Is it possible to just visit heaven?

Your consternation may lie in the fact that you seem to think of Heaven as being some sort of material place where people can navigate to and possibly return.

So for starters we need to understand what Heaven, (or as referred to by Jesus himself the Kingdom of God) really is. So lets see what we can learn from the Scriptures:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

from this we are told that God created the heaven, so therefore it must be referring to something in the material realm. This is further illustrated by:

Genesis 1:8 and 9 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

On the other hand Jesus said:

Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

notice two things in this statement by Jesus:

1. He gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven: since the keys to heaven are not material keys, as is indicated by:

2. whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

It is also noteworthy that 'the kingdom of heaven is not capitalized', which it would be were it a proper noun, as it is in Genesis 1:8.

So if heaven is not a material place then what is it?

Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Here Jesus says that says that the Father is in heaven, (again not a proper noun), and since we know that God the creator existed before any material creation heaven must also have existed prior to any material creation. That leaves only the possibility that heaven is something Spiritual. In Matthew chapter 20 Jesus describes the Kingdom of heaven:

Matthew 20:1 through 16 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

There is much to be learned about heaven from this passage, but for now we are only interested in the fact that Jesus is not describing the Kingdom of God as a place, but as a state of being. Here he is likening the kingdom of heaven, to the employment of the workers, and their rewards.

So next lets take a look at time, Time is also a creation of God, and divides creation into various lengths by God known as days.

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

and he also counted years as days;

Genesis 5:8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

But for God there is no such thing as time, as God exists in eternity, which has no beginning and no end, and therefore cannot be divided. As an example lets take the first day and analyze it.

Gen 1:1 through 5 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Notice: verse 5 where God calls the light day and the darkness night, but he goes on to start his day with the evening or the darkness, called the night. That darkness existed before God created light and is therefore the eternity preceding light.

So the Bible tells us that:

1. heaven is a spiritual phenomenon and not a material place.

2. heaven is not subject to time and there is no past and no future only a state of being.

3. God himself determines who, and when someone is introduced to his Kingdom, just in the parable of the vineyard owner who took in various workers at different times yet they all received the same reward.

So in answer to your question; the Spiritual realm exists concurrently with the material realm and is it possible that God allows certain persons to transition between the two, According to Jesus that is a yes.

Hope this helps.

I'm guessing when you say heaven, you don't mean the heavens, as in sky and space. You're talking about eternity-with-God heaven. Where-believers-go-after-their-body-dies heaven. So does scripture say that one can visit this eternal-heaven, peruse around awhile, have some tea, then come back to earth?

According to the bible, probably not, but absence of proof is not proof of absence. A few important things to note:

• Scripture doesn't outright say it can't happen, though this verse seems to imply that eternity has a one time entry:

  Hebrews 9:27 ESV And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

• Elijah and Moses did return to visit Jesus and Jesus did return to visit Paul, but these people had already died and were permanent citizens of eternity visiting earth, not vice-versa. There's no account in scripture of a person entering heaven and returning to resume their previous life.

• Jesus said he's preparing this heaven for us. It seems unusual that God would create a place for us, have us visit it, then send us back--though this isn't necessarily out of the question.

  John 14:3 ESV And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

It's not impossible that a person can have a vision of heaven, or heavenly things. This happened with Ezekiel, Daniel, perhaps Paul, and for sure John.

Ezekiel 1:1 ESV In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Daniel 4:13 ESV I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven.

Acts 26:19 ESV Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision

Revelation 4:1 ESV After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

In the end, someone saying they visited heaven or had a vision of it is like someone saying they were abducted by aliens. You don't have proof either way so you just kind of take the person at their word.

I do not know of any biblical bases for briefly opening the gates of heaven. However per:

Luke 17:21 NLT

You won't be able to say, 'Here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you."

Some less than orthodox denominations would say that if you act like heaven is here then it will be. Also known as, "don't wait for Jesus to come back to be good". To them, visiting heaven would be possible even for a moment.

I am speaking about Rosicrucian, Unity Church, and I believe the Christian Scientists. Please focus your question to a specific denomination if you want to receive answers only for that denomination.

YES, it is possible to visit Heaven. Some people have visited Heaven before they died.

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. (2 Corinthians 12:2, NIV)