Heaven (July 28, 2013) Worldwide, around 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour. The Bible tells us what happens to men and women after we die, so this means that more than 250,000 people someone s Dad or Mum or friend goes either to Heaven or to Hell every day. It means since I started this sermon 90 people have gone to either heaven or to hell for all eternity. That is why this sermon is so crucial. Tragically, in that 30 seconds more have gone to hell than to heaven. I say this despite the fact that in the US for every person who believes they are going to hell 120 believe they are headed for heaven. It may be somewhat similar here in Australia. But Jesus tells us the reality: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13 14. Heaven and hell are real. Not many not even many Christians talk about heaven. And if they do often their thoughts of heaven have been influenced by a variety of different sources popular media, books about people who supposedly journeyed to heaven and came back, the pictures of heaven as painted in various cults and religions. This week I want to talk about what the Bible says about heaven. Next week with fear and trepidation I want to talk about hell. 1
We have to talk about heaven and hell because they are real. The Bible speaks about them from Genesis to Revelation. Every one in this room, this city, this country this world, everyone ever born is heading either to heaven or to hell. Heaven is a huge subject. Sometime possibly as an evening series I want to spend six weeks or more just looking at this crucial subject. Tonight I can only give you a taste. If you want more there are a few really great books on Heaven I would recommend Randy Alcorn s book Heaven. Tonight I want to focus on one aspect the future heaven. I want you to long for eternity in this future heaven. I want you to wake up every day thanking God that though you richly deserve hell and though you could never deserve heaven you are so thankful that because of the death of Christ heaven is yours. I want you to taste the reality of heaven and hell and it to be a spur to your evangelism. I want you to be driven to make your calling and election sure. So I am going to focus this week and next week on the ultimate permanent heaven and hell. What do I mean ultimate permanent heaven and hell? 2
Man on Earth Faultless Earth Fallen Earth Future Earth Genesis 1-2 Genesis 3-Rev 20 Rev 21-22 Man in Heaven None Present Heaven Future Heaven No death First death No second death Man in Hell None Present Hell Future Hell No death First death Second death The Bible speaks much about man on earth and in heaven and hell. Revelation 21:1 tells us: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. When we read the Bible we find that this first earth is divided into two sections before and after the fall. So what we end up with is a situation where the bookends of the Bible the first two and last two chapters of the Bible tell us about man on the Faultless Earth and in the Future Earth. In between most of the Bible speaks of the earth we now live on the Fallen Earth. The First Earth was created by God as good and faultless for man to live in. But it was marred by sin and what we see around us now is what the First Earth became a Fallen Earth with intruders like sin, death, natural disasters, illness, wars. But one day God will restore this Fallen Earth and create a new earth a Future Earth heaven for His people to live in. This Future Earth that God creates is where we will dwell forever with God so it is heaven. In one sense, heaven and hell for man only became a reality after death entered this world. In the time of the Faultless Earth Eden God was in heaven but there was no death so there was no heaven or hell for men. 3
However, from the moment that Cain killed Able heaven and hell began to be populated with men. But notice I called this the present heaven and present hell. The ultimate permanent resting place of man either heaven or hell has not yet been created. Revelation talks about the new heaven a future heaven but also the future hell into which Satan and the Beast and all those not in Christ are cast. But, even now, before the end times there is a present heaven and hell. Jesus told the thief on the cross Today you will be with me in Paradise. Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Revelation speaks of the martyrs crying out for justice. And consider this parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:22 26: The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. We don t want to push every detail of a parable but it seems that Jesus envisions there to be a form of heaven a Paradise Abraham s side now and also a form of hell now before the end times. We know some details of these places but there is also an element of mystery. But, here is what I want you to notice. Ultimately, there will be a final heaven. In Revelation 21 the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven to the recreated earth and God and redeemed man are united there forever. This is the final heaven. The Bible describes this as the pinnacle of history. Something every Christian longs for. 4
