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HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN
WILL HEAVEN HAVE SPACE AND TIME?
Sunday September 13, 2020
Scripture Reference: Genesis 1:1 & Revelation 21:1 (NLT2)
Intro.
A. Well I hope you enjoyed the four weeks we spent talking about that amazing city God has prepared for us.
From here on out in this series I will speaking to some of the more practical questions we probably have about Heaven.
As you can see in today's message, I will address whether or not we will have space and time in Heaven.
How often have we either said or heard it said that Heaven will be a place where "Time is no more" but is that true?
I will answer that question for you today.
In the coming weeks and months, I will talk about things like, what will our bodies be like in Heaven?
I sure hope I don't have to worry about calories or cholesterol in Heaven.
What will our daily lives be like?
I have already told you that I do not believe we will float around on clouds day and night strumming a harp so what we will be doing?
Is heaven like eternal retirement?
Of course, some of you are busier retired than when you were employed.
I will even address the issue of will we have animals in Heaven.
Will we see our pets again in Heaven?
I really think you are going to enjoy the coming months of this series.
Trans.
Let's get started with today's question, will there be space and time in Heaven?
Let's look at two verse that are familiar to us.
Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 21:1.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1 (NLT2) "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.
And the sea was also gone."
Revelation 21:1 (NLT2)
I. WILL THERE BE SPACE AND TIME IN HEAVEN?
In my message a few Sundays ago I addressed the issue of whether or not we will have the sun and moon in Heaven.
You might recall that my opinion was that these celestial bodies will still exist and in fact I believe the bible reveals to us that the "Heaven's" we now know we will still have.
So then:
A. What Will The New Heaven's Be Like?
1.
When Genesis 1:1 tells us that God created the heavens and the earth, the words heaven's and earth are synonymous with what we think of when we use the word universe.
To say that God created the heavens and the earth is to say, God created all that is.
The word "Heavens" refers to the realms above the earth.
Such as the atmosphere, the sun moon and stars.
Revelations 21:1 speaks of the New Heavens and New Earth.
Here is what the prophet Isaiah said, "Look!
I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore."
Isaiah 65:17 (NLT2) Now Rev. 21:1 tells us that the old heaven and earth pass away, but does this mean they are destroyed?
When my daughter passed away a year ago today, was that the end of her? NO!
She did not cease to exist; she went to her eternal reward in Heaven.
She laid aside all the trappings of this sin cursed live.
The earth and heavens will not be gone but renewed.
Rev. 21:2 tells us that all things will be made new again.
Once again, I need to say that these words do not mean that what God created was bad and needs to be redone.
Nothing God created was bad, but it has all been affected by the curse of sin and needs to be resurrected and renewed.
What is going to happen is that these heaven's God created in Genesis 1:1 will be resurrected to what God intended them to be before the curse.
2. Now there are some passages in the Bible that suggest that the universe will wear out and others that do not.
I will not take time to read this today but let me encourage you to read Psalm 148 some time this week.
So, is there a contradiction here?
The answer is "No!" Just as I said a moment ago, death will remove us from this world, but we will continue living forever whether that is in the presence of God in Heaven or will the Devil in Hell.
3. I am not big into astronomy, but I remember how much I used to enjoy looking up into the heavens as a kid when we had our place at the Salton Sea.
It was very dark at night there and you could see so many stars and occasionally a satellite would go by and of course we could often see a shooting star, but for me I have been more interested in oceanography.
Now I said all that to say that while I am not into astronomy, I sincerely believe that in Heaven we will be fully capable of traveling the Heavens and why not?
We travel the heaven's now in a limited degree with our technology, who can imagine what we will be capable of when the earthly restrictions are lifted?
Right now, many of the plants in our solar system are unhabitable, but could this also be the result of the curse so when the curse if lifted why couldn't we visit these planets and beyond?
I said a few weeks ago that we might not be explorers like Magellan or Lewis and Clark, but I believe all of us still have a desire to see what lies beyond our current horizons.
In the first Star Trek Next Generations movie, oddly enough called "Generations" there is a scene where Captain Picard is talking to a lady named Guinan and she is telling him about a place called the "Nexus".
She described it this way, "It was like being inside joy, as if joy were something tangible, and you could wrap yourself in it like a blanket."
Well I do not believe in something called the Nexus, but I do believe in the New Heavens and New earth and I believe they will bring us a joy that we will actually be able to wrap ourselves in.
Trans.
Let's look at another question.
B. Will We Live In A Spatial World In Heaven?
1.
This takes us back to a question I addressed early on in this series and that question is, "Will we spiritual or physical beings in Heaven?"
2. Now I know this might seem fundamental, but for me at least I need to express what I mean by the word "space" at least in this context.
How does space relate to us in Heaven?
Space is defined as "The realm or expanse in which all material objects are located, and events occur."
Let me repeat that because it is so fundamental for what we are about to address.
"The realm or expanse in which all material objects are located, and events occur."
This is our space right now, outside of our sanctuary where an event we call worship is taking place.
I contend that the doctrine of the resurrection emphatically declares that we will occupy space in Heaven.
Consider the words of Jesus in Luke 24:39, "Look at my hands.
Look at my feet.
You can see that it's really me.
Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do."
Luke 24:39 (NLT2) We are finite creatures even in Heaven and we need time and space in which to live.
Now I will say that I sincerely believe that in Heaven we will be able to do things with these bodies that we cannot do now, but we will not be God, we will still be finite creatures with certain limitations.
For instance we will not be able to be two places at once.
3. Now let me ask you a question that I think will help clarify what I am saying.
Do you plan to reunite with someone in Heaven?
I sure do!
Today is the one-year anniversary of Shery's death.
This is not an easy day for us as I am sure you can imagine.
When I get to Heaven whether that is in the rapture or through death, I want to see Jesus, but at least where I am right now, I think I want to see Sherry first.
So, if I am going to do this or if you are going to do this, isn't the next question we have to answer is where and when and don't both of those questions refer to time and space?
Where is the space and when is the time?
When we were talking about the New Jerusalem we talked about walls, gates, streets rivers and more.
Do not all these things refer to space?
I said that I am sure we will use the gates as meeting places.
Well that refers to a place which is space and it refers to a time because we will need to determine when we plan to meet there.
4.
There are a lot of people who sincerely believe that time and space will be no more in Heaven.
Here is one person's idea.
says, "Time and space will not be the same as known here on earth, and relationships will be of a different order.
This being so, it is clear that the life of the new humanity in their resurrection bodies of glory can be described only in symbolic terms."
Just a PS, I also plan to address this question of our relationships in Heaven, but that is a few months down the road.
Now my question to this person would be, "Where is your biblical evidence for this idea?"
The Bible refers to things on the New Earth the same way it does for life on this earth.
Listen to what Jesus said, "And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world-from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven."
Mark 13:27 (NLT2) Do not the words earth and heaven refer to space?
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