Is Charlie Kirk in Heaven?

When news broke of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, politicians, pastors and ordinary people said he was “in a better place,” that “he’s in heaven now,” or that “he’s looking down on us.” “Charlie went to his eternal reward with Jesus Christ in heaven,” his widow, Erika, said.

But do people really go to heaven when they die?

In John 3:13, Jesus said that “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man”—speaking of Himself. People try to explain this away, but it means what it says: There are no souls of the saved in heaven. Not even King David, “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22), was in heaven centuries after his death. The Apostle Peter confirmed this in Acts 2:29 and 34, saying that David “is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. … For David is not ascended into the heavens ….” If David isn’t in heaven, who would be?

What does the Bible say happens after death?

And what exactly is heaven? Many people view it as a glowing paradise above the clouds, filled with angels and saints playing harps or gazing into the face of Jesus. It’s where people tell their children their dog went. They have been taught these things and accepted them without proof.

This is not the picture of heaven given in the Bible. In fact, the biblical teaching is more surprising, and in many ways, far more hopeful.

What Heaven Actually Is

Scripture uses the word heaven in three distinct ways. The first heaven is the sky, the atmosphere where birds fly and rain falls (Genesis 1:20; Deuteronomy 33:28). The second heaven is outer space, home of the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:15-17). The third heaven, as the Apostle Paul described in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, is the spiritual realm where God’s throne resides.

That third heaven is God’s headquarters, the center of divine government. Jesus Himself told us not to swear by heaven, “for it is God’s throne” (Matthew 5:34). In Revelation 4, John describes the breathtaking scene of that throne room, filled with light, color and angelic beings.

But the Bible never calls heaven the reward of the saved. Again, it specifically says saints like King David are still buried in the ground.

So why do people—including grieving friends and preachers at funerals—still say the faithful “go to heaven”? Well, apart from the pleasant, comforting thought of loved ones alive and happy above the clouds, certain Bible verses seem to support it.

For example, Jesus told His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many mansions …. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Many assume that means He went to heaven to ready our rooms there. But in Scripture, the “Father’s house” refers not to heaven itself but to the temple—God’s dwelling with humanity (e.g. John 2:16). Jesus’s promise was about preparing positions, or responsibilities, in His coming Kingdom, not suites in a celestial palace.

Others cite Paul’s longing “to depart, and to be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). Yet Paul elsewhere clarifies that believers meet Christ at His return, “in the clouds,” when “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). His desire was to be resurrected and united with Christ—a future, not immediate, event. And many scriptures show that Christ will not remain in the clouds, but will come down to Earth, “and all the holy ones with him” (Zechariah 14:4-5).

The Hope of the Resurrection

The Bible repeatedly speaks of coming resurrections—events where many of the dead are all raised from the grave at once. These would be unnecessary if people went to heaven when they die.

Paul writes that if the dead are not raised, “then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). The resurrection is not a return from heaven; it is an awakening from death.

The Bible says that “the dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). They sleep, awaiting the moment Christ returns and calls them back to life. Jesus said that “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28-29). Several scriptures show that even King David will be raised up from the grave to rule again (e.g. Jeremiah 30:9). Until that day, the dead remain dead—not conscious in a place of paradise or of torment.

This biblical truth is profoundly hopeful—far more than the ideas so many people assume but have not proved. For those resurrected to spirit, this is a promise of real life—resurrected, tangible, glorious and everlasting—on a renewed Earth under God’s government. The meek “shall inherit the earth,” Jesus said (Matthew 5:5). Earth is where the saved will live and reign (Revelation 5:10), not in some remote heaven, forever. Daniel 7:27 also says God’s saints will be given rulership, not in heaven but “under the whole heaven.”

The Bible plainly shows that life is not over at the grave. But the hope of the resurrection gives meaning that unbiblical imagery of floating spirits cannot.

It is true that Jesus spoke of a “reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). That is where the saints’ rewards are safely kept, not where the saints must go to collect them. Peter explained that our inheritance is “reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4). Revelation 22:12 pictures Christ returning to Earth with that reward: “[B]ehold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Some people point to scriptures showing that “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24), or that Elijah was carried up by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Neither of these passages says these men now dwell in heaven. Hebrews 11:13 states that all the faithful saints of the Bible “died in faith, not having received the promises.” Other scriptures show that Elijah was taken up into the sky—relocated, not immortalized (2 Chronicles 21:12-15 record that he wrote a letter from somewhere on Earth long after he had been taken to “heaven”). Enoch, likewise, was removed from danger, not transported to God’s throne.

Heaven is real, majestic and holy—but it is not the home of the saved. It is the dwelling of God, not the destination of the dead. It is the command center of the universe, from which God will one day direct the restoration of all things.