We’re in a series that we’re calling "Questions That I Have," questions that I have for God or about God. Boy, do you guys have questions. I’m telling ya. I’ve asked you to e mail me at pastorgreg@seacoast.org, and so far, I have over 1,000 e mails just about that, and nearly 1,000 text messages, and somebody -- two or three of you have said in the e mails, "When is Pastor Greg gonna get back to me personally on my question?" Here’s my answer. I love ya, but it ain’t happening. Okay? It ain’t happening. I just can’t do it. I’d be doing that until Jesus came. And so I’m gonna try to answer as many questions as I can. I’d love for you to keep sending ’em in. We’ve got a team that looks at ’em and bring ’em to me. And we try to pick out ones that a lot of people are asking or ones that are maybe a little bit more unusual and not too unusual. There are some weird questions. Can I tell ya that? I’ll have you know there are no stupid questions, only stupid people, okay? I’ll have you know that. I should not have said that. I’m sorry that I said that, kind of. Okay?
This week I’d love for your questions to be about relationships, anything about relationships, single, married, divorced, straight, hetro, homo, whatever, any kinda questions, ’cause you guys are pouring ’em on, and next week I’m gonna deal with those issues. Next week will be PG13 borderline R. It might be a good week to take the kiddos to the children’s church. Last service I said it would be a good week to expose them to children’s church. Bad use of words. But it might be a good opportunity to do that. It’s gonna be kind of an adults only service next week. We’re gonna take off the gloves and deal with the tough issues as they relate to relationships, so I want you to be a part of that.
Now, this week, there was a four year old or maybe a six year old, I can’t remember, that sent in a question that said, "Where did God come from?" How many of you wanna tackle that? I didn’t and so I gave it to Jim Miles who is our Family Life pastor. Jim, fire away on that one.
Jim Miles: Hi, Pastor Greg. Where did God come from? Wow. That is a deep one. We figured since the question came from a four year old, what we’d do is we’d go into our children’s ministry, ask a few more young minds and see if they might just have the answers. So, let’s go see what they have to say.
Hi. What’s your name?
Child: McKenzie.
Jim Miles: Hi, McKenzie. Can you tell me, where did God come from?
Child: Heaven.
Child: Heaven.
Child: Heaven.
Child: Heaven.
Child: Heaven.
Jim Miles: Does he have a telephone number?
Child: No.
Jim Miles: You don’t know the address?
Child: No.
Jim Miles: Where did God come from?
Child: Our heart.
Child: Jesus.
Child: What is this?
Jim Miles: It’s a camera. Don’t worry about it. No one’s watching it.
Child: The earth.
Child: From the world.
Jim Miles: Where did God come from?
Child: That’s a hard question.
Jim Miles: Who made God?
Child: Who made God?
Child: The people.
Child: Jesus.
Child: Now I think -- I’m thinking of playing Duck, Duck, Goose right now.
Jim Miles: Okay. You go play Duck, Duck, Goose.
(Laughs) That’s how I feel when I see some of your questions. I just wanna go play Duck, Duck, Goose. (Laughs) Kids are great, aren’t they? Alright. I wanna talk about Heaven because we’re gonna do one week on the afterlife. You guys had so many questions about it, and last week we dealt with the judgment. We dealt with hell. This week I’d like to deal a little bit with Heaven. It’s important for a couple of reasons. Number one, a lot of you had questions about, "Hey, I’m a Christian and all this, but I still fear death," and so I wanna deal with that a little bit so that we kinda know what’s out there as best we can. And the second reason is ’cause you’re gonna -- by my calculation, you’re gonna spend a long time in one of the afterlife places, and so you need to know what it’s about just a little bit. And there are a lot of misconceptions about Heaven. It’s boring. You know what I mean?
Somebody said they always thought Heaven was gonna be a 24 hour a day church service, and that doesn’t sound real exciting. Gary Larson, who created the cartoon "The Far Side," did a lot of stuff on Heaven. In one of ’em he’s got a guy just kinda hanging out on a cloud doing the harp thing and he’s got a look on his face like -- and the caption says, "I shoulda brought a magazine," just that type thing. The problem with that is if that’s your view of Heaven, why share the good news with anybody? If you’re not excited about where you’re gonna spend eternity, why would you bring anybody with you? So I wanna delve into a little bit of the truth as I could see it and as I see in the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9. Read this one out loud if you would. You’ve got an outline sheet. It says, "No eye has seen" -- when we read out loud, a lotta times, we move our lips, okay? Let’s do that together. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." It says you can’t even imagine. So you say, "Well, why even try?" Well, I think we need to. I think we need to ’cause I think we need to know. And I think -- I’m gonna make the case in this message that you oughta be thinking about it every day ’cause it’ll impact everything else that you do in life. But every once in a while, I think God gives us a little glimpse of what Heaven may be like.
