Is Heaven Real?

The Excitement of Things to Come

Well, it is Labor Day weekend so that means one thing for my family…Fall has arrived! Granted, it is still in the 90’s in Magnolia but Cindy and I declare Fall on Labor Day weekend. Cindy pulls down the red/white/and blue from July 4th and up go the orange/red/yellows for the Fall. We look forward to the cold fronts that will eventually come into the area. Afterall, we are only a month and a half away from our pumpkin patch and I do remember some cold days last year.

I like to consider ‘things to come’. In the century old novel, Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, he tells the story of a new believer named Christian who has been on an epic journey. Along the way he stops at a place called, The Palace Beautiful -

Until late in the night, Christian and the occupants of Palace Beautiful talked about their experiences, their exploits and lives, and great were the mysteries and joys they shared. When they retired to bed, they gave Christian the large bedchamber called "Peace" with a view of the rising sun.

In the morning, they invited Christian to see rare and wonderful records of the acts of the servants of the Lord and on the next day they showed him the beautiful sight of the "Delectable Mountain" and a distant view of the Celestial city and its Gate.

Christian, by this time has been through some difficult places. He has experienced despondency and the trap of worldly wisdom, but also he had stood at the foot of the Cross where his burden fell off his back. The world is a hard place, but Jesus Christ has given us hope, a glimpse into heaven.

A Glimpse of Heaven

In Acts chapter 4 a person by the name of Stephen becomes the first martyr of Christianity. But before he dies, he is given a glimpse of heaven:

Acts 7:54–56 NIV

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

To see the “glory of God” and our Savior at the right hand of God is an amazing gift. I suppose that God is constantly revealing Heaven to us if we are watching and paying attention. The prophet Isaiah describes an amazing understanding of Heaven:

Isaiah 65:17–18 NIV

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.

I love that, I will create. I know I’ve talked about a boat for 17 years. But, I still like to go to boat manufactures like SunTracker, Bennington, Lowe, or G3 and build the boat that I want. I choose the layout – half fishing and half cruising. I choose the motor – not too big (my budget) but big enough for my grandkids to be pulled. Trolling motor, upholstery color, and on and on. Jesus is creating a new heaven and earth for us. Isaiah continues:

Isaiah 65:19–25 NIV

I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Pretty impressive place! And, it is just a glimpse of what it will be like. Early missionaries were one-way ticket missionaries. They jumped into missions completely in faith, making no preparations for their return. Ray Stedman tells a story of contrast between the return of President Teddy Roosevelt and a missionary couple from Africa.

An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years, and they were returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.

No one paid attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, “Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us.”

“Dear, you shouldn’t feel that way,” his wife said.

“I can’t help it; it doesn’t seem right.”

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President’s arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.

That night the man’s spirit broke. He said to his wife, “I can’t take this; God is not treating us fairly.”

His wife replied, “Why don’t you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?”

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?”

“The Lord settled it with me,” he said. “I told Him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and simply said, ‘But you’re not home yet!’ ”[1]

We are not home yet, but when we are – we will be a very fortunate people!

What Will Heaven Be?

For the next few minutes I want to share some real life testimonies of people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) and show how they illustrate what the Bible teaches us about our lives and the life to come.

Heaven will be that place where you will realize how uniquely loved you are!

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Crystal’s story is a sad one that begins with child abuse by the age of 5. For the next 25 years her life’s story is one of brokenness, neglect, and anger. At the age of 33 she unexpectedly coded while the hospital was treating her for pancreatitis. After telling her mother that she loved her, she closed her eyes and found herself in Heaven. She recalls:

The first thing I remember becoming aware of was that I was still me. And I was still the me who had just told my mother that I loved her and died. And I was very aware of the fact that I had just died. But I also was the me that had existed from the moment that God created me. Unlike on earth, where I was plagued by doubts and fears, in heaven there was nothing but absolute certainty about who I was.[2]

Crystal felt infused with a complete and total self-understanding and self-knowledge. All the baggage and abuses that had muddied her identity on earth instantly evaporated, revealing for the first time, her true, essential self.

