Thinking of Home: What is Heaven? 8

What are the names for Heaven?

The Bible contains several names for Heaven. They include the following from not only the Old Testament, but also the New Testament.

First, a barn or a granary.  Matthew 3:12 says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12, ESV). See also Luke 3:17.

John the Baptist is speaking and he is speaking about Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The winnowing fork is a fork-like shovel for throwing grain in air and letting the wind separate the chaff (Matthew 3:12; Luke3:17. It is only through Jesus’ means and power that He will thoroughly cleanse and purge all who enter in heaven: his storehouse or granary.

Those who enter the barn are called the wheat. Those who are not His own are called chaff. It is these who were be judged by unquenchable and inextinguishable fire.

Another text which carries the same imagery for heaven is Matthew 13:24-30. It reads, “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30, ESV)

The people of God are God’s treasure. He will eternally protect them by placing them in the barn or storehouse which is heaven.