Due to technical problems (clumsy fingers) the last subpoint 6C and conclusion were deleted.
Heaven: Our Heart & Our Home
Selected Scriptures * Part 3
INTRODUCTION
Where is heaven?
·
Some say heaven
is somewhere in outer space
·
Some say heaven
is beyond our solar system
·
Some say heaven
is just beyond the furthest horizon
·
Some say heaven
is somewhere in the sky or atmosphere
·
Some even say,
that heaven is right here on earth
The Scriptures are silent
when it comes to any specific location of heaven, at least the temporal or
present heaven. We simply are not told the exact or precise location of the
present heaven.
The apostle Paul thought it
was crucial that as Christians we should at least know what happens when we
die. Listen to what he told the Thessalonians:
“…I do not want you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who
have no hope.” (1 Thess 4:13, NKJV)
You know that Paul is talking
about Christians who have died before Jesus returns for His Church. But he
doesn’t leave those who haven’t died out, because in verses 16-17 he gives more
information about those who are living at the time of Christ’s return.
So, we do have a tad bit of information
about heaven. We can say very little about the location of this temporal or
present heaven. We can say at least three things, however:
·
Heaven is where
God is. The throne of God is in heaven
·
Heaven seems to
be up. All those who were caught, ascended, or resurrected went up.
·
Heaven is spoken
of as having three (3) levels or dimensions
o
1st
heaven – where the birds fly and live
o
2nd
heaven – where the sun, moon, and stars exist
o
3rd
heaven – where the throne of God is located
A final introductory thought,
if you study scripture carefully you will find that heaven has at least two
locations
·
Heaven is located
in a temporary place
·
Heaven will be
located in a permanent place
Over the next couple of weeks
we will be taking a look at:
·
The Temporal
Place of Heaven – it’s temporary & physical location
·
The Eternal Place
of Heave – it’s permanent & physical location
[Before we get started, let’s
take just a minute or two and…]
REVIEW
Our first point in this
series entitled, Heaven: Our Hope and Our Home, was: “The Promise of Heaven.”
We took at close look at John 14:2.
Jesus had finished the
Passover meal with his disciples (his last meal). He announced that Judas was
going to betray him. He told Peter that he would deny his three times. And he told
his disciples that he going away for a while and they could not follow him to
where he is going.
A lot of things took place. The disciples were anxious, confused, and sad. Their hearts and minds were uncertain about what was going to take place next.
A lot of things took place. The disciples were anxious, confused, and sad. Their hearts and minds were uncertain about what was going to take place next.
And Jesus must have sensed
this. Because Jesus said to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled…” And then
he gave them a word of encouragement. He said, “Believe in God, believe also in me. In my
Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am,
there you may be also…” (John 14: 1-4)
So, we called this the
promise of heaven. We looked at this promise four (4) different ways. First we
saw the promise:
·
exonerated (Vs. 1)
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God; believe also in
me.”
Based on the verb, Jesus is actually saying to
the disciples, “Let
not your hearts
be any longer troubled…”
Jesus is not saying to them “Do not begin or
start to be troubled.” Jesus actually gives the disciples
a command to “Stop” being troubled. They have already
been “troubled.” Don’t let your heart be agitated.
Second, we saw this promise:
·
established (Vs. 2a)
“In my Father’s house are many dwelling places…”
Jesus comforted the confused, frightened,
and wavering disciples with a rock solid promise,
establishing the certainty of their being with Him for eternity.
So Jesus tells them three things:
·
Jesus
reassures the disciples that He is just going to His Father’s house.
·
I
have told you the truth about this and have not misled you
·
I am
going to go so that I can prepare a place for you also
Thirdly, we
see this promise:
·
explained (VSS. 2c-3)
Jesus continues to comfort the disciples and at
this point He gives them an explanation
about what He is going to do during this separation and what this activity means to them.
·
The Plan - “I go to prepare a place for you.
·
The Purpose - “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you to myself…”
·
The Pledge - “…that where I am, there you may be
also.”
