Our Life In Heaven

Background to passage: Rev 4-5 are chapters of praise to God and Jesus respectively that culminate with angels, living creatures, saints, and elders praising the Lord for redemption because he is the lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. He was also is proclaimed as the only one who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.

So, in chapter six, he begins to open the seven seals. The first four unleash the “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” White, red, black, and pale. Today we look at the fifth seal to see some martyrs that give us a glimpse of what the lives of believers will be in the present heaven.

Revelation 6:9–11 ESV

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Opening illustration: For all, death comes like an utterly unsympathetic landlord waving an eviction notice. But that eviction merely releases believers from a wretched earthly neighborhood to an infinitely grand and glorious dwelling in a heavenly neighborhood. For the believer, then, the sorrows, disappointments, and suffering of this life are worse than death. Death releases believers from the relatively dilapidated slum in which they now live and ushers them into a room in the house of the eternal Father in the heavenly city. -John MacArthur

Main thought: what will our lives be like in heaven

1) We will have the ability to speak (v. 10)

Revelation 6:10 ESV

10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

1) We will have the ability to speak (v. 10)

Explanation: the first specific group of individuals to be dealt with in the book (elders, living creatures, and angels notwithstanding), we can see that they have the ability to speak. They cry out with a loud voice to God. Don’t know if they have an intermediate body with vocal chords, but they have some sort of identifiable form (robes), and speak in heaven.

There will be emotions in heaven other than joy. Their are described as loud cries. They asked questions, so they had the ability to learn. You will not immediately know everything when you get to heaven, in fact, as a finite being, you will never know ALL knowledge…but you can ask.

If there is the ability to ask questions, learn things (have conversations), then the ability to have personal relationships is there as well. Of course, the most important one is with God; personal, real, unveiled, face to face relationship with God. Also, we will have personal relationships with others. Those we knew on earth and those we didn’t.

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Illustration: Sometimes we say, “when I get to heaven I’m going to ask God...” Well, you can.

Application: You can have your list of questions. You can look forward to seeing loved ones. We had a discussion of what we would look like to ourselves and others last Sunday afternoon. Most importantly, your walk of faith with the Lord Jesus for years will be sight. You will see him as he is, and will enjoy the relationship that we have longed for.

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2) Our memories will be intact and enhanced (v. 10)

Revelation 6:10 ESV

10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

2) Our memories will be intact and enhanced (v. 10)

Explanation: We see that these martyrs remember how they died. They do not have their memories wiped when they enter heaven. Neither will we. In fact, I believe that our memories will be made better, not worse, so we will remember things that we have forgotten about.

So what about bad memories you may ask. To an extent it is speculation, but it could be that bad memories are dealt with, given an explanation of God’s providence that gives us understanding, and it no longer is “bad.” Or maybe the bad seem less significant in the light of Christ. Heaven is a place of rest.