Where is Heaven right now?

[ClayPot]

I told my toddler today that God is in heaven. He asked, "Where is heaven?" I didn't exactly know what to answer, so I replied that it is where God's glory is. Maybe a more specific question is, "Where is Jesus' physical body located at this time?" How would you respond?

 

[earl40]

I would say I do not know where it is other than to say all the saints who have passed on are there with God Who of course is all there everywhere.

 

[baron]

I was told Heaven is where God is. But I was confused isn't God every where?

 

[au5t1n]

Which heaven? There are three.

 

[ClayPot]

He is everywhere in one sense, but this must be qualified. Christ is omniscient with respect to his divine nature, but not with respect to his human nature. That is actually very important--it is one of the great divides about communion between Reformed Christians and Lutheran Christians.

---------- Post added at 06:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 AM ----------

Like regular heaven and pie-heaven a la Jack Handey? Just kidding. I understand your usage of Paul being caught into the third heaven, however, we don't typically use the term in that way. Maybe a better question is, "Where is Jesus' physical body located at this present time?"

 

[baron]

Maybe a better question is, "Where is Jesus' physical body located at this present time?"[/QUOTE]

I will take a shot at this. How about Mark 12:36 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, untill I put your enemies under your feet. So Jesus physical body is at the rihgt hand of God.

Now I do not know where God is except that he is every where but no where. This is what I was taught.

 

[TimV]

We Calvinists have generally taught that the human nature of Christ is at the right hand of God, while His divine nature is everywhere. I think that's one of the big differences between us and Lutherans, who pretty much have to believe His human nature is also everywhere otherwise they can't hold to their peculiar doctrine of communion.

 

[Peairtach]

Heaven is a place where God's glory is peculiarly revealed, out of which the fallen angels were cast, to which Christ went at His ascension, and to which the souls of the saints go immediately at their death.

I'm not aware if the Bible teaches that Heaven is in this Universe or "another dimension" -whatever that might mean.

Does John's experience in the Book of Revelation, Paul's experience in II Corinthians 12, the fact that the angels take an interest in the worship services of God's people (I Corinthians 11) and Hebrews 12:18-29 - which seems to indicate that the saints in Heaven and Earth unite in worship - indicate that Heaven is actually very near but not seen by God's people.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." This phrase, "Yet once more, " indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (ESV)

Is Christ - in His finite human soul and body - and His Heaven, just a few missed heart beats or missed breaths away. Our Confession would indicate so. If the souls of saints pass immediately into glory, then for the saint on Earth, Christ and His Heaven are always only a few missed heart beats and missed breaths away.

Of course Christ in His Divine Nature is everywhere, and Christ by His Holy Spirit is even closer to us, dwelling in us in a special sense.

Even if Heaven is far away, in another part of the Universe, God can translate both bodies and souls there in an instant, as He did with Enoch, Elijah and, no doubt, Christ (Hebrews 11:5) Was Moses' body translated there, too (Jude)?

Man has only started exploring the Universe and there are many places in the Universe of which He does not know where they are.

There are three Heavens, as Austin mentioned, the Sky, Outer Space and the Heaven of Heavens. Does that indicate that the Heaven of Heavens is not in our Universe but in another dimension?

 

[Theogenes]

It's UP!
See Acts 1:9-11, 1Thess. 4:16, and Rev. 21:2...

 

[baron]

It's UP!
See Acts 1:9-11, 1Thess. 4:16, and Rev. 21:2...

Which way is up? I know pastor's who say it's beyound the North star. But if you live down under (Australia) do they have to go down to go up? I once heard a preacher preach on which way was up and how it will cause a delay in the second coming. 1 Thes. 4:16-17 stressing "caught up" knowing that up is a diffrent direction for those down under. I was surprised by the sermon and how many people thought it was great.

 

[Peairtach]

I think the whole Heaven is up and Hell is down thing was placed in the Creation by God to help our understanding of spiritual realities, just as our bodies were created to reflect spiritual realities, although I didn't get much help on the PB on this topic when I raised it before, except a reference to a book by Meredith Kline, which I have not got round to obtaining:-

http://www.puritanboard.com/f15/Christ-going-up-into-sky-61632/

http://www.puritanboard.com/f15/biblical-cosmology-symbolical-spiritual-realities-61733/

Whether Heaven is actually above us and Hell below us is another Q.

I've never heard or read this area of scripture cosmology being opened up.