When we first moved to Hillsboro, OH, the church owned a couple of old houses that were on the same corner as the church building. One of them was destroyed. The other, an old 2-storey house, would be our dwelling place until we could find a house. So, for a few months, we lived in a piece of Hillsboro history, complete with creaky floors, musty basement, and bats. We were grateful – we had a place to live, at least. But it came with some challenges.
Then, we found a house – or rather, a house that was being finished. It was out of town, small, and just what we were looking for. We even got in on it soon enough to be able to pick some carpet colors and things. Carl, the builder, let us in to do some wallpapering and painting. So, just a few months after settling in, we got ready to move, again, to a brand new house out on Mad River Road. That was a happy day! I had a happy wife, a happy 4 yr. old daughter, and a house without bats!
We were OK living in that old house, because we knew that it wasn’t permanent. We knew that we were going to a different address. Even before we knew where it was, and before we knew much about it, we were glad that one day we’d be moving to that different location. Our home was going to be somewhere else.
I don’t know everyone’s story this morning. I know that some of you have had fairly transient lives – you’ve moved around a bunch and have never really become overly attached to one place, so, the idea of one more relocation isn’t as challenging to you. And others of you have actually been in Joplin your whole life or most of your life. Regardless of that past, I can assure you of one thing: Your address is going to change at least one more time. Regardless of where you’re going, you’re not yet where you’re going to be forever.
The observant person has figured out by now that he is going to leave this life. Everyone accepts that. That’s a universal experience ever since Genesis 3. What I want us to land on this morning is that we’re not just moving out from this place. We’re also going to be moving into another place. We’re going to leave behind an old address, but what’s our new address going to be?
Where is Heaven? Or, is Heaven even a place? I want to tell you this morning where Heaven is, where it’s going to be, and where you can look forward to living if Heaven truly is your home.
Let’s start here:
I. We’re Looking Forward to a Place
Ill - Bishop Fulton Sheen in his autobiography, Treasure in Clay wrote about an experience he had when he was traveling around preaching, "I stopped to ask a few boys for directions to the Town Hall where I was giving a lecture. They told me where the Town Hall was and then asked, "What are you going to do there?" "I’m giving a lecture on heaven and how to get there. Would you like to come and find out?" "You’re kidding," one boy said. "You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall."
Well, we at least know where Hell is. It’s a town in south Michigan…
Hell also sponsors a running event called "Run Thru Hell 10 Mile and 4.8 Mile Race." Each participant is given a T-shirt that says "I Ran Thru Hell."
There’s also a wedding chapel, so you can have a marriage from Hell.
You can visit there in the summer and talk about your vacation in Hell.
And, it actually does get cold there...in Hell, MI. But there is no Heaven, MI.
One answer to the question of Heaven’s location spiritualizes the whole concept of Heaven. In other words, Heaven is a condition, not a place. Some suggest that you make your own Heaven or hell on earth by the way you live right now. Others say Heaven is where God is, and since God is everywhere, so is “Heaven.” But Heaven is a place.
Just like a city or a country is a place
We talk about going to a city or a country. Three years ago, as we were driving back with the guys’ group from Canada, we stopped off in the little community of Wawa, Ontario. They had a T-shirt for sale there that said, “New York, Tokyo, Paris, Wawa.” It’s a place.
Hebrews 13:14 - For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Hebrews 11:10
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:14-16
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
A place where the presence of God is
Ill – Everyone knows that the airplane in which the President of the US flies around is called [Air Force One]. But, did you know that’s actually the call sign of any US Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States? That 747 actually becomes "Air Force One" once the President is on board. It’s not really Air Force One unless the President is there.
The place where God dwells is called Heaven. So, that presence of God is one of the characteristics of Heaven. If God isn’t there, it’s not Heaven. Heaven is the place where God dwells.
King Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, prayed:
1 Kings 8:30
Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
Hebrews 9:24
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
Hebrews 12:22
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
Heaven is a place. It is not a state of mind. It isn’t just a figurative reference to some non-existent idea. It is where God dwells. It’s where Jesus has gone. It’s a “better country.” It’s a “city.”
II. We’re Looking Forward to a New Place
If you’re new in Financial Peace University, odds are you’re not purchasing a 2009 vehicle. Just the same, if you save up your money and find a good deal on a used car, you might well tell someone “Hey, I got a ‘new’ car.” You don’t mean it’s “new to this world.” You mean, it’s new to you. It’s not new by the calendar. But in your life, it’s a new thing. You have a new car...one that’s previously owned, and didn’t depreciate in value by 20% the day you first drove it.
Just like we mean different things by “new,” there are a couple of words that get translated “new” in the NT. One is a word that means new in time, recent, young. Then, there’s another word that describes a quality or form that’s new. It’s not about time. It’s about freshness, about difference. With that in mind, let’s read…
2 Peter 3:3-13
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this ’coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
Real quick, let’s review…
When people are suggesting that God won’t destroy the world, what are they forgetting? They’re forgetting that He already did it once before…with water. What happened to the world - what’s the word? It was [Destroyed] by the flood. The present earth and our atmosphere are also going to be destroyed, only this time it’s going to be with an intense heat. If you’re emotionally attached to some feature of this present earth, you need to let it go, because it’s all going to burn. Peter says instead we’re looking forward to what? [New Heaven and new earth], and he uses this word that means new in quality, not new in time.
