No one has gone to heaven, visited heaven, or traveled to heaven
By Elizabeth Prata
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. (John 3:13)
Barnes’ Notes has something to say about that-
And no man hath ascended into heavens – No man, therefore, is qualified to speak of heavenly things, John 3:12. To speak of those things requires intimate acquaintance with them – demands that we have seen them; and as no one has ascended into heaven and returned, so no one is qualified to speak of them but He who came down from heaven.
This does not mean that no one had Gone to heaven or had been saved, for Enoch and Elijah had been borne there (Genesis 5:24; compare Hebrews 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11); and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others were there: but it means that no one had ascended and “returned,” so as to be qualified to speak of the things there. Source- Barnes Notes.
We remember Paul was carried up to the Third Heaven, but he was firm that it was unlawful to tell specifics.
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4).
It is distressing that people are claiming that they have been to heaven and back when the Bible says they have not. It’s worse when they are unlawful and express the things they allege to have seen there. Even worse, when they make money from their tales by writing books, or approve movie scripts of their alleged heavenly trips to and from the Third Heaven. Trading on the name of Jesus and false notions about His heavenly abode to accumulate riches for one’s self is crass.
This does not faze many people though, who plow right ahead with touting their alleged visions and visits. Here is one, Jesse Duplantis, claiming just such a thing below, with Justin Peters refuting his claims biblically.
Friends, what we say about Jesus matters. Speaking casually about things of which we know nothing is a sin. There are plenty of Proverbs warning about impertinent or foolish speech. Colossians 2:18 warns that the people who go on about these things would defraud YOU of your prize.
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, (Colossians 2:18)
And their supposed visions are puffing them up. It brings the attention onto the person speaking them, not the Person they are about. Be careful in speaking of which we know nothing, and be careful about believing things spoken from those who know nothing. Both are dangerous
