Seeing God 2-22-2020

HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN SEEING GOD Sunday February 16, 2020 Scripture Reference: Revelation 21:3 & 22:4 Intro. A. Today we are going to begin a part of this study on Heaven that I think you are really going to enjoy. That is not to say you have not enjoyed what we have been learning so far, but today and next Sunday I want to speak to you about "Seeing God". I sincerely hope that the very prospect of seeing God excites you, but I also know that for some that idea is frightening and that can be for several reasons that I will talk about in a few minutes. Let's look at our scripture text for the next two Sundays. "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them." "And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads." Revelation 21:3 & 22:4 (NLT) 1. I have to add that the morning I first began typing this message out was the morning I met with the hospice worker who will be taking care of my mom. Thankfully she was a Christ follower and so this discussion about my mom and what her physical condition will be like in the coming days was difficult and wonderful at the same time. She was relating her experiences of people of faith who seem to get a glimpse of Heaven before they passed on. It was sad thinking of moms' death, but wonderful to think (and more clearly now I might add) of where she is going to be in probably a short time. B. We have been spending a lot of time the past six weeks talking about the Present Heaven and then more recently about the Future Heaven or our eternal home. I have tried to emphasis the physical aspects of both our bodies and of the earth itself. This is very important otherwise we will not be able to develop a true picture of the Heaven the Bible describes. If we look at heaven and ourselves as merely non-physical entities, then our picture of Heaven will be more like those of Eastern Religions and that is not where we want to be. I. WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE TO SEE GOD? Talk about the "million-dollar question" this is it. Here is what a man named John Donne said about this. "I shall rise from the dead.... I shall see the Son of God, the Sun of Glory, and shine myself as that sun shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began. . . No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen him, I shall never die." John Donn Psalm 63:1 says "O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water." Psalm 63:1 (NLT) There are a lot of things we want although some of us who are bit older are finding that our want list seems to be shrinking. We might want a promotion at our jobs. We might wish for a home of our own instead of renting. We might wish for a better car or TV or iPhone and we could go on and on, can't we? I guess I should add a bigger boat to that list, right? LOL. Now I am not sure if we would be willing to admit this or not, but I think most of us know that all these things we want cannot really satisfy us or make us content. I would love to own that bigger better boat, but I know it won't take more than a few months until I will be looking around at other boats thinking they might be better than what I now have. That I could really be satisfied if I had that boat instead of the one I have now. What we should truly long for, as the Psalmist said what our souls should thirst for is to see God. Is to be in His Presence. I honestly believe that this is where every human being is, but many do not realize it. This is why they seek so many other ways to find contentment and satisfaction and yet it never comes to us. A. We Need A New Vision 1. Early theologians used to talk of something they called "The Beatific Vision". These three words in Latin mean "A Happy Making Sight". If we were to go on reading in Psalm 63 we would see where the writer spoke of how seeing God provided him with what he really wanted. Here is what David said "You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy." Psalm 63:5 (NLT) Certainly for us to see God will be a sight that will make us more than simply happy. 2. As we just read a moment ago in Rev.22 one day we will see God face to face, but for some people even those who are followers of Christ that idea might not be thrilling. That prospect might be intimidating or even a little frightening. Our hesitancy is not necessarily because of sin or shame it is more likely to be because we have trained ourselves to believe that seeing God is somewhat like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. He is the great and powerful God and we are just lowly humans. I know for me for most of my Christian life the idea of seeing God was not comforting it was frightening. It was not something I was looking forward to, but we need to ask ourselves why this is so. Here is what Paul told Timothy "He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen." 1 Timothy 6:16 (NLT) Then we think about Moses when he said he wanted to see God's face and here was God's response, "18 Moses responded, "Then show me your glorious presence." 19 The LORD replied, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you...20 But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live." Exodus 33:18-20 (NLT) 3. So how can we look forward to this Beatific Vision? Obviously since the Bible says we will see Him face to face something has to change in us, but certainly not in God to make that happen. Well I think the answer is we need to spend more time in God's word and if we do this here is what we will discover. The answer is found in Jesus and what He did for us. It is because of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection that we can look forward to seeing God face to face. Remember that we saw just the other week that if Jesus is not raised from the dead then we are without hope and we are still in our sins but Praise His Name He has risen, and we will rise with him in that last day. It is our redemption through Christ that will enable us to see God. Instead of wondering if we can see God and live we will be wondering