Why are the streets in heaven paved with gold?

Dear Hannah,

That is an excellent question! In Revelation 21, the apostle John wrote about his miraculous vision of heaven, and described it as being a city of "pure gold" (21:18). One thing we must remember when we read this is that John was using physical terms we understand in order to paint a word picture of a spiritual place—the most beautiful place we can imagine.

Have you ever painted a word picture before of some place you have visited on vacation (such as the mountains or the beach)? A word picture is when, instead of drawing a picture, you use words to describe what you have seen. That's what John did. Except, instead of writing about a physical place, he was writing about a celestial (non-physical) place. Unlike Earth, heaven is not a physical place with physical things in it. (Heaven is a real place; it's just not a physical place.) The gold in heaven is not the same physical gold we see today. In fact, John described the gold of heaven as being like clear, see-though glass (21:18,21). Thus, heavenly gold is not the exact same "treasure" we have here on Earth.  

Also, remember that it is not the possession of gold that is wrong, but the love of gold and money that is a sin (1 Timothy 6:10). We must never allow money to come between our service to God. Instead, we are to use it to His glory by helping others (read Matthew 25:31-46).

---

Copyright © 2014 Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

*Please keep in mind that Discovery articles are written for 3rd-6th graders.

This document may be copied, on the condition that it will not be republished in print unless otherwise stated below, and will not be used for any commercial purpose, as long as the following stipulations are observed: (1) Apologetics Press must be designated as the original publisher; (2) the specific Apologetics Press Web site URL must be noted; (3) any references, footnotes, or endnotes that accompany the article must be included with any written reproduction of the article; (4) textual alterations of any kind are strictly forbidden; (5) Some illustrations (e.g., photographs, charts, graphics, etc.) are not the intellectual property of Apologetics Press and as such cannot be reproduced from our site without consent from the person or organization that maintains those intellectual rights; (6) serialization of written material (e.g., running an article in several parts) is permitted, as long as the whole of the material is made available, without editing, in a reasonable length of time; (7) articles, in whole or in part, may not be offered for sale or included in items offered for sale; and (8) articles may be reproduced in electronic form for posting on Web sites pending they are not edited or altered from their original written content and that credit is given to Apologetics Press, including the web location from which the articles were taken. Further, documents may not be copied without source statements (title, author, journal title), and the address of the publisher and owner of rights, as listed below.

For catalog, samples, or further information, contact:

Apologetics Press
230 Landmark Drive
Montgomery, Alabama 36117
U.S.A.
Phone (334) 272-8558

http://www.apologeticspress.org