Some Preliminary Thoughts About New Creation/Heaven in the New Testament

• The NT has much more development of the concepts of afterlife, heaven, and hell than the OT. During the intertestamental period, we see a growth from the OT concept of Sheol (a place where all the dead go) to the NT conceptions of an afterlife with reward and punishment. 
• Therefore, the NT is going to have more detailed statements about heaven than that which we see in the OT, while still using the same language and imagery found in the OT. 

Defining Terms: “Heaven” and “Earth”

• The NT is going to expand upon the OT understanding/meaning of “heaven,” “earth,” and afterlife. 
• The first meaning of “heaven” is everything that is “up there” (e.g., sky, stars, space, etc.; Gen 1:1). 
• “Heaven” is also the place where God is, because ancient people believed God to be “up there” (e.g., tower of Babel, temple mount, Mt. Zion, Moses and Mt. Sinai etc.). 
• “Earth,” then, is everything that is “down here,” where people live (i.e., the ground). 
• So, the word “heaven” speaks, not of an actual location to go, but a place where God is, as opposed to “earth” where we are (e.g., “the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew’s Gospel). 
• Heaven (i.e., the place where God is) and earth (i.e., the place we are) are not the same, but they do overlap (e.g., 2 Kings 6:15–19; Eph 6:12). 

Jesus and Heaven in the Synoptic Gospels

• If you read through the Synoptic Gospels, you will find that Jesus does not spend very much time talking about heaven. 
• Jesus’ discussion of the afterlife/eternity centers around the language of reward/punishment, the “coming of the Son of Man,” and the coming of the kingdom. 

The reason is because Jesus has what is called an apocalyptic worldview. This is a view that in the world there is a battle going on between forces of evil and good, or forces of Satan and God. Jesus, as the leader of the kingdom of God, has come into the world to battle the forces of evil. Jesus and the kingdom of God ultimately win the battle at the cross through the resurrection. The world now waits for the complete victory and the fullness of the kingdom of God when Jesus returns and the kingdom is fully realized.

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Looking for more? Check out our discussion on how the Synoptic Gospels were composed here: