The Location Of Heaven Series

The City Bank of Binghamton, New York, sent flowers to the management of their new branch, on

the opening of their new facility. Unfortunately, the card accompanying the flowers read, "Deepest

Sympathy." The florist who made the mistake, called later to apologize for the mixup. What really

worried him, he said, is the message meant for the bank was sent to a funeral, and it read,

"Congratulations on your new location."

This message would really be quite fitting, for the fact is, death does change our location. The

question is, where is the new location? Where is heaven and hell? Many feel they are right here on

earth, and not somewhere above and below. This conviction is not totally without merit, for the

future does begin with the now and the here. Jesus is the door to heaven, but unless we have walked

through that door in time, we will not be able to enter it after death. So, it is true, heaven begins now

in time, and not after we die. The essence of heaven is the presence of God, and that begins as a

present experience. Likewise, those who are without hope and without God in the world are already

bearing some of the burdens of hell. Heaven on earth, and hell on earth, are real experiences, but the

fact is, when the body dies the soul departs and returns to God. The question is, just where is God

and His dwelling place located?

The question gets complicated because of the nature of God. He is omnipresent, and if heaven is

where God is, and God is everywhere, then heaven is everywhere, and we are right back where we

started. But it is not Biblically accurate to say heaven is everywhere, for the Bible refers to heaven

as a distinct place. In the Lord's prayer heaven is used twice. Our Father who art in heaven--that is

in distinction from our father on earth. God is everywhere, and everywhere is heaven if you are

God, but we are not, and so we need to distinguish between our realm and God's realm. Everywhere

can become a heavenly place, for God's presence can fill it, as He did in the Old Testament temple.

You can be in a prison, and be in a heavenly place, as you sense the presence of God, like Peter did.

There is no escaping, however, the clear distinction between the earthly and the heavenly. Jesus

said, I go to prepare a place for you, and He ascended to the right hand of the Father. And the

second reference in the Lord's Prayer says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven is

where God is uniquely present; where His will is done perfectly; where Jesus Christ reigns, and

prepares to receive all who die in faith. When we die we can't go everywhere, for that would be to

become equal with God. We have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is what we are trying to

pinpoint.

The first thing we need to do is recognize that the Bible refers to three heavens, each of which is

clearly distinct from the others. Paul was caught up into the third heaven. This implies there are at

least two others. First, there is the atmospheric heaven. This is the realm in which the senses reign.

You can see this heaven. It is the clouds and sky. It is that heaven in which the birds fly, and where

the weather is produced. It is that heaven closest to the earth.

The second is the astronomical heaven. This is the realm in which the stars reign. The eye of

man can still penetrate this realm, and with the aid of the telescope, see that it is enormous beyond

comprehension. It is a vast heaven, but it is not the dwelling place of God. There is a popular

theory that heaven can be located in this sphere of the universe. It is the theory that heaven is in the

North. The Bible basis for this is in Is. 14:12-13. "How are you fallen from heaven, O Day Star,

Son of Dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in

your heart, I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on

the mount of assembly in the far North." In Ezekiel chapter one, the vision of the heavenly creatures

come out of the North. Job 26:7 says, "He stretches out the North over the empty place and hangs

the earth upon nothing."

Jack MacArthur, who promotes this theory points out that North is the same direction from every

point on the earth's surface. Up is North from everywhere on the planet. It is also the magnetic pole