Fourthly and finally, we see
the promise:
“
·
Expanded (Vs. 4) - “And where I go you know and the way you know.”
[So, now that our memory is
refreshed again, we can move to our…]
TRUTH FOR TODAY
Let me say first that death
frightens a lot of people. The main reason it does, is that the very few who
have actually died or have been taken up into heaven and then came back to this
earth and this life have not been permitted to tell us anything about death or
what is beyond death.
Philosophers, poets, and
pundits pontificate and speculate on death and the afterlife. But it is all
speculation with no evidence. I do like an old Irish saying I heard years ago,
“If I knew where I was going to die, I would never go near the place.”
The Scripture is basically
silent as we have already noted. But we do have some information and let’s dig
into it. I want to do so by looking at the temporal place of heaven and then
the eternal place of heaven.
[So, here we go, let’s look
at…]
1B The Temporal Place of Heaven
1C The Temporary Nature of Heaven
First
of all, when a believer dies, he or she enters into what has been called “an
intermediate state.” This intermediate state is a transitional period of time
between the believer’s death and their future resurrection to life in the new heaven
or the new earth.
Second, this intermediate state is
temporary. Even though our body is buried
or cremated and our spirit is in heaven, this temporary heaven is a better
place than anywhere on earth, including Washington, Wyoming, or Montana.
Paul made this point clear when he wrote
to the Philippians and said, “For I am hard pressed between the two,
having a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better.” (Philippians 1:23, NKJV)
And he should know how much better
heaven is than anything on this earth
because he had been “caught-up” and taken into the heaven where God
lives and where His throne is located.
Thirdly, no matter how great this
temporary, transitional heaven is, it is
not our final or permanent home. By definition an intermediate state or
location is temporary
·
Believers
are destined for life as resurrected beings on a recreated earth
2C Will
believers live in heaven forever?
The
answer actually depends on how you define heaven. It is a fact, and a rock
solid fact that we live in the presence of God forever. We will eternally be
where God is.
Will
we be in the same location as we are when we are in this intermediate state?
The answer is no.
We
will be in the presence of God. We will experience a joyful and blessed time.
We will worship God. But we will also be waiting for the resurrection of our
bodies. We will also be waiting for the future re-creation of the heavens and
earth and for the permanent relocation of heaven to the New Earth.
You
need to keep in mind, that when you die you immediately go into the presence of
God in an intermediate state and placed we call heaven. All those who have died
in Christ and were covered by the blood of Christ are also. All who are there
are waiting for the resurrection of our bodies united with our spirit and for
the coming of heaven to the earth.
Wayne
Gruden wrote, “Christians often talk
about living with God in heaven forever. But in fact the biblical teaching is
richer than that: it tells us that there will be new heavens and a new earth –
an entirely renewed creation – and we live with God there…There will also be a
new kind of unification of heaven and earth…There will be a joining of heaven
and earth in this new creation.” [1]
So, we will live with Jesus
Christ in the presence of God and with each other forever, but not forever in
the intermediate heaven, but in heaven that will come down to the earth, the
new earth. There God will make His home or dwelling place with believers
forever.
[There is a third
thing for us to consider this morning and that is…]
3C Is the present heaven a real or physical
place?
First
of all, just because the heaven that we are going to immediately upon our death
(rapture) is temporary, it does not mean that it does not have a physical
location.
For
us to actually exist, we have to have a place in which to exist, right? So, it
would be a reasonable conclusion to say that the space we will occupy would be
a real or physical space.
Second,
the few references that we have in the bible about heaven leads us to believe
that heaven has a substance.
·
Revelation
15:8 tells us that this temporary heaven is filled with smoke from God’s glory.
·
We
are told that there are scrolls in heaven
·
Elders
have faces
·
Martyrs
wear clothes
·
There
are people there holding palm branches (Rev 7:9)
·
There
are musical instruments in heaven (Rev 8:6)
·
Horses
come into and out of heaven (2 Kings 2:11)
·
Even
an eagle flies overhead in heaven (Rev 8:13)
·
According
to Hebrews 8:5 the Jewish priests “served at a sanctuary that is a copy and
shadow of what is in heaven.”
