Sunday, August 9, 2020
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Heaven and the New Heavens
Heaven and the New Heavens
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 North American and European countries.
In 1983 NATO forces, led by the United States, had undertaken military war games in Western Europe, preparing for the possibility of an attack from the forces of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact coming from the east.
Given the fact that the war games were already underway, the forces in the Soviet Union and the Soviet leadership believed that a nuclear missile was fired at them. Standing in the gap was one man. His name was Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov. This Lieutenant Colonel was the one Soviet officer who had to make the decision as to whether or not he should call Moscow and inform the Soviet leaders that a nuclear attack was underway that would lead to a cascade of decisions that would have almost surely led to a thermonuclear exchange between the forces of the east and the west.
Colonel Stanislav Petrov was in the position where if he made a mistake, his own nation was going to be defeated. It would have been his fault, but if he made the mistake the other way, humanity could be destroyed. He made the decision that it was unlikely that the United States would be sending one nuclear missile. And instead of picking up the phone and calling Moscow, he decided to treat the issue as if it were a technical glitch. It was, and it happened two more times during those hours that Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty. He made the same decision each time. And in all of those cases, he probably single-handedly prevented a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Last, on either side, we have too much confidence in our technology.
It was later determined that, of course, there was not a nuclear exchange. The United States had not launched a nuclear attack upon the Soviet Union. It was a pattern of the sun reflecting off of clouds that led to radar activity that triggered the entire system. Technology could not be trusted.
If you want go further on the topic of not trusting technology:
Tristan Harris, ex-design ethicist at Google, cofounder of center for humane technology, in a discussion on social media addiction, talked about how social media apps like Snapchat and Twitter are addictive because of their use of ethical and unethical tricks. What’s a design ethicist? The philosophy of the social media designers was simple: how to fix the attention economy. Just as a tree is worth more dead when it is cut down and turned into lumber, people are worth more when their live consciousness is turned into dead slabs of human attention that can be monetized by constant scrolling.
And so, when it comes to technology and science and education saying that what we see is all there is, that there is no heaven, that there is no place where believers will dwell for eternity, I simply say, you can’t trust technology.
Now…
There’s an old saying that it’s possible to be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good.
What they’re trying to say is that those who spend all of their time dreaming of heaven will not be of any use.
But the Bible points us to a different perspective. That unless we are heavenly minded we are no eternal good.
We are told to run with perseverance the race that is set before us so that we might finish the race. We are told to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
We are told in 1 Cor 9:24 to run in such a way as to win the prize.
We are told to seek first the kingdom of God.
In Luke 23:43 Jesus tells the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.
The question I wish to ask you is this: where will you be 5 seconds after you die?
In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul reveals that he was taken to the 3rd heaven (paradise)
And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
This morning I would like to talk about the intermediate state - what happens when a believer dies today and
the eternal, final state - where will we spend eternity for all of time?
For the sake of biblical clarity I would like to refer to the intermediate state as heaven - when those who are in Christ die they instantly go to heaven.
However, the final state of all believers is the New Heavens/New Earth which the Lord will create after the 7 years of Tribulation and after the 1000 year millennium of Revelation 20
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
I wish to break this message into three parts:
(1) What are you?
(2) What is heaven?
(3) What are the new heavens and new earth?
(1) What are You?
(1) What are You?
You are body and soul. You do not have a soul, you are soul.
The soul is the rational self conscious part of your being
Your soul is eternal.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
This world wants you to take care of your body, but are you taking care of your soul? Do you fear the one who holds the eternal destiny of your soul in his hands?
Have you found rest for your soul? Have you come to the only one, Jesus Christ, who can give rest to your soul?
Are you trying to gain everything the world offers at the cost of your soul?
Are you seeking to love God with all your soul?
When you accepted Christ, do you believe that it was your eternal soul that was brought into union with Christ.
(2) What is Heaven?
(2) What is Heaven?
The intermediate state. It’s a physical place.
2 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?
3 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.
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
The human body of Jesus is in heaven
Heaven is part of creation. It has a GPS - God’s Perfect Sanctuary
Enoch and Elijah were immediately taken in their physical bodies to heaven
When Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration they had physical bodies.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
We have temporary, perishable bodies
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.
We will be given, we will have, a new body, a building from God.
Jesus has a physical body, the OT saints have physical bodies, we will have physical bodies in heaven.
There is nothing sinful about bodily experience, especially the transformed existence of heaven.
We will know each other in heaven.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
How do we describe heaven? 4 words to summarize heaven from Luke 16:19-31
(a) Consciousness - they were aware of where they were
(b) Clothing - the believer will be fully clothed in your resurrection body
(c) Courage - we will have confidence and assurance - the hope of our salvation will become real - Stephen in Acts 7 had a glimpse of heaven and he was not afraid to die
(d) Certainty - the heaven of John 14 that Jesus is preparing and taking us to is not a vague thing. Paul in 1 Thessalonians was certain about what happens - they are in heaven now.
Are you certain that you are going to heaven? Why not today?
(3) The New Heavens and New Earth
(3) The New Heavens and New Earth
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
I create - God restores the world to it’s perfect, sinless state. Genesis 1:27 - bara image, not ex nihilo, from nothing, using pre existing materials.
God’s redemptive purposes are restorative - He makes the old things new.
This creation is to be enjoyed - are there dogs in heaven?
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
The body of Jesus is a template of our body
After the resurrection Jesus ate. We shall be the in=mage of the man of heaven, eating and drinking. There will be fruit trees in the new earth.
The mandate given to Adam and Eve to work and to look after the earth will be our mandate. We will be able to explore and enjoy and worship. We will continue to learn. There will be music.
We will reign with Christ
Filled with the Holy Spirit we will not be bodiless spirits but Spirit filled and empowered bodies that will understand what Jesus said in
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
We will live life and have it abundantly.
What age will be be? Aquinas - 33
Lewis - mothers will be granted the joy of raising their children to adulthood
All this will cause us to fall and worship and say, how great is our God.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Can I persuade you to make sure that you have eternal life? Have you received the new birth that is yours by coming to Jesus? Do you know for certain that when you die you will spend eternity with Jesus?
Why not today?
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"Godspeed, John Glenn," radioed backup-pilot Scott Carpenter from the blockhouse as the rockets fired up on February 20, 1962. Astronaut John Glenn piloted Friendship 7, America's first mission to orbit the earth.
The Soviet Union was the first global power to send a cosmonaut in to outer space. As Yuri Gagarin completed one orbit of the earth on April 12, 1961. The Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev later claimed in a speech that Yuri had looked out into the darkness and proclaimed, “I do not see any God up here” When told by a reporter about this, astronaut John Glenn, a follower of Christ, simply said this, “All you have to do is take off your helmet and you’ll see him instantly.
On October 28, 1998, Astronaut John Glenn flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. At age 77, he was the oldest person to go into space - 36 years after he had been the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. John Glenn observed the heavens and the earth from his window and stated November 5, 1998: "To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith. I wish there were words to describe what it's like."
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The first mission to fly around the moon was Apollo 8 in 1968. As Apollo 8's three man crew looked down on the earth from 250,000 miles away on Christmas Eve, 1968, Commander Frank Borman radioed back a message, quoting from the Book of Genesis: "We are now approaching Lunar sunrise. And for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.