We know very little about heaven.  This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather an overview.  Additionally, this lack of information can lead to a great deal of conjecture, which needs to be avoided.

Things We Know About Heaven

God Decides

It can be tempting to suggest that a person will or will not go to heaven.  Although expressing confidence in someone’s faith, it can be a very delicate matter which needs to be approached with caution.  At funerals, it is common to speak of all the good things the dearly departed had done during the course of their lives, usually while ignoring the bad things they had done.  It is also common to speak of the deceased as “being in a better place now” or “being with the Lord.”  This may or may not be true, but when any person makes that type of statement, they are sitting in the seat of judgment that no person has the right, or ability, to sit in.  People are not God.  People do not know everything.  People have faults.  People have favorites.  People overlook failings in those they love.  But God is different.  He knows everything.  He is perfect; He has no faults.  He does not show favoritism.  He does not overlook the failings of those He loves.  And by the way, He loves everyone.  Think of the meanest, vilest, most horrible person ever, and God loves that person.  God sent His Son to die for that person.  God is the ultimate Judge.  He will not be fooled; He will not make a mistake one way or the other.

God Is There – Rev. 4

This might seem obvious, but it is critical in its importance.  If God were not there, it would not be heaven.  And it is impossible to properly describe the experience of being in God’s presence.  There are only a few mentioned in the entire Bible, and some of those are likely to be merely angels appearing as God’s messengers, so it is not a person being in the presence of God.  As an example, when the Lord appeared to Isaiah(Isa. 6:1-5), Isaiah was completely overwhelmed.  He was in the presence of God’s holiness, yet he was a man of unholy lips.  How could he survive?  One of the seraphs flew to the altar, took a live coal and pressed it to Isaiah’s lips, informing him that his guilt had been taken away and his sins had been forgiven(Isa. 6:6-7).  See also Ex. 30:9-10, 34-38 regarding the altar.  When Moses asked to see God’s face, he was told that he could not see God and live(Ex. 33:20).  This would appear to present a problem for anyone and everyone.

If everyone who was able to enter heaven died when they saw God, it would make heaven a short-term experience.   However, God knows that, and He already has a solution to that problem.  After we are resurrected, we are given new bodies(the old ones were not meant to last forever).  These new bodies(not physical) are immortal(cannot die) and imperishable(do not fade away); with these new bodies, death itself is defeated(I Cor. 15:52-54).  When the saved are taken to heaven, they do not have to worry about death, as they will live forever, and they will be able to see God’s face and live(Rev. 22:4-5). 

Sin Is Not There

There will be no sin in heaven(Rev. 21:27).  There will never be anything that is impure(sin) that will ever enter heaven.  There will be people there who sinned during the course of their lives, but those sins will have been washed away by the blood of Jesus.  Living in a world surrounded by sin, it is probably not fathomable how wonderful this will be.  There will never, ever be sin in heaven.  And if there is no sin, there is no temptation.  Imagine a world where there is no temptation . . . ever.  Being surrounded on a daily basis by temptation, it is probably impossible to comprehend just how wonderful this one aspect of heaven will be.

Judgment Is All At Once

A common expression is that loved ones are looking down on us from heaven, but is that true?  Rev. 20:11-15 seems to indicate that judgment of the dead will be a singular event.  Those whose names are written in the book of life will enter heaven.  Those whose names are not written in the book of life will experience the second death(i.e. the lake of fire or hell).  The example given in the rich man and Lazarus(mentioned earlier) implies that after death a person would know if they were going to be in heaven or hell.  Although the judgment would not have taken place yet, the decision appears to be known.

Are There Animals in Heaven?

Some people are very fond of their pets, however, the question is rooted in error.  When God created everything(Gen. 1), His final creation was people.  They were different from the other living things He had created(plants and animals).  People were made in God’s image(Gen. 1:26-27).  Animals were not.  In addition, when Jesus was sent to seek and save the lost(from their sin), no mention of animals seems to be made.

Are There “Things” in Heaven?

Although God sits on a throne(Rev. 4:2), the 24 elders have crowns(Rev. 4:4), there is a tree of life and a river that flows from the throne of God(Rev. 22:1-2), in all likelihood, these are physical descriptions of things to help us understand certain aspects of heaven.  For example, God sitting on a throne illustrates His reign.  The tree of life refers back to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden(Gen. 3:22), a source of eternal life. 

A popular song mentions mansions in heaven, no doubt in reference to Jesus’ statement that there are many mansions in heaven, and that He was going to prepare a place for His disciples(John 14:2).  However, Jesus is trying to explain a spiritual place(heaven) and He is limited in the terminology He can use because the people He is speaking to only understand physical things, thus the use of mansions, etc.   It is important to remember that heaven is a spiritual place, not a physical place.  Technically, it is not an actual place, as a place would be physical, and heaven is spiritual.

Things We Do Not Know About Heaven

There is probably an endlessly long list of things that are not known about heaven.  The following are merely a sampling.

Will We Know Other People

It has long been debated as to whether or not anyone in heaven will be recognized or known.  As long as this is done in a respectful manner, with the understanding that a definitive answer is not provided, a friendly conversation should not be harmful.  One of the better arguments in favor of knowing other people in heaven comes from an example Jesus provided.  Jesus told His listeners about what happened after a rich man and a poor man(named Lazarus) died(Luke 16:19-31).  The rich man recognized Lazarus as well as Abraham(Luke 16:23).  It is important to note that the events described in this passage are not taking place in heaven, but rather they are in hades(i.e. the realm of the dead/Sheol – a place that souls go prior to judgment). A common argument made in favor of not knowing others in heaven is that there are no tears in heaven.  Rev. 7:17 states that God will wipe away all tears, however, this could be understood in two, divergent manners.  Either it means that there will be no tears in heaven, or it means that there will be tears in heaven, but God will be there to comfort those who are sad.  The latter interpretation seems unlikely(how could anyone be sad in heaven).

Although there are very few “peeks” into heaven, and those are usually quite limited, every example in scripture shows joy, not sadness.  This could mean that people will not remember loved ones.  Or this could mean that even though a loved one is missing, those in heaven are so overwhelmed by God and His love that our missing loved ones do not even register.  This would seem unlikely, but to discount it is to discount how amazing and how awesome God is.

What Will People Look Like?

As mentioned above(I Cor. 15:52-54), those resurrected will be given an immortal, imperishable body.  Will that body have two arms, two legs, etc.?  As they will be spiritual bodies and not physical bodies, it is doubtful that the new bodies will be in any way comparable to what people have now.  The fact that they will never get old, never wear out, never break down or experience any other type of failure should be all the comfort needed.

Will We Know Everything(Like God or Otherwise)?

This is one of those questions that is impossible to know the answer to.  Although it is incomprehensible that people would know everything, as God knows everything, will people know more than they knew during this life?  Will you find out what happened to people who left your life?  Will you find out the cause of some famous person’s death that was otherwise unsolved?  Will you finally find out why some bad thing happened to some good person(you or someone else)?  Why did God allow certain bad things to happen?  Why did some sinful people prosper so much?  Why would God materially bless sinners so much?  In the here and now, the answers to these and other questions might seem important.  It is doubtful that a person in God’s presence would be concerned with the past, knowing the future(for all eternity) would be life with the Lord!

Wrapping It Up

Hopefully, this refresher on what heaven will be like will help each of us to re-focus our efforts toward making our calling and election sure(II Pet. 1:10), since we do not want to miss out on heaven.