PART I

The Present Heaven

What the Bible says about where we go first when we die

What is the "presentHeaven"?

1 Thessalonians 4:13 ... Dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.

Philippians 1:23 ... I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.

The apostle Paul considered it vital for us to know what happens when we die: "Dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died."

Most of this book will be centered on the eternal Heaven—the place where we will live forever after the final Resurrection. But because we've all had loved ones die, and we ourselves will die unless Christ returns first, we should consider what Scripture teaches about the present Heaven—the place Christians go when they die—and where they will live until the return of Christ and the final Resurrection.

When Christians die, they enter into what is often called the "intermediate state," a transitional period between their past lives on Earth and their future resurrection to life on the New Earth. By definition, an intermediate state or location is temporary. "Intermediate" does not mean a halfway place that's only sort of Heaven, but the place where we will live between our lives here and the "final" Heaven that will be centered on the New Earth.

Life in the Heaven we go to when we die is "far better" than living here on Earth under the Curse, away from the direct presence of God. Though it will be a wonderful place, the present Heaven is not the place we are made for, the place God promises to refashion for us to live in forever. God's children are destined for life as resurrected beings on a resurrected Earth.

Are there actually two distinct Heavens?

Revelation 21:1 ... I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. and the sea was also gone.

Books on Heaven often fail to distinguish between the intermediate and the eternal states, using the one word—Heaven—as all-inclusive. But this keeps us from understanding important biblical distinctions.

In this book, when referring to the place believers go after death, I will sometimes use the theological phrase "intermediate Heaven," but more often I will say the "present Heaven." This is because the latter term seems less confusing to most people. However, both terms refer to exactly the same place.

The present Heaven is a temporary residence where departed saints live until the return of Christ and our bodily resurrection. The eternal Heaven, the New Earth, is our true home, the place where we will live forever with our Lord and one another. The great redemptive promises of God will find their ultimate fulfillment on the New Earth, not in the present Heaven.

Once we abandon our assumption that Heaven cannot change, it all makes sense. God does not change; he's immutable. But God clearly says that Heaven will change. It will eventually be relocated to the New Earth. Similarly, what we now refer to as Hell will also be relocated. After the Great White Throne Judgment, Hell will be cast into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15).