But the truth is that many Christians don t long for heaven. In fact for some heaven sounds totally boring. Why? Because they have a wrong picture of heaven in their minds. The most common depiction of heaven: Is dead Christians raised as some form of angel, with a harp, alone on a cloud, being bored to death. Does this picture make you long for eternity? Not me. Is this infinitely better than our fallen marred world? Doesn t seem it. For others they picture heaven: 5
As being like a Sunday worship service with God Himself present with one great exception it never, ever ends. Many Christians struggle to get through an hour and a half of a worship service. They check their watch regularly and count the minutes and seconds. They groan when it becomes clear the preacher is going 5 minutes too long. So the idea of a worship service that never ends has only one possible redeeming feature for them it is not hell. Is that heaven where we are gathered singing praise to God forever? No. The pictures of heaven speak of God on His throne and worshipping God but also of living in houses, eating, drinking, fellowshipping, enjoying the new earth and its plants and animals. Think more of Adam before the fall than a church service. Exactly how realistic or symbolic these are is difficult to say for certain but it does seem to be a new Eden with many similarities to the first Eden. If all you think of is a church service then perhaps you have a warped view of worship even now. All of our life is worship. Let all you do be to the glory of God. Eat to the glory of God, work to the glory of God, love to the glory of God, play tennis to the glory of God, listen to Mozart to the glory of God, play with your dog to the glory of God, enjoy your kids to the glory of God. Do these right and it is true worship. In one sense it is the same in heaven only it is perfect. Others have added a bit of literalism to heaven. Revelation 21:16 says of the new earth: 6
The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. They take this literally a 2,221 kilometre cube almost like the Borg cube out of Star Trek coming down from heaven to be an enormous cube sitting on the earth. This is not my idea of heaven. I don t think the old Eden was like this. I don t think we will be living in a multilevel cubic city plonked on a pristine new earth. The passages seem to talk to me of sun and trees and enjoying nature as well as cities. I take this description as symbolic of a perfect people made up of Old Testament and New Testament saints. Regardless, there are so many false views of heaven. Some have us as disembodied spirits, ghosts floating through the skies. For others heaven is just a throne room, polished, bright. To some heaven is a place that is supposed to be incredible but without the best things of this world chocolate, sport, sex, dogs. In short for many their view of heaven is boring, sanitised, dull. There is nothing that draws their heart to heaven except that suffering ends and it is not hell. It is a place an old person wracked with the pain of cancer would like but a young, vibrant man or woman with their life ahead of them heaven would be a step down. I wish I had time to go into this more fully but let me make a few comments. Listen to Isaiah 65:17 25: For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I 7
will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. There is certainly meant to be a deal of poetic license here because there are allusions to death and sin which clearly are not literal in heaven. But, the point seems to be that we are in physical bodies in a physical place that is wonderful. A place of joy and gladness. There are familiar things of this earth only they are perfect. Houses, work, animals, banquets, fruit, wine. And perhaps most of all family and friends. For me the greatest earthly joy in this world is my family and my friends. In heaven our family who are in Christ are there and we will enjoy them perfectly forever. And of course I have to comment on the question everyone asks me will my dog be in heaven? Possibly. Its even possible your cat will be there. The Bible is not specific. God created animals for us to enjoy in Eden animals of some form will be there in heaven whether they are our pets from this fallen world raised to life possibly I don t know. I want to say this. The Bible never paints heaven merely in terms of the best of this life. It does depict many of the great things of this life as there. Not all the joys of this world are there marriage is not there but most of the joys of this world are there. However, the greatest source of joy and pleasure in heaven is not from the stuff of this earth. To see what is the great joy look with me at Revelation chapter 21 verses 1-8 where we find a picture of the new heaven and the new earth. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. After introducing this new heaven and new earth, John describes what eternity is like. He says that it is: 8
