We might wonder, “Is heaven a spiritual place or a physical place?” We might first ask if we are primarily spiritual beings with a temporary earthly body, or physical beings with a spiritual component. It’s a hard question to answer, isn’t it? God first created man as a physical being, made from the dust of the earth. To complete his work, he breathed his spirit into man’s body. Referring to our bodies as temporary “tents,” Paul concludes we are at the same time “temples of God” where God’s Spirit lives.  He goes on to speaks of “longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling” (body). We know that God is spirit and that he causes his Holy Spirit to live in us. And yet, if we’re honest with ourselves, we might admit that we give most of our attention to our physical existence. It seems logical to conclude that we are both physical and spiritual beings.

 

So perhaps a better question is, can people who are both spiritual and physical live in heaven if it’s not a physical place? We know from scripture that our earthly bodies return to the ground, not heaven. Yet Enoch and Elijah were taken to heaven. Their physical bodies were not found on earth. Elijah and Moses were recognized by the apostles to have physical form at the transfiguration of Christ. Jesus’ resurrected body on earth was physical and then he ascended into heaven. In Revelation, John describes the rich man in hell exhibiting physical longings of hunger and thirst. He asked that Lazarus who was in heaven would go to his father’s earthly home to warn him about hell. It’s interesting to note that while Jesus healed “the lame,” “the blind,” “the lepers,” this is the only story where Jesus refers to real people with real names.

 

As we turn to the bible we read about a “New Heaven” and a “New Earth” where we will live forever, a city, a tabernacle and more. We read that the temple of heaven is filled with “smoke from the glory of God.” Physical objects are mentioned: scrolls, faces, palm branches, musical instruments, and horses, to list a few. Are these all figurative illustrations or real physical objects, or some of both? Is the physical earth a reflection of a spiritual heaven? Alcorn suggests, “We should stop considering earth and heaven as opposites and instead view them as overlapping circles that share certain commonalities.” We know the New Jerusalem will come physically to Earth. And we know it currently resides in the present heaven, where believers immediately pass upon death.

 

When Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” he uses a word derived from one meaning “a walled garden.” After the Fall of Man, God removed access to Eden and the Tree of Life, protecting it with cherubim and flaming sword. In Revelation we read that the Tree of Life is located within the walled New Jerusalem on the banks of a river. Doesn’t this Indicate a physical heaven where will again walk in the garden of Eden and have full access to the Tree of Eternal Life?

 

There certainly remains debate about all this, whether these descriptions are to be taken literally or figuratively, or some of both. Perhaps as Alcorn concludes, “Jesus intended for us to picture people in heaven as real humans with thoughts and capacities and with the same identities, memories, and awareness from their lives and relationships on earth, portraying both heaven and hell as real places where there are real people who come from earth.”

 

We could all, in our fanciful self-centered minds, as did John Lennon suggested:

“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky.”

But scripture reveals that heaven and hell are quite real and cannot be imagined away; that we go to a real place of our own choosing, either the present heaven or the present hell. “Those in hell will live in misery, hopelessness, and isolation. Those in heaven will live in comfort, joy, and rich relationship with God and others.” (Alcorn)

 

You don’t have to imagine it. Just envision it and live today with heaven in mind.