What the Bible Really Says about Heaven

I’ve had Heaven on my mind lately. In part because of the sermon I preached last Sunday from 2 Corinthians 5 and in part because of Mrs. Luella’s unexpected death. But I also experienced the loss of another great friend and spiritual mentor the same morning Luella passed away. Morris Proctor, who was the lead trainer for FaithLife or Logos Bible Software over the past 20 years, passed away unexpectedly as well.

How do you deal with such personal losses and the impact it has on you emotionally? People handle loss and the grief that comes with it differently. But if the person who dies is a Christian then I find consolation and comfort by remembering the Bible’s beautiful promises about Heaven.

So my message today and likely next Sunday is entitled, “What does the Bible really say about Heaven?”

I suppose there’s probably a thousand questions we could ask about Heaven. Some are asking “is there really a Heaven? Many want to know how do they get to Heaven? Others want to know what is Heaven like? Is Heaven really a perfect place prepared for Christians who die in the Lord?

One little boy visiting Sunday School for the first time was asked along with the rest of the class, “How many of you boys and girls want to go to Heaven? Raise your hand.” Hands went up all over the classroom except for this one little boy named Johnny. Puzzled, the teacher asked him, “Johnny, don’t you want to go to Heaven?” At which little Johnny responded, “Sure, but I thought you were getting up a bus load right now!”

We all want to go to Heaven, but not necessarily right now!

We’re looking at two passages of Scripture this morning. First, open your Bible to John 14, and also find Revelation 6.

John 14:1-3 (NKJV)

1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Revelation 6:9-11 (NKJV)

9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Let’s begin this morning by defining Heaven. What is Heaven?

I. HEAVEN DEFINED, John 14:2-3

In My Father's house are many mansions;…. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

A. HEAVEN, A PLACE

TOPOS – A real, physical place, a location

Heaven is not an ethereal realm of disembodied spirits, because human beings are not suited for such a realm. A place is by nature physical, just as human beings are by nature physical.

B. HEAVEN, A PREPARED PLACE

Jesus spoke not once but two times in these verses of Heaven as a prepared place. A place He would create for His followers. He deliberately spoke of common physical terms we understand, house, mansions (rooms or dwelling places) and place, (2xs).

C. HEAVEN, A PERFECT PLACE

Revelation 21:1-4, 1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, 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 heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

A perfect place without sin, and suffering, and sorrow, without sickness or separating; no more heartaches, no more headaches; no more disease, no more death; can you even begin to imagine it? And the answer is yes. We can imagine it in the human heart because it is what we were made for, to dwell in perfect bodies, in perfect conditions, in a perfect place with a perfect God!

That Beautiful Land, hymn by Helen H. Gates

‌

I will sing you a song of the beautiful land,‌

The far away home of the soul,‌

Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand,‌

Where the years of eternity roll.

‌‌

Oh how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,‌

So free from all sorrow and pain,‌

With songs on our lips and with hope in our hands,‌

To meet one another again.

D. HEAVEN, AS THE FATHER’S HOUSE

Who will be in Heaven? The redeemed, the saved, but of course God. Heaven is God’s house. The Holy Angels, and the saints of the Old Testament era will all be in Heaven.

And there may even be people there that you might not expect.

When you get to heaven

You will likely view,

Many folk there

Who’ll be a shock to you.

But don’t act surprised,

Or even show a care,

For they might be a little shocked

To see you there.

II. HEAVEN DISTORTED (Misunderstood)

In Randy Alcorn’s book entitled “Heaven,” he quotes a pastor, of all persons who held a distorted and disturbing view of heaven. This confused pastor told Alcorn, “I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp…it’s all so terribly boring.” He continued, “Heaven doesn’t sound much better than Hell. I’d rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that.”

Later Alcorn quotes John Eldredge in “The Journey of Desire.” “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service…We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever.”

Another man said, “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.”

I think that would scare even me! But listen to what the Bible really says about Heaven.

Philippians 1:21, 23-24, 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

2 Corinthians 5:6,8, 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord…8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

T/S--Let’s continue to try to describe what Heaven is really like.

III. HEAVEN DESCRIBED

A. THE PRIMARY HEAVEN (The “first” Heaven or Paradise)

Ephesians 4:8 (NKJV) “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive….”

The Paradise of the O.T. Saints, Abraham’s bosom, the place Jesus visited in Spirit to preach to those souls imprisoned in Sheol. Ephesians 4:8, “When he ascended up on high” refers to the ascension of Christ.

One of the things Christ did when He ascended to Heaven was to lead captivity captive, which refers, I believe, to the redeemed of the Old Testament who went to paradise when they died. Christ took these believers with Him out of paradise into the very presence of God when He ascended. Today when a believer dies, we are not told that he goes to paradise, but rather he is absent from the body and present with the Lord, (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23).

B. THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN (The Present Heaven)

The Intermediate Heaven is the Present Heaven where Christians now go when they die.

C. THE ETERNAL HEAVEN (The Perpetual Heaven)

The Heaven God will create following the resurrection of the dead on the last day. This is the “New Heavens and the New Earth” of Revelation 21, with the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven.

IV. HEAVEN DISCERNED

Revelation 6:9-11, 9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

A. What will our lives be like in the Intermediate Heaven? (from Revelation 6:9-11)

1. After physical death Christians live in Heaven, v. 9

2. Those in Heaven are not different people; they are the same relocated, v. 9

3. Those in Heaven will be remembered for their lives on Earth, v. 9

4. We will be able to express ourselves in Heaven, v. 10

5. We will be rational, communicative, emotional, even passionate in Heaven, v. 10

6. Heaven is a place of unity and shared perspective, v. 10

7. We will be fully conscious, rational, and aware of each other, God and the situation on Earth, v. 10

8. We will be able to communicate with God in Heaven, v. 10

9. We will continue to be concerned about justice and retribution on Earth, v. 10

10. We will remember our lives we lived on Earth, v. 10

11. We will still see and pray for saints that are still on Earth, v. 10

12. We will have a greater awareness of the Holy attributes of God in Heaven, v. 10

13. Those in Heaven will be distinctive individuals, v. 11

14. We will possess physical forms or bodies in Heaven, v. 11

15. We won’t know everything in Heaven, v. 11

16. We will still learn in Heaven, v. 11

17. Those in Heaven live in anticipation of the future fulfillment of God’s promises, v. 11

18. There is still time in Heaven, v. 11 (At least in the Present Heaven, but not in the Eternal Heaven.)

19. Those in Heaven share a strong familial connection with those on the Earth, v. 11

20. God in Heaven is fully knowledgeable of every detail occurring on the Earth to His children, v. 11.

Conclusion:

There is still much more to learn about Heaven that we may not know now. But I do know one thing about Heaven that I know is certainly true. I know I want to go to Heaven! And the only way to Heaven is through Jesus, John 14:6 (NIV), Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

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