Heaven out of this world
Heaven? What will heaven be like?
Will your loved ones be there? Will our pets be there?
Will we sit atop clouds and play harps all day?
Lots of myths
CARTOON – FARSIDE
Isaac Asimov “I don’t believe in an afterlife. So I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell or fearing heaven more, for whatever the tortures of hell are, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”
Heaven boring because it is one eternal church service
Satan attacks the person of God, the people of God, the place of God
Review
Rev 19 – the Most Important – Return of Jesus Christ
Rev 20 – Most Controversial – Millennium and Hell
Rev 21 – Most Exciting – Description of Heaven
Revelation 20:11 (ESV) — 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
Chapter 20 – earth and heaven fled away (passed away in chapter 21)
New heaven and new earth
Message
Revelation 21:1-8 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 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.”
Exodus 33:18–23 (ESV) — 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Revelation 21:1 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Multiple phases or ages of the earth
Ephesians 1:20–21 (ESV)
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 2:7 (ESV)
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
2 Peter 3:10–13 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
MANY HEAVENS
CHART: Creation, Fall, Flood, Millennium, Heaven
Revelation 21:1 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Sea no more – sea in Revelation often a reference to lost people or Gentiles
Revelation 21:2 (ESV)
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)
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. 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.”
HEAVEN DEFINED BY WHAT’S NOT THERE
No more death
No more mourning
No more crying
Isaiah 65:16 (ESV) — 16 So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
Isaiah 65:17 (ESV) — 17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
Philippians 3:13–14 (ESV) — 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Too many today – still living in the past
Satan wants you to live in the past – nostalgia, never satisfied with today
Live in the past – holding on to past hurts, unforgiveness
Live in the future – fear and anxiety, worry
“Worry is complaining to God about something that hasn’t happened yet.” – Ken Graves
Revelation 21:5-6 (ESV)
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
God distracted by all that he is seeing – God has to say: Yo! John! Write this down!
Revelation 21:7 (ESV)
7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
John 1:12 (ESV) — 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Revelation 21:8
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 is not in Heaven?
Ouch –
Detestable
Murderers
Sexually immoral – porneia (all forms of sexual immorality, homosexuality, pornography, bestiality, fornication, adultery, pedophilia, hooking-up, friends with benefits)
Sorcerers – pharmakia – drug use, witchcraft,
Idolaters – any idols, any thing above God
Liars –
Notice also:
Cowardly
Faithless
I understand faithless – no faith, not get into heaven, it is by faith
Cowardly – stand before men/deny Jesus before men
Many say on last day, did we not do miracles in your name, cast out demons,
Many say we were in church every week, but Jesus will say you made no room for me in your life.
REVIEW – what’s not in heaven
Those walking in their sin
Tears, pain, suffering, crying
Former things
Revelation 21:9-14
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Revelation 21:15
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 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. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
Size – 12,000 stadia (or furlongs) = 1400 miles!
Cube
About the size of the moon!
12000 stadia = about 1400 miles
On United States:
Florida to Canada out to Colorado to the Atlantic
2 million square miles
larger than India
1400 miles high!
Earth’s atmosphere ends about 75 miles up
If 12 foot floors – 600,000 floors
Elevators –
Vertical and horizontal passage ways
Travel much faster?
BIG CITY! – 3 billion cubic miles –
How many people there? No clue, but all people who trusted in Christ, believe in the promise by faith from the OT, all infants born and unborn
Revelation 21:19-27
19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Wall – 216 feet wide, 70 yards.
12 different jeweled walls – dazzling beauty
stained glass
Jewels correspond to breastplate on the high priest
Gates – pearls – single pearl – huge
Pearl formed by oyster – an irritation of sand or small worm
Oyster coats the sand to cover the irritation, and continues – amazing beauty
Like you and I – trials in this world, but God is using them to create
something beautiful
Oysters – not Kosher for the Jew, yet gates of pearls – oyster
We are the pearl of great price – that Jesus gave all that he had, his life for us
Finally – streets of gold – like transparent glass
God is saying – so many gave their lives in pursuit of gold and riches, yet in heaven, gold is the asphalt. It is common place
Gold transparent – current work among scientists to create or manipulate metals to be clear – however, not there yet. Gold still be yellowish due to it’s properties, but in New Jerusalem God may show us somethings we don’t know!
ILLUSTRATION
1952 Florence Chadwick, first woman to swim the English Channel and back, in 1952 decided to swim from Catalina to California, swam for 15 hours, got tired, weary, and gave up because of dense fog (even though mom was in boat along side saying not much further)
she gave up, less than half mile from the shore
She said, “I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
We need to keep eyes focused on Heaven!