelling place of the holy angels, the elect angels, as Scripture calls them. We will then, first of all, fellowship with angels. They are eternal spirits. They do not have bodies in heaven, they are given bodies on occasion on earth for certain functions of interfacing with people. (Hebrews 13)

Rejoice with the Angels (Luke 15:7): This fellowship with the angels is defined as joy. In verse 7 after Jesus told the story about the shepherd who went and found the lost sheep, "I tell you in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance."

The joy of heaven is related to the salvation of sinners. The one in heaven who launches that joy is none other than God Himself.

But notice in verse 10, "I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." And so we're going to be in heaven joining with the angels in a celebration of joy over our own salvation.

Reverence God with the Angels (Revelation 4): This chapter teaches that the believer will join the angles in praising God in heaven..

Twenty-four elders are there, representatives of the redeemed church, sitting in their white garments having been crowned.

Four living creatures appear, these are obviously angelic creatures. They in verse 9 surround the throne with mighty praise.

The twenty-four elders also fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne and say, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power."

Render Judgment on the Angles (1 Corinthians 6:3): we shall judge angels...we shall judge angels He doesn't describe exactly that means.

There certainly is not going to be any rendering of negative judgment on holy angels.

Perhaps in the millennial glory to come, we're going to render divine verdicts on behalf of the judge of all the earth and the one to whom judgment has been committed, Jesus Christ, on those angels who have fallen and corrupted the heavens and the earth; the fallen angels.

Relations With Family and FriendsWill there be Marriage in Heaven ? Matthew 22.. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.“

Like the angels, believers will not marry. Like the angels, believers will not reproduce.This does not mean that there is not going to be male or female in heaven? You will keep your sexual identity. The angels are spirits. They are neither male nor female, although when they did appear and were given a body it was a male body.

We will be glorified men and glorified women who are recognized as we are.

Will We Know One Another? It is abundantly clear in Scripture that when we get to heaven we maintain who we are. 1 Corinthians 15,"This mortal shall put on immortality. This corruptible shall put on incorruption.". This is a transformation of this person who remains who he is, that eternal spirit is given a body fit for eternity.

Genesis 25:8 that Abraham breathed his last, died in a ripe old age an old man, satisfied and he was gathered to his people." He was gathered to his people. It means that he was collected with his people.

David said when his little son died, 1 Samuels 12:23) "He cannot come to me but I will go him." His hope and his joy was found in the conscious reality that he would see that little one again in a reunion, a real reunion where there would be recognition and true fellowship.

Isaac, Genesis 35:29, breathed his last, died, was gathered to his people.

You see it in Numbers 20:24, you see it in Judges 2:10, to be gathered to his people.

Will We Know Others? Matthew 8:10, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel," commenting on the faith of this man in Capernaum, the Centurion. "And I say to you that many shall come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.“• You're going to know Abraham. You're going to know Isaac.• You're going to know Jacob.• You will have perfect knowledge. You will have transcendent knowledge and you will know them.

Matthew Chapter17: Peter, James and John went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration and Moses and Elijah appeared.They had never met Moses and Elijah but they knew them.

They knew them because they experience a glimpse of glory on the mountain.

We will know others because of the perfect knowledge of Christ.

And so there is clear evidence of personhood and identity.

What will my name be in heaven? Revelation 2:17

"To him who overcomes," which is a way of describing the saved, John uses it back at the end of 1 John that our faith overcomes the world. And he says, "Whoever overcomes I will give a new name written on stone which no one knows but he who receives it." The wonderful personal identity we will enjoy will be a new name in glory which no one knows.

Have You Made Reservations For Heaven?