Well, that is a book, Pastor Mark. What about the Samaritan woman at the well who said to her townspeople, “Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did!” How many of us would be comfortable with that unless He is loving, accepting, and kind?

Who are you? Do you really know? Jesus does. Revelation tells us that He has a new name for each of us…

Revelation 2:17 NIV

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Heaven will be the place that you find most beautiful, but it will be so much more!

2 Corinthians 12:2–4 NIV

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

Craig showed me a music video of a Trace Adkins song about a man’s struggle with being on a lake fishing and enjoying God’s gift of nature instead of being at a goofy church. Men especially get concerned about a misunderstanding of Heaven with cherubs, fluffy clouds, and harp playing. We hope for woods, streams, lakes, mountains, and game. Fortunately, Heaven is not about chubby babies with harps.

The Apostle Paul said it was impossible to express the things about paradise that he saw. Maybe it was because we only understand 3 dimensions here on earth and in heaven there are more dimensions than we can understand. Explanations from people who have died and come back describe grass, flowers, and trees that never die and emit light and life from within. Dr. Richard Eby was an amateur botanist. In an NDE he experienced he described this:

My gaze riveted the exquisite valley in which I found myself. Forests of symmetrical trees unlike anything on earth covered the foothills on each side. I could see each branch and “leaf” – not a brown spot or dead leaf in the forest. (“No death there” includes the vegetation!)….They resembled somewhat the tall arbor vitae cedars of North America, but I could not identify them. The valley floor was gorgeous. Stately grasses, each blade perfect and erect, were interspersed with ultra-white, four petalled flowers on stems two feet tall, with a touch of gold at the centers.[3]

Description after description of trees, mountains, streams, waterfalls, lakes, and flowers come from story after story. Revelation 22 describes the restoration of the Garden of Eden:

Revelation 22:1–2 NIV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Whatever definition of natural beauty you have, I’m convinced that you will be overwhelmed by beauty that will take an eternity to enjoy.

Heaven will be that place where you will be completely whole

1 Corinthians 15:51–53 NIV

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

2 Corinthians 5:4 NIV

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

The Bible tells us that our heavenly bodies will be far superior to our earthly bodies. After the resurrection of Jesus, He ate with the disciples yet passed through walls. Just as Jesus healed when He was on earth, our heavenly bodies will be forever young, forever fit, and forever fantastic. [Don Piper’s reunion with family and friends]

One more thing to add about being completely whole – It is certainly wonderful to experience being 100% healthy physically but Heaven is more than being physically whole. We are spiritually and emotionally whole as well. I liked Burke’s statement:

We won’t lose our earthly identity; it will finally be known to us fully. We won’t lose our humor, our unique personality, our unique look, our emotions, or our history and memories – we will finally be ourselves – fully.[4]

Heaven will be a place of reunions with loved ones

2 Samuel 12:23 NIV

But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

At many funerals the poem “Death is Nothing at All” by Henry Scott-Holland has been read:

Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Thinking about Heaven takes us to some of the greatest thoughts that we will ever have. Reunions, health, beauty, wholeness, and indescribable love just scratch the surface. However, an understanding of Heaven is not complete without acknowledging the center of Heaven – Jesus Christ Himself

Most Importantly, Heaven is About Jesus

Revelation 22:1–5 NIV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

One last story of an NDE before we close. Dean Braxton’s heart stopped for an hour and forty-five minutes during kidney surgery. He revived, claiming he saw Jesus:

Jesus is pure light! His brightness was before me, around me, part of me, and in me. He is brighter than the noonday sun, but we can still look at Him in Heaven…I was in Jesus, and Jesus was shining out of me. I would see the brightness. The brightness was around me. I was part of the brightness, and brightness was shining out of me. All of it was life.

Since Jesus knew all the intricacies of Heaven it is interesting that He would tell the disciples to let their light shine. We certainly have much to shine about!

[1] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2001). Practical Illustrations: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians (p. 68). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.

[2] Burke, John. Imagine Heaven. 2015; 69.

[3] Burke, John. Page 116.

[4] Burke, John. Ibid. 74.