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My first thought is that heaven is any place where God is and hell is anyplace where God is absent. I believe that heaven can not thoroughly be explained, even by the Scriptures, for it must be too wonderful for words and it must be too indescribable to relate to by word pictures.
Many people have images of us going to heaven and floating on a cloud and playing harps while chubby little cherub angels fly around us. This is nothing like the heaven that is described in the Bible and to know what and where heaven is, we must rely on the Word of God and not in human imagination.
The Bible actually talks about three heavens. The first heaven is where the birds fly and the clouds reside. The second heaven is where the sun, the moon, and the stars abide. But the third heaven is where the very throne of God resides and where Jesus presently sits at the right hand of the Father. When Isaiah got a glimpse of heaven, he fell to the ground and felt that he would be struck dead. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.
These amazing Holy Angels praise God without ceasing. Day and night they never stop saying: Heaven is very real or the Bible is wrong, which we know that it is not. Again, remember that heaven is any place that God is present. Is it true that heaven will come down to earth? And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Here we read that the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven and this is the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus spoke of.
Jesus said that heaven was as a place and that He would come back to take us with Him to be where He is. So heaven is a real place and that place is where we will be and where Jesus will be with us. At least it will be for those who have placed their trust in Him.
So this New Jerusalem has walls, gates, and it is called a city. This is no cloud floating, harp playing place, but an actual, literal location with real, tangible things in it. And heaven is huge! And he measured the city with his rod, 12, stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. The square footage is in the billions! This city has foundations, walls, gates, streets, and a temple but the temple is God Himself Rev In the first place, hell is separation from God and for all time.
That in itself makes it hell. The absence of God is the absence of light and the weeping will be tears of regret for eternity for not having believed in Jesus. The gnashing of teeth will be anger for being in hell as the religious leaders often gnashed there teeth in anger over Jesus. To Lazarus, heaven was very real just as the rich man knew that hell was a literal place. In the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, Jesus spoke about hell being a place where no one could escape from. The story is recorded in Luke Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. He knew about his unsaved family, he was in torment from flames, he could not quench his unquenchable thirst, and that his lost family only had the Bible to know how to be saved Moses and the prophets. There is no mistaking that this place was quite real to the rich man.
Does it really matter where it is since we know that it is a place? You will notice that the rich man was by himself too. It is not like you see pictured where the Devil is poking people with a pitchfork or where there will be others gathered together with each other but it will be utter aloneness. It will be sheer torment — both physical and mental — as you remember that the rich man had all of his memories still active of his family and of Lazarus. Those who will be in hell will live with eternal regret that they failed to trust in Jesus, that they ignored all of those who tried to share their faith with them, and they will be forever separated from God with no second chance.
Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. Now that we know that heaven and hell are real places, where do you think you will end up? If you were to die tonight or if Christ would return today, do you know for sure where you would go? If you are not sure at this very moment, it is still not too late. Turn from your evil ways!
Why will you die, O house of Israel? People send themselves there by their rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Decide today for tonight or tomorrow, if you were to die, or if Christ would return, you would be lost forever. No one has any guarantee that they will live beyond tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. All rights reserved worldwide. Graduate work at Moody Bible Institute. His books are inexpensive paperbacks that are theological in nature: Read them in the archive below. If you like what you're reading, you can get free daily updates through the RSS feed here.
Thanks for stopping by! Excellent job again Jack. You articulated this so eloquently. I love your verses on heaven. It reminded me of a wonderful sermon I heard a few years back. Hell is a difficult subject to mention, but the gospel must be told in its full entirety. Excellent article Jack, So often we focus our attention on the things of the world so much that we lose sight of our real destination and our eternal purpose for being here. Thanks again for reminding us of our true destination and our commission of sharing the path to that destination with others.
God bless you, brother. Yours in Christ, Robert. I know that Jesus spoke more on hell than any other single topic so we reveal the realities of hell honestly. Sorry Jack, I tried, Lord knows I tried, but the smart aleck just keeps coming out in me! The answer is simple:. I read the book 23 minutes in hell, great wakeup book!!