Heaven is going to be a new place – but not new in the sense that it hasn’t ever existed, but new in the sense that God means when He says in Rev 21:5 He is making everything new. We’re going to be given a new earth that has been completely redone – changed.
He began to tell about it as far back as Isaiah’s time
(Isaiah 65:17
Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
Isaiah 66:22a
As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me…)
Romans 8:19-23
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
This concept of newness is important, because it’s not only about Heaven, but it’s about us too.
Ill - Some years back, we received a birth announcement that I concluded was the greatest birth announcement ever put together. It was a white triangle, folded in the shape of a diaper, and closed with a safety pin. Inside were the details of baby that had been born. The outside simply had this quote from I Co 15:51:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.
How true! If you’re a new parent, or you remember, you will say “Amen!” to that!
Babies have to be changed. That’s what diapers are for.
You don’t throw out the baby. You change the baby! You take off the outer part and get rid of it. Then, you have a “renewed” baby! A baby you don’t mind holding! Potty train the baby, and you no longer have to worry about that baby needing a change either.
That’s what’s coming for these earthly bodies, and that’s what’s coming for this creation. There are changes ahead!
Ill - 1961,Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, became the first man to orbit the earth in outer space. 200 miles above the earth. It was historic. In an interview that followed, Gagarin reported that while he was there, he saw no God and no Heaven. A lot of atheists of the time took up this report as more evidence that there is no God. After all, Heaven is always referred to as something “up there,” but when Gagarin was “up there” higher than any man had ever flown before, he didn’t see Heaven at all. Carl Ketcherside commented, “It didn’t worry me that a Russian didn’t run into God a few miles up. It would have worried me if he had.”
Part of the challenge we face regarding substantiating our claim on Heaven is that we can’t point to where it is. I don’t have a picture of it. Is it hidden? Is it non-existent, right now? Where is Heaven? Well, Heaven is where God is, and ultimately, God is going to make His dwelling on a new, remade earth. So, really, we can point to where Heaven is going to be. It’s just going to be quite a bit different from what we’re looking at now.
Remember the old hymn, “This is My Father’s World”? I think that Maltbie D. Babcock, who wrote that in 1901, got it right.
This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
Remember, Heaven is wherever God dwells. When God comes to live with men on a new earth, that new earth will have a new name: Heaven.
New earth, huh? Will there be room for everyone?
The oceans of the world currently cover about ¾ of the land mass. Imagine, for a moment if the earth had 4X more the livable area it currently has. Right now, some 6 billion people live on the available surface area of the earth. Multiply that by 4, and it could accommodate 24 billion. That is more than some estimate have ever lived since the beginning of creation. Apparently, there’s going to be plenty of room in the new earth.
The Bible goes on to tell us about another new feature of that new earth. It’s called…
New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:1-2
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
This is the moment when the dwelling place of God moves to be with men! This will be that time when “earth and Heaven” will be one – when the New Jerusalem is placed on this new earth. John goes on to tell us a lot of detail about that new, capital city Heaven.
• The throne of God and the Lamb will be there (22:3)
• The glory of God will light it (21:23)
• Kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it (21:24)
• The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it (21:26)
• There’s a river running through it, and the tree of life in it (22:2)
• It’s gates will never be shut, because it will never be night time (21:25)
Read about the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21 and 22. One day, I’m going to go there.
Now, here’s the last thing to consider when we talk about where Heaven is.
III. That New Place Isn’t So Far Off
In the temple, there was a thick veil that divided the “Holy Place” from the innermost sanctuary, the “Most Holy Place.” That place represented Heaven. No one could go into it, except for the High Priest, on one day of the year. It was inaccessible to man. At the moment that Jesus died on the cross, the hand of God tore that huge, thick curtain in 2 from top to bottom. God was announcing access to Heaven through the work of Jesus! Jesus gives us access to the Father, and to that place called “Heaven.” Heaven is near because of the cross of Jesus!
Hebrews 10:19-20
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
A lot of you took the challenge to read through the Bible in 2009. I wonder what the age break-down is on the list of people who are doing that this year. Someone said, “As people get older they start to read their Bibles more. Why is that?” “Because they’re cramming for finals!”
When I say Heaven is near, I’m not talking about how close you personally are to leaving this world. I’m talking about the fact that when it comes to location, Heaven isn’t so far off; it’s not so unattainable.
Ephesians 2:18
For through [Jesus] we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Before the cross, Heaven wasn’t so near. We were dead in our sins and trespasses.
Ephesians 2:13 –
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
No matter how far you’ve traveled from God, Jesus has done the work to make Heaven accessible. Heaven is near.
Conclusion:
Benjamin Franklin’s self-written epitaph, which he composed at age 22, says:
The Body of
B. Franklin, Printer;
Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out,
and stript of its lettering and guilding,
Lies here, food for worms,
But the work shall not be wholly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect edition,
Corrected and amended
By the author.
Heaven is a real place, and we’d love for you to be there forever…
