Heaven

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Question: What is Heaven?

Take a few minutes to discuss - let students give their ideas
What is heaven?
Take a few minutes to discuss
The Bible uses the word “Heaven” a lot, and it has a lot of different meanings:

Heaven - the literal sky

The very first verse in Scripture speaks of God creating “the heavens,” the literal sky and and those celestial bodies visible through it—sun, moon, stars (cf. ; ). “Every bird of the heavens” is brought to Adam to be named (). The people of Israel are “numerous as the stars of heaven” ().
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
Psalm 3 ESV
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
Psalm 3 ESV
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Heaven - God’s home

But not much later in the book of Genesis, “heaven” seems to be something more, something even higher than the stars.
Genesis 22:11 ESV
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
…called to him from heaven...
Genesis 24:7 ESV
The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
The Lord, the God of heaven...
Deuteronomy 26:15 ESV
Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven...
John 3:13 ESV
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about what is involved in becoming a child of God, and describes himself as having descended from heaven...

Heaven - The home of angels

1 Kings 22:19 ESV
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;
Micah saw a vision of the Lord in heaven, sitting on His throne and He was surrounded by angelic beings
Isaiah 6:1–2 ESV
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isaiah 6:2 ESV
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Same with Isaiah
Heaven seems to be a fairly crowded place so far...

Heaven - The future home of followers of Jesus

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John 14:2–3 ESV
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
The Old Testament only hints at what Jesus openly states: heaven is also the future abode of the redeemed. Christ tells his soon-to-be-persecuted followers, “Your reward is great in heaven” (). He urges them to “lay up … treasures in heaven” (), where presumably they will be able to access those treasures—but thieves, moth, and rust won’t (cf. ; ). “In my Father’s house are many rooms,” Jesus tells his disciples, “… and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (). Indeed, “many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (). To go to heaven is to “enter life” () and to “enter the joy of [the] Master” (). Paul says, “We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (). Even now in the already, “our citizenship is in heaven” (). Peter tells Christians they have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (). Believers rightly look forward to this day: “in this tent [i.e., our bodies] we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling” (). That dwelling will itself be physical, for we are promised resurrection ().
The Old Testament only hints at what Jesus openly states: heaven is also the future abode of the redeemed. Christ tells his soon-to-be-persecuted followers, “Your reward is great in heaven” (). He urges them to “lay up … treasures in heaven” (), where presumably they will be able to access those treasures—but thieves, moth, and rust won’t (cf. ; ). “In my Father’s house are many rooms,” Jesus tells his disciples, “… and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (). Indeed, “many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (). To go to heaven is to “enter life” () and to “enter the joy of [the] Master” (). Paul says, “We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (). Even now in the already, “our citizenship is in heaven” (). Peter tells Christians they have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (). Believers rightly look forward to this day: “in this tent [i.e., our bodies] we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling” (). That dwelling will itself be physical, for we are promised resurrection ().

Heaven - a place both of rest and of work

Hebrews 4:1 ESV
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Hebrews 4:11 ESV
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
11
You may be surprised to find that we’re going to have jobs in heaven
Jesus seems to indicate in the parable of the talents that we’ll have jobs:
Luke 19:17 ESV
And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’
But this is the part I really wanted to show you. The part I’m really excited about:
Genesis 2:8–10 ESV
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
Gen 2
What do you see in these 3 verses?
The Lord
a garden planted by God
the man God had made
trees for food
The tree of life
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil
a river
Is this a good place? Why?
What happens if Adam eats of the trees?
What is the tree of life?
What happens if they eat from the tree of life?
We don’t know at this point. The bible doesn’t make it clear, but Moses includes it here. This is a little mysterious...
Any ideas why Moses included it here?
What happens if Adam eats of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Genesis 3:1–8 ESV
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
What happened?
Now, jump ahead to vv 22-24
Genesis 3:22–24 ESV
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22 ESV
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
Did they die?
Ok, so what’s going on here? What do you see?
man has become like God in the sense that he now understands that there is good and evil in the universe
What do we learn about the tree of life?
if he eats of it he lives forever...
What does that mean?
Why would that be bad?

God’s Justice

Now, turn in your Bible to
Revelation 21 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 22:1–5 ESV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:1-5
Revelation 22:1–5 ESV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Rev 22:
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Ephesians 1:17 ESV
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
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