June 29, 2023

Heaven Is Not Our Eternal Destiny

Paul Smith The Story Bible, Heaven, The Story 3

Many Christians believe our final destiny is all about ‘going to heaven’ to enjoy eternal life with God – finally freed from our lowly mortal bodies and this decaying earth to become spirit beings in a heavenly paradise.

I know I held that belief for a long time, it’s one of those things that just seems to be assumed and we don’t really question it. But as it turns out, the Bible doesn’t teach that heaven is the eternal destiny for believers. In fact, I would argue, the Bible doesn’t teach that any humans (apart from Jesus) go to heaven EVER.

Surprised?

So then, what does the Bible really teach us about eternal life?

I want to suggest that the Bible gives us a very different vision for the life to come that has nothing to do with us leaving our bodies and going to heaven, but rather one that sees us having renewed, glorious bodies, and living on a renewed glorious Earth.

Notions of eternal souls, sitting on clouds, playing harps and all the other cartoonish images we have of life-after-death come straight out of Greek mythology and religion and have nothing at all to do with a truly biblical revelation.

This idea of heaven has caused many believers to have a selective reading of scripture. Some scriptures have been highlighted out of context, while other key passages have been ignored.

For instance, it is a commonly held idea that we will ultimately escape earth for an eternity in heaven because the Bible indicates that earth in its current form is going to pass away. Sure, the Bible does say things like, “this earth will pass away,” (Mark 13:30), “the earth will wear out like a garment,” (Isaiah 51:6) and “the earth is stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgement,” (2 Peter 3:7). So yeah, it does sound like maybe we should get out of here and go somewhere else, like heaven.

There’s a big problem though – the Bible also says that heaven in its current form will pass away as well!

Jesus said that BOTH Heaven and Earth will pass away (Luke 21:33; Mark 13:31; Matt 2 4:35), and Peter wrote to the church that the day of the Lord “will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire”. But if both Heaven & Earth will pass away, where are we supposed to go to spend eternity??

Not to worry, God said, “I will create a new heaven and a new earth.” (Isaiah 65:17). And Peter says, “Based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth.” (2 Peter 3:13).

Phew!

So it turns out the destruction of earth isn’t a reason to leave earth in favour of heaven, since both will pass away in their current form, and both will be made new again. Or perhaps I should say, renewed. Old things will become new.

But there’s still another reason why we might want to leave earth to be in heaven instead: to be with God.

If God lives in heaven, and we want to be with him, then of course we’d want to join him in heaven. And there are several passages in the Bible that seem to suggest exactly that, which we’ll look at shortly. But if we take a longer, harder look at the broader scope of the Bible we will see that these passages don’t actually lead to that conclusion.

If we go to the end of the Bible, to Revelation 21, the apostle John describes seeing:

The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell 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!”

— Revelation 21: 2-5

There is so much contained in this short passage.

For starters, you’ll notice we don’t go to heaven, rather heaven comes to earth in the form of the Holy City. And we don’t go to be with God, but rather “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them,” (Revelation 21:3). This is the final fulfilment of all the covenant promises throughout the whole Bible about God dwelling with his people and us dwelling with him. The meaning is simply this: heaven and earth are no longer divided. God’s place and our place are now one. As one translation has it, “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighbourhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God.” (MSG)

All this is the literal answer the ages long prayer that the church has been collectively praying for the last 2000 years, “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.” In the next chapter, Revelation 22, this idea of God living with humanity on earth is developed even further.

If this is all true, then why do so many believers think that we will be going to heaven instead? Well, there are passages in the Bible that do seem to suggest that our eternal destination is, in fact, heaven. We’ll look at a couple of prime examples in a moment.

But here’s the thing, if you have 2 conflicting and contradictory ideas, they can’t both be true. Either we will be going to heaven to live for eternity with God, or God will be coming to the new earth to live with us. I don’t believe the Bible is full of wild, irreconcilable contradictions, so what do we do with this apparent contradiction? One of these views has to give way to the other.

So the question is, can you interpret Revelation 21 & 22 in a way that makes sense within the view that we will be going to heaven? No, I don’t think you can.

But can you take other scriptures that seem to suggest we will be going to heaven, and interpret them in a way that makes sense and is cohesive with Revelation 21 &22?

Yes you can. Let’s have a look.

For example, Jesus spoke in John 13 and 14 of going away and preparing a place for his disciples in his Father’s house. He told them they couldn’t follow him now, but that later he would return and take them to be with him. Now – since God lives in heaven – the typical assumption is that Jesus must have meant he would take his disciples to be with him in heaven, right? It’s an easy assumption to make if you only look at this passage and no other context.

But what is said about the place that has been prepared in Revelation 21? ”I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.”

The key thing here is that there can be a big difference between where something is prepared and kept, versus where it is eventually received.

For my son’s last birthday one of the gifts we gave him was a transformer toy. That toy was prepared in a factory, kept in a warehouse and then a store, and then eventually received by our son at our home, which is where he plays with it. We didn’t send him off to the factory or the warehouse or the store for him to be able to play with this toy, even though it had been prepared and kept in those places.

Likewise, the New Jerusalem – the place made ready for the people of God – is prepared and kept in heaven, but it will be received on the new earth. So, when Peter writes that we have “an inheritance… kept in heaven for you,” (1 Peter 1:4), that doesn’t mean we have to go to heaven to receive our inheritance. It is kept there until we will receive it in the life to come on the new earth.

Let’s look at another misunderstood passage. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:1 that “if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens.” Yep, that could definitely sound like going to heaven when we die.

But if you read the whole paragraph, it’s clear that by “eternal dwelling” Paul is talking about a resurrection body, because he contrasts it with the “earthly tent” that we are currently in. He is using types of housing as a metaphor for mortal vs immortal, temporary vs permanent bodies. He talks about taking one off and putting the other on, “because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4).

This is the exact same language he uses when talking about resurrection bodies in 1 Corinthians 15:52-53,
“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.”

Yes, it can be confusing that he calls it an “eternal dwelling in the heavens”. That can easily sound like we need to go to heaven to live in this dwelling. But again, we make that mistake if we conflate where something is prepared and kept, with where it is received. We have an immortal body prepared and kept for us in heaven, but when we receive it we will live in this “eternal dwelling” – the immortal resurrection body – on the new earth, in the new Jerusalem, where God will have made his home with us.

So what do you think? Have I made a convincing case that the ultimate destiny for believers is not to be souls in heaven, but instead resurrected bodies on a new earth where God comes to dwell with us? Let me know in the comments.

For further reading on this topic I highly recommend “Surprised By Hope” by N.T. Wright, and “A New Heaven and a New Earth” by J Richard Middleton.