The Hebrew Scriptures, the Psalms in particular, are very clear that the Creator God, 'Yahweh' to the Hebrews, makes His home in 'the heavens', or, more traditionally, 'Heaven'. When it comes to a description of 'Heaven', though, things get a bit cloudy, so to speak! Jesus' parabolic story of the rich man & Lazarus in Luke 16 describes it as a place of comfort: David & the other Psalm writers simply use the word 'heaven' or 'heavens' ( 'Hebrew-shamayim-'lofty, the sky ) & speak of it as a 'place' that is higher, or more elevated than us. The closest we get to an actual description of 'Heaven', probably, in the entire Scriptures, is in the Revelation, where John offers us his very typological ( or is that 'anti-typical'? ) description of the throne room. The point is, our traditional notion of 'heaven', with 'a harp, a home, a crown', is not really supported by Scripture, but is almost pure speculation-no, I didn't forget the 'mansions' that Jesus promised in John 14, but as we've discussed in previous posts, these simply refer to those souls which have welcomed the knowledge of the Creator God!
The fulfillment of Scripture, in the past tense, anyway, seems to present modern Christianity with many problems, one of which is that if eschatology is indeed in the past & the Kingdom of God, or Heaven has come to Earth, then where DOES the Creator call home?! We have also explored previously in this blog, in a number of posts, that Jesus promised, also in John 14 ( 23 ), 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him'. The objection might well be made here, such as, 'Though God, in the Spirit, HAS made His home in our 'hearts', He is STILL omnipresent, dwelling in 'Heaven'!' As the case may be, the Creator God, although He/She/It, as promised, has made His/Her/Its Home with mankind, I'm certainly NOT saying that the Creator of the Universe has been relegated to one certain 'place', the 'hearts' of His/Her/Its People!
Is there an actual 'place' out there somewhere in the Universe, called 'Heaven', or is 'Heaven' or the realm of the Creator God ( some would call it simply 'Energy' ) in another dimension altogether, as has been speculated about on this blog of late? I must say, I've heard it put forth by certain Christians that 'Heaven' is actually a certain physical location, somewhere in the Universe, where the Creator God dwells with His Son, Jesus the Christ, in His human form, no less, who sits at His right hand, 'whence He shall come............to judge the living and the dead'! This is actually the traditional Christian doctrine of 'Heaven', more or less & while it does agree with Scripture, also ends up denying what Jesus Himself promised!
What if 'Heaven' IS simply in another dimension? The words of Jesus, for example in John 18:36, 'My
kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My
servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but
now My kingdom is not from here.', would seem to make some sense. It is true, some research will easily show that the 'world' of which Jesus spoke here ( Greek-kosmos ) was the 'world' of the 1st-century Jews, but we may infer that, since Jesus used 'kosmos' rather than 'oikoumenē', that the entire Creation, of which we are only a very small part, may be in view here!
Jesus' promise as recorded in John 14:23 does not state specifically where, in us, the Great Spirit would make Its Home, but, as we have loosely maintained that it is in our 'heart', I will leave it up to private speculation as to what might be meant by 'heart'-most certainly not the biological organ! The mind, or even brain, might more specifically indicate the dwelling-place of 'God in the Spirit', as this is primarily the seat of knowledge & might be called 'the physical manifestation of the spirit'.
Eschatologically speaking, Jesus promised that He would return in His Father's glory to the generation of people then living: though some died before that generation had passed away, many had not & to say that He did not is to deny this very important truth! Jesus also taught His disciples to pray, 'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as [ it is ] in heaven' & though it might well be interjected here that Jesus simply instructed them to pray that His Father's will be done on earth 'as [ it is ] in heaven', rather than that His Kingdom should come to earth, it has been almost universally accepted that it what Jesus meant!
The Glory of the Creator God is definitely NOT limited to this heavenly realm, or dimension, if you will; its all around us! Call it 'Energy', call it 'God', call it 'the Universe' ( even 'Mother Earth' ), it is obviously manifested in & through us, as well as the Creation that surrounds us. When we call upon our Heavenly Father, the Energy that makes up our very being, or the Universe itself, we pray, not so much to a Force outside us, but to One that is Within us as well; One that is a part of us, One that makes up our very existence!
Charles Haddon Shank
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