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Of Heaven, Time
and the
Redeemed in History & Today
by Henry Velez; Editor
1Co 2:9-10 But
as it is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and
no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for
those who love him." (10)
But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the
Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
Two questions arise regarding both heaven and
the saints.
- What was the status of the Old Testament
saints prior to the Resurrection?
- Is there time in heaven?
Before we can jump into
answering these questions we first have to see what the Word
reveals about the subjects at hand. When asked about heaven many
will quote the verse from I Cor. 2:9-10 and, with a smile
simply say, "It’s just too wonderful for words, we
couldn’t begin to imagine it." But take another look at
verse 10 which reads; "But God has revealed those things
to us by his Spirit..". So then, God has revealed certain
things about what He has "prepared for those who love him",
though as we will see.. He has not revealed everything He has
prepared.
Terms referring to Heaven:
In the Bible we hear different
terms used. Of keynote are the terms "Abraham’s bosom",
"Paradise" ‘heavens’ and "Heaven".
But none of these are the first mention of Heaven in the Bible.
Here is where we find our proper definition when using the Word
"Heaven" in regards to the dwelling of God rather than
the celestial heavens above us where stars and planets exist.
Read;
Psa 16:10-11
For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou
suffer thy holy one to see corruption. (11)
Thou wilt show me the path of life: In thy presence is
fulness of joy; In thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore.
Psa 21:4-6
He asked life of thee, thou gavest it him, Even length of
days for ever and ever. (5)
His glory is great in thy salvation: Honor and majesty dost
thou lay upon him. (6) For thou
makest him most blessed for ever: Thou makest him glad with
joy in thy presence.
The first, best description of
heaven is found, not with Moses’ glimpse of God.. but upon the
lips of King David as he describes exactly what "eternal
life" consists of.. being in the "presence of God".
In Psalm 16 he contrasts this eternal life with the opposite,
which is Sheol. (Hebrew for ‘world of the dead’. The Greek
transliteration is ‘Hades’, what we now call ‘Hell’) When
in the presence of God is to know ‘fullness of joy’. Any real
pleasures are those that proceed from the hand of God.
In Psalms 21 David repeats this
description of ‘days for ever and ever’. God makes us
glad with ‘joy in thy presence’.
So then, ‘Heaven’ is a place
and that place is "in the presence of God". Strip
away the golden streets, the jewels, the angels, all things
mentioned of the objects in heaven. If all you had left for
eternity was yourself in the presence of God.. you’d be in
Heaven. But there is more.
Heaven is both a place as well
as a vicinity or nearness to God. It is where He conducts court
from His throne. (Every man is appointed once to die, and then
judgment. Heb. 9:27) Now you
will need to put on your thinking caps and pay special attention
to what follows.
The Old and the New..
At present time there is ‘this
earth’ and ‘the current Heaven’ where God’s presence and
throne is. What is meant by this? Read the following passages and
I will explain further;
Job 1:6-7
Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to
present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among
them. (7) And Jehovah said
unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah,
and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking
up and down in it.
Isa 34:4
And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all
their host shall fade away, as the leaf fadeth from off the
vine, and as a fading leaf
from the fig-tree.
Isa 34:10
It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof
shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall
lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
Rev 6:14
And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up;
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 3:12
He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write
upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my
God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God, and mine own new name.
Rev 21:1-2
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is
no more. (2) And I saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven of God,
made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Let’s begin to get our
bearings by starting with the book of Job. In the above passage we
see: God in ‘Heaven’ and Satan in that very place after having
‘roamed to and fro in the earth’. There is a current
heaven where Satan has been thrown out, yet by God’s allowance
can enter when God so allows. Now read the passages in Isaiah and
see that there is again a ‘current heavens’ which describe the
destruction of the physical heavens we see above us now. The
stars, the ozone, the galaxies, etc. These two are not the same.
One is the heavenly presence of God, the other is the ‘heavens’
above us in the very physical sense.
Now read the passages in
revelation and see that ‘the heaven’ was "removed
as a scroll when it is rolled up". Finally, we read of
the revelation that there will be a ‘new heaven’ and a
‘new earth’.. the first heaven (current heaven) and the
first earth (this physical earth) are passed away. Keeping this in
mind, now read with new ears the words of Jesus when He said;
Mat 5:18 For
truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not
one letter or one stroke of a letter will disappear from the
Law until everything has been accomplished.
