1 Heaven: Heaven and the Meaning of Life

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "1 Heaven: Heaven and the Meaning of Life"

Lauren Rose
5 years ago
Views:

1 Heaven: Heaven and the Meaning of Life Discuss: What are the biggest questions that you have about heaven, about hell and everything, anything in between?

1 1 Heaven: Heaven and the Meaning of Life Discuss: What are the biggest questions that you have about heaven, about hell and everything, anything in between? John Wesley writing in the 18th-Century: To candid, reasonable men I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen - I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven - how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libra. The Disappearance of Heaven and Hell? Two stories: Augustine and his mom Harvard professor Heaven Discuss: What are words used in our world to describe heaven? Heaven has some fire department now. Reporter after 9-11 terrorist attack I find it interesting that polls show that 94% of Americans still believe in heaven (70% think they have a good shot in getting there). Now, what is meant by heaven is harder to determine. Things get a bit more confusing when we see that a good percentage of people who believe in heaven do not actually believe in God! Hell Hell gets less press than heaven. Hell is very seldom even talked about as something that awaits one when they die. Discuss: How is hell seen today? Hell is more often than not a description of the world today. What is the Christian view of hell? Rob Bell, Love Wins.

2 Purgatory What is it? What about it? Could the doctrine of purgatory make biblical and theological sense? Could it help us to understand heaven and hell much better? So, where do we start? A posture of humility and wonder. As we begin this course, I found good company with Puritan, Richard Baxter who was writing in the 17th-Century on heaven in his Saints Everlasting Rest. This is what he wrote: But alas! how little know I of that whereof I am about to speak. Shall I speak before I know? But if I stay till I clearly know, I shall not come again to speak.therefore I will speak while I may, that little, very little which I do know of it, rather than be wholly silent. The Logic of Happiness Do you long to be happy? Why do you want to be happy? What is it that makes a person happy? Is happiness even possible? Why do we seek love? Is there a connection between our longing for love and our longing for happiness? What if love is just as elusive as happiness? My point is simply this: if we desire happiness, but can t find it AND if we desire to love and be loved, but this is impossible to find, then does this not make our lives tragic? Does it not make life absurd? Read Revelation 21:1-8; 22-27; 22:1-13

3 Let's look at heaven in light of these Nine truths. 1. Heaven holds out the promise that the human story is destined to come to a wonderful end. Have you thought of an ending? Yes, several, and they are all dark and unpleasant, said Frodo. Oh, that won t do, said Bilbo. Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after? It will do well if it ever comes to that, said Frodo. Ah! said Sam. And where will they live? That s what I often wonder. The principal damning sin is to make anything besides God our end or rest. And the first true saving act is to choose God only for our end and happiness. Richard Baxter, Saints Everlasting Rest 2. Heaven will answer our deepest longings for happiness and satisfaction. In Revelation, this longing is describe in three very earthy ways: God will satisfy our Thirst - "To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life" (Rev. 21:6). "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" (Rev. 22:17). What this tells us is that heaven will answer the first of these deeply felt human desires. Hunger - "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9). Heaven satisfies our deepest hungers. Sexual desire - picture of heaven is like a wedding. The bridegroom in this wedding is God Himself. "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" (Rev. 21:2). Think of an engaged couple who finally embrace on their wedding night. Not a question of quenching our desires, but rather they will be fulfilled in an ongoing dynamic fashion.

