Heaven

Heaven!

Jesus series, part 8

• The 1000 year millennial reign of Christ concludes…
• Great White Throne judgment for the unsaved occurs…

I can only imagine what it will be like to take my final breath and step over into the threshold of eternity.  I can only imagine seeing the Lamb of God, Jesus Himself sitting on the throne.  I can only imagine the perfect fellowship and oneness we will have with each other and with our Lord.  I can only imagine feeling 100% physically awesome, I can only imagine!  Can we pause to imagine what it would be like in an instant of time, to step over into eternity?  To go from your present life to an eternal future with the Lord?  To realize we’re finally home in glory.  Our eternal destiny is set – no coming back… Are you ready to step into eternity? Are you going to heaven when you die? Jesus is the only way to the Father who dwells in Heaven.  This morning we’ll look at this paradise, our future home for the believer, a place called heaven.

Heaven is Real… It is mentioned over 600 times in the Bible… God who “cannot lie” can be fully trusted!

• We’re Citizens of heaven already!  We will be getting a new transformed glorified bodies!

Philip. 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

• We’re like the little boy flying his kite and the kite was out of sight and someone asked him where it was and he pointed up to the sky. They asked him how he knew it was there if he couldn’t see it and he said, “I know it is there because I can feel it tug.” We can know in a similar way that there is a Heaven, because we can feel the pull of it, the tug of it in our souls… Ecc 3:10 “God placed eternity in the hearts of men…” Trust God’s Word, Truth… Rather than the opinions of philosophers and scientists… Its real
  
  

1.  God creates new heavens and a new earth (Earth & sky fled, Rev 20:11) totally new, fresh, clean, perfect…

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (not God’s abode, but new atmosphere & stellar space)

Isaiah 65:17 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind…

2.  Heavenly City descends and rests upon the new earth

Revelation 21:2, 10 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband… ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

• Physically incredible in size (1500 x 1500 x 1500 miles)

Revelation 21:16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.

• 1500 miles square – It’ll be roughly from here in Pennsylvania to Texas square. Or roughly 2/3 the size of the continental United States… (40 X larger than England plus height… The dimensions fit either a cube or a pyramid… Greeks believed a cube represented perfection… also the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, 20x20x20 cubits)  The Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, new earth and the entire new heavens is what we refer to as Heaven!  Imagine 1500 miles high! Space shuttle orbits at 250mi!!
• If it has different stories, with each one 20 feet that would equal 396,000 stories!  But I don’t think it would need escalators or elevators… A place for special people – God’s own children.  Enough room for all of God’s redeemed… Henry Morris: Assuming 20B saints there, each resident have 75 acres space…
• Beautiful beyond description

God loves beauty… Look at a sunrise, sunset, rainbow, flower, butterfly, hummingbird, snowflake… Beauty even in this sin marred world… Oh but someday to step into God’s beautiful heaven!

Revelation 21:11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. [Jasper, as a beautifully cut diamond]

Revelation 21:18-19 ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,… [200’ foundation walls]

• Unimaginable splendor and beauty, gold so pure you can see through it as glass.
• Precious stones, the tree of life we saw in the Garden of Eden in Genesis.
• No winter cold, ice, snow, or summer heat and storms – the perfect environment in every way.

Rev 21:21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass… [3 gates each side, 400 miles apart, always open]

• O.T. & N.T. saints represented by the 12 gates (tribes) and the 12 foundations (apostles). Rev. 21:12-14

Revelation 22:1-2 ¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

A bus driver and a minister were standing in line to get into heaven. The bus driver approached the gate and St. Peter said, “Welcome, I understand you were a bus driver. Since I’m in charge of housing, I believe I have found the perfect place for you. See that mansion over the hilltop? It’s yours.

   The Pastor heard all this and began to stand a little taller. He said to himself, “If a bus driver got a place like that, just think what I’ll get.” The Pastor approached the gate and St. Peter said, “Welcome, I understand you were a Pastor. See that shack down in the valley?”

   St. Peter had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when the irate Pastor said, “I was a Pastor, I preached the gospel, I helped teach people about God. Why does that bus driver get a mansion, and I get a shack?”

   Sadly St. Peter responded, “Well, it seems when you preached, people slept. When the bus driver drove, people prayed.”   –James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 146.

• God’s Glorious Presence

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

• Two things found in heaven… Absence of all evil and the presence of all good… Triune God is there!

Revelation 21:11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Revelation 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

• Intimacy for eternity – forever, without end… Martin Luther said, “I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joys and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years.”

