Jesus rose bodily from the dead and after forty days ascended into heaven.
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10–11 (NKJV)
This indicates that heaven is an actual place above the earth, not just a spiritual dimension. (I have written more about this in another article.) Jesus’ physical body has to be somewhere. It did not de-materialize.
Those who believe that the Bible’s description of the earth and heavens is true understand that God’s throne is located above the dome of the firmament.
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22 (NKJV)
The Bible gives us descriptions of this place called heaven.
And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. Ezekiel 1:26–28 (NKJV)
This sure does resemble the description of Jesus in the Book of Revelation.
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:12–18 (NKJV)
Jesus identified himself as the Son of Man prophesied by Daniel when he stood before the Sanhedrin. According to our Lord, he will return in glory to the earth coming down from heaven in the clouds.
Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64 (NKJV)
Putting all of this together, Jesus ascended into a real place called heaven, which is located atop the firmament. There he sits on God’s throne, waiting for the day of his return, from where he will descend in the clouds to the earth in judgment on all who ever lived. If we believe the Bible, we know these things. If we believe the heliocentric lie, we must spiritualize heaven into some unknown mystical place out there in the infinite void of the ever-expanding universe. I believe the Bible and believe that I will one day see what Ezekiel and John saw.
