Heaven (8 page)

We are told that after the Fall, God "drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and
the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24, NASB). It appears that
Eden's Paradise, with the tree of life, retained its identity as a physical place but was no longer accessible to mankind.
It was guarded by cher­ubim, who are residents of Heaven, where God is "enthroned between the cher­ubim" (2 Kings 19:15).

Eden was not destroyed. What was destroyed was mankind's ability to live in Eden. There's no indication that Eden was stripped
of its physicality and transformed into a "spiritual" entity. It appears to have remained just as it was, a physical paradise
removed to a realm we can't gain access to—most likely the present Heaven, because we know for certain that's where the tree
of life now is (Revelation 2:7).

God is not done with Eden. He preserved it not as a museum piece but as a place that mankind will one day occupy again—and
to a certain extent may now occupy in the present Heaven. Because we're told that the tree of life will be lo­cated in the
New Jerusalem, on both sides of a great river (Revelation
22:2),
it seems likely that the original Eden may be a great park at the center of the city. If we know the tree that distinguished
Eden will be there, why not Eden itself? This would fit perfectly with the statement in Revelation 2:7 that the tree of life
is presently in Paradise.

Though the rest of the earth fell under human sin, Eden was for some rea­son treated differently. Perhaps it had come from
Heaven, God's dwelling place, and was transplanted to Earth. We don't know. But we do know this: God came to Eden to visit
with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8), which he would no longer do after Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden after the Fall.
Whether or not Eden was created along with the rest of the earth, clearly it was special to God, and it remains special to
him. The tree of life's presence in the New Jeru­salem establishes that elements of Eden, as physical as the original, will
again be part of the human experience. The presence of the tree of life in the present Heaven suggests that Heaven too has
physical properties and is capable of con­taining physical objects.

DO PEOPLE HAVE INTERMEDIATE BODIES IN THE PRESENT HEAVEN?

Given the consistent physical descriptions of the present Heaven and those who dwell there, it seems possible—though this
is certainly debatable—that between our earthly life and our bodily resurrection, God may grant us some physical form that
will allow us to function as human beings while in that un­natural state "between bodies," awaiting our resurrection. Just
as the intermedi­ate state is a bridge between life on the old Earth and the New Earth, perhaps intermediate bodies, or at
least a physical form of some sort, serve as bridges be­tween our present bodies and our resurrected bodies.

The apostle Paul says, "Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed,
we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed
but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal maybe swallowed up by life" (2 Corinthians 5:2-4). Some
take this to mean that the intermediate state is a condition of disembodied nakedness. They may well be right. Others, however,
believe that Paul is longing to be with Christ (Philippians 1:21), but he cannot long for a state of Platonic nakedness, which
he considers re­pugnant. Thus, they understand Paul to be saying that at death we are immediately clothed by a heavenly dwelling
(whether Heaven itself or an intermediate form), in which we will await our resurrection.

Women sometimes have the problem of trying to judge by artificial light how a dress will look by daylight. That is very like
the problem for all of us: to dress our souls not for the electric lights of the present world but for the daylight of the
next. The good dress is the one that will face that light. For that light will last longer.

C. S. LEWIS

There is evidence that suggests the latter position could be correct. For instance, the martyrs in Heaven are described as
wearing clothes (Revelation 6:9-11). Disembodied spirits don't wear clothes. Many consider the clothes purely symbolic of
being covered in Christ's righ­teousness. Of course, they could also be real clothes with symbolic meaning, just as the Ark
of the Covenant had symbolic meaning but was also a real, physical object.

Because these martyrs are also called "souls" (Revelation 6:9), some insist that they must be disembodied spirits. But the
Greek word
psuche,
here trans­lated "soul," does not normally mean disembodied spirit. On the contrary, it is typically used of a whole person,
who has both body and spirit, or of animals, which
are physical beings.
It is used in Revelation 12:11 to describe the martyrs, who "did not love their
lives [psuche]
so much as to shrink from death." Because
death
relates to their physical bodies, not their spirits (which would not die), the emphasis is more on their bodies than on their
spirits. According to the
Theo­logical Dictionary of the New Testament, "[Psuche]
does not carry with it any clear distinction between a noncorporeal and a corporeal state. . . . The reference is not to a
part of man that has survived death, but to the total existence of man."
⁵⁶

It appears the apostle John had a body when he visited Heaven, because he is said to have grasped, held, eaten, and tasted
things there (e.g., Revelation 10:910). To assume this is all figurative language is not a restriction demanded by the text
but only by our presupposition that Heaven isn't a physical place. (For a discussion of literal and figurative interpretation,
see appendix B.)

