In Faust," the "Prologue in Heaven" presents a vision of heaven. What is Goethe's heaven like?

The "Prologue in Heaven," part of Goethe's
Faust, presents a place where God reigns over all, even
Mephistopheles. The heavenly host are gathered, with angels Raphael, Gabriel and Michael
praising God's creation—the earth: each praises some aspect of God's
work.

Raphael praises the
sun:

The Sun,
in ancient guise, competing
With brother spheres in rival song,
With
thunder-march, his orb completing,
Moves his predestin'd course
along;
His aspect to the powers supernal
Gives strength, though
fathom him none may;
Transcending thought, the works eternal
Are
fair as on the primal
day.

The Sun, as he was in
ancient days, continues his journey around the earth—always the same—giving strength,
though no one can completely understand him. (Referring to the Sun as "him," title="personification"
href="http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_P.html">personifies this fiery
heavenly body with human characteristics.)

Gabriel praises
the “earth’s splendour:”

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With speed, thought
baffling, unabating,
Earth's splendour whirls in circling
flight;
Its Eden-brightness alternating
With solemn, awe-inspiring
night;
Ocean's broad waves in wild commotion,
Against the rocks'
deep base are hurled;
And with the spheres, both rock and
ocean
Eternally are swiftly
whirled.

Gabriel describes
its "Eden-brightness" as having never faded since the beginning of time; and night,
which still inspires awe to all who contemplate it; he praises, too, the Ocean's "broad
waves in wild commotion," which hurls itself powerfully against the rocks and moves
endlessly.

Finally, Michael praises nature's movement of
lightning and thunder across the face of the world.

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And tempests roar in emulation
From
sea to land, from land to sea,
And raging form, without cessation,
A
chain of wondrous agency,
Full in the thunder's path
careering,

Flaring the swift destructions
play;
But, Lord, Thy servants are revering
The mild procession of
thy day.

Michael praises the
"tempests" (storms) that move across the land and the sea, without end— a "wondrous
agency" (a wonder to behold): both thunder and "flaring"
(lightning).

Michael summarizes this by saying that all of
his servants revere (honor and adore) his work.

All three
angels say:

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Thine aspect to the powers
supernal
Gives strength, though fathom thee none may;
And all thy
works, sublime, eternal,
Are fair as on the primal
day.

In other words, they
praise God's creation, as splendrous and everlasting as it was when it was created on
the "primal day."

Goethe sees heaven as a place where God
gathers with his host, and all praise him for the many glorious aspects of his formation
of the world.

This is followed by discussion with
Mephistopheles, so Goethe may imagine that "heavenly business" is also addressed there.
Perhaps alluding to the fall of Adam and Eve, Mephistopheles (Mephisto) maintains that
knowledge had brought mankind nothing but misery, thus questioning or challenging God's
creation. Had mankind not had its glimpse of heaven at that first
moment,

Better
he might have fared, poor wight,
Hadst thou not given him a gleam of heavenly
light;

would humans now be so
vicious and stupid?

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Men, in their evil 'clays, move my
compassion;
Such sorry things to plague is nothing
worth.

This is where God and
Mephistopheles wager over the strength of Faust's faith. God permits (as happened in the
book of Job in the Old Testament) Mephisto to do all he can to lure Faust from his
faith; God is certain that Faust will, in time, prove his
dedication to his Creator instead of to Mephistopheles, while perhaps learning lessons
along the way.