One of the most pervasive misperceptions about Heaven is that it is a purely ethereal, non-physical place—a place where disembodied spirits float around in an immaterial dimension, presumably playing harps! Some don’t even consider it a place at all, but have reduced it to a state of mind!

But this is not the Heaven described in the Bible.

Perhaps the strongest argument for a physical dimension to Heaven is the fact that Jesus is there right now, physically, in His resurrected body. And it’s not just Jesus who took a body with him into Heaven; the Bible tells us that Enoch and Elijah were also transported there in their physical bodies (Hebrews 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11). 

So the Bible makes it clear that there are at least three people presently in Heaven who have a human, physical form. This strongly suggests that there must be a dimension to Heaven that makes accommodation for embodied people—that it’s not just an ethereal, non-physical place.

Adding a bit more food for thought is the fact that the Bible describes the Tree of Life (pun intended), first mentioned as being physically present in the earthly Garden of Eden, as now physically existing and producing fruit in Heaven.

Reason also supports the idea of a physical dimension to Heaven. Consider the following illustration:

Let’s say you’ve been invited to have dinner at the mansion of a friend who happens to be incredibly wealthy, with maids and butlers and cooks available at his beckoned call.

On the night of the engagement, as you’re in route, your car suddenly starts to sputter and then comes to an abrupt halt, stranding you nearly a mile from your destination. So you decide to walk the rest of the way.

With just a couple of blocks to go you hear a loud thunder clap, and the next thing you know you’re overtaken by high winds and driving rain.

As you bolt to get out of the torrential downpour, you stumble and take a hard spill on the sidewalk, badly scraping your knee. Moments later you arrive, soaked through to the bone and bleeding. Your host, happy to see you, quickly ushers you in from the storm.

But then your friend does the most bizarre thing. Actually, it’s what he doesn’t do that’s so surprising. Although he sees your terrible condition, and hears your shoes squishing and squeaking as you pass through the foyer, he makes no effort to respond to your obvious needs. No towel with which to dry off is offered, no clothes to replace the ones that are torn and wet, and no bandage is forthcoming for your injured knee. Instead, he invites you directly to the dining room where you spend the rest of the evening in his lovely home over a sumptuous meal, all the while dripping, shivering, and bleeding.

In an effort to avoid the expense of buying a new vehicle, I once bought an older van and replaced the engine. In my mind, this would be the next best thing to having a new van. My plan was working like a charm until the transmission starting slipping. Shortly after I replaced my transmission, the drive shaft literally fell off while I was driving down the highway. The problems cascaded into a series of minor and not so minor issues until I finally couldn’t afford my van anymore. I sold it for a fraction of what I had put into it just to stop the bleeding. Sometimes things don’t turn out according to our plans. That’s because, being human, our best intentions are often flawed. 

We must be careful, however, not to superimpose this same limitation on God. Unlike us, God’s intentions are always perfect. So perfect that God Himself can’t even improve upon them. This is a very powerful principle. To observe just how powerful, take note of everything God has ever intended to do and you’ll discover a very significant pattern. When God intends to do something, one way or another, it always happens.

Take the subject matter at hand as an example. To discover what Heaven will be like, all we really have to do is take note of God’s original intentions. After God created the universe and everything in it, the Bible says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). That means everything was exactly how God intended it to be. Man was granted dominion over a perfect world. There was no death, no sickness, no sin and no struggle—just as God intended.

So, what would have happened had Adam and Eve never eaten the forbidding fruit? Presumably, mankind would have lived forever in an earthly paradise. Fruit and vegetable bearing plants would have thrived instead of weeds. Man would have leisurely enjoyed exercising dominion over God’s creation. The animal kingdom would have lived in submission to man as its caretaker, enjoying peace and harmony within itself. But sadly, man sinned, and paradise was lost forever. Or was it?

Don’t you just hate it when things aren’t compatible? Like when all you have is a standard socket set and the bolt you need to remove requires a metric socket. Or, when you forget to bring your phone charger on a trip and you can’t use your spouse’s because she has a newer model phone. We’ve all been there.

That’s how many people think of Heaven and Earth, as though they are opposites, incompatible in virtually every way. But such an antithetical view of Heaven and Earth creates problems of its own.

Have you ever noticed the contradiction between the pastor’s comments at a typical funeral service versus the comments made at the ensuing graveside service? The funeral message often speaks of an ethereal Heaven where the deceased is delivered from all of their earthly concerns and physical struggles, while the focus at the graveside is placed on the hope of a bodily resurrection. Now that’s a head scratcher! If our eternal abode is a blissful, though immaterial Heaven, why would we be brought back for a bodily resurrection? What possible good would a body be in a non-physical Heaven anyway? Oddly, few seem to notice the incongruity.

The source of this confusion stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of Heaven itself. The Bible doesn’t view Heaven and Earth as incompatible opposites but as a Kingdom that has been divided. Remember, in the beginning, we are told that Adam walked with God in Paradise and that Paradise existed here on Earth.

Heaven wasn’t an ethereal, non-physical place at that time. And it won’t be in the future when we have been resurrected and have physical bodies that require a Heaven that can accommodate them. So why should we believe that Heaven is any different right now? 

Nevertheless, many people think of Heaven and Earth as though they represent two discordant realities—like oil and water, destined to be separated forever. But once again, we discover something remarkably different when we allow the Bible to weigh in on the issue. The Bible not only suggests that Heaven and Earth are compatible, the Apostle Paul wrote that a day is coming when they will be reunited!

“And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everything in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:10, NLT).

The Apostle John added his voice to the conversation, providing an eyewitness account of this future event.

“And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:2-3, NLT).