HEAVEN IN THE NORTH

Where is heaven? Have you ever thought about it? Does the Bible have any clues?

Whenever you ask a child, "Where is heaven?" they will usually point straight up. Twelve hours later if they were still pointing upward, they would be pointing in a totally different direction. Because the earth is turning on its axis constantly, the direction (when you point upward) is constantly changing. So then, where is heaven? Doesn't the Bible give us some more specific clues?

It appears from a study of the Scriptures that heaven is located in the North in our universe. When they would offer the sacrifices in the Old Testament they would offer them northward toward the Lord. Notice what Moses said in Leviticus 1:11, "And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar." The implication is clear that the Lord is in the north. "Northward before the Lord," says God's Word.

North is always the same direction from this planet no matter what time of day. If you were to point to the north in the morning, twelve hours later you would still be pointing in the same direction. No matter where the earth is in its orbit about the sun, north is always the same direction in relationship to the earth. So no matter what time of day or what time of year, north is always the same direction.

The Bible also implies that salvation comes from the north. In Psalms75:6 we read, "For promotion (salvation) cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south."

Therefore, we conclude that salvation comes from the north since it is the only choice left. God and heaven must be located in the north of our universe.

Thirty-five hundred years ago in the book of Job in the Old Testament, God gave us two amazing scientific facts in one verse. Job 26:7 says, "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." One scientific fact is that the earth is hung in space upon nothing. History tells us that man did not know this, but what man did believe about the earth was scientifically in error.

The Egyptians, for example, believed that the earth was a saucer held up by four pillars with a ring of mountains around the edge to keep the water from running off. The Greeks believed that the earth rested upon the back of Atlas. Because this theory was so popular and widespread, we still see its effects today. For example, when you obtain a book of maps it is called an Atlas. The Hindus believed that the earth was carried on an elephant's back and that the elephant was standing on a turtle swimming in a cosmic sea.

Amazingly the Bible did not include any of these myths and fairy tales, but simply stated that the earth was hung upon nothing. Science cannot give us a better description than this. If you ask a scientist what holds the earth in place, he will say "gravity". If you ask him what "gravity" is, he will answer "that which holds the earth in place." Actually, they have no better answer than the one God gave us 3,500 years ago in the book of Job.

Job 26:7 also says, "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place." Here is another amazing scientific fact. There is an empty place or void in the north of our universe. It was first discovered with the 200-inch telescope on Mount Palomar, California, and is now being studied by three separate observatories across the country. This empty place has been found to be so large that it could contain 2,000 milky ways. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. That would mean that light traveling at 186,000 miles per second would take 100,000 years to travel from one end of the Milky Way to the other.

We believe that heaven is located in that void in the north of our universe.

Lucifer (Satan) in his rebellion (when he tried to overthrow God) spoke of this void in the north. Isaiah 14:13 tells us, "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north." This must refer to this empty corridor in the north where there are no stars. Heaven is said to be there.

One fascinating passage is found in Psalms 48:1-2. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." Without a doubt, this is a reference to the New Jerusalem and not to the earthly Jerusalem. "But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to our innumerable company of angels (Hebrew 12:22)."

When the Bible says, "Beautiful for situation," as the verse continues to explain, it is a reference to the fact that the city is located in the north of our universe. From "the sides of the north" God has a beautiful overview of the entire universe and of the whole earth.

One day this New Jerusalem will come down from heaven to the new earth according to Revelation 21:1,2. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

We believers have a home in heaven waiting for us in this heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. Jesus tells us, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2,3)."

You can know for sure before you die that you will go there to live if you simply trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour. I John 5:13 says, "These things I am writing to you that you believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."