From Scripture. This answer is plainly backed by the text of Scripture.
Here is the short answer. In the KJV, “heaven” comes from Hebrew and Greek words that mean the area above us, like the sky or beyond the sky. For example, Genesis 1:20 talks about birds in “heaven,” and we can look up and see them. But Matthew 6:9 says our God is in heaven, and we cannot look up and see Him. That is because the Most High is beyond the heaven we can see.
Scripture says the Most High is in the “heaven of heavens” (1 Kings 8:27). Paul the apostle calls it the “third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2). In other words, He is in the area above the areas that are above us, maybe beyond our sky and outer space.
So who goes to heaven, where God is? A few people have. Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) were both taken into heaven. The Messiah was also taken up out of sight into heaven after He rose from the dead (Acts 1:9). So we can say that God can take people to heaven, and He has. But the Word does not set it up as something we should expect.
Many Christian groups teach that when people die, they go straight to heaven. But the Scriptures and the apostles’ letters teach that those of us who are in the Messiah sleep until He returns. Then we are raised up by His glory. The idea of going straight to heaven comes from reading a few of Paul’s verses poorly and out of context (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23). Paul himself rejects that view in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17. There he makes it clear that those still alive will not go ahead of those who have died. Instead, everyone will be gathered to the Messiah when He returns. This makes sense, because Peter clearly taught that David did not go up into heaven (Acts 2:34). God even comforted Daniel by telling him he would rest until the end and then be raised up (Daniel 12:13). That is just how Paul taught us to comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). So be careful with the common saying, “My grandmother is watching over me from heaven.” That idea comes from Christian tradition, not from Scripture.
Here is what many people do not realize: heaven will actually come to us! The Messiah will return. We will meet Him in the sky, and then the earth will be judged. After all that, the book of Revelation says:
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).
The chapter goes on to describe the city. It is covered in precious stones and gold, even the streets. This is what comes down from God out of heaven. It will be New Jerusalem on the new earth at the end.
Answered by Taught of Yah