Mat 6:10 May
your kingdom come. May your will be done, on earth as it is
in heaven.
In Matthew 5 Jesus speaks of the
disappearance of heaven and earth (creation) as an event in the
future. "Until..", meaning from that point ‘until’
the event happens. In Matthew 6 Jesus makes it clear He is not
simply speaking of the physical ‘heavens’ above us (though as
we saw in Revelation, that will roll up as a scroll as well).. but
the will of the Father Jesus prays to be done is "on earth
as it is in heaven".
So what does all this mean? Let’s
take a look.
Rev 20:13-14
The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades
gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged
according to their works. (14) Death
and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (This is the
second death-the lake of fire.)
The End of the First Earth,
First Heaven and Hades..
The last thing that must happen
before the ‘new Heaven’ is revealed is that ‘Death
and Hades’ must be thrown into the ‘lake of fire’
along with all the dead after having been judged according to
their works.. not judged by the Grace of the Gospel in Jesus
Christ. This means that neither Satan, nor any of the fallen
angels, nor any of the unsaved will ever have even a glimpse of
the final, ‘new’ heaven which is prepared for those "who
love God and called according to His purpose". (Rom.
8:28) The only heaven they will see is the presence of God
from which He will perform all judgments from His throne. This is
the same heaven which Satan, up until the permanent ‘lake of
fire’, has intermittent access to as he accuses the
righteous. Read;
Rev 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now the
salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Christ have come. For the one accusing our
brothers, the one who accuses them day and night in the
presence of our God, has been thrown out.
Now we return to our original
question: "What was the status of the Old Testament saints
prior to the Resurrection?"
Recall the beggar and the rich
man mentioned by Jesus? The first thing to take note of as He
begins to give this account is that this is not a parable. Jesus
is speaking of two men who had actually lived and died. (See Luke
16:19) He also states what happened after the poor man died and
where he went;
Luk 16:22
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and that he was
carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom: and the
rich man also died, and was buried.
We can rightly surmise that, up
until the time of the resurrection this was the ‘status’ of
all those who died having lived with their faith in the mercies of
God rather than their own righteousness. Now let us move forward
to the actual moments just prior to the resurrection.. at Jesus’
last hours upon the Cross;
Luk 23:42-43
Then he went on to say, "Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom!" (43)
Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
The word Jesus used here was ‘paradeisos’..
we will return to it in our summary.
One of the prophecies which
Jesus had to fulfill is stated in Psalms 68:18..
Psa 68:18 Thou
hast ascended on high, thou hast led away captives;
Thou hast received gifts among men, Yea, among
the rebellious also, that Jehovah God might dwell with
them.
Paul gives an explanation of how
Jesus did this in the fourth chapter of Ephesians;
Eph 4:8-10
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led
captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men. (9)
(Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also
descended into the lower parts of the earth? (10)
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all
the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Abraham’s Bosom is now empty.
(Hades continues to hold those awaiting judgment apart from the
grace of the Gospel.) The definition of Hades is ‘the land
of the dead’ where the unrighteous were held. Read;
Luk 16:23
And in Hades he [the rich man] lifted up his eyes,
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in
his bosom.
It has been mistakenly spoken by
some that this passage meant Jesus descended into ‘Hell’,
where the condemned were, to empty out all of hell. It has
also been erroneously taught in history that Jesus went for three
days to suffer in Hell for our sins. Neither of these views is
correct. Jesus told the thief on the cross beside him,
"..this day" they would be in Paradise (presence of
God).. not three days later. Likewise, Hades was the place where
the dead went, righteous or unrighteous and were separated by a
large canyon. Read;
Luk 16:24-26
So he [the rich man] shouted,
'Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip
of his finger in water and to cool off my tongue, because I am
suffering in this fire.' (25)
But Abraham said, 'My child, remember
that during your lifetime you received blessings, while
Lazarus received hardships. But now he is being comforted
here, while you suffer. (26)
Besides all this, a wide chasm has
been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from
this side to you can't do so, nor can they cross from your
side to us.'
