How Long Does it take to get from Earth to Heaven?

How long does it take to get from earth to heaven?

What’s it like to move from the confines of time and space to a “place” (dimension) where time and space have no meaning?

Do you believe such a “journey” is even possible?

Where is heaven? What does it mean to go to heaven? What does it “look” like?

On the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, exiled from family, friends, and his beloved seven churches, John was given the Revelation. It came to him one Lord’s Day (Sunday). He was told to write down the vision—The Revelation—given him and to send it to the seven churches.

While on Patmos he saw the vision of the risen Christ, and he painted for us a word picture of the Christ, the Messiah, who was no longer the man of Nazareth, but the Christ of heaven. His description—word picture—of the risen Christ is found in 1:12-18. There is significance to every word of his description.

John is then given a message for each of the seven churches of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and told to send these messages to the seven.

All of this took place on the earth—the Island of Patmos where he received the Revelation, and Asia Minor where the seven churches were located. (Some interpret these seven churches to be times, or eras, in the life of the church, but the Revelation was given for seven churches who needed to hear the message at the time. But like the epistles of Paul, Peter, James, Jude etc., they also had meaning for all time and all places. We should not attempt to make the Revelation something that it is not.)

In chapter four the scene shifts and changes. John, in the vision, is quickly moved from earth to heaven. And once more he’s charged with painting a word picture for us of what he saw, and he had to write it in such a way that the people in the churches would understand it, but the Roman authorities would not; for much of what he saw related directly to what was happening with those who were in the power of the empire.

“After this (after seeing the risen Christ and the messages to the seven churches) I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open!” (4:1)

Unlike Bob Dylan who was “knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door,” John saw the door standing wide open, ready for him to walk in, to see what was behind the door and in heaven. (Let’s keep in mind this is John’s word picture of what he saw, and therefore he must use metaphors, signs, and symbols. Painting a word picture of heaven was no easy task.)

And then…the invitation: “And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’”

John is about to be given a peek at God’s divine plan for history. In other words, he is about to see the future as it ties to the past and how it all will end in ultimate victory for God and righteousness as the King of kings and Lord of lords will destroy evil. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s enjoy looking into the throne room of God, and spend some time there, and let the meaning and significance of this great vision—Revelation—wash over us.

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne!” (4:2)

At the time John saw this vision, and wrote down the Revelation, the greatest power in the world was centered on the throne of the Caesar in Rome, the center and capital of the powerful Roman Empire. At the time, no one could imagine the Roman Empire ever coming to an end—the Caesar held the power, and those around him carried out his orders. We should not forget that John received the Revelation while he was exiled by the powers of Rome.

But ultimately there is but one throne, and only “One” seated on it. No nation, no empire, is so great that it won’t end. Worldly power is always moving toward an end. Many a person, and many a nation, have been deceived, or deceived themselves, into believing their nation or their empire was so great it could not fall, could not come to an end. We must not fall for the deception. There is only one everlasting kingdom—the kingdom of God, and therefore our first loyalty is to the Almighty and his kingdom. This does not mean we shouldn’t be patriotic and love our country. It does mean we should be careful not to become nationalistic and deceive ourselves into thinking we are so “right” that it all can’t come to an end. Lest we forget, for hundreds of years, no one believed the Roman Empire, or the Holy Roman Empire, would come to an end.

There is but one everlasting throne. It is the throne John saw when heaven’s door was opened. Some day the small and great, the poor and rich, the powerless and the powerful, will stand before that throne, but that’s a story for another day.

John then struggles to paint for us a picture of the great vision—Revelation—that he saw; for who can describe God? “And the one seated there looks like (note looks “like”) jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald.” (4:3)

In the coming chapters of the Revelation, John will see the great horrors that will come upon the earth, but here he is reminded of the rainbow—the symbol of hope; the sign of God’s covenant with the whole earth.

When violence filled the earth, and there was great wickedness, the Lord destroyed the earth with a great flood. There are two ancient and very similar, stories of a great and destructive flood--the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic and the biblical story of Genesis. The writer of Genesis tells us that God saved humanity and the animals of the earth by instructing Noah to build an ark on which he, his family, and the animals would be saved from the flood.

When the great and destructive flood ended, according to the Genesis story, God made a covenant with humanity to never destroy the earth with another flood: “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:11)

The sign of the covenant, the promise of God, the sign of hope, was a rainbow: “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set a bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13)

As John looks into the throne room of God he sees an emerald rainbow over the throne—a sign of hope, a sign of promise, a sign of God’s love for all humanity and the earth.

When evil people are having their way, when the triumph of evil looks like a sure thing, when life keeps throwing you one trouble after another, let John show you the beautiful picture he saw in heaven—“and around the throne is a rainbow”—the sign of hope; the promise behind God’s promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you,”