A Glimpse of Heaven

Many of us are familiar with the stories available of people who have died, seen a glimpse of heaven, only to be brought back to life to tell the stories of what they have seen. The most famous is the book about the experience of a man named Don Piper, who was hit by a semi-trailer in Texas. Once the paramedics arrived they identified that he had no pulse and they put a tarp over him. But then one of his pastor friends prayer over him and he would later come back to life. He spoke of joining a heavenly choir, seeing his great-grandmother, and the Gates of Heaven. Or you may know the story of the 3 year old boy named Colton who died while in the operating room for appendicitis. Later he would recount leaving his body and going to heaven and revealing details about the surgery that he would not have known. He also came back with knowledge of an unborn sister that was miscarried by his mother, and details of his great-grandfather. He recalled sitting on Jesus lap and angels singing. “Wow…this truly shows that God exists.”

When we hear these stories there are several reactions we may have. You may say “I wish I had a story like this” hoping that if we did we may have certainty regarding our faith, you may say” this truly shows the existence of God” and using it as confirmation for the faith that you have. You may even say “I am not sure if this is true or not”. Whether this is from doubts regarding God or Christianity or doubts concerning the details of these accounts.

All of these can be valid thoughts to have, and ones all of us have had at one time or another. But what makes these stories interesting to us is that we have this deep mystery and desire to know what it is like to be in the presence of God. We dream about what heaven will look like, we consider what it would be like to live for eternity, and we read the Bible hoping to gain insight into what it will be like one day.

The Israelites had very similar experiences to our own. In Exodus 25-31 we see God calling the people to give their resources in order for the tabernacle and all of the pieces in it to be built. Each piece a way for the priest to prepare himself for the presence of God. In the middle of the tabernacle is the holy of holies where the Lord would meet with the high priest once a year. Now if you think about that, it means that every other man, woman, and child would never see the Ark, they would never look at the contents inside after the Ark is constructed and sealed, and even when they moved the Ark from place to place it would be wrapped in 3 types of covering as it says in Exodus 26. In fact the entire chapter details how they are to make the coverings and how they are to be placed on the Ark. There was the veil made of goats hair that divided the holy of holies from the tent of meeting, a sheet of cow hide, and a blue linen clothe.

You can then imagine that many of the people would ask similar questions as the years went on, questions that we may ask. “What is it like to be in the presence of God?”, “Is the ark even real?”, “are there really the original Ten Commandments and Aaron’s staff inside it?” There was a mystery to the holy and holies and the presence of God.

But even with the mystery that surrounded the Ark and the Holy of Holies there were present realities that were pointing to God being with them but also pointing towards a greater reality, towards a heavenly kingdom that God desired for them to enjoy. God was showing them in these commands regarding the temple that He was creating something new.

How do we know this? Because from chapter 25 all the way to 31 the language used gives us a parallel of Genesis 1.

First, they were given these commands at the beginning of their calendar year, a representation of the “new creation” that God had given them.

7 times in 25-31 the phrase “The Lord said to Moses” is used. And the 7th time is used when God gives instructions on the Sabbath.

The first instructions given on the tabernacle are regarding the Ark of the covenant as an earthly symbol of the heavenly reality God desires with His people. Just like the heavens being the first thing made in Creation. Even the Ark itself gives the idea of heaven.

The entrance to the Garden of Eden was on the east, and the entrance to the Tabernacle was in the east as well.

The stones that the priests wear on their breastplate are the stones Ezekiel 28:13 tells us were in the garden.

The lampstand that was built resembles the tree of life with branches and buds and petals adorning it.

In Exodus 39:43 it says “Moses inspected all the work they had accomplished. Then Moses blessed them.” which parallels Genesis 1:31 when it says “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. And God blessed them.”

In Exodus 40:33 it says that “all the work on the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting was finished” just like in Genesis 2:1 it says “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.”

The details of the tabernacle remind us how God created order out of the chaos of the universe. That God is a God of order and He created order in us and around us. So that in a world of chaos we have this picture of how it “ought to be” in His presence just like it was in the Garden.