·
The
earthly sanctuary (where God dwelt) was a copy of the sanctuary that is in
heaven
·
The
New Jerusalem that will come to this earth is in heaven right now
These are just a few examples of things that lead us to believe
that the intermediate or temporary heaven is a real and physical place rather
than just a spiritual place.
Thirdly, when Jesus was nailed to the cross with the two thieves,
he turned to one and said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” (Lk 23:43)
The word for paradise is a Persian word that meant “a walled park”
or “enclosed garden.” This word was used to describe the Garden of Eden. The
Jews believed that God would restore the Garden of Eden so paradise became the
word that they Jews used to describe the eternal state of the righteous. It
came to represent heaven.
4C What kind of bodies to
believers have in this temporary heaven?
First of all, remember that God and angels are spirit. God does
not have a body. Angels take on human form when they enter the realm of human
beings in order to do God’s bidding.
Second, human beings have both a spiritual and a physical nature.
When God created Adam, He created His body first and then He breathed a spirit
into Adam. There has never been a moment where man did not have a body.
Apparently studies have concluded that there is a connection
between the body and the soul – mind, emotions, will, etc.
So, Randy Alcorn concludes that we can’t really be human beings
without a body and a spirit.
It is possible that we will have some type of temporary “body”
while we are in this temporary heaven waiting for our resurrected/glorified
bodies. If this is the case then these temporary forms or bodies will serve as
“bridge” between our earthly body and our future resurrected body.
Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5:1-4, “For we know that if the tent
that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our
heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on1 we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being
burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed,
so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God,
who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
We do not receive our
resurrected/glorified body immediately upon our death and entrance into this temporary
heaven. The resurrection of the body is not a one at a time thing. So, if we
have some type of body in this temporary heaven they will not be our final body
that we will live in or have for eternity.
The scriptures are
silent on this. We know one day we will be reunited with a body that is called
the resurrection body and it will be a glorified body.
The important point
to mediate on is that in this intermediate or temporary heaven we are waiting
for what John taught in his gospel, “…when
all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have
done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be
condemned.” (John 5:28-29)
The reason I even bring this up and share these
things with you is this – until that day, the day our bodies are resurrected
and reunited with our spirit, the Bible teaches that those who die – you and me
– go immediately to a real place, heaven as conscious human beings with
memories of our lives and relationships on earth.
Even though we haven’t mentioned it because it is
not our purpose, some when they go will go immediately to hell where they
remain in misery, hopelessness, isolation, and torment until they are
resurrected, judged, and then placed into the Lake of Fire which will be there
eternal dwelling place.
But believers will immediately upon their death
enter a temporary heaven where God and Christ dwell and live in comfort, joy,
peace, and a relationship with God and Christ while we await the resurrection
of our body and the transferring of this temporary heaven to the newly
recreated earth.
5C What
is life like in this temporary heaven?
David George wrote, “When I was a boy, the thought of Heaven used
to frighten me more than the thought of hell. I pictured heaven as a place
where time would be perpetual Sundays, with perpetual services from which there
would be no escape.
Many people have a
marred view or understanding of heaven. Some think of heaven as:
·
Sitting on a cloud
perpetually playing a harp
·
An eternal church service
with no escape
·
Floating around the
universe with nothing to do
·
Serving a God forever
Let me borrow a
segment from Randy Alcorn’s book on heaven and share with you some observations
he found in Revelation 6:9-11:
·
When the people in
that passage died, they relocated to heaven
·
They were the same
people who had been killed for Christ –this shows continuity.
·
Peole in heaven will
be remembered for their lives on earth
·
They “called out” –
they could speak, they had a form or body
·
People in heaven can raise
their voices
[1] Wayne
Gruden, Systematic Theology: An
Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), p. 1158
1 comment:
Wonderful as always to read Gregg. I suppose one can have Heaven here on Earth......if all is going well.
Yvonne.
Post a Comment