4 3. Heaven involves the renewal of Heaven and Earth 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 (Rev. 21:1). In our passage, we see the holy city comes down out of heaven to a newly made earth (Rev. 21:2, 9-11). This adds a wrinkle on how heaven and the afterlife is often seen. To many people, heaven is a one-stop move where we escape our body, escape this world and fly away up there to be with God forever. Why up there? [Explain the medieval understanding of the heavens - perfection increases the higher up you go. Lewis on staring into space] But what do we find here? Not so much an escape as a renewal. God is a God who loves Creating stuff Creating me (human beings) We need to get Jesus right. 4. Death of Death 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. 21:4). I love the way our man, Richard Baxter puts it: Nor is there such a thing as a pale face, a languid body, feeble joints, unable infancy, decrepit age, peccant humours, dolorous sickness, griping fears, consuming cares nor whatsoever deserves the name of evil. Indeed a gale of groans and sighs, a stream of tears accompanied us to the very gates, and there bid us farewell, for ever. Notice that this text affirms that our lives here on earth will be full of pain, death, mourning, and tears. And if death has the final word, then this life of ours would not be a comedy, but a tragedy. The worst isn't the last thing about the world. It's the next to the last thing. The last thing is the best. It's the power from on high that comes down into the world, that wells up from the rockbottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last, best thing is the laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes. You are terribly loved and forgiven. Yes. You are healed. All is well. Frederick Buechner Life, laughter, and pleasure will have the last word, not pain, not suffering, not death.

5 5. Not an end, but a beginning In the Christian worldview, heaven is not the end where we sit around endlessly among the clouds with harps in hand, but it marks a new beginning. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. C.S. Lewis 6. Union of truth, beauty and goodness It sounds too good to be true. And yet, in Revelation, we find a picture of heaven that is at the same time, beautiful (Rev. 21:11), good (Rev. 21:27) and True (Rev. 21:5). Truth, beauty, and goodness will be united forever. 7. Heaven will preserve and celebrate the best of human culture The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into [the city] (Rev. 21:26). Heaven will be made up of people from every nation, tribe, people and language (Rev. 7:9). Beatific Vision (vision of God) We will be overwhelmed by the wonder, beauty and glory of seeing God. God s Creation and re-creation mandate The point is that it may be that the best of human culture will be preserved and celebrated for our ongoing enjoyment in eternity. 8. We will finally be Home This is what makes heaven the deepest satisfaction of our deepest desires and aspirations. Again, we read in Revelation, 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 (Rev. 21:3) With - beautiful preposition. It means that you and I will never be alone, that we are made for community, for relationship. When God is with us, when He lives in us, we will be home in ways we never have experienced before. It began in the Garden, we experience this in the Spirit, and it culminates in heaven.

6 The message of salvation tells us that those who trust in Jesus will one day live with God on this earth in perfect intimacy. We will see God s Face and his name will be on our foreheads (Rev. 22:4). This is what theologically is called the beatific vision. Beatific means blissfully happy so that here the idea is that seeing God s Face will elicit such happiness and such joy as our hearts have yearned so deeply for. Love Paradox: And yet, we will be so happy before the face of God, that we will then love the things that God has made more deeply and truly than we would if we loved them more than we love God. And so, to love God does not mean that the things of this earth will fade, but rather we will see them clearly and embrace them as good gifts from God and enjoy them even more as a gift. 9. We shouldn t be surprised that in this life of ours, we catch glimpses of eternity This homesickness is for heaven. All these yearnings will be fulfilled when we see God - when we know and are known. [T]here is a kind of yearning, something perhaps a little like nostalgia, or perhaps homesickness, a longing for we know not what. Alvin Plantinga Implications 1. There will be Judgement, because there is a Judge 2. Our world is moving towards Renewed Cosmos, not random chaos 3. Heaven is much fuller and greater than we could ever imagine 4. We need to recognize the goodness of things physical (they are not opposite to things spiritual). 5. We need to allow the end to shape the now. 6. So make Good Choices

7 7. You Can Make it! 8. If the Trinity is the bedrock of reality, then love is the very heart of the meaning of life. And if love is at the centre of all reality, then we really must look at life, and the world as a comedy, not a tragedy. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. I my Father s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3

The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. Matthew 5:3a (NIV) 3a Blessed are the poor in spirit

The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. The B Attitudes. Matthew 5:3a (NIV) 3a Blessed are the poor in spirit Matthew 5:a (NIV) a Blessed are the poor in spirit Matthew 5: (NIV) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:4a (NIV) 4a Blessed are those who mourn Matthew 5:4 (NIV)