To Heaven and Back Again: What Heaven is Like (A Map)

December 27, 2014

My tingling hands rest on my stomach, notifying me that the Holy Spirit is with me. Of course, He is always with us, perhaps “active” is more accurate. Instead of relaxing into meditation, I start a conversation, “I know I will be going there soon, but it sure would be nice to find out what Heaven is like now. It would be helpful to kind of have a map of the place before I get there.”

Images and information come quickly into my mind:

All light comes from God – it is part of Him that permeates every inch of Heaven. It isn’t only light, it’s feeling: comfort, joy, peace, hope. It is as much a physical thing as water in the ocean. The closer you come to God, the more “presence” you feel. It is better than any drug you’ve ever taken.
God’s main presence is at the center of Heaven. Enormous walls surround a city that is the size of a small country. Inside these gates, the presence is the most powerful. This is Heaven, where the throne of God is. Once in God’s presence, all questions are answered. Every ounce of your being knows love beyond love, acceptance, and goodness beyond imagining. Outside the walls, the presence lessens the farther away you get.

The Bible is clear:

John 14:6 Amplified Bible (AMP)6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.

The Bible is clear, none will come before God without Jesus. This place doesn’t have access to the throne room or even the city. The only way to enter the gates into the very presence of God is through Christ. But there is a point, a distance very far off, where God’s presence is no longer palpable to your senses. The Bible tells us that people who have no knowledge of Christ will be judged according to their actions and the motives of their hearts. Without knowledge of Christ, this is as close as people can come to Heaven.

Imagine an invisible curtain cutting off 99.9% of God’s presence. This is where people go according to the lives they have lived if they have never heard of Jesus. It isn’t bad. It is beautiful and more vivid than anything on Earth, but it isn’t even close to being in God’s presence.

When God sent His Son, He sent a gift that is almost too good to be true: God sacrificed part of Himself, taking all the punishment we deserved so that we could join with the Holy Spirit and become “born again” – a new being capable of entering His presence. Did you kill someone, ruin someone’s life, do horrible, unspeakable things? Do you deserve to be beaten to a bloody pulp? Do you deserved to be whipped as the flesh is torn from your back? Or maybe you deserve to die a torturous death… well, Jesus – God in the flesh – suffered all those things so that you don’t have to. Man’s law may still punish you, but after that, for the rest of eternity, you are FREE. That is one heck of a gift.

The ultimate gift God gives us is FREE WILL. Because of this we don’t have to accept anything. When we reject this payment God made for us – the price Jesus paid – we are telling God that He isn’t good enough. That we don’t want Him. He allows us to make that choice.

Those who deny the sacrifice Jesus made by becoming a man and suffering for us go to a place where God has withdrawn from completely: no light, no hope, no peace, no comfort, no love. This is Hell. This is where Lucifer (that Old Dragon, the Devil) lives. He is the Arch Angel that rebelled against God because he didn’t want to bow to God’s children (us). Lucifer rules here in this place of darkness. He disguises himself as “light,” pure and beautiful. But Satan hates man because God loves him so much. Those who reject God (even in the form of Christ) are choosing to be in Satan’s hands.

“What would it look like on a map?” I asked. Instantly, a picture comes to mind. At first I see what most will see: God, the temple, and the city in the center surrounded by a world. But then I realize that this is only one view. Heaven isn’t a straight line, though at first most will perceive it that way. Distance is measured by your location to and from God, but there are layers.

Take a stream for instance: The River of Life runs from the Holy City. One layer will have rolling hills leading to a forest, another has trees of a different variety, another has a desert. If one is able to grasp it…two steps could take you from a desert to a mountain, two more to the shores of a sea.

~ Side Note ~

I hesitate to write of this night, after all, I did create a fantasy world that is so vibrant many readers feel pulled into another world. Could this all be made up by my creative imagination? I am afraid so. One day I will speak to the Lord, and when I return I will let you know if this was Him or me.