What Heaven Looks Like: The Colors, Sounds, and Living Glory of God

The perfect spectrum paired with perfect pitch.

Imagine the day television screens first hit the world. People thought it was the most incredible thing they had ever seen—grainy black-and-white images flickering across a box, and yet, it was revolutionary. People emptied their pockets just to get their hands on one.

Looking back now, we laugh. The quality of those 1927 TVs is almost embarrassing compared to the hyper-realistic, 3D, iPhones we have today. What was once mind-blowing now seems primitive, like looking at a blurry, dilated image that people mistook for clarity simply because it was all they had ever known.

And that’s exactly what it’s like when we talk about heaven’s reality versus what we think we understand now. You think you know what red is. You’re confident in what yellow, blue, or green looks like. But here’s the truth—you only know them at 1/1000th of their actual quality and definition.

It’s the Vegan’s Plant Burger versus Ruth’s Chris. That’s heaven’s quality of definition.

Everywhere I looked in heaven, I saw a great fiery torch of colors that carried the full spectrum—every shade you can imagine times a thousand. The colors weren’t just something I saw. I could hear them. Smell them. Feel them. Taste them.

Down here on earth, the colors and images can deceive you, and many times they have been formed by a human to exalt themselves and get you to look at them. Everything, especially in the digital world, has been manipulated to get you to feel and think certain ways.

But in heaven, everything I saw only carries itself with the purpose of His glory. While earth’s green could be musty and dry, moldy and dull, the green I saw in heaven was full of life. The flowers, plants, trees and mountains contained such vibrancy of a beautiful green that is beyond what I could ever describe. There was a refreshing well of life flowing from the throne that would never run dry. They never ran out of fresh water.

Even when Jesus spoke to John in Revelation 4, He said, “Ascend to this realm.” There are many realms of the light and revelation of the Son. Revelation 4:1 (NLT) says:

Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.”

I heard some of the most beautiful songs, sounds, and albums from the gorgeous flowers and trees that were aligned alongside the river of life, which flowed from the center. They all shone with such glory. The melody originating from the praise at His throne was a perfect pitch.

“He is worthy. He is worthy. The Lamb is worthy.”

It would then echo and reverberate across all of heaven, and the leaves and flowers (and butterflies upon them) would blow up and down and open and eloquently close their petals as they gently sang. It was glorious. The praises of the saints reverberated off the leaves of the trees on the mountains, and would rise back to the throne, echoing a back and forth orchestral:

“He is worthy. He is worthy. The Lamb is worthy.”

The song would hit the golden streets, and then the tone would become even deeper.

“He is worthy. He is worthy. The Lamb is worthy.”

The endless ocean would receive and swallow the songs, and then waves would crash back onto the sand and release a soaked sound of praise to Him. The canyons of the mountain would receive it all, and send forth:

“He is worthy. He is worthy. The Lamb is worthy.”

While the words might have been the same, every time I heard them they sounded fresh and particularly special. Like echoes in a canyon, they sounded different, upon every angle and facet, but came from the same source. It was like a kaleidoscope of all seven senses and sounds, all in one.

We have a tiny example of this principle here on earth—wind chimes.

• Just like a visual kaleidoscope shifts as you turn it, wind chimes shift with the wind.

• The notes are the same and the wind is coming from the same source, but the sequence and rhythm are always different, creating a spontaneous, ever-changing “song.”

Every time you look into a kaleidoscope, you will see something fresh and new, even though you are looking into the same thing. On earth, the only thing that changes is your perspective.

In heaven, even perspective itself is born alive at every moment.

The closer I looked, the longer I heard, and the more I experienced, the greater I understood the bigger picture of His glory. There was a 2 in 1, at the same time.

Because we were made in the image of God, He gave the earth to us as a small example or picture of this greater heavenly principle. It’s actually called the God Principle (aka the Fibonacci Sequence).

The Fibonacci Sequence appears in various natural phenomena, such as the arrangement of leaves on a stem, the spirals of a sunflower, and the branching patterns of trees. It also has applications in mathematics, computer science, finance, and everything around us.

Examples follow:

This snowflake might look like it has all the same design, but when you zoom in, you will find it repeating itself, in a fresh new light. You will find the design of a million, then a billion snowflakes, all in one.

Heaven’s sequence takes this principle and blows it out of the water, amplifying it times infinity.

For example, Luke 19:36-40 (NLT) says:

As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

And Psalm 150:6 (NLT) tells us: “Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

Plus Paul’s reflection in Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT): “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Layers of Heaven

There are no limits.

Every hue carried a fragrance, a melody, a depth beyond anything I had ever known. Everything is whole, completely layered like a flawless diamond reflecting endless facets of light.

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:12-13 NLT).

The colors of the sapphire fire floor and stones—orange, purple, red, white, blue, yellow, pink, and green—expanded infinitely at the sound of His praise.