Yes, heaven, the place where God lives, exists. "Heaven" generally refers to a place beyond earth; this can include the air, outer space, or the "highest heaven," which is the realm of God.
In common parlance, when we refer to heaven, we are usually interested in the place where believers will dwell with God after death. Does this heaven really exist? The Bible indicates there is a sort of temporary heaven in which believers will dwell until Jesus returns. After Jesus returns and end-times prophecies are fulfilled, the Bible says there will be a new heavens and new earth, which also include a New Jerusalem. This will be the heaven in which believers live for eternity. The Bible describes heaven as a place where there will be no sickness, no death, and no pain (Revelation 21:1–4).
Revelation 21:23–27 describes heaven this way: "And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life."
Some reject the idea of heaven based on misconceptions that heaven is angels playing harps on clouds, or a prolonged, eternal church service, which the above description clearly dispels. Others reject the idea of heaven on spiritual grounds, choosing to believe in some aspect of reincarnation or that people cease to exist on any level when they die. Both of these are false beliefs. The Bible is clear that heaven does exist.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God "has put eternity into man's heart." Most people believe in some sort of afterlife, and most expect to be rewarded in heaven (Matthew 7:13–14). But the truth is that the only way we will spend eternity in heaven is if we repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
There is an afterlife, and we each have a choice of where to spend eternity. Either we choose to be in rebellion against God here and for eternity, or we choose to submit to His plan of salvation and have communion with Him here and for eternity. Heaven does exist, and it is the final home of all who place their faith in Jesus. The amazing thing about salvation is that communion with God begins in our earthly lives. We need not wait until heaven to experience His goodness, and yet we also know that any good we experience on Earth is but a foretaste of what He has in store for His children (1 Corinthians 2:9).
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