Were Humans Intended to Go to Heaven?
Since angels were serving God in heaven before the founding of the earth, the first man and woman were evidently not created to populate the heavens. Rather, God said to that first human pair: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28; Acts 17:26) Adam was the first of a new form of earthly life, able to know God and to serve him faithfully. He was to father a race of humans whose home would be the earth. “As regards the heavens, to Jehovah the heavens belong, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.”—Psalm 115:16.
People do not normally want to die; death is not natural for humans. God mentioned death to Adam only as the punishment for disobedience. Had Adam obeyed, he would never have died.—Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12.
Not surprisingly, then, God said nothing to Adam about going to heaven. So the earth was not to be a proving ground where people would be tested to see if they were fit for heaven. Man was created to live forever on earth, and that purpose of God will yet be fulfilled. The Bible promises that “the righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:29) Clearly, humans were not originally meant to go to heaven. Why, then, did Jesus promise heavenly life to his apostles? Did Jesus mean that all good people will go to heaven?