Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me an email and I include the relevant part, as is, in this writing to you:
“I will be very grateful if you can enlighten me more about Heaven.”
I would like to share with you, the one and other parts about Heaven, as I understand it through the Word of God.
People have let me know, that my daily thoughts can sometimes be a little long – So I will restrict myself to only two sections from the Word.
The first question that a person may ask is: What does the Word say? Is there a Heaven?
Naturally the answer would be:
Absolutely – our Lord tells us in His Word very definitely, that there is a Heaven.
I read:
HEB 9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
HEB 8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
HEB 8:2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
I could of course use many other examples from the Word to show that our Lord very clearly tells us that there certainly is a Heaven.
Many people ask the following question:
“Where is Heaven?”
The short and simple answer to this question is:
“We do not know.”
The Word, as far as my knowledge goes, does not give us any indication as to where it is.
Certainly, according to my opinion, it is not, to put it that way, literal / physical, somewhere on the earth.
We read for example:
ACTS 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
ACTS 1:10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
ACTS 1:11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Also:
1THES 4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Those sections have allowed people to think, that Heaven is somewhere in the outer realms on one or other planet or something.
Personally, because the Word does not give any indication about that, I do not really meditate on it. I do not think I need to be concern about that.
If someone asks me, for my opinion about this matter, I say:
“Because our Lord is Spirit.”
JHN 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
So my opinion is – and this is absolutely just speculation, because I do not know –
“Heaven is in another dimension, rather than in another place.”
What I certainly do know – and what is delightfully wonderful to me – is that Jesus, God, who became human for you and me, us – who have accepted Him as our Redeemer and Saviour, has gone to prepare a place in Heaven and He – sometime in the future, which I believe is no longer very far into the future – will come to collect us, to be with Him forever.
JHN 14:2 My Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
JHN 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
I know that my life on this earth is a journey and also that it will not be an easy journey all the time, but this journey is certainly going to take me to Heaven in the end – to live forever in His eternal house, and then my true life will begin and it will delightfully wonderfully continue forever.
2COR 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2COR 5:2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
2COR 5:3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
2COR 5:4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
So, child of God,
I want to encourage you:
1TIM 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called……..
How wonderful to know this:
2COR 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2COR 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Other daily thoughts which I have written through the grace of our Lord about Heaven, which you maybe interested in and what I with love can send to you are:
- Het diere siele en kan hulle Hemel toe gaan?
- Maak vir julle skatte bymekaar in die Hemel – But store up for yourself treasures in Heaven.
- Oor die derde Hemel en ons loon. The third Heaven and our reward.
- Sal ons in die hemel mekaar herken?
- Want aan sulkes behoort die koninkryk van die Hemele.
Some of the above daily thoughts have been translated into English at this time, Should you wish to read of the others, please let me know so that I can prioritise the translation thereof. Please send me an email requesting the required daily thought.
Greetings,
Sakkie