In the apostle Paul's account of being caught up to the present Heaven (which he calls "the third heaven"), he expresses uncertainty
about whether he'd had a body there or not: "Whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows" (2 Corinthians
12:3). The fact that he thought he
might
have had a body in Heaven is significant. He certainly didn't dismiss the thought as impossible, as Plato would have. His
uncertainty might suggest that he sensed he had a physical form in Heaven that was body-like but somehow different from his
earthly body. If he had been nothing but spirit in Heaven, it's unlikely he would say he wasn't certain whether or not he'd
had a body there.

If those in Heaven are granted temporary forms—and I recognize it only as a possibility—it would in no way minimize the absolute
necessity or critical impor­tance of our future bodily resurrection, which Paul emphatically establishes in 1 Corinthians
15:12-32. In fact, itwould only be on the basis of the certainty of a future resurrection that temporary bodies
might
be given—just as in Old Testa­ment times the certainty of Christ's future death and resurrection permitted those people, who
otherwise would have been Hell-bound, to enter Paradise.

We do
not
receive resurrection bodies immediately after death. Resurrection is not one-at-a-time. If we have intermediate forms in the
intermediate Heaven, they won't be our true bodies, which have died. Continuity is
only
be­tween our original and resurrection bodies.
If we
are given intermediate forms, they are at best temporary vessels (comparable to the human-appearing bodies that angels sometimes
take on), distinct from our true bodies, which remain dead until our resurrection.

A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in Heaven. We are told that his resurrected
body on Earth was physical, and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from which he will one day return to Earth
(Acts 1:11). It seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven.

If Christ's body in the present Heaven has physical properties, it stands to reason that others in Heaven might have physical
forms as well, even if only temporary ones. It also makes sense that other aspects of the present Heaven would have physical
properties—so that, for example, when Christ is seen standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56), he is actually standing
on some­thing. Otherwise we would have to conclude that the resurrected (and thus, embodied) Christ has been floating for
two thousand years in a realm without material substance. (He
could,
of course, but
does
he?) If we know there is physi­cal substance in Heaven (namely, Christ's body), can we not also assume that other references
to physical objects in Heaven, including physical forms and clothing, are literal rather than figurative?

ENOCH, ELIJAH, AND MOSES

Enoch and Elijah appear to have been taken to Heaven in their physical bodies. "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for
God took him" (Genesis 5:24, NASB). Apparently Enoch's body was not left behind to bury. The Septuagint translates it as Enoch
"was not found." Hebrews 11:5 explicitly says that Enoch didn't die: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see
death, 'and was not found, because God had taken him'" (NKJV). Similarly, Elijah was taken to Heaven without dying and without
leaving a body behind: "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. AndElisha... saw him no more" (2 Kings 2:11:12, NKJV).

We do not know how bodies under the Curse could be taken to Heaven, but doesn't it appear that they were, since no bodies
were left behind? Our spirits are also under the Curse, but based on Christ's redemptive work they are al­lowed entrance to
Heaven. Perhaps God extended the same grace to allow the bodies of Enoch and Elijah into the intermediate Heaven. If that
is the case, they may even now be living in pre-resurrected bodies in Heaven, just as Christ is living there in his resurrected
body.

Given that at least one and perhaps three people now have bodies in Heaven, isn't it possible that others might be given physical
forms as well?

Moses and Elijah appeared physically with Christ at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36). Because they'd already gone to Heaven
(Moses having died and Elijah having been taken from Earth in a whirlwind), if souls in the present Heaven are disembodied,
God would've had to create temporary bodies for them when they came from Heaven to be with Jesus on the mountain. If so, they
would have gone from being disembodied to embodied, and after the Transfiguration become disembodied again to await the final
resurrection.

A second possibility is that Moses and Elijah came to Earth in the same temporary bodies they already had in Heaven. (In Elijah's
case, his temporary body might even have been his original earthly body, which had never died.) If Moses and Elijah came to
Earth with the same temporary bodies they had in Heaven, they could have returned to Heaven just as they were. Did their joining
Christ on Earth require them to become
something
else, or did it simply involve their coming
somewhere
else? Was it that they were temporarily
embodied,
or merely temporarily
relocated}

The physical presence of Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration seems to demonstrate beyond question that God at least sometimes
creates intermediate bodies for people to inhabit prior to the resurrection of the dead—even if only for Moses and Elijah,
and only while they were on Earth. The question is whether these temporary bodies were granted only to Moses and Elijah while
they were on the mountain, or whether temporary bodies are granted to every­one in the present Heaven.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS?

In the New Testament account of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus ascribes physical properties to people who have died (Luke
16:19-31):

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar
named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his
sores.

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In
hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father
Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony
in this fire."

But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,
but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed,
so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that
they will not also come to this place of torment."

Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them."

"No, father Abraham," he said, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."