True to its Middle Eastern origins, ancient Judaism at first insisted on the separateness of heaven and earth and had little to say about the prospect of a heavenly afterlife: “The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings” (Psalm 115:16). Heaven (in Hebrew, the plural šāmayim) was a vast realm above the earth, supported by a hard firmament of dazzling precious stone, which kept the upper waters from mingling with the waters beneath. The Sun, Moon, and stars were set in the firmament, and windows could open to let down rain, snow, hail, or dew from the celestial storehouses. God, the maker of heaven and earth, was enthroned in the highest reach of heaven; from there he intervened in the affairs of his creatures and revealed through Moses and the prophets his sovereignty, providential care, and cultic and moral demands. Surrounding the divine throne was a heavenly host of solar, astral, and angelic beings. These celestial beings shared many attributes with the gods and goddesses of Canaanite and Mesopotamian polytheism, but the emerging monotheism of the Hebrew Scriptures demanded exclusive commitment to one God, referred to as The Lord, to whom all powers in heaven and on earth were subject.
In ancient Judaism, as in other Middle Eastern religions of the period, the cosmos had a three-story structure. God dwelt in heaven and was also present in the Temple of Jerusalem, his palace on earth. The underworld (Hebrew: She’ōl), to which human beings were consigned at death, was seemingly outside God’s jurisdiction. This picture changed dramatically, however, in response to the Babylonian Exile and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 bce, as the conviction began to take hold that there must be no limit to God’s power to vindicate his people even after death. During the postexilic period, the experience of foreign rule intensified longing for future deliverance, encouraged speculation influenced by Persian and Greco-Roman models of cosmology, angelology, and immortality, and produced martyrs whose claim on a heavenly afterlife seemed particularly strong. Thus the Book of Daniel, considered the latest composition in the Hebrew Bible, contains this prophecy:
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (12:2–3)
While belief in a heavenly afterlife became widespread in the Hellenistic Age (323–30 bce), no single model predominated, but rather a profusion of images and schemes, including resurrection of the dead, immortality of the soul, and transformation into an angel or star. Visionary journeys through the heavens (conceived as a hierarchy of spheres) became a staple of apocalyptic literature, and Jewish mystics produced a vast theosophical lore concerning heavenly palaces, angelic powers, and the dimensions of God’s body. Traces of this heaven mysticism can still be found in the Jewish prayer book (siddur).
Classical Rabbinic Judaism, which emerged after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 ce) and established the main lines on which Jewish eschatology would develop, admitted a plurality of images for heaven; the expression ʿolam ha-ba (“the world to come”) refers both to the messianic age and to the heavenly estate to which the righteous ascend at death. After death, righteous souls await the resurrection in the heavenly Garden of Eden or hidden under the divine throne. Jewish liturgy piles praise upon praise in exaltation of the name and kingship of God, who “rides the highest heavens,” blesses his people eternally, judges, redeems, and “maintains His faith to those asleep in the dust.” The Sabbath is understood to be a preview of heaven, anticipating the wedding feast at the end of time, when the work of creation will be complete and the captivity of Zion will end. Christianity
Christianity began as one of many Jewish apocalyptic and reform movements active in Palestine in the 1st century ce. These groups shared an intense conviction that the new heavens and new earth prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17) were close at hand. They believed that history would soon find its consummation in a world perfected, when the nations would be judged, the elect redeemed, and Israel restored.
Jewish and Christian conceptions of heaven developed side by side, drawing from shared biblical and Greco-Roman sources. The liturgy of Temple, synagogue, and eucharistic service informed images of heaven, for in worship the community symbolically ascends to the heavenly Jerusalem, a realm of perpetual adoration and intercession for the needs of the world, where angels never cease to sing “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3).
Christians believe that the estrangement between heaven and earth ended with the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ: “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Sharing in Christ’s deathless divine life are the members of his mystical body, the church (Greek: ekklēsia), which is the communion of saints both living and dead. The Virgin Mary, regarded as Queen of Heaven, tirelessly intercedes for the faithful, including sinners who seek her protection.
Traditional Christian theology teaches that communion with God is the chief end for which human beings were made and that those who die in a state of grace are immediately (or after a period of purification) admitted to the bliss of heaven, where they become like God (1 John 3:2), see God face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12), and see all things in God. With the resurrection of the dead, beatitude will embrace the whole person—body, soul, and spirit. The social dimension of this beatitude is expressed in the last book of the New Testament, Revelation to John, with its vision of the blessed multitudes adoring God, who dwells in their midst, in a city of bejeweled splendour (21–22). Worship, fellowship, and creative pursuits all form part of the composite Christian picture of heaven, but the emphasis on domestic happiness and never-ending spiritual progress in heaven is largely a modern innovation. Islam
The Qurʾān, which according to Islamic tradition has its original in heaven, frequently calls attention to the heavens as a sign of God’s sovereignty, justice, and mercy. When the earth was just formed and the sky a mere vapour, God commanded them to join together, and they willingly submitted (sura 41:11–12). God then completed his creation by forming the sky into seven firmaments, adorning the lower firmament with lights, and assigning to everything its just measure. The seven heavens and the earth perpetually celebrate God’s praise (sura 17:44) and by their majestic design provide evidence that God indeed has the power to raise the dead and to judge them on the last day.
Before the resurrection, the souls of the dead are thought to dwell in an intermediate state, experiencing a preview of their future condition of misery or bliss. On the Day of Judgment, heaven will be split asunder, the mountains will crumble to dust, the earth will give up its dead, and each person will undergo a final test. The righteous, with faces beaming, will pass the test easily, passing through hell with ease. In gardens of bliss they will recline on royal couches, clothed in fine silk and shaded by fruit trees of every description. Immortal youths will serve them cool drinks and delicacies, and ever-virgin companions with lustrous eyes will join them. They will also be reunited with their faithful offspring, and peace will reign.