HEAVEN WILL BE WHATEVER GOD WANTS IT TO BE

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Elvin Goodwin
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1 HEAVEN WILL BE WHATEVER GOD WANTS IT TO BE DANIEL 12: REVELATION 7:9-17 NOVEMBER 5, 2017 TOM WHARTENBY MARK TWAIN LOVED POKING FUN AT CHRISTIANS. He ridiculed our self-righteousness. He lampooned our incompatible ideas about God. But what got him most of all were our popular ideas about heaven. He mentioned the idea that we would all be wearing white robes, singing endless hymns, praying endless prayers, and listening to endless sermons. How absurd, Twain remarked, when most Christians can t wait to get out of church on a Sunday morning and go home. He really took aim at those folks who affirmed that none of the things we enjoy on earth would be part of heaven. Twain joked that if bourbon and cigars were banned in heaven he heartily wished that he would go towell, you know where. 1

2 Had Mark Twain lived in the middle part of the 20 th century he would have applauded the remarks of Reinhold Niebuhr on the subject: It is unwise of Christians to claim any knowledge of the furniture of heaven or the temperature of hell. PERHAPS THIS IS THE REASON WHY MANY PREACHERS AVOID THE SUBJECT. William Willimon posed a rhetorical question one Sunday to his congregation at Duke. When is the last time you heard a sermon on heaven? He went on to observe that United Methodist preachers, as well as those of Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Episcopal stripe prefer sermons on ethics and morality. These sermons focus on the here and now, not the then and there. The only exception coming during funeral services. What accounts for this? Is it that we are all taking Niebuhr s warning too seriously? Or is it that we are following the Bible which itself is reticent about the afterlife? Could there be a bit of death-denial in all of this? That is to say, we just don t want to think about it. 2

3 Whatever the reason, the Feast of All Saints pushes even the most reluctant of preachers to think about the afterlife. And so on the First Sunday in November, many of us turn our minds toward death and craft our sermons to speak of the place where all the saints go to rest from their labors. SO HOW CAN WE BUILD A BIBLICALLY APPROPRIATE VISION OF HEAVEN? Paul s first letter to the Church in Corinth is a very good place to start. No eye has seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love Him. Paul boldly proclaims that God has great wonders in store for the saints, but at the same time advises caution in our description thereof. To paraphrase Karl Barth who was speaking about God and not our everlasting destination: Heaven is the place about which we must say something, but about which we dare not say too much. 3

4 WHAT THE SCRIPTURE CLEARLY GIVES US WARRANT TO SAY IS THIS: Heaven will be whatever God wants it to be. Heaven points to the time beyond time and the place beyond places in which God will finally have His way with the world. Heaven is the Omega Point that God has envisioned for the universe. It is the divinely fixed destiny for the earth and all who dwell therein. In heaven our will and God s shall be one. To put it another way, we will be as Christ-like as it is possible for mere mortals to be. In heaven we will love as we have been loved. All the barriers which we have erected against love will be breached. All the walls blocking intimacy that we have built- or have been built for us- will be broken down. TAKE NOTE: Heaven is the place where God will get what God wants. It is not the place where we will get what we want. Mr. Twain can relax! Heaven will not be the fulfillment of 4

5 our fantasies. Heaven will not be the completion of our various quests or goals on earth. In many ways, heaven will be the overturning and negating of our notions of what is necessary for our fulfillment or happiness. In heaven we will not ask God for anything, we will joyfully and gratefully receive whatever it is God wants to give us. To get personal for a moment: if I walk into the kitchen and see two platters on the table and one is piled high with hamburgers, fries, with a chocolate milk shake standing beside it, and the other is piled high with a steaming bowl of naked broccoli, and I shout O wow, broccoli I know I have died and gone to heaven. DARE WE GET MORE SPECIFIC ABOUT HEAVEN? I mean without ignoring Mr. Niebuhr s warning. What does the Bible lead us to expect and hope for? We can expect a place where love has swallowed up hate. 5

6 We can expect a place where warmth and intimacy have melted away the cold shoulder of stony indifference. We can expect a place where the spirit of forgiveness has blown cold the hot fires of revenge. We can expect a place where everyone looks after everyone else. We can expect a place from which anxiety, worry, fear, indifference, and anger have been light-years removed. Heaven will be a place of breathtaking beauty, and we will all have the ability to appreciate it. Mozart and Bach concerts will be standing room only No one will be too hot. No one will be too cold. No one will feel unloved or left out. No one will be overlooked or rejected. Heaven will be the place where gently souls can walk without fear of being pushed aside or run over. In heaven no one will limp or strain to see or struggle to hear. No one will toss and turn during sleepless nights. 6

7 TODAY IS ALL SAINTS SUNDAY It is a day when we remember and celebrate those lives that pointed clearly to God, God s son, and God s will. It is a day to remember and celebrate those lives which gave us a little taste of what God has in store for us. In a time and place where we are assaulted by so much violence, brutality, darkness, ignorance, and irrationality, it is good to take time out to remember the saints of the human race. It is good to remember all those who have touched our lives with gentleness, love, concern, and selfless caring. It is right and proper and salutary to call to mind all the saints who from their labors rest and to reflect on the ultimate destination of us all. 7

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FINDING OUR SECURITY IN CHRIST ALONE

FINDING OUR SECURITY IN CHRIST ALONE God has so much planned for our lives Yet fear, worry and anxiety can cause us to miss out on God s best for our life The only way that we can realise our full potential