What Is Heaven Like?
When it comes to heaven there aren’t many in depth studies around the topic, Heaven is a topic which is frequently talked about in the Bible. We will introduce what heaven is and give an insight as to the life we will be living once we get there!
God will make planet earth the “capital” of the universe
Did you know God is going to recreate this planet? Yes, in fact this “heaven” that we’ve heard of is going to be this earth recreated Revelation 21:1-3 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God”. These verses are so clear! God will dwell with us in the flesh! Revelation 7:15 “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. We will be in close proximity to the Father and the Lamb”.
Never a bored moment!
Psalms 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore”. On the new earth and in the new Jerusalem, we’re going to have so much to do that we’ll never be bored. In fact, we haven’t experienced what God had planned for us since this world was created. Isaiah 64:4 “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him”. Therefore, no man has ever imagined what God has waiting for us on the new earth, not even Adam. We will be having so much fun this planet won’t come into mind. Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind”. Building a legacy here on this planet will be the most temporary thing one can do. Matthew 6:19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”.
No more sorrow, tears or pain
On the new earth we won’t have to deal with heartbreak, sorrow, pain, or sickness. Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”. Isaiah 33:24 “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity”.
There are no more curses
Revelation 22:3 “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him”. Isaiah 65:23 “They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them”. One problem we’ve had to endure on this earth are curses, but on the new earth we will not.
No more hunger or thirst
Will you have enough to eat in heaven? Of course you will! Revelation 7:16 “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat”. We also won’t have to deal with extreme weather with the heat beating down on us or the cold freezing us. Isaiah 35:5-6, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." There will be no more deformities of body and the wildernesses and deserts will no more be considered barren wastelands. The Lord will turn them into beautiful scenery. Isaiah 35:1-2 “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God”. There will be no Sahara Desert or any desert for that matter.
Will there be animals in heaven?
Do you really think God created all these creatures just to die? Did he not say in Romans 8:19-21 “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”. Paul makes it clear the “creature itself also shall be delivered” in the same way we will be delivered. The animals of this earth will be there. Isaiah 11:6-9, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea”. Children will be having fun with the animals. Isaiah 65:25, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD”. It must be noted that all things will return to the point they were in the beginning and more. At the beginning of time God never intended animals to eat other, but they eat each other to survive. Even as humans, we were never supposed to eat animals but to look after them. In heaven all things will be returned to normal, meaning we will be on a plant-based diet like the animals. The lions won’t eat the cows, and neither will we. Plus, to eat the animals we’d need to kill them, but Revelation makes it clear there will be no more death Revelation 21:4 “…And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death…” Did God make everything plant-based at the beginning? Genesis 1:29-30 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so”.
As we know, the flood of Noah wiped out most life on earth and made it very difficult for dinosaurs to survive after the flood. We have mention of a one of these dinosaurs in the book of Job. Job 40:15-19 “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him”. The animal described is clearly not an Elephant or Giraffe because they have a tail like a cedar tree (see cedar image below). It’s so large God calls him the chief of this ways. This animal can drink so much God says he can draw up the Jordan in his mouth, that is to say he could handle the strong flow of the river (see science in the Bible study animal section). Job 40:23 “Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth”. This is clearly a dinosaur being described here. It is likely that this dinosaur could’ve been of the Sauropod species. We’ll find out when we get home to heaven. One thing is certain, they’ll be back.
Cedar tree starting wide at the base thinning at the top. Cedar trees are known to sway in the breeze more frequently near the tip.
Dinosaur (notice the tail starting wide at the base thinning at the end)
There will also be no more sea in heaven. Rev 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”. Whilst there will be no more sea, there will be water because the river of life will flow out of the city of new Jerusalem. Revelation 22:1 “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb”.
We will have a body like Christ
Philippians 3:20-21 “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself”. The verse is clear we will get a body just like Christ’s! If he’s able to subdue all things unto himself doesn’t that include gravity? Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint”. That’s right we will have wings on that glorified body because the previous scripture was very clear that our heavenly bodies will be fashioned like his and scripture tells us he has wings. Psalm 36:7 “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings”. This is also a reason Jesus is called the “angel of the Lord” Exodus 3:2;4 “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I”. Like an angel, our Lord and saviour has wings, and so will we be given wings when he fashions our bodies like his.
These glorified bodies won’t stop us recognising each other for it is written 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”. We shall know each other clearly.
We will grow up in heaven.
Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Apart from the verse indicating Christ has wings, we also see that all the redeemed shall “grow up”. Mankind right now sits at an average height of 5 feet 7 inches for males and 5 feet 3 inches for women. When God created mankind everyone was meant to be more than double that size, with the males taller than the females. Currently, all humans even if they were 7 feet aren’t the height they are meant to be. That’s why when Moses writes about the pre-flood world he says they were giant, because compared to him and the average height in his day everyone was bigger. Genesis 6:4 “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown”.
Every people group or race will be in heaven!
Revelation 5:9 "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation". Every single language will have at least one person who made it. Psalm 87:4-6 "I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah". The Lord will even be making mention of where different people were born, saying this man was from Babylon, this one from England, this one from Congo, this one from Thailand etc.
There will be heavenly music and God will sing!
Isaiah 51:11 “Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away”. Psalms 87:7 “As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee”. People will play instruments, praising and worshiping the Lord and the Lord will take center stage Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing”.
All overcomers will have right to the tree of life
Revelation 22:2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”. As humans do not have life within themselves, we need the tree of life to live eternally. The earth will be full of all sorts of trees probably bearing fruit we’ve never seen Ezekiel 47:12 “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine”. On the new earth we will have communion with the prophets and patriarchs of the Bible Matthew 8:11 “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven”. Have you made your list of people you want to see yet? I know I’m eager to meet Jesus, Adam, Daniel, Gideon etc.
