What the Bible Really Says about Heaven, Part 2

Last Sunday I began a message entitled “What the Bible Really Says about Heaven.” This morning I want us to return to that same subject. What does the Bible reveal to us about Heaven?

Heaven is one of those Bible subjects or Bible doctrines that is inexhaustible. One sermon, or two sermons cannot possibly hope to cover the subject of Heaven.

There’s an old Indian Legend that tells about an Indian who saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. He waded out into the ocean with a quart jar and filled it with the ocean waters from the Pacific. Then he said to his friends, “My people in the homelands have never seen the Great Waters. I will take this jar filled with its waters so they can know what it is like.”

Trying to capture the subject of Heaven in a sermon or two is like trying to capture the Pacific Ocean in a quart jar!

We began by looking at two passages of Scripture last week. First, we looked at the words of Christ recorded for us in John 14.

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.

We also looked at Revelation 6.

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.

Now for the benefit of those who may not have been with us last week and just to catch us up from last Sunday, let’s begin by defining. 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

A real, physical place, a location

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.

C. HEAVEN, A PERFECT PLACE

Revelation 21:1-4, 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 death, no more tears in Heaven.

D. HEAVEN, AS THE FATHER’S HOUSE

Who will be in Heaven? The redeemed, the saved, but of course God the Father. Heaven is God’s house.

II. HEAVEN DISTORTED (Misunderstood)

There is much misunderstanding about Heaven. It is not one perpetual church service.

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. And when Ephesians 4 says He lead captivity captive, I believe this refers 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.

Are you familiar with that very strange account of the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead? The one that tells us Jesus is not the only one who rose from the dead.

Matthew 27:51–53 (NLT) 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, 52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. 53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

Now it doesn’t say every Old Testament saint rose from the dead that day. That day being the day of our Lord’s resurrection, not His crucifixion.

But I believe these were representative of those whom Jesus took with Him when He ascended into Heaven.

B. THE INTERMEDIATE HEAVEN (The Present Heaven)

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

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.

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 (the Present) Heaven? (from Revelation 6:9-11)

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

This is an immediate transition from our lives lived here on earth to our new life in Heaven. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8

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

You do not transform into a different person. You are the same person but now live in a glorified body which I’ll talk about in a few minutes.

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

People often ask, “Will I know my loved ones in Heaven?” Now think about it. Did you know your loved ones on earth? Of course you did. Well, in Heaven you will have an even greater awareness, a greater knowledge. You will not lose your personality or your memory in Heaven.

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

We are not disembodied spirits in heaven. (And we don’t become Angels in Heaven! My apologies to the Angel Clarence in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” We do not get wings when we go to heaven.)

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

At least not in the Intermediate or Present Heaven. That may change in the Eternal Heaven.

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

Again this is true in the Present Heaven, but not in the Eternal Heaven. When we reach the Eternal/Perpetual Heaven, time will be no more.

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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