Vacancies in Heaven

[...]

When I was young, I used to think there were going to be countless souls in Heaven.  Now that I am older and I have begun to read and understand God's word, I am becoming painfully aware of the probability of a relatively small population in Heaven.

(Matthew 7:13-14) "¶ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: {14} Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

(Luke 13:23-24) "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, {24} ¶ Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."

(Luke 13:28) "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out."

(Matthew 7:21-23) "¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. {22} Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? {23} And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

I wonder if the population of Heaven will be little more than a large city here.  With all of eternity to meet everyone, perhaps it will quickly become something that feels like a small, close-knit community.

[1611mac]

Interesting thoughts..  I wonder if anyone has ever tried to calculated this using a "wild guess" of how many saved in each "generation" since Adam. That would be quite a math challenge.   There is said to be 7 Billion people in the world today. I wonder how many of the current 7 Billion are saved? 

[Rebecca]

In one of my Bible studies recently, a woman asked about the size of the New Jerusalem, so I briefly went over that. She was shocked and upset at "how small" the city would be, I guess she thought it would encompass the whole earth, or something, because the number of Christians who have existed since Adam will be immense... . She then proceeded to ask me questions I couldn't answer. "How many people will get to live in the city?" "How will God choose who gets to live inside the city?" "Why will some people get to live in Heaven, but some have to live on earth, and not even in the New Jerusalem?" etc... That was an "interesting" Bible study time...

Compared to how many billions of people who have existed since Adam, there will be only a small percentage (what a sad thought!) of those who will be in Heaven, even just 10% of x#-billions is still hundreds of millions of people, much larger than the size of many large cities now (the current most populated city in the world is Tokyo, Japan with over 37 million people). But I agree, with all of eternity, we will have enough "time" to meet and become close friends with everyone, a true close-knit community!

 

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5 minutes ago, Rebecca said:

"time" to meet and become close friends with everyone, a true close-knit community!

It's interesting that you pointed out the subject of time in Heaven.  I was just talking about that with a friend of mine.  The way that I have gotten my head around how God experiences "time," is that it may me a bit like a book.  I handed my friend a copy of Oliver Twist and asked her, "What time or day is it in this book right now?"  She just looked at me a bit puzzled.  I told her that, for the author, every part of the story is like the present moment.  There is no past, present or future.  He can know everything that happens and turn to any page in any part of the book and interact with it and change it how he pleases.  It is only when the story is read that the illusion of time is experienced.

I'm sure I am nowhere close to understanding how God experiences existence, but that's how I am able to at least get my head around the idea.  How can He know the outcome of every decision of every person, yet  still allow us to have free will?  He has written His book and completed it, yet He allows the characters within its pages to interact with the story to certain degrees and changes things here and there.  

In that way, I don't believe that God is "waiting" to bring about the end times.  I think it's already written to completion and we are still stuck in the space/time of the book where we experience the sensations and frustrations of the illusions of time.

I've never actually thought out the entire theory, but that's the just of how I think about it.

[Donald]

When you start to consider all the “mixed multitude” that will be in heaven, it becomes kind of a “Doctrinal Challenge”, because there are facts that can’t be gotten around.
➀ Every baby that dies, will be in heaven:
 (Although they will not be part of the Body of Christ, they will be there!)
➁ All Old Testament Saint will be in heaven:
 (Including people like Noah and his ancestors and Job and his some of his friends and maybe even his children.)
➂ All the 1st generation Children of Israel(those Jews who died in the wilderness).
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These are just three examples, that doesn’t include all the Billions of people who will be saved during the Tribulation (Revelation 15:2-4), to say nothing of those saved during the millennial reign of Christ.

For sure there will be a “great city” in heaven, where the Bride of Christ lives.  But there will be “inhabitants” of heaven that are not part of the Bride, that in Revelation are called “servants”.

The Bible pictures heaven, as being greatly populated, but as having kind of a “class system”, with the BRIDE OF CHRIST, being at the top.  These are the “few” that find the “narrow way”.
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l know that I have opened a big can of worms with this response, but that is why I called it a “Doctrinal Challenge”!

 

[Salyan]

Okay, I'll bite... 1 & 2 I get, but what's with #3?

[1611mac]

7 hours ago, Donald said:

When you start to consider all the “mixed multitude” that will be in heaven, it becomes kind of a “Doctrinal Challenge”, because there are facts that can’t be gotten around.
➀ Every baby that dies, will be in heaven:
 (Although they will not be part of the Body of Christ, they will be there!)
-snip-

Hi Donald.. interesting post.  I assume your first point also includes all the unborn?  And they are not part of the Body of Christ because they were/are not members of a local NT church?

I'm also curious about point 3.  Can you expand on that?

[Ukulelemike]

A couple things to consider:

1: New Jerusalem's Size: New jerusalem will be about 1500 miles long, wide and high: that's about 1/2 of the US, each way.  Including up, wether it be a cube or a pyramid-either way, a big city, when one considers that the entire population of the earth could fit into the city of Jacksonville, FL, with a square footage of 23,250,585,600 Sq. ft.  Now clearly, that's not LIVE, that's FIT. However, the entire earth's population could LIVE in Texas, which is much smaller than the size of New Jerusalem, and Texas is just 660x790 miles long/wide. And NJ goes UP, as well.

2: Another thing to consider, is that Rev 22 says, concerning the city and OUTSIDE the city, ""And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it." (Rev 21:24-26)  So apparetly, there will be people, nations and kings living outside of the city-apprently, there will be a civilization of some sort, apparently of the saved, even with rulers, existing on the earth. That tells me a LOT of people could be on the New Earth!  If we figure all the righteous from before the time of Christ, as well as Israel, and Church Age believers, going back to Adam and those righteous even before the flood, there could be a WHOLE lot of people.

Oh, AND those who either died before birth, and those who died before accountability, (subject of course to argument), we could be looking at a LOT of people living there.

[Donald]

An explanation...
➀All the 1st generation Children of Israel(those Jews who died in the wilderness).

God’s people the Jews, came out of Egypt.  After they refused to go into the promised land, God kept them in the wilderness for 40 years, until the 1st generation(all those over 20 years old), died.  Then the LORD took there Children on into the promised land.

Lots of people identify “the promised land” as a type of heaven.  That is to say, that those Jews who died in the wilderness and didn’t get to go in, were not saved.

But, Hebrews 4: and other places, teach us that the promised land, is actually a type of “rest”: A state where God’s people can go, as they totally commit their lives to Christ.  Those Jews who died in the wilderness, are just like those Christians who died in 1Cor.11:, when they were disrespecting the Lord’s supper, etc.