I recently was reading an article about a certain location. My mind stopped on the name of the location. I did what most people would do. I used one of the mapping apps to find the location. But you will not find heaven on any map. The only place we can find the answer to the question “Where is heaven?” is in the Bible.”
There is no shortage of ideas of where the real heaven is located. Some might believe it is below us in subterranean earth. Others might believe that it is somewhere above the universe. The best response is that it is probably in another dimension outside of ours. The Bible offers a more practical perspective on the location of heaven. “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” (Psalm 73:25) The Psalmist Asaph reminds us of one often overlooked reality of a relationship with our Creator.
Psalm 73 has been a very special Psalm for me. It is in this Psalm that we gain a glimpse of Asaph’s struggle in a culture where evil appears to thrive. He was at a point of losing hope and compromising or possibly abandoning his faith in God. “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.” (Psalm 73:2) He then goes on to speak of his envy of the arrogance and prosperity of those who rejected God. They seemed to get away with everything. There seemed to be no consequences for their self-centered lifestyle. The even got away with mocking God. He reveals being at the point of despair as a follower of the Creator. “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.” (Psalm 73:13–14) He was being pulled under by the quicksand of a distorted perspective. It is easy to tumble down the rabbit hole of disappointment when pushed by the flow of secular media. Like Asaph, the follower of Christ can also become easily disillusioned and discouraged.
His perspective was transformed when he turned from looking at the distraction of culture and focused on God. “until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” (Psalm 73:17) It was not until he looked at life from God’s perspective that like came into focus. It was then he saw the demise of those that reject God. He repented of his foolishness, and experienced genuine spiritual renewal and spiritual revitalization. It is here that we find the life changing answer to our question, “Where is heaven?” The answer, it is where Christ is! “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” (Psalm 73:25)
I love this quote that I came across in my studies for our message this Sunday on Jesus’ words to the thief, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”” (Luke 23:43) “That which makes heaven superlatively attractive to the heart of the saint is not that heaven is a place where we shall be delivered from all sorrow and suffering, nor is it that heaven is the place where we shall meet again those we loved in the Lord, nor is it that heaven is the place of golden streets and pearly gates and jasper walls—no, blessed as those things are, heaven without Christ would not be heaven. It is Christ that the heart of the believer longs for and pants after—““Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” (Psalm 73:25) Heaven is where Christ is. And it is not on any map. But if you know Him, it is where you are, as the Psalmist discovered!
-Pastor Joe Parkinson