Here, There, or in the Air

Often, when people say to me, “See you later,” I respond, “Here, there, or in the air.” It may sound flippant or cute, but I mean something theologically significant by it. As a Christian, I believe the words of the old song, “This world is not my home; I’m just a-passin’ through.” Absolute certainty of our eternal destiny is the shining hope of everyone who has trusted Jesus Christ. As I will explain momentarily, confusion about “this world” being home or not plagues many sincere Christ-followers. If we are just “passin’ through,” where exactly are we headed?

To answer this, I will share how the quip, “Here, there, or in the air” plays out in my opinion. When I agree that I may meet my friends “here,” I am thinking of this space-time continuum – Earth as we know it. Perhaps I will see them tomorrow, next week, or next year here on earth. We can’t know for sure we will ever see someone again because all our days are numbered, and no one knows which one will be the last. But if God grants that we each spend the intervening time here, we may well meet again here. That’s the simple part of the triad.

It gets much more complicated when I try to explain what I mean by “there.” For much of my life as a believer, I thought “there” meant Heaven. Most Christians believe they will go to Heaven when they die, although the New Testament never makes that assertion. Shocked? I have previously written at length that the British theologian, N. T. Wright corrected my thinking on that subject in his book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. Wright points out that when Jesus spoke of heaven, He was always referring to the Kingdom of Heaven which is not a place, per se, but a state of being ruled by the King of Heaven. Heaven came to earth in one sense with the first coming of our Savior, and it’s coming will be fully realized at His return. (More on that later.)

So, if we don’t go to Heaven when we die, where do we go – where is “there.” Wright holds out the possibility that there could be a “there” that might better be called “paradise” where departed souls wait for the end of the age. This idea rests on the assumption that humans remain time-bound creatures after they die. If time continues to roll in the afterlife, there must be a waiting place somehow related to this place (Earth) that houses disembodied souls (or perhaps re-embodied souls). The only Scripture that seems to hint at this is Jesus’ story about the dead beggar who rested in Abraham’s bosom while his earthly tormentors suffered on the other side of an impassable chasm.

There are several things about that story that are troublesome which makes me believe Jesus was simply playing to the contemporary Jewish belief about the afterlife. Scripture often uses imagery that fits the understanding of its recipients without describing literal truth. Two common ones are that the sun rises and sets or that the Earth rests on foundations. Neither of these descriptions matches reality, but they both are used to teach absolute truth. I am of the opinion that there is no actual place called “Abraham’s bosom” where dead souls wait for the end of the age. However, the Jews in Jesus’ day did believe in such a place, so He used it to make a point. The point was that once you die, there is no going back for second chances.

So, if Wright is wrong about a “paradise” where the dead wait, where is “there?” Personally, I think that there is no “there” there. I suspect that when we die, we leave this space-time continuum and enter the spiritual realm where time is an entirely different construct. There is no need for “waiting” because time will have ceased to be an issue we deal with. Difficult as it may be to grasp, it makes sense to me that everyone goes directly into eternity upon their death. After death comes judgment; thus says the Scripture. You might say that we all die at the same “time.”

Now we come to what I mean by “in the air.” Paul told the Thessalonians that upon Jesus’ return, they would meet the Lord “in the air,” and thus be forever with the Lord. This passage has been much abused by a group of believers who look forward to a rapture of the church near the end of the age. Again, I thank Wright for clearing up what this passage actually refers to. He points to a parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 15 that also details what happens to believers both living and dead upon Christ’s second “coming.” Christ is said to “appear,” and believers are changed into their eternal, spiritual state. The same idea is found in Philippians 3:21 where Paul speaks of being transformed into a body like Jesus’ glorious body when Christ returns.

The word “coming” in Corinthians translates the Greek word “parousia” which had a very specific meaning in the ancient world of Paul. When an important person came to visit a city, he would “appear” outside the gate, and the citizens would go out to meet him and escort him into the city; they didn’t stay outside the gates. The dignitary’s parousia was the signal that the king’s representative had come. He was bringing the king’s authority to his citizens. Rather than being raptured and taken away from their homes, the parousia initiated a new state of affairs in their old world. Applying this concept to the second coming, Jesus’ parousia will mark the beginning of the new heavens and new earth where His faithful ones will dwell for eternity. The judgment – the sheep versus goats, tares separated from wheat – happens at this “time,” and it determines who gets to be where.

The ancients pictured heaven as being “in the air.” So do we when we point up to locate Heaven. Like the ancient idea of a third heaven – a spiritual realm – we should also think of Heaven as a spiritual “place” in the sense that it encompasses the entirety of where we will live eternally in our resurrected, “spiritual bodies” as Paul calls them. Heaven and Earth will be one as originally intended. To meet Jesus “in the air” is a confirmation of the belief that we will be transformed into our eternal, spiritual state. I believe, as Wright insists, that we will spend eternity in our resurrected bodies on a renewed earth reunited with “Heaven.” As John says, “We will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.” I can’t wait! So, until we meet again – here, there, or in the air.

Related posts: Understanding Salvation; Why Heaven Matters; Defending Resurrection Faith