Basic Understanding
According to the original creation in Genesis 1, the focus of the Bible is primarily on the matters of the earth and its inhabitants. It recounts God’s purpose for them and their response to Him. The in-depth study of heaven and hell, therefore, is not dealt with, though it is referred to and explained in some detail. They are explained enough so we know of their existence.
In view of the fact that spirituals (eternity, angelic and demonic hosts, etc.) are not fully understood in our human minds, nor can they be, God provided enough information for us to see the outline of His eternal purpose. We err when we seek to understand spirituals in a humanistic thought or when we discount them as fabrication, or when we try to realize them in a mystic sense. It is important that we use the “road map” of the Word of God in order to best contemplate our path in life.
Because many religious and philosophical thoughts relegate heaven specifically to a mental state of being, we must reject that and understand that God made us a spirit man, who lives in a body and thinks with a mind. We cannot, therefore, assess spirituals in only one aspect of our being.
Many “new age” thinkers presuppose that our expected end is when we are “at one with ourself”. Others feel our culmination will be when we have arrived at “nirvana”, “Krishna consciousness”, and so forth. All of these ideas make the mind the framework of our spirituality and any peace we seek will come from there. The Bible is clear that our spirit man must come alive and then we will clearly understand God’s purpose and plan. The mind is affected from that.
The Bible does give descriptions and observations about persons in both places (heaven and hell), and it describes to the best of our comprehension the place of both. Heaven and hell is not on earth or in ourselves. These places exist separately and independently of each other and of this planet. To prove their reality, we must first prove the reality of their chief residents: God and Satan.
Real Persons Begat Real Places
Much of mankind’s spiritual beliefs are based on non-historical, non-real, imaginative accumulations of thought. For instance:
Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer who brought an eastern mystical thought, yet it is not historically valid:
The Mormon church is founded on books of Joseph Smith whose story about plates being buried in South America has never been independently validated, nor can the site of their planet of origin be located:
Counter this with the Holy Scriptures. They are filled with historical people, real places, cultural phenomena, and because they are being ratified by science (i.e., – circumcision was to be done the eighth day after the baby was born and scientists in this century have proven that the eighth day is the day when the highest amount of vitamin K is in the body, for the purpose of clotting), it is only a matter of time before science proves what is already truth, the Bible. Actually, all discovery is finding out that something is already in existence.
Until that time, God seeks that we accept His Word by faith, by trusting in His genius, proven record, and His design for our lives.
Real Persons
There is a real God who proved His existence in the historical person of Jesus Christ –
1 John 1:3. The life of Christ is documented by secular historians, so it is validated outside of the Holy Scripture.
There is a real Satan, who can be transformed into a serpent, bodily form.
The devil was a created angel who rebelled against God (Ezekiel 28: 11-19;
Isaiah 14: 12-15).
(God’s angels can take bodily form, too – Genesis 18: 1, 16; 19: 1.)
The devil came to the Garden of Eden and incited rebellion in the hearts of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.
He tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 4: 1.
Satan had access to God in order to bring accusation against Job (Job 2: 1-7).
Satan will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20: 10).
We are not talking about a state of “good versus evil” where Christ and Satan are figureheads or metaphors of good or bad. These are real persons and have real power, though Satan’s power is under the control of God.
When Jesus talked to the Father from the cross and Satan talked to Eve in the garden, we do not explain these as ventriloquism or any such magic. We have here distinct persons with distinct personalities and if such a one exists, then they all exist.
In view of the fact that there is a real God and a real devil, it would follow that their respective abodes would be real as well.
Biblical View of the Eternals
Heaven
Genesis 1 speaks of the creation of the heavens and earth. The term “heaven” in this aspect is plural and is not referring to God’s abode, for He already ruled and still rules from there (Matthew 6:9). “Heavens” in this regard, speak of the sky, atmosphere, and stellar hosts.
Deuteronomy 10:14, 1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 68:33 speak of the “heaven of heavens”. This is a Hebrew superlative. Webster’s Dictionary defines superlative as “most excellent, surpassing all others, supreme, expresses the highest or lowest degree of quality, manner, etc., denoted by an adjective or adverb”. The Hebrew meaning is the “highest heaven”. It also speaks of the “highest heaven” in the possessive form – meaning God, Himself owns it. 1 Kings 8:30b says, “hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive.” This is a great place for El Elyon, the Most High God; the God above every other god.
God’s abiding place is equivalent to the term paradise. This term comes from the Persian word “pairidaeza”, meaning “enclosed park or pleasure ground”.
The term “paradeison” means “place of blessedness above the earth”.
It is physically understood by God’s intent for the Garden of Eden where it is referred to as paradise in Revelation 2:7. God walked among the Garden and, therefore, made contact with His creation. He did that again in the person of Jesus Christ. Genesis 2: 10-14 lists geographical points and though some of the landscape has changed it provides evidence of authenticity. God wants us to be in His eternal paradise, just as He wanted Adam and Eve to delight in spending time with Him in a physical location. Sin entered the picture and the scene was changed. God’s love and forgiveness was not changed, however.
Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be “. . . with me today in paradise . . .” in Luke 23: 43. Paradise was not an intermediate place or waiting area. It was the place where Jesus would be going. From the cross Jesus went into heaven at the right hand of the Father in Acts 1: 9-11. Before He did that, Jesus appeared to His disciples and others with a transformed body in John 20:19-21; Acts 1: 3. Note that He ate with the disciples, came through the door to Thomas, and so forth. It was a resurrection of the body. Stephen was being stoned and the heavens opened and He saw Christ at the right hand of the Father in Acts 7: 54-56 (this was not of his mind).
