The Protestant View of Heaven: Are the Streets Really Gold?  M.Streich

In 1949, Ira F. Stanphill, a preacher in the Assemblies of God denomination, wrote the hymn “Mansion Over the Hilltop.” The chorus exemplifies the view of heaven as believed by most Christians:

 

“I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop,

In that bright land where we’ll never grow old;

And someday yonder we will never more wander,

But walk the streets that are purest gold.”

 

Stanphill’s verses are not alone in depicting heaven as a city of gold full of mansions. A popular late 19^th Century Methodist hymn by Edgar Stites refers to “…Beulah Land…where mansions are prepared for me…”

 

The Christian Belief of Mansions in Heaven

 

This popular belief derives from a mistranslation of the Gospel of John 14 2-3 that occurred during the creation of the King James Version of the Bible. None of the original sources of this passage refer to mansions. Scholars point to the use of the term “chateau” in French translations used to help produce the King James Version.

 

Based on original sources, the best translation seems to be, “In my father’s house are many resting places.” The German Reformer, Martin Luther, translated the passage as “Wohnungen” or places to live. The fact remains, however, that for Christians, heaven is a real place.

 

Human Models of Heaven

 

C. Austin Miles captured the human model of heaven in his early 20^th Century hymn, “Dwelling in Beulah Land.” The skies are cloudless, the fountains never run dry, and manna is in “bountiful supply.” Similarly, the time of American slavery produced dozens of Spirituals depicting heaven as a place of freedom from the bondage of slavery. These Spirituals often utilized imagery from the Hebrew Exodus.

 

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the journey of “Christian” is chronicled through a series of obstacles and temptations. In the end, however, he reaches the “Land of Beulah,” crosses the river, and is welcomed into the “Celestial City.” Heaven as a Celestial City is the hallmark of Christian images of the afterlife.

 

I Peter 3.22 speaks of Christ as being in heaven, “at the right hand of God.” Although Christians believe that God is omnipresent, they also refer to the “throne of God,” images taken from allegorical literature like the Apocalypse of St. John. Psalm 139.8 highlights this dilemma: God is in heaven yet also in “Sheol.” Francis Thompson’s poem, “The Hound of Heaven” classically describes the God of Heaven who is also the God of everywhere.

 

The Christian image of heaven is frequently criticized by those that question an absolute and eternal state of grace. Unlike C.S. Lewis’ Great Divorce, which emphasizes repentance for the travelers from the “Grey Town” to heaven, George Bernard Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell derides heaven as “the most angelically dull place in all creation.”

 

The Location of Heaven

 

Heaven was always thought to be beyond the reaches of earth. After the resurrection of Jesus, he ascended into heaven (Mark 16.19) and “sat down at the right hand of God.” In the Old Testament, the great prophet Elijah was taken by a “whirlwind to heaven…” (II King 2.1).

 

Throughout the ancient world the high place was the abode of God or the gods. The Psalmist writes, “I will life up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come?” (121.1) In Genesis 6, God prepares to blot out his creation when he “saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth.”

 

The promise of heaven has served Christians for centuries as an eternal hope, especially when times are desperate. Whether an actual “place,” a state of the mind, or some notion of a parallel universe, heaven continues to reflect a worthy goal for many questioning the afterlife.

 

Sources:

 

Favorite Hymns of Praise, (Tabernacle Publishing Company, 1967)

New American Standard Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1973)

They Walked With God, Michael Williams, editor (Fawcett Publications, 1957)