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Heaven is most certainly a real place. The Bible speaks of heaven鈥檚 existence—and access to heaven through faith in Jesus Christ—but there are no verses that give us a geographical (or astronomical) location. The short answer to the question of 鈥渨here is heaven?鈥� is 鈥渉eaven is where God is.鈥�

The place people call 鈥渉eaven鈥� is also referred to as 鈥渢he third heaven鈥� and 鈥減aradise鈥� in 2 Corinthians 12:1–4. In that passage, the apostle Paul tells of a living man who was 鈥渃aught up鈥� to heaven and was unable to describe it. The Greek word translated 鈥渃aught up鈥� is also used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in describing the rapture, wherein believers will be caught up to be with the Lord.

Other verses indicating heaven to be 鈥渁bove鈥� the earth are numerous. In Genesis 11:7, God says, 鈥淐ome, let us go down鈥� to see the tower of Babel. When the chariot of fire came to get Elijah, it took him 鈥渦p to heaven鈥� (2 Kings 2:11). Heaven is described as 鈥渉igh above the earth鈥� in Psalm 103:11, and the place from which the Lord 鈥渓ooks down鈥� in Psalm 14:2. When Jesus prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, He did so 鈥渓ooking up to heaven鈥� (Mark 6:41). In Acts 1:9–11 Jesus is taken 鈥渦p鈥� into heaven, and when God takes John to heaven in Revelation 4:1, He says, 鈥淐ome up here.鈥� Such passages lead to the conclusion that heaven is 鈥渦p鈥� from our perspective; it is above us in an exalted position.

However, as J. I. Packer points out, 鈥渟ince God is spirit, 鈥榟eaven鈥� . . . cannot signify a place remote from us which He inhabits. The Greek gods were thought of as spending most of their time far away from earth in sort of a celestial equivalent of the Bahamas, but the God of the Bible is not like this. Granted, the 鈥榟eaven鈥� where saints and angels dwell has to be thought of as a sort of locality, because saints and angels, as God鈥檚 creatures, exist in space and time. But when the Creator is said to be 鈥榠n heaven,鈥� the thought is that He exists on a different plane from us, rather than in a different place. That God in heaven is always near to his children on earth is something which the Bible takes for granted鈥� (Growing in Christ, Crossway, 2022, pt. 3, ch. 4).

Examples of God being near to us, even though He is in heaven, include the psalmist鈥檚 assurance that 鈥渢he Lord is close to the brokenhearted鈥� (Psalm 34:18) and Paul鈥檚 teaching that 鈥渉e is not far from any one of us鈥� (Acts 17:27). Moses asked the children of Israel, 鈥淲hat other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?鈥� (Deuteronomy 4:7). Heaven is only a prayer away.

The New Testament mentions heaven with considerable frequency, yet, even then, details of its location are missing. We will never find heaven with telescopes, star charts, or deep space probes. We will only find heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.

More important than knowing where heaven is, is knowing the God of heaven, for the same reason that it鈥檚 better to know your neighbor than the details of his house. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples, 鈥淵ou know the way to the place where I am going鈥� (John 14:4). Thomas immediately raised an objection: 鈥淟ord, we don鈥檛 know where you are going, so how can we know the way?鈥� (verse 5). And Jesus answered, 鈥淚 am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me鈥� (verse 6). We may not know the exact location of heaven, but we know the Way, for He is Jesus.