What is heaven like?

This is a question that many different religions hold views on. 

• ‌Buddhists & Hindus = reincarnation (that you will come back as a different person or being based on how you lived your life)
• Spiritualists = spirits that come to earth
• Atheists & some Christians = nothing

Thankfully, for the believer, God's Word gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Regardless of what our language is able to describe it as, it doesn't come close to the reality of what heaven will truly be like. 
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• John 14:2-3 -- “2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
• Matthew 22:31-32 -- “31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.””

Jesus tells us that as much as heaven is going to be a real place, the focus of heaven is not a destination, but a person. ​

• John 17:3 -- “3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

If we are thinking that just being in the presence of God alone, adoring Him, is not going to be worth it, then my fear is that we don’t understand and truly know God!‌

• Philippians 1:21 -- “21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” — for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Regardless of what I say heaven is going to be like, it is going to be far better than anything we can imagine 
• Psalm 27:4 -- “4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” , 
• Psalm 84:10 -- “10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” 

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Here is how God's Word describes heaven though. 

• What will be in heaven?
  • ​ Seraphim — these are the six winged creatures who fly around the throne of God crying “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
    • Isaiah 6:2 -- “2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”
    • Revelation 4:8 -- “8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!””
  • Cherubim — These creatures look like winged lions with human faces. God is “enthroned between the cherubim”, symbolically in the tabernacle and eternally in heaven 
    • Psalm 99:1 -- “1 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!”
  • Angels
    • Michael - led forces of God in the great war against Satan — and won!
      • Revelation 12:7 -- “7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,”
    • Gabriel - God’s special messenger 
      • Daniel 8:16 -- “16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”” , 
      • Daniel 9:21 -- “21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.” 
  • In Revelation, it tells us that in what we consider heaven, which is often associated with our dwelling place after this life, there will be a New City. 
    • Revelation 21:2 -- “2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” 
    • Revelation 21:9-22:5 -- “9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the c…” 
      • This city is immense — 1400 miles wide and long and high
      • The New Jerusalem is described as a place with a clear river, with a tree that bears a new crop of fruit every month, with plenty of space for all God’s children. It has walls 200 feet thick, but the gates never close. We will be free from danger and will have free access from the central city into the rest of heaven
  • Satan will be kicked out
    • Revelation 20:10 -- “10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” 
    • Revelation 21:27 -- “27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” , 
    • Revelation 22:3 -- “3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” , 
    • Revelation 21:22 -- “22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” , 
    • Romans 8:22 -- “22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” 
• What will our bodies be like?
  • We will have physical bodies, but they will be far better than our bodies of decay that we have now. 
    • Genesis 1:26 -- “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”” , 
    • Genesis 1:31 -- “31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” 
    • Philippians 3:21 -- “21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” 
    • Luke 24:39 -- “39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.””
    • John 20:19 -- “19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”” ,
    • John 20:26 -- “26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.””
• What will we do?
  • Glorify & Worship God
    • Revelation 7:9-12 -- “9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.””
  • Fellowship with one another & God
    • 1 John 1:7 -- “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
    • Genesis 2:18 -- “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””
  • Work
    • Genesis 2:15 -- “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” ,
    • Genesis 2:19-20 -- “19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.”
      
• Why does heaven exist?
  
  • ​ Heaven exists for the eternal glory and praise of God
    
    • Revelation 1:13-18 -- “13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
      
    • Revelation 4:8-12 -- “8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” 1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the sc…”
      
    • Revelation 5:12 -- “12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”” Heaven exists so that we can truly live in the presence of God, unhindered by sin
      
  • How do we get there?
    
    • John 14: 6 -- “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
      
    • John 3:5 -- “5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
      
  • Who gets to go to heaven?
    
    • Romans 10:13 -- “13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
      
    • John 3:16 -- “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
      
    • Hebrews 4:16 -- “16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
      
    • 1 John 4:17 -- “17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”
      
    • Matthew 25:21 -- “21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”

There is often another question associated with heaven, where do animals go when they die? Will there be animals in heaven? 
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The Bible never talks about animals having souls, that is what is unique about man from all the other animals. We are set apart, made in the image of God. Animals do not have a soul, they are not on the same level of humans. But just as in the Garden of Eden there were animals, my personal belief is that there will be animals in heaven as well. I believe that the Garden was supposed to be a glimpse of heaven. There will be a New Heaven and a New Earth, and I believe that on this New Earth there will be animals as well. ‌​