So Much Better

Today, we’re going to do something that it turns out is pretty unusual in Christian churches, even among evangelical Christian churches: We’re going to talk about heaven.

It’s an interesting thing, really, because we spend a lot of time in church talking about how Christians look forward to spending eternity with the Father and Son IN heaven, and we even cherry-pick some imagery from Scripture to talk about the pearly gates and streets paved in gold. But I’ll bet that most of us would consider it a significant challenge to recall the last time we heard a preacher give a sermon ABOUT heaven.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason most of us have a picture of heaven that is informed more by pop culture than by Scripture itself.

Perhaps that’s why, even among professing Christians, heaven is thought of as a place of halos and harps, a place where the reward for faithfully following Christ will be to spend eternity kicked back on a cloud.

Is it any wonder, then, that we are so often ineffective when it comes to evangelism?

In ancient times, preachers and evangelists could describe heaven as a place where there would be no more hunger or persecution, where all needs would be met, and those hearing the message would be caught up in the wonder of such a paradise.

Today, though, amid a culture in which true hunger is rare, where few physical needs are beyond the reach of even the poorest, and where persecution is a rarity, such simplistic portrayals of heaven fail to generate much interest, even among Christians.

In a 1997 Time magazine cover story entitled “Does Heaven Exist?” the writer tried to understand what had happened during the previous 200 years or so to cause the topic to fall so far out of favor in the pulpit.

“In a curious way, heaven is AWOL. This is not to say that Americans think death ends everything or even that they doubt heaven’s existence. People still believe in it: it’s just that their concept of exactly what it IS has grown foggier, and they hear about it much less frequently from their pastors.” [Van Biema, David, and Richard N. Ostling. 1997. “Does Heaven Exist?” TIME Magazine 149 (12): 70. https://search-ebscohost-com.dts.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mat&AN=9703191672&site=ehost-live&scope=site.}

And this is true across the theological spectrum, according to David Wells, a theology professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, who was quoted in the same article. “We would expect to hear of [heaven] in the Evangelical churches, but I don’t hear it at all. I don’t think heaven is even a blip on the Christian screen, from one end of the denominational spectrum to the other.” [Ibid.]

Today, as we continue our Advent series on the second coming of Jesus Christ, we’re going to take a bit of a closer look at what Scripture tells us about heaven, and since this week’s advent theme is “Peace,” we will pay special attention to how the promise of Christ’s second coming is ultimately a promise of peace, a promise of shalom, a promise that all things will one day be as they were always intended to be.

Turn, if you will, to 2 Peter, chapter 3, and let’s see what the apostle had to say about heaven in this letter to Gentile and Jewish believers in Asia Minor just 35 years or so after Jesus had returned to heaven in his resurrected body.

Now, the first thing to understand about this letter is that Peter was writing to people who were hearing from false teachers that Jesus would not return as He had promised.

So the apostle was correcting apostasy in the church, but he was also attempting to encourage them in the midst of their persecution in the pagan culture of Asia Minor.

We will concentrate today on verses 8-15 of this chapter, but let’s read the whole chapter together first to get a clearer picture of Peter’s argument here.

2 Peter 3 NASB95

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

I want you to notice that term “beloved,” which Peter calls his readers four times in this chapter.

Each time it appears, it is part of a statement in which Peter summarizes the points he is trying to get across.

The first time he uses the word “beloved” is in verses 1 and 2, where he writes that he is stirring up their minds to remember what the Old Testament prophets had written and the commandment of Jesus. He is calling them to be mindful of what they already knew.

And they would need to be mindful of what they already knew, because they were being confronted by teachers who mocked Jesus’ promise to return.

“Where is the promise of His coming?” they were asking. “Everything continues today just as it always has, from the beginning of creation.”

In other words, nothing has happened that would suggest any climactic or apocalyptic intervention by God, so why should we believe there will be such a thing in the future?

But, as Peter says here, what had escaped the attention of those mockers was the fact that God had already intervened into history in apocalyptic ways in the past, first in His creative acts of Genesis 1 and 2 and then in the cataclysmic flood He caused during the time of Noah.

After the waters had receded, God promised that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood, but Peter reminds us here in verse 7 that the prophets Isaiah and Daniel had foretold of a time when God would render His judgment upon the earth with fire.

The mockers that Peter warns about in verse 3 were saying that since God had not done these things already, He was not likely to do them.

But Peter reminds us in verse 8 that God’s time is not our time. This is where we see the second use of that word, “beloved.”

Here, Peter is telling his readers, don’t be ignorant. Understand that God is not like us.

God is eternal and does not measure the passage of time as we do. He exists above and apart from time. He works IN time, but He is not limited by it the way that we are.

In figurative language here, Peter says a day to God is like a thousand years to us.

“People see time against time; but God sees time against eternity.” [Kenneth O. Gangel, “2 Peter,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 876.]

So why had God delayed the coming of the Day of the Lord? Because He is patient and merciful. Because He wishes that all would come to repentance, that all would be saved.

In fact, He demonstrated His patience in the time of Noah, when He delayed the flood for 120 years.

This wasn’t simply to give Noah a chance to build the ark; it was a chance for people to repent, to turn from their wicked ways and to turn to God in faith.

