HEAVEN IS A REAL PLACE

When my kids were still youngsters we used to play a game while driving to our holiday destination. We would look at the clouds what kind of shapes they are forming, sometimes the clouds was forming a shape like a bird, a horse, an angle, a tree etc. Lately I look at the clouds in the sky in a different way. Thinking about the words Jesus said to His disciples in the Book of John: "2In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also." - John 14:2-3.

Is there a heaven beyond this sky? The heaven Jesus spoked about, His Father's house which are filled with many rooms, rooms that He is preparing for us? According to Jesus heaven is a real place. It's not a product of religious imagination or a result of a psyched-up mentality looking for "pie in the sky by and by". Heaven is the place where God dwells and where Jesus sit's today at the righthand of the Father.

Heaven is described as a Kingdom, "1for in this way entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly provided to you." - 2 Peter1:11.

An inheritance, "4[born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you," - 1 Peter 1:4.

A country, a city, "16But the truth is that they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. For that reason God is not ashamed [of them or] to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]; for He has prepared a city for them." - Hebrews 11:16.

And a home, "2In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you." - John 14:2.

Heaven is "My Father's house" according to the Son of God. It's a home for God's children. The Greek word "mone" is translated mansion in John 14:2 and "abode" in John 14:23. It simply means "rooms, abiding places", so we must not think in terms of manor houses. Jesus Christ is now preparing places for all true believers, and each place will be beautiful.

When Jesus was here on earth, He was a carpenter. "3Is this not the carpenter, " - Mark 6:3. Now that He has returned to glory, to heaven back to His Father, He is building a church on earth and a home for that church (all the children of God) in heaven. And when that home is finished He will return to come and take away His church to heaven.

John 14:3 is a clear promise of our Lord's return for His people (the church). Some will go to heaven through the valley of the shadow of death, but those who are alive when Jesus return will never see death, they will be changed to be like Christ and will go to heaven. "16For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the [blast of the] trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (raptured) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord! " - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Since heaven is the Father's house, it must be a place of love and joy. When the apostle John tried to describe heaven, he almost ran out of symbols and comparisons. Finally, he listed the things that would not be there: death, sorrow, crying, pain, night etc. What a wonderful home it will be and we will enjoy it forever.