In Paul’s day he refers to a man caught up in the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12: 2. This is equated with paradise. It is beyond the first and second heaven – sky, stellar hosts, angelic hosts. He did not die and then go to this place, but he was caught up, which is the same term as raptured in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 . Elijah and Enoch of the Old Testament went up into heaven bodily (2 Kings 2: 11-12 and Genesis 5 :21-24). Jesus in His transformed body ascended into heaven. The apostle John went from a real island (Patmos – Revelation 1: 9) to a real place, heaven, for his revelation in Revelation 4:1. John was translated as well. The conclusion here is that if the body or transformed body goes into heaven, there must be a real place to welcome them.
Just as God prepared the paradise of Eden for the first inhabitants, so He is preparing a special place for those who put their trust in Him – John 14: 1-3. The disciples are distraught at this point for Jesus is sharing about His coming departure (the cross). Yet, even in this Jesus is giving them hope and is sharing something vital, namely, that it is more important that we live forever with Him, than that Jesus stays here physically forever. Notice, the purpose is so that we will be with Him.
It is vital to know that this is a place, not a state of being, for God took special care to outline His plan through symbols and specific notations. As the architect of the ages, He is careful with detail. God gives Moses specific detail regarding the tabernacle (Hebrews 8:5). God gives detailed information in Revelation 22: 1-5 on the heavenly city. The copy of work done for God’s earthly throne is a copy of the original item (Hebrews 9: 23-24). (The ark of the covenant is found again in heaven in Revelation 11:19 after it has been missing since the earthly time of the fight with the Philistines). Where there is a draft/copy, there is built a reality. The symbols are known to the architect and they do not fully make sense to anyone else.
Hell
Hell was initially prepared as a place for the devil and his angels. It came to be the place for those who knowingly or unknowingly follow the devil and who reject Jesus Christ. The Old Testament understanding of this term was “sheol”, the place of the dead. It was seen as a waiting place for final judgment.
We see this in Luke 16: 23. This is not a parable but a true story giving a lesson. The people in the story are a rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went to “basanos”, meaning “going to the bottom”. The story shows that he was aware of the torment and was, therefore, not annihilated or in eternal sleepiness. He was aware, felt pain, knew that people should be warned, etc. Notice that there is NO contact from earth to either heaven or hell! The only person in eternity to whom we can speak is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is unnecessary to seek to go through any other means since talking to the eternal God is the ultimate purpose of our spiritual journey.
Jesus Himself paid for our sin by the ultimate punishment. Adam and Eve were banished from the presence of God and paradise because of sin in Genesis 3: 24. Ultimately they would die physically because sin entered this world, but the immediate punishment was separation from God – the real death of the Bible. Punishment for sin was death (Deuteronomy 24: 16). So Jesus Himself paid for our sin by His own death (not as much the physical death because He rose again and defeated death), but He defeated sin and its power over mankind. (1Peter 3:18).
This means Jesus had to go to hell for us and be separate from the Father. He did not go in His mind or in a figurative sense. When darkness came over the earth at the cross, it was because the Light of the World went out momentarily (John 1: 4-5), and hell welcomed Him, for hell thought it had won. See Ephesians 4: 9. God has explained some things in parables, similes, symbols, and so forth, but the reality of the places and people remain.
Hell itself will be cast into a lake of fire – Revelation 20: 13-15. Its need will be gone because there will be no one left to wait judgment because judgment will have been rendered by that time. The lake of fire is the eternal place of judgment. Can a fire never go out? See Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. The bush was not consumed. Even if the fire is symbolic, it is a symbol of torment and pain, but the place is real. Weeping and gnashing of teeth indicate terror, emotional pain, and physical distress (Matthew 24:51). Recall that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone, and archeologists have evidence of their existence, as well as pillars of salt in the area. In other words, there is conclusive evidence of the reality of these verses.
Conclusions
If God is real, His Word is real, and the places are real. Proverbs 15: 24 advises us to be wise and seek life from above. John 5: 39-40 speak of the purpose for the Scripture; it is written to lead us to Jesus Christ, whose words and works were validated by reality – people saw Jesus Christ resurrected. Who saw Buddha in the flesh, or who gazed on Mohammed in the flesh after their deaths? Biblical imperative is that we follow the One who is not only in truth, but also was real in the flesh and in His resurrection. This is the great distinguishing point of the ages.
Because the heavens, as we know them, were created by a process of separation – the waters from the waters in Genesis 1: 7-8 (evidently they are comprised primarily of water, as are our bodies) so we are re-created or spiritually birthed when we separate the words of this world with the Word of God, which is seen as a water of cleansing in Ephesians 5: 26. The seed of God’s Word is imbedded in the soil of our heart – Matthew 13: 18-23. The warmth of God’s love and forgiveness causes the seed to grow. New life springs forth through the soil of our hearts because of the blood of Jesus Christ – John 3: 3.
The measurements and symbols of the Bible reveal an architect. Measurements, symbols are not abstract, but are concrete fixtures. Sight, sound, smell, and motion are real sensations and indicate personality. God wants us to see His intricate design for us and choose to come into that personal relationship with Him in the paradise of His Presence. We do not, therefore, need to wait for heaven to have a relationship with Him. That paradise can begin today, for when God is in our heart, it is a garden that lasts forever – Song of Solomon 5: 1 (note illusion to milk and honey, wine, etc., as it shows God’s promised land of delight). Open up your heart to Jesus and see what He opens up to you!