That was my conclusion. Hell is the absence of God and light and heaven is not so much a place as it is a Person and the Person of God. Love your sense of humor. Those who have good sense have a good sense of humor. Hello jack,thank you for your words about heaven and hell,please is there a bible verse about where hell is it? We have another writer here, Pam who wrote an article that contains Bible verses about hell at the link below. It is utter darkness, eternal torment, and sheer and unending horror. See the link below for more on hell.
I believe that heaven is your own personal place of beauty. I was born Christian. At the age of 13 I started having nightmares about the Holocaust. I am now MOST people in this world have a choice in regard to viewing, learning, or seeing what happened during the Holocaust. I am not one of those fortunate souls. I told no one about my nightmares for years. At the age of 25…I finally told just one: He was the most wonderful man. And, in many ways he saved me like no other could.
An hour before his heart attack, he called me like he always did on the telephone. The last thing that he said to me was:. I will always love you. It matters not if we are in the same dimension or universe…Wherever you are, I will be with you.
In no way was the chemistry in my brain ready for him to stop breathing on me. I have been to shrinks, and on pills for depression throughout my life. This sadness cannot be fixed. And, while I am still breathing and have physically kept going…I will forever feel abandoned. Yes, I do believe it is. Are there many mansions and palaces in it? Yes, I do believe there are. If you were tortured…like those who perished in the Holocaust…. I believe those souls went to a very special mansion in heaven….
When I stop breathing? I want to have that wedding that I never got to have on earth. I want all of my friends, family, and others who laughed at me…for believing in the theory of love…to be present. THEN they can witness me and say that I am no longer the sad one, the depressed one, or the one who stopped believing in the power of true love. The world of devas "delighting in their creations". The devas of this world are capable of making any appearance to please themselves. The world of the "joyful" devas. This world is best known for being the world in which a Bodhisattva lives before being reborn in the world of humans.
The ruler of this Heaven is Indra or Shakra, and the realm is also called Trayatrimia. Ajita the Licchavi army general was reborn here. Any Buddhist reborn in this realm can outshine any of the previously dwelling denizens because of the extra merit acquired for following the Buddha's teachings. The heaven "of the Four Great Kings". In the native Chinese Confucian traditions, Heaven Tian is an important concept, where the ancestors reside and from which emperors drew their mandate to rule in their dynastic propaganda, for example.
Heaven is a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophies and religions, and is on one end of the spectrum a synonym of Shangdi "Supreme Deity" and on the other naturalistic end, a synonym for nature and the sky. After their conquest of the Shang Dynasty in BC, the Zhou people considered their supreme deity Tian to be identical with the Shang supreme deity Shangdi.
Heaven is said to see, hear and watch over all men. Heaven is affected by man's doings, and having personality, is happy and angry with them. Heaven blesses those who please it and sends calamities upon those who offend it. Other philosophers born around the time of Confucius such as Mozi took an even more theistic view of Heaven, believing that Heaven is the divine ruler, just as the Son of Heaven the King of Zhou is the earthly ruler.
Mozi believed that spirits and minor gods exist, but their function is merely to carry out the will of Heaven, watching for evil-doers and punishing them. Thus they function as angels of Heaven and do not detract from its monotheistic government of the world. Mozi, Will of Heaven , Chapter 27, Paragraph 6, ca. Mozi criticized the Confucians of his own time for not following the teachings of Confucius. By the time of the later Han Dynasty , however, under the influence of Xunzi , the Chinese concept of Heaven and Confucianism itself had become mostly naturalistic, though some Confucians argued that Heaven was where ancestors reside.
Worship of Heaven in China continued with the erection of shrines, the last and greatest being the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and the offering of prayers. The ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty would perform annual sacrificial rituals to Heaven, usually by slaughtering two healthy bulls as a sacrifice.