a. b. c. d. e. A Holy place v.1 For Holy people v. 2 Enjoying a Holy God v. 3 With Holy consequences v. 4 As our Holy heritage vv. 5-8 Basically, the greatest joys of heaven are what is not there sin and its consequences and what is there holy men and the Lord Himself. We who are Christians have the privilege of a relationship with Christ now. Knowing Him, meditating on Him, reading of Him, singing of Him are great joys but the full experience of Christ can only be had in a new heaven a recreation without sin and by new men those recreated without sin. Notice that the first heaven and first earth had to pass away. They were marred by the sin of man. God will not dwell with man in a marred creation. And thus the old heaven and earth are done away with and a new heaven and new earth are recreated. What does it mean that there is a new heaven and earth? Is this a world like the first world a world like Eden before the fall? Is heaven merely a restoration back to Eden? While we aren t given complete details, it seems to me that heaven is described here in terms that show that eternity is beyond even the glories of Eden. The best of Eden is there but it goes beyond that. There is no possibility of sin, no Satan. 9
Relationships are different there is no marriage and our relationship with God is even deeper. In Eden Adam could sin. In heaven there can never be sin. In Eden God walked with Adam at times. In heaven we will dwell with and enjoy God without ceasing. Heaven is even beyond Eden. In these verses, we find five descriptions of the glory of eternity. The first description of the glory of eternity is that it is a Holy Place. What makes this heaven and earth new in the first place is that: The sea was no more. Don t be mistaken. This does not mean that the new earth is a world without seas and oceans just dry land mass. This is not a comment on heavenly hydrology. This is a comment on sin. Throughout Revelation the sea is constantly used as a term for the sin and chaos of this fallen world. Back in Revelation 4 there was a sea that separated God from the created order. Here there is no sea. As we will see in verse 3 now God can unite with and dwell unhindered with His redeemed creation. What makes this heaven and earth new compared to this present world is that there is no sin. No rebellion, no opposition to God and no effects of sin. Heaven is a place of absolute holiness. What does this mean? There is no Satan to tempt. No men who are capable of falling. This heaven and earth cannot be corrupted. This leads us to the second description of the glory of eternity. It is for a Holy People. Verse 2: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Into the midst of this new and perfect creation comes a holy city the new Jerusalem. 10
During the exile, the Jews longed for the day they could return to the land and rebuild Jerusalem a new Jerusalem. And so in the Old Testament and in particularly in Jewish Apocalyptic the new Jerusalem became the ultimate hope of the place where the people of God would dwell forever. This is picked up in the New Testament Galatians speaks of the Jerusalem above. Hebrews speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem the true Jerusalem the place where God is. Notice that this new Jerusalem descends into the new heaven and new earth. Don t get the symbolism wrong here. You are not to imagine a world and in one part of a world a city descends and that is heaven. The symbolism is that this city the new Jerusalem is the bride the people of God a holy people who now come to live in the holy place God has prepared. It seems that the idea is that the new Jerusalem is the place where all the redeemed of all the ages are where they have gone after death in one sense it is the present heaven and it comes down to the new earth to form the future heaven. Let me put it this way. Is the new Jerusalem meant to represent the place where the redeemed dwell forever or is it a description of the redeemed people themselves? It is the holy people. The holy people come down to dwell in the place God prepared for them. Look at the end of verse 2 the city is the bride prepared for her husband. The new Jerusalem is the bride a holy city prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Only holy people can dwell in the new heaven and new earth. This is pointed out in verse 8 and again in verse 27. What this means is that at this time we are what we were created and called to be. God created us to be holy. God called us to be holy. The blood of the Lamb will have washed us clean in every sense. Today, as we sit here we are declared righteous and we bear the promise that He will make us righteous. In that day we will finally be righteous. We will be a holy people. We will bear His holiness and His righteousness. We will be holy as He is holy. And then, we will be fit for eternity. 11
