The Journey's End - Heaven

I believe that one of the most beautiful sights in all of the world is watching a Sunset over the grand canyon. Amanda took me there almost 10 years ago as a seminary graduation gift. It was a perfectly clear June night and you could see for miles.And I remember thinking as that sun hit the horizon sending light across the sky, “Heaven meets earth.” It was gorgeous.

Now here’s the truth, I could tell you about it but it would do it justice. I could show you a picture we took, but that wouldn’t do it justice. I could try to explain the science of color and light about how the light refracts through our atmosphere and that might put you to sleep.

The truth is there are some things that you can’t experience through the words of someone else. You have to experience it for yourself. That is what heaven will be like. No words can truly describe it. No theology can lead you to an experience. None of us are going to get there and think, “Yep, just how I imagined it.”

Let me get this out of the way. This sermon will not do heaven justice. Our information related to heaven is limited. In fact we know more about what heaven won’t be like than we know what it will be like. What we know about heaven is sufficient for us to be confident in it’s reality.

God has a special manifestation of His presence there. (His throne is there.)

Those who die in Christ will be there until the resurrection

There will be joyful activity in heaven.

Heaven, as it currently is, will one day give way to the New Heaven and New Earth.

However, we need to let the Bible tell us about heaven. For many Christians we have allowed our image of heaven to be shaped by pop culture and the supposed “near death experiences” of a few people who have made a lot of money telling their story.

So before we start here are a couple things that the Bible teaches us about the nature of heaven.

Heaven is a real place

God has a special manifestation of His presence there. (His throne is there.)

There will be joyful activity in heaven (; ).

Those who die in Christ will be there until the resurrection (The Bible talks about a few specific people in heaven, Enoch, Moses, Elijah, the thief on the cross; probably many others by simple assumption)

There will be joyful activity in heaven (; Revelation 4).

What happens in heaven now, has an impact on earth. (Jesus intercedes for us; )

Heaven, as it currently is, will one day give way to the New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 22).

The overarching narrative of the Bible is not about getting people into heaven, but about reuniting heaven and earth (The Tabernacle; Jesus walking the earth; ).

In the Beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, there wasn’t the separation between the spiritual heaven and the earth. In , the Bible talks about God walking in the garden.

Genesis 3:8 ESV

8 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.

In the beginning, the spiritual reality of heaven overlapped the physical reality of the world. But sin quickly separated heaven from earth; man from God. And all of creation has been groaning for restoration.

Romans 8:22–23 ESV

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

And the whole of

Creation groans for the reunification and glorification of heaven and earth. We too grown for reconciliation between God and us and between us and others. Every human being on earth senses a connection between God and themselves. Even staunch athiests get so angry with regard to a higher being they claim doesn’t exist. So the Bible looks forward to the final restoration of creation and heaven.

Nearly every time heaven is mentioned in the Bible, it is closely tied to the endurance of suffering here on earth. Its not hard to see that, when we look at Creation and at fallen people, we acknowledge that there is a problem. Heaven is given as an encouragement to God’s people that this life is not the end, but there is a reward coming for those who endure.

Jesus talked a lot about heaven when talking about the tough times that lay ahead for His disciples.

Paul on the other hand talked a lot about heaven with regard to how he viewed his own suffering and why he wasn’t bent on vengeance on his enemies.

And perhaps Paul had no greater relational problems than with the church he started at Corinth. They say you always hurt the ones you love. A better saying would be that “The greater emotional connection, the more opportunity for getting hurt.”

But Paul uses his problems with the Corinthian Church and his desire for reconciliation with them to transition to his understanding of heaven and his desire to be reconciled to God.

Transition to the Text:

Between the time Paul started the Corinthian Church to the writing of 2 Corinthians is likely less than 10 years. There was a schism in the relationship between the Apostle Paul in the Corinthian Church. It was painful because the church seems to have rejected Paul in favor of better more powerful apostles. Paul was poor, experienced suffering, he was unimpressive and they were beginning to be exposed to more impressive leaders. We read more about that in Corinthians is a letter to establish their complete reconciliation but to explain that suffering and poverty are not a sign that you aren’t a good Christian or have some secret sin in your life for which God is punishing you. Suffering and poverty in Paul’s case is evidence that he just doesn’t care all that much about what the world says is important. Paul is living for heaven.

