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The Bible tells us that Heaven is where God, our Creator, lives.
I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.Psalm 123:1, NIV
God's Son, Jesus, after being raised from the dead, was taken up into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God (Mark 16:19).
Heaven is a place that no one, except Jesus, is able to go to, No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.John 3:13, NIV
God lives in light, unapproachable by mortal man, 1 Timothy 6:16. No one
besides Jesus has made it to heaven. John 1:18 says no man has seen God
at any time.
The Bible tells us that the reward of the righteous is at present
reserved in heaven with Christ. It is an "inheritance incorruptible ...
reserved in heaven for you ... ready to be revealed in the last time ...
to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
(1 Peter 1:4-5,13). The reward of the righteous is not to be
experienced in heaven, but is to be brought from heaven by Jesus Christ
who will return to earth. He will judge men and women and reward the
righteous with eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:10, Daniel 12:2).
The earth will be transformed and perfected through the administration
of Jesus, the divinely appointed ruler of the age to come. (Acts 1:11, Isaiah 11:9).
Many may believe that heaven is where people live forever with God
after they die. But there is not a single promise of heaven at death
in the whole Bible. King David, the man after God's own heart, has not
made it to heaven (Acts 2:29,34) and neither will you!
The Bible teaches that future life for the dead can come only by
resurrection of the body, when Christ returns. The immortality promised
in the Bible will be enjoyed on the earth, not in heaven.
(See Matthew 5:5, Rev 5:9-10, Daniel 7:27). The earth, not heaven,
is to be the everlasting inheritance of the righteous.
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