Heaven (2)

Notes
Transcript
Heaven as God’s habitation
Heaven as God’s habitation
Heaven is the place of God's abode. However, in the OT, no distinction is made between the sky and heaven. We are only told that His throne is above it or beyond it. This points to the fact that He exists in an omnipresent way, with a locale beyond space and time but that also enters space and time. It cannot be traveled to because it exists beyond the universe and is only accessed supernaturally. It is then a place to hope for and a place that is coming, has come, and will come. Currently it is temporary, to be replaced by a new heavens, which will be married to a new earth in a new creation to finally be in dwelt by new creations in Christ with He and the Father.It is the place where He dwells
The misinformation about heaven is often used by Satan as a distraction from the biblical definition of heaven. Heaven is something to be known, studied, and hoped for in the reality of what it is. To hope in a human portrayal of heaven is not to hope in heaven at all.
[Heaven is the term used in the Bible to indicate the space where God and various spiritual beings reside. It is also used to speak of the area above the earth—the sky.
In the New Testament, the word “heaven” is found most frequently in Matthew (84 times).]
Seal, David. 2016. “Heaven.” In The Lexham Bible Dictionary, edited by John D. Barry, David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
15 ‘Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the ground which You have given to us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’
See also Ec 5:2; Re 13:6; Ge 28:17; 2 Ch 6:21
It is insufficient as God’s dwelling-place
It is insufficient as God’s dwelling-place
27 “But will God truly dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!
Only God has the wisdom to “stretch out the heaven” (Jer. 51:15). “Heaven” thus becomes the curtain of God’s tent, separating His dwelling place from that of humanity on earth (Ps. 104:2; Isa. 40:22). Like a human dwelling, heaven can be described as resting on supporting pillars (Job 26:11) or on building foundations (2 Sam. 22:8; though the parallel in Ps. 18:7 applies the foundations to mountains). Just as He built the partition, so God can “rend” it or tear it apart (Isa. 64:1).
Butler, Trent C., and Gary Hardin. 2003. “Heaven.” In Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, edited by Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, Steve Bond, and E. Ray Clendenen, 733. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.Heaven as the place of God’s throne
Are the new heavens a new sky, solar system, or the peeling away of those things to reveal the unveiled presence of God's glory?
4 Yahweh is in His holy temple; Yahweh’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
See also Is 63:15; Heb 8:1; Is 66:1; Ex 24:9–11; Is 6:1; Da 7:9; Re 20:11; Mt 5:34; Mt 23:22; Ac 7:49; 1 Ki 22:19; Re 4:1–6
Heaven as an alternative term for God
Heaven as an alternative term for God
God is heaven. It has everything to do with His presence of holiness and goodness as a complete separation from all unclean things. It can be thought of as a throne room, from which God rules sovereignly over all things and all people. Heaven is beyond the created order but encompasses the created order so that this kingdom can be spoken of as coming and also presently here with us. There is a new heavens to be established in the final act of redemption of creation which will house the presence and glory of God with His people, free from any sin, decay, illness, disease or death.
18 ‘I will rise up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you.
See also Mt 16:19; Mt 18:18; Jn 17:1; Mt 8:11; Jn 3:27; Mt 13:11 Matthew is writing especially for Jews who, out of reverence, tried to avoid using the word “God”. Mk 4:11 and Lk 8:10 prefer “kingdom of God”; Mt 21:25
Heaven and the sovereignty of God
Heaven and the sovereignty of God
Heaven is the place of God’s rule
Heaven is the place of God’s rule
26 ‘And in that they said to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will endure for you after you know that it is Heaven that rules with power.
See also Ac 17:24; Ps 45:6; Ps 103:19
God’s voice from heaven speaks with divine authority
God’s voice from heaven speaks with divine authority
36 “Out of the heavens He caused you to hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He caused you to see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.
See also 2 Pe 1:17–18; Jn 12:28; 1 Th 4:16; Da 4:31
Heaven glimpsed by human eyes
Heaven glimpsed by human eyes
At the baptism of Jesus Christ
At the baptism of Jesus Christ
10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;
See also Jn 1:32
In visions
In visions
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
See also 2 Co 12:2–4 Re 4:1
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Prayer addressed to God in heaven
Prayer addressed to God in heaven
30 “And listen to the supplication of Your slave and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; listen in heaven Your dwelling place; listen and forgive.
8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
The place of Jesus Christ in heaven
The place of Jesus Christ in heaven
There cannot be heaven without Christ. He is the sum total of bliss; the fountain from which heaven flows, the element of which heaven is composed. Christ is heaven and heaven is Christ.
“Forever With The Lord”, Volume 19, Sermon #1136 - Philippians 1:23
Charles Spurgeon
His pre-existence in heaven
His pre-existence in heaven
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
See also Jn 3:13
His ascension into heaven after his resurrection
His ascension into heaven after his resurrection
51 And it happened that while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
See also Eph 1:20
His place is now with God the Father
His place is now with God the Father
24 For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
See also Col 3:1
Heaven and Christ are the same thing;” to be with Christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be with Christ.
Charles Spurgeon
His second coming will be from heaven
His second coming will be from heaven
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
See also Mt 25:31; Ac 1:11; 1 Th 1:10
The new heaven
The new heaven
The new heaven completely replaces the old
The new heaven completely replaces the old
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
See also Is 65:17; Is 66:22; 2 Pe 3:13
The new Jerusalem is divinely created in heaven
The new Jerusalem is divinely created in heaven
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
See also Heb 11:16; Re 3:12; Re 21:10; Heb 13:14; Is 2:2–5
What then is heaven?
What then is heaven?
Re 21:22–23; Re 22:1–2 -
Heaven is something we still cannot fully comprehend - perhaps we struggle to even rightly comprehend. It is hard to imagine something unimaginable. There are word pictures and hopes that are to follow those pictures, but we still cannot see the glory to be revealed. Therefore, I think we should focus on what it is more than what it looks like. We know there will be removal of the former things: sin, sickness, decay, death, etc. We know there will be a perfect peace, joy, pleasure, and glory. Can we hope for heaven rightly by hoping for a time and a place where the things that trouble us do not and cannot exist? Is that enough? Because of Jesus, because of the glory of God, our hope has to be for more than just the removal of things, it has to be for the addition of things - or the addition of things yet seen. The object of all attention, glory, and worship in heaven is focused on a someone. The someone who made it all and made it all possible for us. The someone who is the genesis of all that is good and glorious and holy. He is the center of heaven and His glory illumines heaven for all eternity.
Heaven, biblically understood, should cause us to hope for Jesus; for His return, His glory, His presence. Heaven is God. It is His presence. The new heavens and earth are His presence fully unveiled to a new creation to live in that presence forever. It is the removal of all that hurts and all that offends holiness but, through Jesus, includes our addition to the dwelling presence of His perfection in His glory.
See also Re 2:7; Eze 47:12; Jn 7:38–39; Is 55:1; Eze 47:8–9