And if this doesn’t speak to it enough, Hebrews 8:5 tells us that “these serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle.”

In God’s instructions for the Tabernacle we see “God uses His presence to prepare His people for their eternal redemption.”

Christ sent the Spirit as the down-payment of our eternal inheritance.

Hebrews 8:5 tells us that the tabernacle served as a shadow of the heavenly things, but read what Hebrews 8:6 says.

Hebrews 8:6 CSB

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.

Now, God has given us His Son so that we might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance with the Spirit as the down-payment of our inheritance.

Jesus is “new beginning” of creation, where all things are made new in Him.

His ministry speaks more than that of Moses because under Christ it is once and for all. There is no longer a need for continual sacrifice.

Jesus mediates a better covenant than the priests because He sacrificed Himself so that we are now saved by His grace.

Jesus gives us a better promise in the Spirit that seals us for salvation. And He is the Word of God in our hearts that points us towards the road of salvation just like God led the people of Israel through the wilderness.

There are two ways that the New Testament tells us God now dwells with us through Christ.

God now dwells in the church

Hebrews 4:16 CSB

Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

The Tabernacle was a reminder that God dwelled with His people as a community. That He was with them and that He blessed them by His presence. In order to be in His presence they were called to obedience to the commands that He gave them. But now, we are no longer called to sacrifice and to rituals but rather it should help us to reflect on the way we are called to think about being in His presence. To recognize that worship with one another is reminding us that one day every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship the Lord. That as we worship we are called to be set apart. Peter Enns puts it “Christians come together to experience communally the reality that God dwells with us…Sunday is a foretaste of eternity, where all of time and space will be completely, tangibly under God’s rule.” In the New Testament we are called to worship in community. We worship by reading the Word and being encouraged through the Word, by worship through Song, worship through encouraging one another, and through partaking of the Lord’s Supper and celebrating the Baptism of new believers. Each of these are for the purpose of focusing us on God’s presence with us and that one day He will return. Our focus is to glorify God in our worship because He directs our path just like He did for the Israelites. This reminder of His presence is important because it brings up back to obedience. But not just individually, it brings us back to the Lord’s presence corporately.

Consider sheep, sheep are dumb animals. They are just really dumb. I read a story about a sheep that thought it was a bird, and somehow was able to climb up an oak tree and jumped from the tree, spreading its legs out as if it was flying. By some chance he landed in another tree, so he really thought that he was able to fly. So he did it again and again. He started nesting in tree and searched for worms in the ground. Then all the other sheep started doing it with him.

In another story in Turkey, 1 sheep jumped off a cliff and then another 1500 followed suit, jumped off the cliff with him.

See, the sheep can all be gathered together, and they can be grazing in the grass, drinking from a pond, but once one of the sheep gets a bad idea in their head they all go with him.

The only thing that stops them from making such a terrible mistake is the presence of the shepherd, the presence of the shepherd reminds them where they are to go, and who they are to follow. It keeps the community of sheep from going astray.

We will see this in a few weeks, Moses leaves for one moment, and all of the people start to worship a golden calf.

We are very much the same. See we can all gather here in the building, we can sing songs, we can read from this book. But if the Spirit of the Lord is not with us, if we are not seeking Him first then we will go astray.

Notice what Hebrews 4:16 focuses on. That we now have boldness to enter the sanctuary THROUGH the blood of Jesus. Have you ever considered that it takes boldness to enter into Worship of the living God? I think more than often we don’t have boldness but we are presumptuous. We presume we are perfect, we presume we can harbor anger against our neighbor that is sitting across from us and not deal with it. We can presume that we can make excuses for why we haven’t come to church. and blame COVID, and say “I just haven’t gotten back into it yet”, or that our lives are busy. We can make excuses for why we haven’t gotten back into serving or being in Sunday school or a small group. And then presume that we can come into God’s presence and that He will meet us there.

