Heaven – a brief look at enternity

Have you seen the movie, or read the book “Heaven is Real?”

I haven’t done either so I can really comment on it.

I do get a little nervous when people go into great detail over their experience in Heaven because Paul had a heaven experience and told us this…

And we…write books and make movies about people’s experiences in Heaven.

Now, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about heaven.

Paul also tells the church in Philippians to think about what is good and pure and right.

And heaven seems to qualify.

The Bible tells us a lot of what Heaven is like. It tells us all we need to know about Heaven for this life. And we should know the hope that awaits us who have made Jesus our Lord.

Can heaven be more than what’s in the Bible? Oh yes… Paul he heard things so astounding they can’t be expressed in words… so heaven is even better than what we’re going to get excited about today.

I’m going to show you what the Bible says about heaven so you discern for yourself how much stock you should put in books like “Heaven is Real”.

This brief life on earth is the preface, not the book, the preliminaries, not the main event, the tune-up, not the concert. You were created for so much more than you could ever possibly experience or even conceive in this life.

Inside your spirit you know that it’s true. You cry out for justice, you want good to always be done, the pain that sin causes sickens you.

It’s because the core of who you are has been ruined for everything less than your destiny.

Some of you husbands just think your wives like to complain… No. It is because she lives in a fallen world that has yet to be redeemed in a body that has yet to be perfected and her spirit resists accepting that she has been created to live in anything less than her destiny… you go girl.

Just remember the eternal perspective if you’re one of those given to complain… you’re not complaining about your husband not putting the toilet seat down. You’re complaining because you were created for heaven and heaven is not yet here… but it’s coming.

What does the Bible say heaven will be like?

Heaven will be a lot like earth, only so much better than earth that it seems like an insult to describe it like earth. I’m not trying to lower your expectations but I want to give you some frame of reference… This world is a shadow of things to come – a pale reflection see through the glass darkly.

This world is where we live… Heaven is the place where God is.

Home of Christ, angels, and redeemed. Only for those who know Christ, whose names written in Lamb’s book of life.

This world really exists…

Heaven is located up and out there, outside our own universe. It is solid. Real. Not airy. Not ethereal. Tangible.

In this world we have bodies… In heaven we will have resurrected bodies

In this world we have houses and cities….In heaven we have homes and the new Jerusalem

Heaven is a city whose builder and maker is God. A city by definition consists of residences. People live together. No isolation.

City will have walls, gates, streets.

Three gates on each side, 12 gates total. Access from all over new earth.

In Heaven there is room

Homes will need no down payment, closing costs, mortgage payments, property tax, utility bills.

And if you think you’d never like the city, it’s because you’re thinking of earthly cities, with litter and dirt and crime. The heavenly city will have all the freshness and vitality and openness of the country with all the vibrancy and interdependence and relationships of a city. And there will be no racial divisions between people.

In this world oceans divide people… In heaven…Water.

No oceans to separate people of earth but fresh water–a great river, flowing not stagnant.

We travel in this world… In heaven there will be travel…

People will go from one place to another. Gates never shut. Our means of travel may be interesting–we are told we will be like Jesus and that his resurrection body is the prototype of ours. He walked through walls with his resurrection body. Perhaps we will have the option of walking, or traveling at the speed of light, or even the speed of thought.

In this world we remember… In heaven we’ll remember..

We know that in the heavenly city there will be memorials to the twelve tribes and to the apostles. Remembrance is something very important to God. We will sing of Christ’s redemption, his space and time history death on our behalf. Christ’s resurrection body bore the nail scars–this itself reminds us of redemption.

We’ll know our loved ones in heaven. We’ll know even those we didn’t know on earth. Peter James and John recognized Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration. They had died 900 years earlier and nobody had a picture. Christ’s resurrection body resembled him–the disciples had a hard time recognizing him at first, but they thought he was still dead!

You don’t become ignorant when you go home with Christ, you become enlightened. Heaven’s joy is not based on being uninformed but in having an accurate perspective.

In Heaven there is light…

Light. No secondary sources. No generators and power lines, not even the sun. Illumination right from God himself–the lamb is the lamp. There will be no night–could be a variation in brightness; maybe a gentle suffused light.

In Heaven there will be trees and seasons…

And animals…

Revelation talks of several angels riding out on horses. Elijah–chariots and horses of fire come to and from heaven. Elisha–God sent horses and chariots and warriors from heaven.

Heaven is the culmination and progression of the kingdom of God in it’s redeemed state.

Those of us who long for justice, justice for the racially oppressed, for the politically persecuted, for the unborn children need to remind ourselves not to give up hope, not to become embittered. Heaven will bring great relief to the suffering, the hungry, the hurting. No crying, no pain, no sorrow, no more death. No hospitals, cemeteries. No sin.

No evil. No fear. No abuse, rape, murder, drugs, drunkenness, no bombs or guns. Walk streets at night.

In Heaven We Enter Into our Destiny

No miscommunication or fear of misunderstanding. Total intimacy with Christ. We are told that he will give each of us a new name. A personal name that will mean much to us and to him.

Heaven will be deeply appreciated by people with disabilities that will not be disabled any longer. Think of those who can walk and run and hear. Think of those blind from birth that will see for the first time.

In Heaven all our tears will be dried

The hymn writer Fanny Crosby said, “Do not pity me for my blindness, for the first face I ever see will be the face of my Lord Jesus.”

And think what heaven will mean to the mentally disabled, who will wake up in heaven to great powers of understanding and learning. Who, will be as free in their minds as those who were disabled on earth will be free in their bodies.

This is the hope for all who believe. Heaven is real, and it’s better than we can ever express.

There’s one way to enter heaven…

The Bible tells us there is one way to enter heaven and that’s to have our names written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Another way the Bible talks about being “saved” is having your name written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

You can today.

1 John 2:15-17 NLT
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

There will be great joy in heaven….
And just thinking about it now should give us Joy and Peace and hope.