01 - The Bibles Description Of Heaven 2010

In these passages He calls it “My Father’s house” and describes it as a place of many rooms, alluding to the fact that it is designed for a vast multitude of occupants.

When speaking to the thief on the cross He called it Paradise.

The word “heaven” is such a part of the Bible’s message that it is mentioned 551 times.

The very word Heaven whispers peace to our soul.

The bible teaches that heaven will be a place of unparalleled beauty.

The costliest things on earth will be used for the humblest purposes in heaven.

People kill for Gold down here, but in Heaven we will walk on it.

Gold will be the paving for the streets, and the foundations are built out of precious stones.

The Bible tells us to set our affection on Heaven.

Col 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

Interestingly, there are many common and popular views of heaven that have no basis in scripture.

Even Christians believe in some of these erroneous views.

When asked to picture heaven in their minds, the picture that many people have is of:

People floating around on clouds with a harp in their hands and a pair of wings on their backs. This is not in the Bible at all.

Many people think that Saint Peter is guarding the gates to heaven and that he lets you in or keeps you out. Again not true. That is not in the Bible.

In fact almost everything that you have seen in any T.V. show or Movie about heaven is wrong.

People don’t go there and then get sent back for second chances or to help people with their problems in life.

Nor do people become angels.

When we look back in history, we find that man has always embraced the belief instinctively that something lay beyond the grave, that this world is not all there is.

In the Greek and Roman religions, before Jesus came, people believed in ELYSIUM, which was a place of reward for the virtuous dead.

And they believed in TARTARUS, which was their version of hell, a place of damnation where the wicked were punished.

And the Indian cultures believed in the “happy hunting grounds” after death.

In Buddhism, heaven is a state of freedom from all desires. Though they don’t believe in actual heaven, they long for a place that is heaven-like.

But what is the truth about heaven?

Well, Jesus and the Scriptures give us the only truly accurate account of heaven.

Jesus should know all about heaven, for He claimed to have come from there:

John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”

Jesus is the only man in all of history who claimed to have come from heaven, and to have been sent by heaven, to take you and I to heaven through His death and resurrection.

John 6:39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”

So what do Jesus and the Bible tell us about heaven?

Heaven is a place.

It is not an idea. Or a myth. Or a fable. It is not a figment of someone’s imagination.

It is an actual place prepared for the redeemed.

One day, the Apostle Paul had a vision of heaven that was so stunning and breathtaking, he couldn’t even speak of it for 14 years.

When he finally wrote about it, this is what he said:

“Fourteen years ago I was taken up to the 3rd heaven for a visit. Don’t ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don’t know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in Paradise, and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man’s power to describe or put into words.”

Paul saw things in heaven, and heard things in heaven that rendered him speechless, they were so overwhelming.

Now notice that he said he visited the “3rd heaven.” What does that mean?

The Bible identifies 3 different heavens. They are first,

The earthly atmosphere.

Genesis 1:20 “Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”

The word for “heaven” here is talking about the oxygenated earthly atmosphere where the birds and planes fly. This is the 1st heaven.

The 2nd heaven is:

Outer space, the cosmos.

When God was making covenant with Abraham, He said:

Gen 22: 17 “…blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore”

The galaxies, solar system and dwelling place of stars comprises the 2nd heaven.

The 3rd heaven is:

The place where God dwells.

Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple:

1 Kings 8: 30 “And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.

Ps. 11:4 “The Lord’s throne is in heaven.”

These passages show us that God dwells in the 3rd heaven, and He answers prayer from His position in the 3rd heaven.

It was this 3rd heaven that Paul was allowed to visit. And it was this 3rd heaven that Jesus came from.

Well then, what else besides God is in heaven?

A city called “The New Jerusalem.”

In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John saw this new city and described it in glowing Technicolor:

“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband.”

Now keep in mind that the earthly Jerusalem has always been special to God. All the Bible dramas, from Abraham, to Moses, to David, to Jesus Christ dying on the cross have happened there.

Yet the heavenly Jerusalem being prepared for us by God surpasses the earthly Jerusalem as the sun surpasses the moon.

The New Jerusalem is filled with God’s presence.

John wrote that it glows with an internal light like a beautiful “Jasper stone, clear as crystal.”

It’s a real city with gates, mansions, streets and inhabitants.

John even gave us its size in Rev. 21: 16-17:

It is 1,500 x 1,500 x 1,500 miles with its wall at 216 feet high.

New Jerusalem, therefore, has an area of 140,625 square miles, or 90 million acres.

Architects have calculated that the enormous size of the New Jerusalem would easily provide a mansion of over half a mile in length and breadth to every believer from Adam to the present.

“A city of this size is too large for the imagination to take in. John is certainly conveying the idea of splendour. And, more importantly, that of room for all.” (Leon Morris)

Henry Morris, guessing that there will have been 100 billion people in the human race, and that 20% of them will be saved, calculates that each person would have a “block” with about 75 acres on each face to “call their own.

John informs us further that the streets are made of pure gold, like transparent glass.

What is happening there right now as it waits for us?

The New Jerusalem is currently inhabited by the angels, and the spirits all those who have died in Christ, and the O.T. saints who died in faith.

It was this very city that the O.T. saints longed for in Heb. 11:13-16:

Heb. 11:13-16 “All these O.T. saints died still believing what God had promised them…They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own…they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

The 3rd heaven is where God dwells.

The New Jerusalem, a beautiful, glorious city, awaits all of God’s redeemed children.

And the way to get there has been clearly stated Christ Himself:

“Jesus answered, "I am the way (the road, the route, the means). No one comes to the Father except through me.”—John 14:6

The apostle Peter proclaimed to a hostile audience, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).