The new Jerusalem comes out of heaven from God. It is God Himself who readied us for eternity and made us holy this is not due to anything we have done. Holy! I can barely imagine the glory of this time. In the words of the old African American spiritual Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Free from our sin. A holy people. I long for that day with all my heart. As much as I long to see departed loved ones and the things of heaven such as the beatific vision of Christ I long just as much if not more for the day when my sin is ended. Of everything that causes me pain and grief and tears here in this life my sin is at the top of the list. I weep over those times when I sin. Those times when my sin overcomes me. Times when I let Christ down. Times when my sin causes pain to others. But the day is coming when there will be no sea. No Satan. No beasts. No sinful men. No fallen creation. And no sin within Craig Lloyd. Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, I will be free at last! No more thoughts of anger, greed, lust and envy. Not to even struggle in the least with the flesh. Then and only then can we reach the third description of the glory of eternity. It is enjoying a Holy God. Verse 3: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Why did the Lord use the imagery of a bride in verse 2? Because in this world the greatest relationship, the closest intimacy anyone can enjoy is that of husband and wife. In the consummation of marriage they become one flesh. This picture of the closest earthly union is used to describe our ultimate relationship the one to which our lives lead a full and unfettered union with Christ Himself. This chapter describes the consummation the marriage supper the time when we will unite fully with the Lord who loved us and died for us. 12
Our union with Christ now is hindered by our sin. But this final perfect consummation with Christ is only possible in a holy place and with a holy people. If you want to sum up the true glory of heaven here it is. Heaven is dwelling with a Holy God forever. Psalm 16:11 says this: In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. The Westminster Confession in the Shorter Catechism puts it well. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And it is in the consummation that we finally glorify Him perfectly and enjoy Him fully. Our problem is that we are so earthly that when we think of heaven and the glories of heaven, our hearts naturally think of human relationships in heaven. Heaven will be wonderful I will see my grandma again. I will see my kids again. Boy do I have some questions for Paul and Luther. But let us never forget that as wonderful as the perfect relationships we will have in in glory are the Scriptures tell us to long even more for our final, full relationship with Christ. And I have to say that it does concern me that so often Christians fail to grasp what is the true glory of eternity. So often we talk of death like this. I will die and then I will wake on the other side. Yes, Christ will be there. But so will my loved ones! They will be there with outstretched arms to greet me. I can t wait to see them. And then we will walk through the green fields of glory talking and catching up. Yes, that will be wonderful but Scripture seems to teach that our final union with Christ is the relational high point of eternity. What Scripture is insistent on is that heaven was not created just so you could see your beloved grandfather again. Heaven exists so that God might receive the eternal worship due His name as a holy people unite with a holy God in a holy place. The true glory of eternity is God Himself. 13
And of everything I say this evening here is the most important truth for you to grasp. Our union with Christ will result in unending joy beyond our ability to comprehend. If you are a child of God, then you have experienced a taste of the glories of the age to come. The power of God. The love of God. Times where you have been reading the word, or hearing the word preached with power, or seen God work in your life times where you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. You may have been in prayer. You may have sinned and been overwhelmed by the grace of God. You may have been meditating on the wonders of the cross. But you have seen and tasted a glimpse of the power of the age to come. And have you not wondered at those times, what it will be like to bask in the unshielded glory of God not in part but in full not momentarily but for all eternity? This is heaven. This is eternity. This is our blessed future. We were created in such a manner that the greatest joy, the most incredibly glorious experience possible for man is to know God. In this life our sin has meant we could only know a sliver of that glory. Moses could see the back of God. The High Priest could enter the holy of holies one a year. The disciples beheld the glory of God veiled in the flesh of Christ. You and I know the mediated glory of the indwelling Spirit of God. But even though we cannot know the full glory of God, the small part we can know is still the greatest joy possible in this life. Better than money or sex or kids or fame. To know the love of God as we become filled with the fullness of God. That is the closest we can come to heaven on earth. But, even this is just a taste of eternity. Nothing can compare to that day. The day when we achieve the end for which we were created to know God. To dwell with God. To experience God. To enjoy Him forever. This is joy and power and glory and wonder beyond anything we can possibly imagine. Eagles were meant to soar. Sharks were meant to glide through the sea. We were meant to live in His glory. It is where we will find completion. Nothing can compare to this glory. A world without sin. Us without sin. In fellowship with the glory of a holy God. We move now to the fourth description of the glory of eternity. It has Holy Consequences. 14