We see the same principle at play when God sent Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah hated the Ninevites, because they were cruel and had persecuted the Jews without mercy.

He did not want to deliver God’s prophecy to Nineveh, because, as he prayed after the Ninevites had repented, “I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”

Now, nearly 1,960 years have passed since Peter wrote this letter, and God still has not sent His judgment on the earth.

And the reason today is the same as it was when Peter wrote these words. God does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Of course, we know that not all WILL come to repentance. Not all will turn to Jesus Christ in faith that His sacrificial death and supernatural resurrection are their only means of reconciliation with the God against whom each of us has rebelled in our sins.

But God is gracious and merciful, and He delays the triumphant return of His Son so that more can come to know Him as their savior.

But there will come a day when the delay is over, and that day, “the day of the Lord,” will come like a thief.

It will seem just like all the days before it, but everything will change. Everyone will be feeling secure, and God’s judgment will catch them completely by surprise.

The heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up, we read in verse 10.

Verse 12 tells us the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat.

Now, when we talked about the end times last week, you will recall that the particular events we considered were at the end of the Tribulation period and prior to the Battle of Armageddon, when Jesus will vanquish the nations that will have aligned themselves against Jerusalem.

All those who have followed Jesus Christ in faith will have had their souls reunited with their resurrected bodies, and we will be witnesses to the destruction of Christ’s foes by the word of His mouth.

What Peter writes about here is not the same event. What Peter writes about here is God’s final judgment of earth, at the end of Christ’s millennial reign on earth, and we learn more about it in Revelation, chapter 20.

Revelation 20:7–10 NASB95

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

At this point, God will have ceased to delay His judgment. The earth and everything on it will be destroyed in fire. The universe as we know it will be burned up. Even the very elements that form everything we know will be melted away.

At this point, there will be no more time for repentance, no more time for people to turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

At this point in the history of the end times, all who have denied Jesus Christ throughout history will be judged at the Great White Throne of heaven. And having chosen not to follow Jesus, their names will not be found in the Book of Life, and they will be thrown into the lake of fire, along with Satan and death itself, to suffer eternal condemnation for scorning the very King of Heaven.

This is scary stuff, but for those who have believed in Jesus, there is no need for fear, because He promises us peace. He promises us, as Peter says in verse 13, new heavens and a new earth, one in which righteousness dwells.

We read more about the new heavens and new earth in Revelation, chapter 21.

Revelation 21:1–5 NASB95

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Here’s what I really want you to see today: Heaven will not be up in the sky somewhere — at least not after God has judged and then renewed the earth.

God made the earth for us, and He made us to live on it. We corrupted it with our sins, but He will redeem His broken creation. He will restore peace, shalom, the way things ought to be, and He will live with US here on this renewed and recreated earth.

History began in a garden, but it will end in a great city, though not one like man could build.

This city will be 1,363 miles wide by 1,363 miles long by 1,363 miles high. Its walls will be 200 feet thick and made of jasper, and it will have not one but 12 gates of pearl. Its foundation stones will be of jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst. Its streets will be pure gold.

There will be no temple in this New Jerusalem, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb will be its temple.

There will be no need of sun or moon, because the very glory of God will illuminate it.

A river will flow from the throne of God and the throne of Jesus, and the tree of Life, the tree that Adam and Eve ignored when they chose to eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will be found on both sides of the river.

Revelation 22:3–4 NASB95

There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

Finally, there will be peace on earth. And this is what Peter wanted the recipients of his letter to remember as they faced their hardships and persecution.

So how should they live in light of these things? In holy conduct and godliness, he says in verse 11.

And then in verse 14, where we see the third appearance of the word “beloved,” he says they should be diligent to be found by Jesus in peace, spotless and blameless.

This doesn’t mean that Peter expects them never to sin. We all sin.

1 John 1:8 NASB95

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Peter’s point here is that we are not given the prophecy of the end times for the simple knowledge of it but to push us toward obedience, to cause us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, to cause us to to take a long, hard look at ourselves to know whether our faith is true, and to give us time to tell others about our gracious Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are to be diligent that we don’t get carried away by false teaching, as Peter warns in verse 17, where he addresses his readers as “beloved” for the fourth time.

Beloved, be on your guard. Beware!

“True Christians cannot fall from salvation and be lost, but they can fall from their own “steadfastness.” ... The stability of the Christian comes from his faith in the Word of God, his knowledge of that Word, and his ability to use that Word in the practical decisions of life.” [Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 470.]

We are to be people who are continually growing — growing in grace and growing in knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Growing in grace means becoming more like Jesus.

“The better we know Christ through the Word, the more we grow in grace; the more we grow in grace, the better we understand the Word of God.... Nobody automatically drifts into spiritual growth and stability, but anybody can drift out of dedication and growth.” [Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 470.]

Therefore, we must be diligent in our study of the Word, even as we await the advent of our Savior’s second coming.

We know what lies ahead. Let us press on with mindfulness of what Scripture has taught us about it.

Let us not be ignorant about God’s character or His plan.

Let us be diligent to be conformed to the spotless and blameless image of Christ, seeking every opportunity to share His message of peace.

And let us beware those who would steer us toward a false gospel.

Heaven is the reward, and it is so much more wonderful than we tend to think of it.