Are you going to heaven?
Is anyone "going to heaven"?
Before you think I am a really crazy person, I ask you to consider what the Bible actually says.
There is one verse that says someone went to heaven. That was Elijah.
“Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (2 Kings 2:11)
Now, before you say "Well, that settles it!"
It seems we have a conflict with what Jesus says in John 3:13:
“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.”
So let's think about this. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:2:
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
Did you notice, it was to the "third heaven".
So there must be at least two other heavens, right?
Now if you look at Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the entire Bible,
it says:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
(Genesis 1:1 NKJV)
Notice that "heavens" is plural. Some translations have "heaven" (singular), but the Hebrew word here is in the plural form. So without regard to how the Hebrew plural is used in some places as meaning something more or different than "more than one", let me suggest that God did indeed create two physical heavens; one is the "heaven" where birds fly and trees grow up into and where clouds float around. That is the earth's atmosphere. And the other "heaven" is where the sun, moon and stars are. That is the universe.
So now, going back to Elijah, it says that he "went up by a whirlwind into heaven". Wind does not exist in "outer space." Wind requires air, and that is in our earth's atmosphere.
I understand the "third heaven" to simply be where God lives. As it says in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray "Our Father who is in heaven." It makes sense to me to think that the "third heaven" was not "created" in Genesis 1:1, but rather, where God has always existed.
Now if God lives in a realm called "heaven", and He can live in us, as it says:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
(John 15:4)
So it seems quite obvious we already live in the earth's atmosphere, and in the universe. And if we are abiding in Him, and He in us, then we must already be in the heaven where He lives.
And it would be a little difficult for me to imagine that God created the universe somewhere other than in the realm where He lives. So you, and every human being, is already in the first (from our perspective) heaven, the earth's atmosphere, and in the second heaven, the universe, where the stars and galaxies are, and all of that is in the "third heaven"; so we are already in all three "heavens".
So it is not possible to "go to heaven" — We are already there.
Whoa!
Wait a minute!
So what is our destiny?
Where do we go when we die?
Well again, we must look at what the Bible actually says.
Let's look again at what Jesus said when His disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray."
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
(Luke 11:2 NKJV)
So don't you think it odd, that we pray this, but then "go to heaven", rather than being here "on earth" to enjoy the answer to our prayer?
Consider also what Jesus taught the multitudes:
5 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:1-10 NKJV)
What about the "meek" in verse 5? Jesus says "they shall inherit the earth."
So if the rest of us are "going to heaven", are the "meek" people left out, stuck on the earth?
And you might point out to me; "Well look at the first and last verses, 3 and 10. They get "heaven."
Now here, I need to get a bit technical. These verses are an English translation of the Gospel of Matthew in Greek. And the word "heaven" in these two verses is in the "genitive case." So what does that mean? This is a Greek grammar term that means heaven is the "source" of something. "Genitive" is related to the word "generate," and also the name of the first book of the Bible, "Genesis." Genesis is the beginning of all created things, it is about the source; "God created."
The genitive case is translated in three ways into English, as "of ...", or "from ...", or as a "possessive." Here is an example in English: These verses are in "the gospel of Matthew," or I could say "the gospel from Matthew," or simply "Matthew's gospel." They all three mean the same thing, it is referring to the document, the words written by Matthew. Matthew is the source of this gospel document. Matthew generated it with his pen. But in all three ways of saying it, they are not Matthew. It is the document he wrote!
And in exactly the same way, "the kingdom of heaven" could be translated as "the kingdom from heaven," or "heaven's kingdom." And so being "genitive" in the original Greek, "heaven" is the source of the kingdom. The kingdom is the reigning coming to the earth from heaven, just as Jesus taught us to ask, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." So in verses 3 and 10, "for theirs is the kingdom from heaven." They get the kingdom, not "heaven." It all fits perfectly together!