Traditionally, Christianity has taught that Heaven is the location of the throne of God as well as the holy angels , [26] [27] although this is in varying degrees considered metaphorical. In traditional Christianity, it is considered a state or condition of existence rather than a particular place somewhere in the cosmos of the supreme fulfillment of theosis in the beatific vision of the Godhead.
In most forms of Christianity , heaven is also understood as the abode for the redeemed dead in the afterlife , usually a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints ' return to the New Earth. The resurrected Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven where he now sits at the Right Hand of God and will return to earth in the Second Coming.
Sixthly, we can not live with our spouse eternally. We have another writer here, Pam who wrote an article that contains Bible verses about hell at the link below. If you like what you're reading, you can get free daily updates through the RSS feed here. The last thing that he said to me was:. This is a gross mischaracterization of our religion.
Various people have been said to have entered heaven while still alive , including Enoch , Elijah and Jesus himself, after his resurrection. According to Roman Catholic teaching , Mary, mother of Jesus , is also said to have been assumed into heaven and is titled the Queen of Heaven. The Gospel of Matthew frequently uses the phrase " Kingdom of Heaven ", where the other Synoptic Gospels speak of the " kingdom of God ", one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament.
It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit. Attaining heaven is not the final pursuit in Hinduism as heaven itself is ephemeral and related to physical body. Only being tied by the bhoot-tatvas, heaven cannot be perfect either and is just another name for pleasurable and mundane material life.
According to Hindu cosmology , above the earthly plane, are other planes: Since heavenly abodes are also tied to the cycle of birth and death, any dweller of Heaven or Hell will again be recycled to a different plane and in a different form per the karma and "maya" i. This cycle is broken only by self-realization by the Jivatma. This self-realization is Moksha Turiya, Kaivalya. The concept of moksha is unique to Hinduism and is unparalleled. Moksha stands for liberation from the cycle of birth and death and final communion with Brahman. With moksha, a liberated soul attains the stature and oneness with Brahman or Paramatma.
Different schools such as Vedanta, Mimansa, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, and Yoga offer subtle differences in the concept of Brahman, obvious Universe, its genesis and regular destruction, Jivatma, Nature Prakriti and also the right way in attaining perfect bliss or moksha. In the Vaishnava traditions the highest Heaven is Vaikuntha , which exists above the six heavenly lokas and outside of the mahat- tattva or mundane world.
It's where eternally liberated souls who have attained moksha reside in eternal sublime beauty with Lakshmi and Narayana a manifestation of Vishnu. However, the Nasadiya Sukta questions the omniscience of this overseer. The Quran contains many references to an afterlife in Eden for those who do good deeds. Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein.
Most people believe the Bible teaches that we will go to either heaven or hell at death. Ideas about us going to heaven or hell hinge on belief in the immortal soul, which must go somewhere when the body dies. Do Some Bible Verses Teach We Have an Immortal Soul?. Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, or transcendent place where . The Bahá'í Faith regards the conventional description of Heaven ( and hell) as a specific place as symbolic. The Bahá'í writings describe Heaven as .
Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire. Children automatically go to Heaven when they die, regardless of the religion of their parents. The concept of Heaven in Islam differs in many respects to the concept in Judaism and Christianity. Heaven is described primarily in physical terms as a place where every wish is immediately fulfilled when asked.
Islamic texts describe immortal life in Heaven as happy, without negative emotions. Those who dwell in Heaven are said to wear costly apparel, partake in exquisite banquets, and recline on couches inlaid with gold or precious stones. Inhabitants will rejoice in the company of their parents, spouses, and children. In Islam if one's good deeds outweigh one's sins then one may gain entrance to Heaven.
Conversely, if one's sins outweigh their good deeds they are sent to hell. The more good deeds one has performed the higher the level of Heaven one is directed to. It has been said that the lowest level of Heaven, the first one, is already over one-hundred times better than the greatest life on Earth. Houses are built by angels for the occupants using solid gold.