Verse 4: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Just read this verse over a few times. It makes your heart long for the day. The pain of this world comes from the consequences of the fall. Tears result from death, mourning, crying, pain and all these are a part of the first heaven and earth. When our Lord created this world He looked and it was good. No sin and no consequences of sin. But from the moment Adam rebelled against God we experienced the bitter fruits of sin. What are some of the bitterest moments of my life? The death of loved ones. Watching a loved one in pain. Experiencing my body fall to bits in this decaying world. Seeing the hurt my sin inflicts on others. At times the grief is almost too much to bear. You have been there. You have wept over loss, over pain. You have wept when loved ones have died. You have wept when friends have suffered from painful illness. You have wept when you have watched sin shatter marriages and churches and friendships. But in eternity it is a holy place, with Holy people, where a holy God dwells. There is no sin so there are no consequences of sin. In fact there are only holy consequences. No tears. No pain. No death. Try and get your mind around this. There is nothing to fear. No cause for anxiety. No concern about tomorrow. Nothing that could cause us pain or grief or loss. Nothing that could cause us to shed a tear. Finally, we come to the fifth description of the glory of eternity. It is our Holy Heritage. This Holy Inheritance is ours because of what Christ has done. Look at verses 5-8: And He who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Here is a truth to help you sleep easy at night. 15
This new heavens and new earth will come. It is not a hope. It is not a possible future. It is already reality. Because the Lord does it. It is not reliant on us. It is dependent entirely on the finished work of Christ. He is making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. This is like saying chisel these words into stone they will come to pass. Nothing or no one in this heaven or earth can stop the reality of eternity. Brothers and sisters if you are in Christ you will live in eternity. It is certain because God who is faithful and true has promised it. And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. You and I live in time. You and I can make no promises about tomorrow. But God exists outside of time. The new heaven and the new earth are already realities for Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end. Creation, the fall, the exile, Christ, the church, the millennium, eternity they are already a reality to One who is eternal. It is done. Look at this. I am making all things new write this down these words are faithful and true it is done. What is yet future to us is finished before God. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can separate us from our destiny of eternal bliss in His presence. The basis of eternity is not anything we have done, will do or could do. It is what Christ has done. We will enter eternity purely because it is a gift from Him: To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. You cannot earn heaven, buy heaven, merit heaven. You can only receive it as a free gift. It is not our works or deeds it is a gift given without cost to those who ask in faith to those who trusted that God would save them. 16
We drink of the spring of the water of life and will never thirst again. He gives us eternal life heaven itself. Verse 7: The one who conquers will have this heritage. You become a conqueror not by deeds but by trusting God and clinging to God. By persevering and not falling away. And if you are a conqueror, you will have this heritage these things. This is our holy heritage. And then comes what has to be one of the most incredible statements in Scripture: And I will be his God and he will be My son. My son. These are words that originally referred to Israel. But Israel failed and Christ came as the true Son. At His baptism the heavens opened and God said This is My beloved Son. But here in eternity we will be so closely aligned with Christ, at the marriage supper where we become one with Christ, we will fully bear His righteousness and holiness and we will truly become sons of God. God will call us who were once sinful and lost My son. And as a son, there are incredible privileges. Hebrews 1:2 says that Christ is the Son who is the heir of all things. And as those in Christ as conquerors we will inherit eternity we will share the heritage of the Son. We will share in the very privileges of Christ. But this privilege is not for all. Some did not trust in the redeeming work of Christ. They are not overcomers, they are not sons they will not inherit eternity. Look at verse 8: But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Who among us has not been hewn from cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and been a murderer, at least in the sense of being angry, and immoral and a sorcerer, at least of sorts, and an idolater and a liar? This is us! This is all in Adam! But the Lamb was slain and purchased us with His blood. And because of Christ entirely because of Christ the glories of heaven will be our future. We should long for this. It should be what drives us. 17
Praise God for heaven and for the Lamb who died so we could live there. 18