how we ever lived without seeing Him. We cannot now experience the fullness of God's Presence in this fallen world, but we are given a foretaste of what is to come. Listen to these words, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus." Hebrews 10:19 (NLT) I don't know if you have ever really grasped what these words mean, I know I hadn't. Now don't misunderstand me here but I know we most often use this verse to talk about prayer, but it is not specifically addressing the issue of prayer, but let's say that it does. Usually when we think of going to prayer we think of bowing as a symbol of our humility. That is good and I am not discounting that, but can't I also enter God's presence with joy and full assurance of faith? With my head held high, not in arrogance, but in joy and expectation of whose Presence I am entering? The Psalmist said as we often quote, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name." Psalm 100:4 (NLT) When I enter His gates and go into His courts where am I? I am in the Presence of God right! How do I enter His presence? With thanksgiving and praise. So how do we see God? How do we approach the unapproachable? Once again, we can turn to the bible for answers. We are clearly told that we can see God in the face of His Son. B. Seeing God In The Face Of Jesus. 1. God who is transcendent, who is beyond us became immanent with us. The angel told Joseph that Jesus would be called Emanuel which means "God with us". In John 14 we see where Phillip asked to see God and Jesus responded, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" John 14:9 (NLT) Clearly, we get a picture of what God is like when we see Jesus, but does this mean we will not ever actually see the face of God? That Jesus will have to serve as a substitute? Well even if he did that ought to be enough for us but I don't believe we will only see God through Jesus. Look at these verses. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8 (NIV) Again what we see saw earlier "And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads." Revelation 22:4 (NLT) Now how are we able to see the God who dwells in inapproachable light the God who told Moses you can't see my face and live? The answer is found in our resurrection. Once again, these bodies are not what they were once intended to be. Because of the curse of sin, they have more limitations than I think we are even aware of. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13? "Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely." 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT) I discovered something about this verse that I never had known before. The city of Corinth was famous for the making of bronze mirrors. While these would have been a popular item at that point in history they were nothing like the mirrors we have today. The bronze mirror would give a reflection, but it would not be a true reflection. There would be plenty of flaws in what you saw. So, Paul tells us that when we are resurrected these mortal bodies will be exchanged for Heavenly bodies and in these new bodies, we will see things as we have never seen them before, and that includes God Himself. 2. One writer said that we will see God in Heaven but not with physical eyes, but why not? I think this idea fails to take into account the resurrection and the new bodies we will have in Heaven. I love the words of Job about this. Listen to what he said. "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!" Job 19:25-27 (NLT) Are you overwhelmed with that thought? 3. Now let me ask, "Do we need to wait until Heaven before we see God?" To see Him face to face as Revelations 22 say I think the answer is "yes", but to see Him in the sense of knowing Him the answer is definitely "No". As I was preparing this message I believe God revealed something to me that I think is important to address here. Perhaps some of the fear we have of seeing God is because we know so little about him and why do we know so little about him? Could it be because we spend too little time in His word? I just shared a few verses with you that talk about not being able to see God for various reasons, but these verses looked at on their own causes us to take them out of context and make them a proof text. If I didn't share anything more with you then we could safely assume that we cannot see God, but that would be to discount the whole of God's Word. Listen to what Romans 1:20 "For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." Romans 1:20 (NLT) God is visible to us in His Living Word and in His creation. This is how we can love the world and be great environmentalist without worshiping the world. I see the beautiful mountains, but I do not worship them I worship the God who created them. I see majestic trees i0n the forests, but I do not worship the trees I worship the god who created them and consider this, He created them for me to enjoy and to cause me to see Him and Praise Him. This probably also goes without say but: C. Seeing God Is The Ultimate Joy. 1. Seeing God will be our ultimate Joy because then we will final see as we were meant to see. As we just saw in Paul's words right now we see things like in a cloudy mirror, but then in Heaven we will see perfectly clear. Now there are some who feel that we should not be thinking about enjoying Heaven that our thoughts should only be on God. While this sounds very spiritual and pious it fails to see the Heaven God has made for us. It also shows the powerful influence that this sin cursed world has had on us. It is the idea that pleasure and enjoyment are somehow unholy things. 