Verses which describe Heaven include: Islamic texts refer to several levels of Heaven: According to the Ahmadiyya view, much of the imagery presented in the Quran regarding Heaven, but also hell, is in fact metaphorical. They propound the verse which describes, according to them how the life to come after death is very different from the life here on earth. On earth, if a person leads a righteous life and submits to the will of God, his or her tastes become attuned to enjoying spiritual pleasures as opposed to carnal desires.
With this, an "embryonic soul" begins to take shape. Different tastes are said to be born which a person given to carnal passions finds no enjoyment. For example, sacrifice of one's own's rights over that of other's becomes enjoyable, or that forgiveness becomes second nature.
In such a state a person finds contentment and Peace at heart and at this stage, according to Ahmadiyya beliefs, it can be said that a soul within the soul has begun to take shape. The shape of the Universe as described in Jainism is shown alongside. Unlike the current convention of using North direction as the top of map, this uses South as the top. The shape is similar to a part of human form standing upright.
The Deva Loka heavens are at the symbolic "chest", where all souls enjoying the positive karmic effects reside. The heavenly beings are referred to as devas masculine form and devis feminine form. According to Jainism, there is not one heavenly abode, but several layers to reward appropriately the souls of varying degree of karmic merits. Similarly, beneath the "waist" are the Narka Loka Hell. Human, animal, insect, plant and microscopic life forms reside on the middle. The pure souls who reached Siddha status reside at the very south end top of the Universe.
The term for Heavens in the Tanakh is shamayim , located above the firmament a solid, transparent dome which covered the earth and separated it from the "waters" above. Yahweh, the God of Israel, lived in Heaven or in the "Heaven of Heavens" the exact difference between these two, if any, is unclear in a heavenly palace.
His dwelling on earth was Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which was a model of the cosmos and included a section which represented Heaven. The Torah has little to say on the subject of survival after death, but by the time of the rabbis two ideas had made inroads among the Jews: Jewish writings [ which? Originally, the two ideas of immortality and resurrection were different but in rabbinic thought they are combined: This idea is linked to another rabbinic teaching, that men's good and bad actions are rewarded and punished not in this life but after death, whether immediately or at the subsequent resurrection.
This world is like a lobby before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall. Judaism holds that the righteous of all nations have a share in the World-to-come. According to Nicholas de Lange , Judaism offers no clear teaching about the destiny which lies in wait for the individual after death and its attitude to life after death has been expressed as follows: The only certainty is that each man must die - beyond that we can only guess.
According to Tracey R. Rich of the website "Judaism ", Judaism, unlike other world-religions, is not focused on the quest of getting into Heaven but on life and how to live it. The Nahua people such as the Aztecs , Chichimecs and the Toltecs believed that the heavens were constructed and separated into 13 levels.
Each level had from one to many Lords living in and ruling these heavens. Most important of these heavens was Omeyocan Place of Two. In the creation myths of Polynesian mythology are found various concepts of the heavens and the underworld. These differ from one island to another. What they share is the view of the universe as an egg or coconut that is divided between the world of humans earth , the upper world of heavenly gods, and the underworld. Each of these is subdivided in a manner reminiscent of Dante 's Divine Comedy , but the number of divisions and their names differs from one Polynesian culture to another.
Different tribes number the heaven differently, with as few as two and as many as fourteen levels. One of the more common versions divides heaven thus:. Other Polynesian peoples see them being supported by gods as in Hawaii. In one Tahitian legend, heaven is supported by an octopus. The Polynesian conception of the universe and its division is nicely illustrated by a famous drawing made by a Tuomotuan chief in Here, the nine heavens are further divided into left and right, and each stage is associated with a stage in the evolution of the earth that is portrayed below.
The lowest division represents a period when the heavens hung low over the earth, which was inhabited by animals that were not known to the islanders. In the third division is shown the first murder, the first burials, and the first canoes, built by Rata. In the fourth division, the first coconut tree and other significant plants are born. As per Sikh thought, Heaven and Hell are not places for living hereafter, they are part of spiritual topography of man and do not exist otherwise. They refer to good and evil stages of life respectively and can be lived now and here during our earthly existence.