What Heaven Really Looks Like In The Bible

For one person, heaven might be something as simple as a comfortable office chair. For another, something as elaborate as a street paved in chocolate, with caramel fountains and constant flurries of Pop Tart snow.

Whatever your image of heaven may be (a tropical island where it rains puppies might be a popular choice, too), there always seems to be one common thread: It's your reward, your eternal happy place.

As Christianity puts it, Heaven in the Bible is God's own dwelling place, a land above for the righteous to enjoy in blissful harmony forever. Here's the rub, though: It's shared among said righteous. How to please all those disparate tastes? Here's what Heaven looks like, according to the Bible itself.

Heaven is often depicted as a brightly lit land in the clouds, with beautiful angels fluttering gently by and playing harps. At the center of it all, large and in charge, would be God. As it turns out, this is not too far removed from some of the Good Book's descriptions of Heaven.

In 2 Chronicles 18:18, per Secrets Unlocked, the realm is described in these terms: "I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left." That's to be expected, but Heaven has many more inhabitants than just the familiar angels. Revelation 5:11 describes "the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." It sounds as though it's quite crowded there, with some unexpected faces, too.

What of the physical characteristics of this kingdom in the clouds, though? Well, the Bible is often loath to describe it in those terms. After all, Heaven is a perfect paradise, wonderful and unimaginable. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 2:9 (per Secrets Unlocked) describes it thusly: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

The Book of Revelations, however, does offer some intriguing insight with regards to Heaven's physical details. Per Gospel Gain, it speaks of an opulent city of twelve parts: "The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass," according to Revelation 21:21. "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life," Revelation 22:2 adds. Now that sounds like Heaven.