WHY WAS HEAVEN CREATED?

God created heaven as His dwelling place and a dwelling place for His angels and other creatures, just as He created earth as a dwelling place for man. Whether it was God’s original intent for man to eventually live in heaven is a matter of debate. Perhaps God intended man to live forever on planet earth; if so, His plans were aggravated by Adam’s disobedience.

It is God’s nature to create; He is a creative person. Creating heaven was just the “natural” thing to do. God is perfect and everything He does is the right and perfect thing to do, and all He does He does perfectly. Heaven is a product of God’s perfection, creativity and might.

Heaven is the dwelling place of all those who “come under the Blood,” those who accepted the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ as payment for their sins.

WHY DID GOD MAKE HELL?

Hell was not a part of God’s original creation, but added out of necessity. There was a rebellion in heaven, led by Lucifer (satan), whereby one third of the angels were cast out of heaven. It was for these beings that hell (gehennah) was created. Gehennah was never created for man although, in fact, it will be the eventual home for many, perhaps most.

There was need for a holding place, a temporary place of punishment for the unrepentant. This prison is called sheol-hades, and here the people are held until their judgment (sinners judged by Christ to determine their degree of punishment in gehennah).

God’s justice demands a payment for sin. The sacrificial death of His Son Jesus satisfied that demand. But most people refuse to “come under the blood” and therefore must pay the price of their sins in hell. It is a choice they make.