• D. L. Moody said,  “We talk about heaven being so far away. It is within speaking distance to those who belong there.”… Does your prayer life take you into God’s presence?  Learn to pray – it’s powerful.
• Perfect place for the redeemed (No more’s)

Rev 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”… Rev 22:3a “No longer will there be any curse…”

A place of no mores… No more sun, moon, heat, storms, night, curse, temple, sickness, hidden things, gates to shut, shadows, sadness, separation, sin, evil, tiredness, garbage, sorrow, pain, curse, disappointments, death, tears, disease, wickedness, mourning, Satan, lies, immorality, unbelievers, witchcraft, drugs, violence, murders, plagues, pollution, corruption, cheating, pride or arrogance, hunger, thirst, cripples, arthritis, heart bypasses, cancer, etc… Lawyers, doctors, hospitals…

• Dwelling place of God Himself with the redeemed saints of God and His vast array of angelic beings!
• Can you imagine, your arthritis pain gone, your stiff neck fixed, no more migraine headaches.
• Perfect eyesight, hearing, smell, all your senses tuned to 100%, just like before the fall of Adam.
• A perfect personality with no more relationship problems.  WOW!
• A Prepared place for YOU!  Reunion & knowledge with loved ones and friends!

1 Cor. 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

J. B. Phillips said, “Heaven is not a reward for “being a good boy” but is the continuation and expansion of a quality of life which begins when a man’s central confidence is transferred from himself to God.”

Revelation 21:27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. ⁷ He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

• Do you ever get tired of fighting the world, the flesh, or the Devil?
• Heaven will be Holy and pure, from thoughts to actions – the victory has been won!
• A special place for a special people.  No bribes, money scams, corruption of any kind.
• Place of reunion of mothers and babies… fathers and son… husbands and wives… brothers and sisters
• Upon our death – I believe angels will escort you into glory, as they now watch over us.
• I believe you will remember your loved ones and will know everyone you meet… Noah, Daniel, David…
• Death will sever ties on earth while restoring ties in Heaven with those who passed on before you.
• To once again see your loved ones, your son or daughter, your spouse, grandparents!

Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

• Heaven is Eternal! 2 Cor. 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
• As is our Salvation is Eternal too! Hebrews 5:9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

3.  Believers will worship, serve & reign with Jesus forever

Revelation 22:3b-5 ³ “… The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign [to rule] for ever and ever.

• In heaven, there will be a continuation of service to our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe!
• God gives us the authority to rule and reign with Him during the millennium and throughout eternity.
• I believe every saint will be assigned a work of administration with different responsibilities.
• Heaven will not be a place of inactivity or boredom… Floating on clouds, playing with harps & halo’s…
• Heaven will be the complete opposite… A time to grow intellectually of His creation & of God Himself.
• Could it be a time to explore other worlds?  Rule over creatures and kingdoms we no nothing about?  Food for thought isn’t it?… A. G. Hobbs, Jr. says, “If a person does not enjoy the worship and services of the Lord, he no doubt would be out of place in heaven.”     

C. S. Lewis said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

We will be serving, reigning but we also will be worshipping our Lord…

Revelation 22:8-9 ⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. ⁹ But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

• In heaven, there will be a continuation of our celebration, praise and worship of our Great God.
• Uninhibited joy and praise around the throne – praise and worship is the language of Heaven.
• Rev 19 we see the “Hallelujah” (Praise the Lord) worship of the multitudes of the heavenly host.
• Enjoying intimate fellowship with God and the Lamb, serving them, and reigning with them forever in sheer joy and never-ending praise.

Billy Graham said, I’m not going to heaven because I’ve preached to great crowds of people. I’m going to heaven because Christ died on that cross. None of us are going to heaven because we’re good. And we’re not going to heaven because we’ve worked. We’re not going to heaven because we pray and accept Christ. We’re going to heaven because of what he did on the cross. All I have to do is receive him. And it’s so easy to receive Christ that millions stumble over its sheer simplicity.”

A. W. Tozer said, “The man who is seriously convinced that he deserves to go to hell is not likely to go there, while the man who believes that he is worthy of heaven will certainly never enter that blessed place.”

• There is no one worthy to make it to heaven on his or her own.  You can’t earn it, merit it, or buy it.
• Our sin stands in the way.  That is why God sent Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice. Innocent for guilty

Max Lucado, in his book, “The Applause of Heaven,” tells about flying home after having been gone for more than a week of speaking engagements… He says, “I know that my wife & our two daughters will be waiting at the airport for me. And as I walk down the long corridor & round the bend & into the terminal, I¹ll see my wife & she¹ll have a big smile on her face, & my two little girls will be there. Then my youngest daughter will begin to applaud because Daddy¹s been gone & now Daddy¹s come home.”

“One of these days we¹re going to walk down the long corridor through the pearly gates onto the streets of gold. We might see Paul over here & Peter over there & maybe Moses & Elijah.” “But finally,” he says, “we¹re going to round the bend into the throne room of God, & there on the throne will be God the Father. And by His right side Jesus the Christ.” “Then we¹ll hear the applause of heaven & begin to enjoy God, & God will begin to enjoy us for all eternity.” 

Jesus invites you to come… Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.