Oftentimes when we come to church distracted, rather than worshipping we can be thinking about our job or lunch after church.

If we come to worship as just something to consume, something to entertain us, or something that is required of us; we can want the music to change, or for a program to be run differently, or we want the pastor to cover a specific topic in his sermons. But often we can be so distracted by all of these other things that when we enter into the sanctuary (which means a holy place) our minds are rarely holding onto being in God’s presence but about everything but God’s presence. We are missing God’s presence. We are missing that our point of gathering together is to enter into His presence with boldness and to be a picture of the heavenly reality where every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship the Lord.. It should be used as a testimony to the world around us that we come together to worship the one true God.

And so we presume that we can enter God’s presence rather than come with boldness, rather than remember it is only by God’s grace that we enter His presence and that we can pray to Him, and that we have His Spirit in us.

But the beauty is that we gather together so that we may be encouraged towards obedience, so that our hearts would desire to worship the one true God, and that we may seek to serve Him. Because it is not just God dwelling in us corporately, but also individually.

God dwells in us as a reminder that we are set apart for holiness.

God’s presence in the tabernacle was not just a reminder of the necessity of their communal holiness, it was also a reminder of their need for individual holiness.

Hebrews 9:6–10 CSB

With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry. But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience. They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

It was constructed in order for the priest to go on their behalf to sacrifice for their sins. God’s presence with them was a reminder that He was a holy and righteous God, that He had called them to obey His law, and that there was a necessary atonement needed for their sins. God’s laws were a call to share in the covenant He had created with them and to live in light of all that He had done for them. But now, in Christ, the Spirit dwells in us.

Ephesians 4:30 CSB

And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.

Notice how not grieving the Holy Spirit is situated here, it is situation as a means of reminding us of the heavenly reality awaiting us. Because the Spirit is our reminder that God has prepared for us an eternal reward. Therefore we are to live righteously here and now.

We are called to live in holiness because of the Spirit that lives in us. But we are also called to take care of our bodies that are the temple of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 CSB

Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.

We see that to care for our bodies is because we have the Spirit of the Lord living in us. That means that we are called to live in a way that reflects the Spirit in us. It means that we do not sin against our body; whether in sexual impurity, gluttony, bringing unnecessary pain. It also means inwardly, because if we allow for sin to fester inside our souls it will destroy us because sin gives birth to death. We must live reminding ourselves that we have the Spirit with us.

For any women here who are mothers you have an understanding of how this plays out. Because when you have this child growing in you, you must live differently, your habits change. You eat differently, you can’t drink alcohol, you should not be smoking, you take more walks, you give yourself rest. You consider the child that is living in you with every decision that you make. But it is more than the decisions, you think about this child, you create thoughts of what your child is trying to tell you when it is kicking you, you have full on conversations with this child, you are excited every time it makes its presence known to you.

See the Spirit that dwells in us is there to help us with our decisions, for us to have conversations with, that we are excited when He makes His presence known to us. We live differently, change our habits, and act differently then we would have without the Spirit. You can see it is as preparation for what is to come, we worship like we are in His heavenly presence, we pray like He is standing before us, we read His Word as if He is speaking them to us. And we treat our bodies like our heavenly bodies. We don’t abuse it with unhealthy habits, we don’t deny the image we are made in with sexual immorality, we don’t treat it with disrespect saying “well, I’m going to die someday.” But we live recognizing God deserves all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength.

A holiness comes not from ourselves, but from the work of Christ on our behalf

Hebrews 9:13–15 CSB

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Here is the good news for us. We cannot sacrifice enough, we can never live perfect enough, we cannot pray enough, we cannot worship enough, we cannot do enough works to earn our salvation. It is only because Christ redeemed us from the curse, He brought God’s presence to us, He gives us new life, and we are called children of God; not because of anything we have done, but because He has taken our place. So let us then, therefore, live as redeemed people, those who rejoice and worship because of this new life we have. Knowing that God’s presence is not far away, but is with us always.