When Jesus went to the place of
the dead (Hades) he only led away those who had been up until that
time in Abraham’s bosom, or in other words, the comforting
presence of God. Because the Old Covenant of animal sacrifice only
‘covered’ sin these Old Testament saints had not as yet
entered into the full presence of God until Jesus came to
completely and forever ‘wipe clean’ their sins with His own
blood sacrifice of the Cross. Read;
Heb 9:11-15
But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that
have come, he went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that was not made by human hands and that is not a
part of this creation. (12) Not
with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he
went into the Holy of Holies once for all and secured our
eternal redemption. (13) For
if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkled on those who are unclean purifies them with physical
cleansing, (14) how much more
will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences
from dead works so that we may serve the living God! (15)
This is why he is the mediator of a new covenant; so
that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance
promised them, since a death has occurred that redeems them
from the offenses committed under the first covenant.
Heb 10:1-4
For the law, being only a reflection of the blessings to come
and not their substance, can never, by the same sacrifices
repeatedly offered year after year, make those who come near
perfect. (2) Otherwise, would
they not have stopped offering them, because the worshipers,
cleansed once for all, would no longer be aware of any sins? (3)
Instead, through those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins
year after year, (4) for it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
So then, having made the Old
Testament saints perfectly forgiven, Jesus went from the Cross to
only the Abraham’s Bosom side of Hades and led them away to God’s
full presence (Paradise) the very same day once He’d died
physically upon the Cross.
Abraham’s Bosom, Hades,
Paradise and the New Heaven..
Now we can begin to wrap up. As
you can see, the term ‘heaven’ and even ‘hell’ are not
static terms. According to the plan of God each and the earth are
in stages of God’s plan which spans all of time.
Before we move forward, let’s
review.
 | Where were the Old Testament saints when they
were in Abraham’s Bosom?? In the
presence of God. |
| Where is the current heaven??
In the presence of God. |
| Where is Paradise??
In the presence of God. |
| Where will the ‘new Heaven’ be??
In the presence of God. |
| Where will Death and Hades eventually find
their permanent abandonment?? In the
everlasting ‘lake of fire’.. away from the merciful
presence of God, but not absent from the judicious wrath of
God. (Remember, God is Omnipresent.. there is no place where God
is not. The difference is whether God’s mercy or God’s wrath
abides there.) |
So then, up until the time of
the resurrection, those made righteous by grace of the Old
Testament abode in Abraham’s Bosom.. the presence of God.
As of the hour and day Jesus
died, the thief on the cross and those since the time of Christ
made righteous by the grace of the Gospel abide in Paradise.. the
presence of God.
When all judgement has been made
complete and the wicked are forever removed.. the ‘new heaven
and new earth’ will be our final home.. the place Jesus said
He went ahead of us to prepare. (John
14:2,3) He is not preparing it in the ‘current heaven’
where Satan at times enters to "accuse the righteous day and
night" .. for that will one day pass away. Recall;
Rev 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now the
salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Christ have come. For the one accusing our
brothers, the one who accuses them day and night in the
presence of our God, has been thrown out.
Paul also makes the declaration;
2Co 5:6-8
Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that,
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord
(7) (for we walk by faith, not by
sight); (8) we are of good
courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from
the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
Being in the ‘presence of
the Lord’.. this is ‘Heaven’. First will be the Paradise
Jesus spoke of. Paul spoke of it as well when he made mention of a
New Testament believer;
2Co 12:3-4
And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart
from the body, I know not; God knoweth), (4)
how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard
unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
The apostle John also spoke of
this hope we have;
Rev 2:7
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
Second Question:
Having examined the terms and
progression of events regarding ‘heaven’, we now take a look
at the second question; "Is there
time in heaven?"
The short and simple answer is:
"Yes." and later, "No.".
One reason for this question
would be the verse which states;
Rev 8:1
And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a
silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
This is where we must place this
verse in its context. John saw this 30-minutes of silence after
the completion of the 6th seal of judgment from God
upon the earth. (Remember 6, number of mankind) The 7th
seal (number of God’s perfection or completion) begins with this
period of silence as the prayers of the saints rise to the throne
of God. There is not a sound until all the prayers have ascended,
along with the incense of the angel’s censer. During all this
angels stand ready with trumpets. At the completion of this, the
censer is then filled with fire and thrown down to the earth.. at
which point the trumpets sound and extreme, violent chaos and
judgment begins once again upon the earth.
But what of the 30-minutes?
In this reference of heaven..
creation (including ‘time’) has not yet ‘passed away’.
But heaven will not always have time. Remember, this occurrence
of the 30-minutes is still prior to the final destruction of all
existing creation. Thus, at this certain occurrence.. ‘time’
is still in effect in heaven since it has not yet ‘passed away’
with the rest of creation.
