HOW TO EXPLAIN HEAVEN TO A 6-YEAR OLD by Marty Machowski for Core Christianity
Your six-year-old sees an angel figurine and asks, “Mommy, will I go to heaven and have wings like an angel?” What do you say?
At that moment, we parents face a real temptation to affirm our children rather than take the time to give more thorough answer. However, we don’t want to affirm an inaccurate view of heaven, and the Bible doesn’t say anything about wings.
What if your child asks if an unbelieving loved one who recently died is in heaven? Again, we parents can be reluctant to give an honest answer. But the answer we give can frame their understanding of heaven and salvation for the rest of their lives. Avoiding the subject of judgment may feel more comfortable, but it removes a critical component of the gospel. It’s in understanding our sinful state in contrast to God’s holy righteous judgment that our need for God’s rescue plan through Jesus becomes clear. Forgiveness helps us appreciate heaven.
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
So, what should we teach our children about heaven? Here are a few tips to help you explain heaven to a six-year-old:
1. Heaven Is Where God Lives
Teach your children that heaven is the place where God lives. Jesus left heaven with his Father to come to earth to die for our sin (Phil. 2:7-8). After he rose from the dead, he ascended from the earth into the sky and passed through the heavens (Heb. 4:14) to a spiritual place beyond the physical realm where he sits upon God’s throne once again (Heb. 10:12).
2. Heaven Is the Most Wonderful Place of All
Isaiah described heaven as a place of joy, saying, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:10). Tell your kids that heaven is the most wonderful place of all.
One day, when Jesus returns, he will destroy evil and death and our fallen world (2 Pet. 3:10-13). Jesus will make a new heaven and earth where he will live with us (Rev. 21:1-5). John describes this new heaven in the book of Revelation, saying, “God himself will be with them as their God.He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3–4). The tree of life will grow by the river of life (Rev. 22:2) and those who believe in Jesus will eat its fruit (Rev. 22:14) and live forever with God (John 3:16).
3. Heaven Is a Spiritual Place
Heaven doesn’t have an address like your home does. You can’t reach heaven by spaceship because heaven is a spiritual place. So, where is heaven? The Bible describes both the created sky and outer space as “the heavens” (Gen. 1:1, 8, 14). But the Bible also introduces a “third heaven,” a spiritual realm the apostle Paul says God allowed him to see (2 Cor. 12:1-4). God also allowed the apostle John to look into this spiritual realm. He saw it and described what he saw in Revelation 4. The best way to answer a child who asks, “Where is heaven?” is to tell them it’s the place in the spiritual realm where God lives. Then read John’s vision from Revelation to them.
