People have long debated whether heaven exists as a literal place or just a comforting idea. Michael Guillen, who holds a PhD in physics, mathematics, and astronomy from Cornell and once taught physics at Harvard, offers a compelling case in a recent opinion piece. Drawing from cosmology and Einstein’s relativity, he points to evidence that heaven could be a real location deep in space, matching descriptions found in Scripture.
Guillen examined how the Bible portrays heaven. It speaks of multiple levels: the atmosphere around Earth as the first, outer space as the second, and the highest as God’s own realm. Passages describe people looking up to God and God gazing down on humanity. This upward direction isn’t random, Guillen argues—it aligns with what modern telescopes reveal about the cosmos.
Picture launching a rocket straight up into the void. No matter how powerful, it won’t reach heaven, according to Guillen. That’s because galaxies are fleeing from each other, a discovery made by Edwin Hubble in 1929. The farther a galaxy is, the faster it recedes, following Hubble’s Law. At extreme distances, this speed hits the limit: 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light.
That boundary, called the Cosmic Horizon, sits about 273 billion trillion miles away. Einstein’s special relativity dictates that nothing with mass can travel at light speed—only light itself or non-material entities. Guillen notes, “Theoretically, a galaxy that’s 273 billion trillion (273,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) miles away from Earth would move at 186,000 miles per second, which is the speed of light.” Beyond this horizon lies a hidden expanse, forever out of reach.
In that distant realm, time ceases to flow. Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity show no past, present, or future there—just eternal now. Space persists, though, making it a potential home for timeless beings without physical form. Guillen ties this to the Bible’s view of heaven as inaccessible to living mortals and populated by spiritual entities.
The Cosmic Horizon also holds the universe’s oldest features, older than the moments described in Genesis 1 (or the Big Bang, as science calls it) that birthed our observable cosmos. This suggests a pre-existing domain, fitting the scriptural account of heaven as the abode of the Creator who existed before all things. As Guillen puts it, “Heaven is the dwelling place of the One who predates the universe — the One who created the universe — just as the Bible indicates.”