3 sections:

Reconciliation (1-7)

The encouragement to renewed generosity for the Jerusalem Church. (8-9)

Paul Takes on his remaining opponents. (10-13)

The paradox of the cross challenges are worldly values. God values humility and weakness because His love and power were made known through the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the same time the cross transforms through the Spirit. Jesus’ life of sacrifice becomes our own.

While the Corinthians have criticized Paul for his worldly troubles, Paul reminds them and us that this life is ultimately a shadow of what is to come. In fact, he goes so far as to tell us that we should be more inclined to let go of this life and go on to be with Jesus…that would be better. And through this, we get a small picture of what heaven is like. Let’s read.

2 Corinthians 4:16–5:10 ESV

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Revelation 4:1–11 ESV

1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Rev 4:1-

2 cor

A couple misconceptions about heaven:

There is no such thing as soul sleep. We don’t have a spiritual coma waiting for resurrection. Absent from the body present with the Lord.

We don’t exit time. It’s not entering eternity. We don’t die and then wake up after everything is done. There is a period of waiting in heaven for the resurrection. It will likely fly by because time flies when you’re having fun.

Heaven is a real place, but it’s not the end place.

Big Idea: Long for the Heaven while living on Earth.

1. Heaven gives us Hope. (4:16-18)

Explanation: It’s hard to ignore that so much of the Bible speaks about the hard things of life. Really no one gets an easy pass. It’s hard on for even the greatest of Bible hero. And it seems that the bigger the Bible character, the harder the life. Paul had a rough ministry and for this reason many of the Corinthians scorned him. When someone preaches by word and example that the Christian life is hard, this might cause you to not want to be a Christian. This is why those who preach that God wants your life hear to be happy, healthy, wealthy and easy are so prevalent. And it’s these types of false teachers that the Corinthians church has been taken in by. Paul wants them to hope not in what they have on earth, but what awaits them in heaven. Paul cares little for earthly things when heaven is going to be so great.

2 Corinthians 11:23–30 ESV

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

There are so many things that seem hopeless, but time after time we see God come through in big ways for His people.

2 cor 2

Paul lived out of the hope of heaven. He didn’t care what people did to him or said about him.

Abraham and Sarah eventually have a baby. David slays Goliath and eventually becomes king. Daniel survives the Lion’s den. The people of Israel eventually come back to the promise land. Nehemiah rebuilds the walls.

Hebrews 11:32–38 ESV

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

“I don’t live here anyway…I’m just passing through.” Paul didn’t put down roots. Because He knew that the Earth is not his home.

Hebrews 11:32-

And they did these things in spite of their hardships because they never lacked hope.

But there is no doubt that God came through biggest at the cross. And for the follower of Jesus we know that our hope comes from God’s promise of eternal life. And again, eternal life is to know God. Paul talks about this. Present with the Lord. That’s the point of heaven to be present with Jesus. Our hope is not to see our lost loved ones, but to see Jesus. Paul is willing to endure all kinds of apparent failures and hardships now for the chance to see Jesus in heaven. Paul had no hope in this life. He knew what awaited him in Jerusalem and Rome. He was going to be martyred. He was looking past that to heaven.

Illustration: People will always keep going so long as they still have hope.

Bill Gates’ first company went bankrupt.

Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times at making a lightbulb.

Steve Jobs - founded and lost Apple, before eventually getting it back.

People will always keep going so long as they still have hope.

Application: Do you have hope? Where is your hope? Is it in something worldly? Or do you have the eternal hope like Paul did? When your hope is in heaven, nothing worldly can hurt you.

When we have hope that leads us to always look at life through a different lens. We gain a different perspective.

