Untitled Sermon (2)
heaven: The place where God most fully makes known his presence to bless. It is in heaven where God most fully reveals his glory, and where angels, other heavenly creatures, and redeemed saints all worship him. (57A.1)
B. Heaven as the Dwelling Place of God
Whereas the Israelites could speak of God as dwelling on Mount Sinai (Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17), in the temple (1 Kgs 8:12–13; Ps 68:17–18; Ezek 43:7), or in Zion (Ps 74:2; Isa 8:18; Joel 4:17, 21), the supreme abode of God was in heaven. In the heavenly palace or temple is God’s throne, from which God reigns as king over heaven and earth (Isa 6:1; Ps 11:4). Heaven is God’s throne and the earth God’s footstool (Isa 66:1). From heaven, “above the circle of the earth,” God looks down upon the earth, where the people appear as grasshoppers (Isa 40:22; Ps 102:18).
After the final judgment, believers will enter into the full enjoyment of life in the presence of God forever. Jesus will say to us, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). We will enter a kingdom where “there shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him” (Rev. 22:3).
When referring to this place, Christians often talk about living with God “in heaven” forever. But in fact the biblical teaching is richer than that: it tells us that there will be new heavens and a new earth—an entirely renewed creation—and we will live with God there.
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL APPLICATION
1. In your Christian life to this point, have you spent much time thinking about life in the new heavens and new earth? Do you think there is a very strong longing for this in your heart? If it has not been strong, why do you think this has been the case?
2. In what ways has this chapter made you more excited about entering the heavenly city? What positive effects on your Christian life do you think would come about because of a stronger longing for the life to come?
3. Are you convinced that the new creation is a place where we will exist with physical bodies that are made perfect? If so, are you encouraged or discouraged by this idea? Why? Why do you think it is necessary to insist that heaven is an actual place even today?
4. What are some ways in which you already have stored up treasure in heaven rather than on earth? Are there more ways you could do that in your own life now? Do you think you will?
5. Sometimes people have thought that they would be bored in the life to come. Do you feel that way yourself? What is a good answer to the objection that the eternal state will be boring?
6. Can you describe at all what you think you will feel like when you finally stand in the presence of God and see him face-to-face?
The intermediate state
The two OT texts which mention personal resurrection envisage it for those long dead, i.e. as a distant prospect (Is. 26:19; Dan. 12:2). This concept became widespread in Judaism, as Martha’s reaction at her brother’s tomb illustrates (John 11:24). At the same time, some Jewish literature explored the concepts of an intermediate state between death and resurrection, with the inhabitants of Sheol/Hades in different compartments or already in paradise or torment (*cf. Luke 16:23).
The NT likewise seems to envisage an intermediate state: Christ promised immediate paradise to the crucified criminal; Paul sensed that death was but the door to Christ’s presence; Hebrews evokes an unseen cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1); and John glimpsed the souls of martyrs longing for vindication (Rev. 6:9–10). This state is one of rest and peace with God, and is presumably disembodied since it precedes resurrection as a spirit-animated body (1 Cor. 15:44). But no further details of it are given.
Some Christian writers and religious groups (notably Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses) deny the existence of an intermediate state, and argue instead that there is no moment of consciousness between death and resurrection, due either to ‘soul-sleep’ or to the dead moving out of human time. Thus the dying thief and Paul will immediately experience resurrection, Hebrews evokes a hall of memory rather than a spectator’s gallery, and John’s vision is imaginative rather than realistic. This view raises philosophical problems (*cf. J. W. Cooper) and has often been called heresy. However, it is no different from ‘orthodoxy’ with respect to the final state of eternal bliss.