Why Doesn't the Bible End with Heaven?

The story we think we know

The Bible doesn't end with Heaven It ends with Heaven...and Earth. But when Christians die today they do leave Earth and go up to Heaven right? Here's an illustration that might help—

Copernicus changed the frame

In 1543, Copernicus published a book that got him in serious trouble. Not because he lied or made things up, but because he reframed people's assumptions in a major way. The whole world had agreed for thousands of years that earth was at the center of the universe, with the sun revolving around us.

And they had it exactly backwards. Both ancient and middle ages people had a lot of things right about the same stars and sun that Copernicus was studying, but the framing was wrong. And once he shifted the focus, the whole system made more sense. Author Skye Jethani uses this analogy to help us understand key themes we're missing in the Biblical story--themes that span Creation at the beginning to New Creation at the end.

The assumptions we inherit

Most of us have assumptions we've received from the media and our cultural upbringing that we've never closely examined against the Bible.

--some of these assumptions we don't know we have!

A similar framing misconception exists about Heaven and Earth today. We know a lot of true things about Heaven, but if you ask people what the Bible has to say about Earth — most of what you'll hear is off the mark. In a short video, we'll narrow in on direction and biblical focus.

A familiar picture of heaven

If you ask 10 strangers on the street about Christianity, they probably envision people leaving Earth forever. You die. You go UP. And Earth--even the body you're in right now to some degree--is like dirty old clothing you change out of and move on from. In fact, if you ask a new Christian, what the whole Bible is about, you might hear something centered on dying and then going to heaven or hell. Think about how natural it feels to say "heaven and hell" in the same breath — like "good and evil" or "up and down." It just sounds right. But Jethani points out that those two words are never actually paired together anywhere in the Bible—not because Hell isn't real, but because the Bible cares a lot about earth.

The pairing we miss

The pairing the Bible uses over and over starting from the very first sentence — is heaven and earth. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." These words are loaded with intentional.

That's the pairing that runs through the whole story from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 21. But you wouldn't know it from what surrounds us.

Funerals lean on messages like:

"Gone home." "In a better place." "I'll fly away." And it's this UP direction that many worship songs, films, and sympathy cards carry.

A Copernican shift

Here's where the analogy starts to land.

Present heaven is real—but incomplete

Like the ancients who were experts on the stars, a lot of what people believe about Heaven in that picture is completely true. Right now, heaven is genuinely very different from earth. When Christians die today, they go to be with Christ like the thief on the cross. They do leave their body behind and enter a place of rest. Relationship with God is the best part of Heaven, and it's a place of light and God's glory. Some people call this heaven "present heaven" because it's an incomplete story, missing God's final act.

Where the story is headed

The hope of the entire Old Testament was both heavenly AND earthly. This same hope was held by Paul when he writes about the fullness of time and all things being united in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth--Ephesians 1. And by Peter when he says we are "waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Like the ancient astronomers, many pieces are right, but the frame needs adjusting to align with the picture the Biblical story is painting.

Earthiness is not worldliness

The Bible tells us in Colossians to "set our minds on things above, not on things that are on earth." In verses like this, it's important that we distinguish between worldliness--how we don't live for the kingdom of man and the temporary things of this world--and earthiness, God's good creation.

Up is the middle, not the end

Heaven comes down

In the final chapters of the Bible, we read about "a new heavens and a new earth." And in that vision, the direction is DOWN, not UP. John watches the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming DOWN to a renewed earth. God will dwell with them on this new heavens and new earth that become united.

And the city John describes is cube-shaped — the exact same proportions as the Holy of Holies, the innermost room of the Jewish temple where God's fullest presence sat behind a curtain. The picture we take away is that inner sanctuary--a presence so glorious and powerful that no one could enter it--expanding until it fills the whole earth. Isaiah 11 says "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." This is God's presence overflowing everything to the full.

In other words, "His kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." So the final act is heaven coming DOWN to earth — not people evacuating. Yes, it's accurate to think of going up from earth to heaven. That's a real part of the picture. But it's the middle of the story, not the end.

People you love who have died have gone up to be with Christ. But Christ will come down with them. If the John 14 "I go to prepare a place for you" verse is coming to mind, let's bookmark it for now--because it deserves its own video. God will make his home with us on a renewed creation that he created good from the very beginning. The incredible cosmos he made isn't like a paper cup--created to be used up and then tossed--it was created good and to be filled with good.

A presence that fills the earth

God's presence in the Old Testament is always coming down — to a mountain, to a tabernacle, to a temple — and later in the person of Jesus Christ. We're not going to resolve every question today. This video is about the Copernican shift--from just up to first up then down and from a disposable Earth to what the Bible calls a renewed earth — the Greek word is kainos, meaning new-in-quality, not new-from-scratch. Take a moment and notice how hard it is to desire Heaven--a major part of it is we think we have to REMOVE Earth from the picture as much as possible to imagine Heaven. But the Biblical mission isn't about removing Earth. It's about removing sin, death, and evil and then adding the fullness of Heaven and God's presence.

From an abandoned Earth to a renewed one

What the shift changes

The stars Copernicus looked at were the same stars his teachers had looked at for centuries. He didn't change the stars, he changed the focus. Like a shift from everything revolving around the earth to around the sun, we need to shift our thinking from up from an abandoned Earth--to down to a redeemed one. One where Jesus is king of kings and has total victory over sin and death everywhere.

And on the very planet where Jesus and his people suffered and were mistreated. What would change about how you live right now, if you knew the life of Heaven is invading Earth in part today and to the full one day when Christ makes his home with us? How wonderful will it be to share that new world with God and with one another?