2. Heaven gives us perspective. (5:1-5)

Explanation: In ancient times, affliction was considered a sign that God was punishing you for sin. And, not counting Jesus, few people outside of Job experienced the afflictions that Paul did. The things he suffered were clearly taking their toll on Paul’s body. And it appears that many were actually looking at the ailing Paul and wondering how in the world God would allow such a super apostle’s body to fail. And they were concluding that he must not be an apostle at all.

However when we keep heaven in focus we come to see that affliction is not only expected buy useful. Paul begins to look at the stuff that he experiences as opportunities to live out his faith. He can sing in prison because of hope to be sure but also because Paul has an irrational sense that the reason Paul is in prison is because someone’s life is about to be changed; in this case the jailer gets saved (See ). Paul enduring beating and floggings with grace because someone might be watching. Sometimes the greatest testimony to the truth of Jesus is the way you handle suffering.

Look at how Paul described it:

2 Corinthians 11:23–30 ESV

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Heaven helps Paul live out of the assurance of our salvation as opposed to trying to live into it. You have to admit that the Apostle Paul is a savage beast. I love saying that I want Jesus more than anything else. Paul lived that. Whenever people question whether he loves Jesus, he says, look at my sufferings. Paul lived out of the hope of heaven. He didn’t care what people did to him or said about him.

“I don’t live here anyway…I’m just passing through.” Paul didn’t put down roots. Because He knew that the Earth is not his home.

Illustration: Still we don’t like our heroes to suffer. We see suffering a bad thing that shouldn’t happen. We go to great lengths to avoid suffering or even seek vengeance. I remember a certain pastor that was stuck in an Iranian prison. And Christians in american were telling President Obama, “Get him out of jail, this isn’t right.” And the pastor was like, “Don’t pray that I’m released, pray that I’m faithful.” Because more than 30 people came to know Christ through one man’s false imprisonment. We need some perspective. We need a little of that eternal perspective we talked about last week.

Application: How’s your perspective? Do you live each day for heaven not worrying about the things happening to you here? Does the hope of heaven give you boldness, confidence and meaning to live out of your salvation here and now?

Let’s do a little exercise. Think of something that you are struggling with right now? Maybe with another person. Maybe at work. Maybe just in your mind.

Will this problem matter to you “when you get to heaven?”

How can you re-frame your problem so that you view it in light of eternity?

3. Heaven gives us direction. (5:6-10)

Explanation: Paul was not afraid to die. Like we said, he lived out of his salvation and not into it. He wasn’t thinking, man when I die, I hope God will let me in. I hope I did enough good things. I think I was a good person.” Nope that’s works-based salvation and has probably given more people a false sense of their own salvation than anything else. No Paul was confident that when he died he was going to heaven, that he didn’t care what happened to his body.

In , Paul set off for Jerusalem knowing that he would be thrown in jail and beaten some more and eventually have his head chopped off. Yet he set off knowing this was the direction that God had for him. He wasn’t afraid. He was obedient.

The same thing is true of Jesus.

Luke 9:51 ESV

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus knew that he would get crucified in Jerusalem, and if it were you and me, there is no way we would have set our face toward Jerusalem. We probably would have set our face, like Jonah, to Tarshish.

But when you know that Heaven is your home, even the most dangerous direction on earth doesn’t scare you.

Illustration: Now, Paul wasn’t reckless. Paul recognized that he needed to take risks, but he needed to take the right risks.

Want to know the balance between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. God’s sovereignty tells me that God is in control of the day of my death. I will not die a second sooner than He has ordained. The day of my death is a fixed point in time. Now my responsibility tells me to still wear my seat-belt when driving a car.

Application: What is your Jerusalem? That think you have avoided that God wants you to set your direction towards in obedience to Him?

It could be a difficult conversation. It could be a new career path. I could be a new ministry. It could be the call to obedience in forgiving someone who has hurt you.

The truth is that heaven’s direction in this life, isn’t often towards comfort, but into our pain, our fear and even into the messy lives of others.

But heaven allows us to move toward where God is because we have hope and perspective.

Reflection: How does your view of heaven impact your life on earth?

May you believe in heaven and may that give you hope, and perspective and direction here on earth.