When the Bible speaks of the
"heavens and earth passing away" it is not
limited to just the earth and heavens.. it is speaking of all
creation (moons, planets, stars, animals, etc.) as well as the
dimension of time. All that which God originally created in
Genesis will "pass away". As you remember from
Genesis, this is where ‘time’ began. "The first day..
the first night". Read;
Gen 1:4-5
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness. (5) And
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
As you’ll notice in Genesis..
God created ‘time’ even before He separated dry land from the
oceans. As a result, even ‘time’ is a part of creation. Time
exists within Eternity. Eternity is not "a long, long
period of time".. but rather eternity is to exist apart from
time. Prior to Creation, prior to the creation of angels,
prior even to the existence of Heaven.. God existed in Eternity..
the absence of ‘time’. To rephrase it; God does not exist
within the confines of time.. time exists only as a temporal
creation of God.
We humans, however, move in what
are known as "the four dimensions" which are made up of
height (X), width (Y), depth (Z) and Time. We are limited to these
four dimensions.. God is not. Remember, God existed prior to the
existence of ‘time’. God created time. For God to be
OmniPresent is no test to His nature.. He can be at all places, at
all times, because God envelopes time rather than time enveloping
Him. In the grandest sense, God is beyond our definition of ‘eternal’.
For even Time had a beginning, and will have an end, yet God
outstretches both.
Rev 1:8 I
am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who
was and who is to come, the Almighty.
This leads us to a new question;
"If time ‘passes away’ along
with the rest of creation.. won’t there be time in the final ‘Heaven’??"
This is where the answer now
becomes "No." and "Yes.".
No, because, at the revealing of
the New Heaven and New Earth.. the old has passed away, all the
molecules of mass including our current dimension we know as ‘time’.
If I had the time (no pun intended) we could go into the
research which shows that time does indeed have mass since it is
affected by speed and large planetary masses. But suffice it to
say that time is not abstract.. time possesses mass and has
physical properties.
However, by the loosest
definition, in any situation in which objects move is a situation
wherein it could be said a form of time exists. I use the
following only as a crude analogy; Before the first clock was ever
invented.. a person could "keep time" by watching water
drip from a leak in a bucket, or by tapping their fingers in a
rhythm. We keep time by observing increments of movement. We
observe the rotation of a needle around a clock and call one
movement (tick) a ‘second’ and then build larger increments
from there because the 1-second increment is repetitive.
But in all practicality.. once
in the ‘new Heaven’ time will no longer have any
bearing upon us as it does now. We will not measure our lives, for
our lives will be made ‘everlasting’. Time’s effects of
entropy will have been destroyed. Erosion, disease, aging, death..
all the effects by which we currently measure time’s affect upon
us will eventually become as a faint dream. The only ‘time’ we
will know of would be ‘Present’. Always we would live in the
present and always we’d be in the presence of God. Knowing Him
as we are known. Inquiring within His temple. Freed from this
carnal wineskin we would know freedom of spirit as God had always
planned from the beginning.
1Co 13:12-13
Now we see only a blurred reflection in a mirror, but then we
will see face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I
will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (13)
Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the
greatest of these is love.
1Co 15:41-57
One kind of splendor belongs to the sun, another to the moon,
and still another to the stars. In fact, one star differs from
another star in splendor. (42) This
is how it will be at the resurrection of the dead. What is planted
is decaying, what is raised cannot decay. (43)
The body is planted in dishonor but raised in splendor. It is
planted in weakness but raised in power. (44)
It is planted a physical body but raised a spiritual body. If
there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. (45)
This, indeed, is what is written: "The first man, Adam,
became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving
spirit. (46) The spiritual does not
come first, but the physical and then the spiritual. (47)
The first man came from the dust of the earth; the second man came
from heaven. (48) Those who are made
of the dust are like the man from the dust, those who are heavenly
are like the man who is from heaven. (49)
Just as we have borne the likeness of the man who was made from
dust, we will also bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (50)
Brothers, this is what I mean: Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not
decay. (51) Let me tell you a secret.
Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed- (52)
in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the sound of the last
trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will
be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. (53)
For what is decaying must put on what cannot decay, and what is
dying must put on what cannot die. (54)
Now, when what is decaying puts on what cannot decay, and what
is dying puts on what cannot die, then the saying that is written
will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in
victory!" (55) "Where, O
death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (56)
Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (57)
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ!
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