The Anticipation of Heaven

Open: Travel stop at Buc-cees on the return trip from Florida. Good travel stop. Video of family who parked in the lot for a whole day so they could eat all three meals and get the special foods for the different meals. Strange, but not overly so. How strange would it be to build a permanent home in the parking lot? To invest in all the comforts of life just to remain at what is at best, a glorified rest stop?

Transition: Bizarre and just plain weird to live at a rest stop! But that is similar to what many believers are doing. Some of us are investing and building and trying to protect what amounts to a rest stop on the way home. Sadly, many believers lose sight of the spiritual reality of Heaven. The forget that this world is NOT our home. Our present, physical life on this planet is our temporary test zone on the way to an Eternity in Heaven.

The Question: Do the non-believers in our lives recognize that we are travelers who are on a journey to a special place or do they view us just like them - living and investing in this world?

READ the Text: JOHN 14:1-3

Heaven is a Prepared place for a Prepared People (John 14:1-2)

Explanation: Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. He knows the Cross is looming, and He is giving His closest followers truth and encouragement for the times they will face without Him. Jesus gives us great insight into the ministry of the Holy Spirit in chapters 14 - 16. Jesus tells the men that He will not leave them orphans, but that the Third Person of the Trinity will come to dwell in believers while they live in this world.

Before launching into the teaching time, however, Jesus gives them hope by letting them know that He will be taking care of their future so they won’t have to worry - “Let not your hearts be troubled . . .” Jesus reassures them of their Eternal Home. He Himself is going to prepare a place for them.

Argument: There are some who consider the idea of the after life to be just that - an idea, and a silly one at that. Many non-believers openly ridicule the idea of Heaven and Hell, and state that when a person dies, he or she simply ceases to exist. Game Over.

Heaven is a Real place. It does exist, and the Bible is very clear about the reality of Heaven. The Bible doesn’t give us all of the information we may want concerning heaven, but God gives us all the information we need to know about Heaven.

FYI: Heaven travelogs are unnecessary and unbiblical. Believers do not need and should not rely on the “there and back again” accounts and books. I don’t need a child to tell me that “Heaven is for Real” - God has already done that in His Word.

Those who are in Christ will enter Heaven through one of two ways:

Joke: SS Teacher was talking to the children about Heaven and he was asking what a person needed in order to get to heaven. Some of the children shouted out answers such as being a good person, attending church, helping others, etc. The SS teacher was looking for the answer of being saved, but little Johnny kept shaking his head at all the answers being given. The teacher finally called on Johnny and his answer was: “You gotta be dead!”

Johnny was partially right, and the first way a believer can enter the glory of Paradise is through the door of physical death.

1. The Way of Physical Death. At the moment of physical death believers are translated to be in the presence of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

Explanation: The Apostle Paul compares our physical lives to earthly houses. Just as a material house (tabernacle) will eventually decay and dissolve, our earthy bodies wear out and eventually cease to function. Death is a consequence of sin entering the world (cf Rom 5:12) and since all have sinned, all will physically die. Being in Christ through faith in His finished work removes the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

The believer who experiences physical death is immediately translated into the presence of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Death is not the end of life; death is the transition into a newer and higher quality of life. The death of a believer achieves the goal - to be present with the Savior.

2. The Way of the Second Coming of Christ (John 14:3)

Explanation: Jesus made a promise to His disciples. He promised them that if He went and prepared their Eternal Dwelling that He would also come back and take them with Him. Jesus has not yet Returned, so this is just a promise that currently resides in the future. Just as every single promise in the past has been fulfilled perfectly and completely, this Promise of His return will all be perfectly fulfilled.

At whatever point in time Jesus physically returns to this earth (Zech 14:4), He will bring those believers who are already dead with Him (1 Thess 4:13-18). This truth has brought comfort to many believers who have to grieve the physical loss of loved ones. We have confidence that for those In Christ there is no final good-bye, but a “see you in the morning,” and what a glorious morning it will be!

Jesus is coming back for His bride, and those believers who are still living at that point in history will experience an immediate translation, and, along with those believers who have preceded them in death, will receive the Resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15:50-55)

It is at the Return of Christ that all believers receive the Resurrection body, not at the point of physical death. [Not to get sidetracked on this point - I believe we will have some form and we will know one another (Peter recognized Moses & Elijah; Matt 17:1-4). This is also a good point to correct a myth that many believers perpetuate: Saved people who die DO NOT become angels. Angels are a different class of created beings. Jesus died for people, not for the angels. Jesus did state that we will be “like the angels in heaven” (Matt 23:30). He said this to emphasize the reality that marriage as we know it now will cease to exist.

Application: Note the emphasis on the audience - Jesus is telling His followers that He is preparing a place for them, not the entire world. Heaven is not the default destination for humanity. Heaven is only for those who are prepared, and that preparation is based on saving faith in the finished work of Jesus as our substitute. The Question is: Are you prepared for Heaven by being In Christ?

The reality of Heaven should focus our attention on the Blessed Hope (Titus 2:11-13)

Explanation: Knowing that Eternity with Jesus is the end goal has the power to help believers live holy lives. The Apostle describes the expected outcome for those who have received the Grace of God. Such persons are to:

Abandon previous ungodliness. To renounce something is to turn from it, to go in the opposite direction. To not go back to it. Not to glory in it and to make it the center-piece of your existence.

To live in Holiness. Living in light of Eternity means that we care about the reputation of Jesus as it is reflected in our lives. It means that we are serious about the crucified life (Galatians 2:20) and we attempt to honor Jesus with our lives

To anticipate our Reunion with Him. This means that we actually have the desire to be with Him. That we realize that being with Jesus is the real goal - not to amass wealth or fame or power or a gun collection (or stamps, or sea shells, or pocketbooks, or cars or vacation homes). Not that believers can’t or shouldn’t have any of these, but they are not to be our focus. Remember - everything material will burn! (2 Peter 2:10-13)

Conclusion: Where is your hope? Where is your focus? Are you living for this world or the world to come? Jesus told us not to store up fading treasures on this earth, but to store up secure treasures in Heaven (Matt 6:19-21). Take an assessment and try to determine the health of your Eternal Balance Sheet.

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot