The Gospel Coalition

Michael Wittmer, associate professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, wrote an excellent book entitled Heaven is a Place on Earth. Of this book, J.I. Packer says, “Abraham Kuyper was arguably the supreme pastoral theologian of modern times, and this racy study book on being human in God’s world is a shrewd Kuyperian corrective of popular pietism. As such it is a work of real value, perhaps even a landmark.” I too recommend highly.

Here is a small excerpt: 

Contrary to popular opinion, the Christian hope is not that someday all believers get to die and go to heaven. Indeed, the only reason anyone ever goes to heaven is because of sin. If Adam and Eve had never sinned, they would have continued to live on this planet, enjoying the beauty of creation as they walked in close fellowship with their Creator. However, as we will learn in chapter 9, Adam’s sin brought death into the world. Now all people must die, an event which separates their souls from their bodies. Their bodies immediately begin to decay, but their souls continue to live, either in hell with the damned or in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.

But even those of us who make it to heaven have not yet achieved our perfect state. It must be extremely satisfying to join the other saints in heaven who continually stand in the presence of God. Yet even those saints who are there still long for something more. They long to be whole again, to not merely bow before God as a disembodied soul but to praise him as a fully restored person, possessing both a renewed spirit and body.

This is why our temporary stay in heaven, what theologians call the intermediate state, is not the focus of Scripture. There are only a few verses that even allude to it. Scripture is relatively silent on our intermediate state in heaven because it is not the Christian hope. The Christian hope is not merely that our departed souls will rejoice in heaven, but, as explained in 1 Corinthians 15, it is that they will reunite with our resurrected bodies.

And where do bodies live? Not in heaven: that’s more suitable for spiritual beings like angels and human souls. Bodies are meant to live on earth, on this planet. So the Christian hope is not merely that someday we and our loved ones will die and go to be with Jesus. Instead, the Christian hope is that our departure from this world is just the first leg of a journey that is round trip. Rather than stay with God forever in heaven, Scripture tells us that God brings heaven down to us. As John explains his vision in Revelation 21:1-4, he “saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” to earth, accompanied by the thrilling words, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.” In short, Christians long for the fulfillment of Emmanuel, the divine name which means “God with us.” We don’t hope merely for the day when we go to live with God, but ultimately for that final day when God comes to live with us.