If you ask people if they believe that heaven is for real, most of them will say yes. But if you asked them if they know what it’s like or how to get there, you will get different answers. Many people belief in heaven and want to go there when they die, but most of them know very little about heaven.

Some people think of heaven as a place where formless spirits float about or winged people sit on clouds playing harps. Even some Christians have said they hoped that it wasn’t like one long boring church service that never ends. The truth is, our human limitations keep us from understanding much about what heaven is. We have nothing to compare it to so we can hardly begin to understanding what God has prepared for us.

Heaven is our future home and it is where we belong, we are only travelers here on earth. When we get there, we will meet all of the believers from all of time, there will be no conflicts or misunderstandings, only perfect love and intimacy. Heaven will have no pain, tears, mourning, or death. Frustration, boredom, and all problems will cease, our bodies will never grow old, and we will never get tired, or sick. The ideal fellowship we all yearn for will be ours forever. I believe that there is infinitely more to heaven then we can comprehend, but God did show John a vision of the future that all who have trusted Jesus Christ as their savior will be a part of.

During his exile on the island of Patmos, John was given a vision from God showing him the future.  In his vision, John saw a great white throne; he saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. The books (all of the records kept) were opened and the book of life was also opened and the dead were judged from things that were written in the books, according to their works. This is where the people that were not found in the book of life are sent to their second death.

Then John writes that he saw a new heaven and a new earth with no sea; he begins to see the holy city coming down from God out of heaven and he hears a great voice saying behold the dwelling place of God is with men. An angel then took John away in spirit to a great mountain to show him the city of God descending out of heaven, John begins to describe how the city is lit by the glory of God; what the city is made of, the design, and the size of it in Revelation 21:4. John continues to explain what he sees inside the city…heaven is for real. The Lord God finishes talking to John by telling him “surely I come quickly” Amen.

I was thinking about a conversation between two men that I had the privilege of reading about not too long ago. I would like to share what I remember about that conversation because although I have a strong faith in God and that He is the creator and sustainer of all things, I have never been able to explain to someone who has no faith (in simple words) why God has always been; that no one made Him, He is eternal and does not need a maker and that He created and sustains everything. This is a summary of what I read in that article.

To start with, we must all agree that something cannot be created by nothing – and yet the universe is here…we are here; to me this alone is obvious evidence that God exists and has created everything, that includes heaven…heaven is for real, but to the person that cannot see God, it is not enough. In the conversation between these two men, a skeptic has asked a man of faith what evidence he has that God exists, so the man of faith asked the skeptic that if by looking at only a painting he could believe that the painter exists. The skeptic replied that it would be enough for him to believe that the painter exists, so the other man said that is how it is with the universe. The existence of the universe itself is evidence enough for a Creator.

The skeptic then asked that if the universe was created by God then who or what created God? The man of faith explained that nobody created God because unlike the universe that is finite, God has always existed, He is infinite; He has no beginning and no ending. But the universe, as scientists have shown, has not always existed so…anything that begins to exist requires a maker… as nothing cannot produce something. The skeptic replied that he still thought that it is impossible for God to have just always existed. The man of faith reminded him to keep in mind that something must have always existed in order to create the something that has not always existed. He asked the skeptic to think of it this way:

If there was ever a time when absolutely nothing existed then nothing would exist now. Something does exist now so there was never a time when absolutely nothing existed. No one made God; He is eternal and needs no maker. The universe is not eternal and does require a maker.

How can one say that because I don't understand there never being a time when God did not exist that it is not true. Would God be God if we could understand everything about Him?