Where did Jesus go, and where is he now? Of course, the standard answer would be ‘in heaven’, but what does that actually mean? Especially if we consider the time between Jesus’s resurrection and his ascension, when he came and went from the presence of the disciples in inexplicable ways. Where did he go, physically, in between times. Presumably, to heaven?
If Jesus came and went from heaven then in bodily form, does that mean that heaven is an actual, physical place? That might fit in with some aspects of scripture but not with others. And does that mean that Jesus is presently in a physical heaven in bodily form waiting to return to earth (our universe?) at the Second Coming? And is that physical heaven a replica of our physical world, only ‘somewhere else’?
It is all very difficult once one goes beyond the simple notion that heaven is somewhere else that is inexplicable and mysterious. Certainly there are many mysteries in the Christian faith (and all faiths). But is it good enough to simply assign Jesus’s present whereabouts to the realm of mystery? After all aren’t we promised that we will go there too!
I wish it were that simple, and I could safely tuck the whole question of heaven and Jesus’s whereabouts away as a mystery. Unfortunately, the question keeps coming back and I want a better answer.
My present answer lies in the notion of time. Wherever Jesus (and heaven) is, it is not shackled to our time. It is totally independent of our world although it is linked to it. So when Jesus leaves/left our world and returns to it, that does not need to have any relationship to the events of our world. Jesus can step in and out of our time anywhere he chooses so to speak. He is not carried along by time; just as God is not carried along by time. So Jesus can depart from our world at any given point and ‘instantaneously’ reappear at any other point (even millennia apart) without spending any ‘time’ elsewhere. So, in a sense, Jesus’ bodily form hasn’t gone any where; it is simply transferring instantaneously from one point of time in our world to another.
So the question of Jesus’ whereabouts is essentially tied to the parameters of our physical world. The moment we depart from these limits to our world (especially time) this question ceases to have any real meaning. Once more we return to a sort of mystery; but one that perhaps is a little more understandable.