Heaven Has Come Near Series

A couple weeks ago, NASA landed their 8th Mars lander, InSight, on the surface of Mars and started a photoshoot. They kind of look like selfies on Mars to me. They were thrilled at a successful landing - the first of its kind in a few years. It cost a lot of money, and NASA hopes to learn a lot from the project.

That trip took over 6 months - 300 million miles. That’s so far away, it takes a radio wave somewhere from 5-20 minutes to travel back to earth, depending on the planets’ positions. In our solar system, Mars is the planet that orbits 2nd closest to us. Still, at its closest to us, it takes over 3 minutes for light to travel between us - an average of 12.5 minutes.

That’s a long way away from us. Just consider that for a moment. Now, how far away is Heaven? Even farther, I’m pretty sure. NASA has sent probes as far away as Pluto. The Hubble telescope has looked into deep space. Still, haven’t seen Heaven.

So, we can say it’s far away, but it’s still tough to say where it is.

Have you ever tried to explain to a child where Heaven is? How do you do that? Sorry, no, it’s not “a place on earth” and we aren’t going to find that there’s a stairway to it.

I’m sure of some places where Heaven is NOT. For example, I was on a short-term mission trip to Haiti. Heaven is not in the place that sounds a lot like Hades!

Heaven is not inside the Crimson Ridge store nor in a Hallmark Christmas movie, despite what some might try to tell you. In fact, Heaven is definitely not out driving around on the streets this time of year!

Heaven, I’m also pretty sure, is not in KS.

It’s easy to say where it isn’t, because none of us has ever seen it. I’m afraid that makes it seem even farther away.

Still, Heaven’s an actual place of some kind. The Bible refers to it as “The 3rd Heaven.” Paul writes in 2 Co 12 about being taken there. Jesus says He’s preparing “a place” for us and will come and take us to be with Him. In fact, God is there right now. One way we can talk about the location of Heaven is to say “it’s wherever God is.” And that’s a problem for a lot of people today. God is in Heaven, and wherever that is, it’s far from here, which sounds a lot like God is far away too.

“God far away” sounds a lot like God who can relate to me. The farther away He is, the more impersonal He becomes. I can’t see Him. I can’t know Him, if that’s the case. That’s a problem.

The answer to that problem comes by way of a gospel that really doesn’t tell about the birth of Jesus. John was the last gospel written. The birth of Jesus had already been told by Matthew and Luke. So John begins before Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem - in the beginning, and he’ll refer to Jesus by a different name: “The Word.”

John 1:1-9

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

(prayer)

God may seem a long way off. What if God came here? Where would He go? I would expect Him to immediately visit all the important people of the world - presidents, kings, and prime ministers. That leaves you and me out…again. But what if He not only came here, but He came here and visited among the folks? That’s exactly what He did! That has been the design of His plan all along. In fact, it explains why the story of Christmas is so full of peculiarities. So, I want to give you a one-line summary of this message today, and just leave it hanging out there until we get to the end. Here it is:

When the Son of God is born as man, we’ve already seen His plan.

Last week, we looked at a prophecy in Isaiah 9 about the arrival of a great light. That prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus - not by just His birth, but by all that followed. After He grew up, in Mt 4…