Every sabbath we will come to worship God.
Isaiah 66:22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD”. We will continue worshipping the Lord every sabbath. I’ve seen this verse twisted out of context by people changing the meaning of the word sabbath to week. Implying the Lord is just saying from week to week. We clearly see from the bible, if it wanted to indicate this kind of phrase it would say “week by week” we have examples from other scriptures. 1 Chronicles 27:1 “… which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year…” We also have an example for days Genesis 39:10 “And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day…” basically “one sabbath to another” is not the bible trying to say week to week otherwise it would say “week by week” it’s clearly trying to point out every single sabbath we will be worshipping the Lord! It also makes it crystal clear that God never changed the sabbath, especially since it’s going to be there on the new earth. It would make no sense to create it for 4000 years, abolish for 2000 years and set it up for eternity afterwards.
We will build our own houses
Isaiah 65:21,22, “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands”. In heaven we get to enjoy the fruit of our labour. We aren’t working because someone’s employed us, there is no employment apart from the work of God, some of us just like vineyards and building houses but we have the freedom to build homes of our own anywhere we want. This is in addition to the mansions Jesus has already prepared for us. John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”. Everyone will have at least one mansion and can decide to build a second home.
The crowning glory – The new Jerusalem.
There is no drawing that will be able to do this city justice. The future capital of the earth Revelation 21:11-14 “Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb”. What are the twelve foundations of the city made of? Revelation 21:18-21 “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass”.
How big is the new Jerusalem?
Revelation 21:15-17 “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel”. The city measurement in total comes to 12000 furlongs.
1 furlong = 185 ~ 200m
12000 furlongs = 2414000m
If the city is 2414km in circumfrence then divide that number by four and you get the length and breadth of the city. This means each side is 603.5km long. Jesus will descend on the mount of Olives when the new Jerusalem comes. Zechariah 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. It will be turned into a plain, but this is how big the city would look on a map.
Courtesy of google earth.
The height of the city is also equal, meaning every wall is the same height, 144 cubits but the cubit of an angel. Revelation 21:17 "And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel". The cubit of a man is from the top of his middle figer to his elbow. The standard cubit used in the Bible was the Egyptian cubit, standardised at 20.5 inches. This would make the wall 75 meters high approximately, if we used the measure of a man, but John appears to indicate that the cubit is of the angel and hence it may be much higher, for the cubit of angel would be greater.
Mothers who lost children will raise them up in heaven.
For context, this was a prophecy of the babies being slaughtered by Herod, Which the book of Matthew confirms it was fulfilled when Jesus was to be born. Jeremiah 31:16-17 “Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border”. Here the Lord gives the message that these women will be comforted seeing their babies in heaven. The children of the righteous will go to heaven. There they will be raised up. The Lord will be a father to the fatherless children as well. Psalm 68:5 “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation”. Unfortunately, there will be children there with no parents as either one or both chose wickedness. The age at which a child becomes too evil to take to heaven would vary from child to child.
Our special commission
There is also something very, very special that we will be doing on the new earth. A special commission to all humans that overcome. Let’s lay some ground rules through scripture so that we can see that this is no mere conjecture.
Can we marry in heaven?
Luke 20:35 “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage”. The answer is no.
Will there ever be sin again??
Nahum 1:9 “What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time”. The answer is no, there shall be no more sin. This also means humans will not be having relations with each other.
Will there be children in the new Jerusalem?
Isaiah 65: 20 “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed”. When the scripture says the child shall die an hundred years old is it implying that there will be death? No! it’s letting us know a child will be no longer considered a child at one hundred. Romans 6:2 “… How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” The same way word is used metaphorically in romans 6 to say we are dead to the sinning stage of our life; is the same way these children will be dead to being a child in heaven. We already know everyone on the new earth can’t die. Luke 20:36 “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection”.
Let’s pause for a moment, so far, we know there will be children in the new Jerusalem. After 100 years they are no longer children. However, there will not be any new children on the new earth because no one will marry. That also means there will be no more new children born from the humans that made it to the new earth.
Preaching to those that will be born?
Psalm 22:27-28 “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations”.
Do all of the world worship the Lord currently? No. When does the kingdom of the world become the Lord’s? Daniel 7:27 “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him”. Therefore, Psalm 22 is speaking of a future event. During the coming thousand years (revelation 20:4) after the second coming, the saints will be where the new Jerusalem is right now as we speak, carrying out the executive judgement. Whilst we don’t know if this event can start from the time we enter new Jerusalem (second coming) or the time the earth is recreated (a thousand years after the second coming), we know what the saints will be doing.
Psalm 22:30-31 “A seed shall serve him [Jesus]; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this”. If we won’t have any children… then who are these people “that shall be born?” Aren’t we told we will be kings and priests unto Christ? Revelation 1:5-6 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen”. I must ask can a king or queen reign over another king or queen? No! Don’t we all overcome? Revelation 2:26 “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father”. All of us that make it to that new world are overcomers. Whilst these nations here are referring to the wicked, God did not make us alone. We will be declaring and preaching the righteousness of God to all His creations throughout the universe. Especially those “that shall be born”. Notice that they are also called “people”.
This whole controversy between Jesus and Satan has been witnessed not just by us, the characters on centre stage, but the entire universe. Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”.
I pray this study has strengthened your faith and prompts you to think on heavenly things. To have the testimony of Abraham where it is said that “…he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. (Hebrews 11:10) 2 Peter 3:13 “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”.