2. Here is why seeing God in Heaven will be our ultimate joy and why we can enjoy all the other things Heaven will afford us. It is because everything will finally flow out of our relationship with God. Right now, in this life we try to do this, but we fall short. It is like I have said so many times Jesus needs to be not number one in our lives or the top priority in our lives He must be the center of our lives. It should be that through him everything else flows, but as much as we try for this we all know that we still fall short, right? Well PRAISE GOD in Heaven all the distractions and temptations we face will be forever gone and God will finally have His rightful place in our lives and the pleasures and enjoyment we have in Heaven will flow out of our relationship with God. 3. You see in this world we now live in I have to be very careful not to make idols of the things God has made for my enjoyment, but in Heaven I will be able to enjoy all these things without any thought of putting them before God. I have said this so many times, but it must be said again, "God is not the great cosmic kill joy." God does not look down from Heaven on a Sunday afternoon and see us enjoying a football game and say "Look at them. I created them to enjoy only Me and there they are having fun watching football. I must put an end to this." NO, but mark this as well let's not make football (or anything else you need to enter here) an idol that comes before our enjoyment of God's Presence. 4. Sadly too often our preoccupation with the gifts God has given us has led us away from Him instead of towards Him. If we enjoy what God has given us with a grateful heart it will draw us closer to Him not further away. Here is what the Bible says about this. "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (NIV) "Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17 (NLT) Here is what Randy Alcorn said about this, "All secondary joys are derivative in nature. They cannot be separated from God. Flowers are beautiful for one reason-God is beautiful. Rainbows are stunning because God is stunning. Puppies are delightful because God is delightful. Sports are fun because God is fun. Study is rewarding because God is rewarding. Work is fulfilling because God is fulfilling." Randy Alcorn Once again it is sin that has messed all these things up for us. 5. Listen to what Paul said in Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32 (NIV) What I want to you see here is that Paul tells us that God gave us Jesus, but He has also given us "All things". Now here is what is critical about this verse. God gave us all these other things in addition to Jesus not as a substitute for Jesus and frankly this is where a lot of get in trouble. We use all these other things God has graciously given us as a substitute for Him instead of an addition to him. We try to find pleasure in the things instead of the God who gave us the things. Notice the words of Paul again when he says, "along with him". Once again it is not instead of Him but along with him. It is the along with him that allows us to truly enjoy all things. Let me give you another quote form Randy Alcorn, "Every day we should see God in his creation: in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the friendships we enjoy, and the pleasures of family, work, and hobbies. Yes, we must sometimes forgo secondary pleasures, and we should never let them eclipse God. And we should avoid opulence and waste when others are needy. But we should thank God for all of life's joys, large and small, and allow them to draw us to him. That's exactly what we'll do in Heaven . . . so why not start now?" Randy Alcorn Conclusion: A. The Happiness of Heaven, published in 1871, Father J. Boudreau tells of a kindhearted king who finds a blind, destitute orphan boy while hunting in a forest. The king takes the boy to his palace, adopts him as his son, and provides for his care. He sees that the boy receives the finest education. The boy is extremely grateful, and he loves the king, his new father, with all his heart. When the boy turns twenty, a surgeon performs an operation on his eyes, and for the first time he is able to see. This boy, once a starving orphan, has for some years been a royal prince, at home in the king's palace. But something wonderful has happened, something far greater than the magnificent food, gardens, libraries, music, and wonders of the palace. The boy is finally able to see the father he loves. Boudreau writes, "I will not attempt to describe the joys that will overwhelm the soul of this fortunate young man when he first sees that king, of whose manly beauty, goodness, power, and magnificence he has heard so much. Nor will I attempt to describe the other joys which fill his soul when he beholds his own personal beauty, and the magnificence of his princely garments whereof he had also heard so much heretofore. Much less will I attempt to picture his exquisite and unspeakable happiness when he sees himself adopted into the royal family, honored and loved by all, together with all the pleasures of life within his reach... All this taken together is a beatific vision for him." B. This is a picture of what it will be like for us in Heaven. Our eyes will finally be open to see our Father, the King and we will finally see what has been ours all along and yet we never realized it because of the scales of sin over our eyes. 1. I know we just came through the Christmas season a few months ago. But I want to ask you to imagine with me that we are just weeks before Christmas day. If you are a parent you undoubtedly have been spending a lot of time, effort, and money on finding the right gifts for your children and grandchildren. But what if Christmas day came and instead of your kids rushing for the tree to receive their gifts they just ignored them as if there were not even there? How would you feel? I am sure it would disappoint you at least if not make you angry. 2. Can I ask you to imagine today how our Heavenly Father must feel when we continue to ignore the gift He has made available to us? Day after day people ignore the greatest gift of all God's Son Jesus. Not only that but we try to open the other gifts He has given, but because of our sin we end up ruining these other wonderful gifts God gives to us. The only way we can enjoy these other things is by first receiving the gift of God's Son. If you have never opened your heart to Jesus then let's not wait for Christmas morning, let's open this gift right now, right here. 9