A few years ago, my wife and I were celebrating a birthday and so went to this little cabin in Tennessee and we went on a hike about three miles, I think. We came around the corner right toward the end of it, the furthest part of it, and we came around this corner and we saw something that just took our breath away. It was a 75 foot waterfall that was just outta nowhere, just, boom, here it comes. And it’s splashing down a mist in our face. And at that moment, I thought, "This has gotta be like Heaven." I mean, I’m there with the girl that I love and we’re experiencing each other’s company and we’re seeing God’s creation in majesty. I mean, that’s what the word means, I think. It was just an incredible experience and I thought, "That must be a little bit like what Heaven is gonna be about." And I think our first moments in Heaven will absolutely take our breath away. I think it’ll be just the most incredible thing that we’ve ever seen, hard to explain what it is. And I think it’s important for us to know what happens when we die, so that we’ll be prepared for it.
Got a lotta questions like this, "Are there really pearly gates?" okay? "Does Saint Peter meet you at the pearly gate? Is he the greeter of Heaven?" I don’t know. I heard about a lady, though, that died after an extended illness and she went to Heaven and she was standing outside the pearly gates and she’s looking in the inside and she sees her friends and family and it’s just incredible stuff. Saint Peter comes up to her and she says, "Well, how do I get in?" and he said, "Well, you gotta spell a word." And she said, "Well, what word?" and he said, "The word ’Love,’" and so, "L O V E," she does it and he invites her in and it’s just splendor. It’s just absolutely incredible.
A few months later, Saint Peter looks her up again and he says, "I’ve got an errand I’ve gotta run. You know the drill at the front gate. Could you do gate time for me?" and she said, "Well, sure. That’s the least I could do for all that God has done for me," and so she goes to the front gate. And lo and behold, about an hour later, her husband on earth shows up on the outside. And her first words were, "I never expected you to be here." So then she says, "And how has life been treating you since I’ve been gone?" he said, "Well, I’m embarrassed to say this, but it’s been really good." He said, "You know that cute little nurse that was treating you?" he said, "I went ahead and married her."
And he said, "We hit the lottery and just got all kinda money. We moved outta the little house we used to live in, built this really, really nice house. We’ve been doing a lotta traveling to exotic places," he said. "In fact, that’s why I’m here." He said, "We were at this great place and I was doing some waterskiing, and I got hit in the head by the ski, died, and now I’m here." He said, "How do I get in?" And she said, "No problem. You spell a word." He said, "Well, what word?’ She said, "Czechoslovakia." (Laughs) I thought that was funny; I really did.
Well, 1 Thessalonians 4:12, look at what it says, "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep." Now that’s not falling asleep in church, and I know who you are. I can see you, okay? That’s not what that’s about. And I’m gonna tell you what else that’s not about. That’s not about what’s called "soul sleep." Some people believe that when a Christian dies that they just kinda go to sleep, and most theologians think that that’s probably not the case. What falling asleep here, it’s just a nice word for dying. We have a nice word for dying, don’t we? What do you say?
If your relatives die, you don’t say, "Hey, they died." You say, "They passed away," okay, just a nice word for dying. That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that we don’t want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep (or die), or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. So it’s if you’re ignorant about what happens after you die, when you lose a loved one, you lose a friend, then you grieve as those who have no hope. And what he wants to do is give hope, and that’s what I wanna do today.
I’ve listed for you three or four books that -- for self feeding if you wanna go deeper in this. There are some things that I studied from as I was looking at this week along with God’s Word. Also, there’s after the message if you just go on the Internet and the Seacoast Web site, click on this week’s message, there’s a placed called "After the Message," and we’ll send you more stuff that you can study and dig into if you want to. What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give you what I think is gonna happen. And this is Greg. Sometimes in the Bible you’ll see that Paul will say, "This is definitely God, and this is kinda my opinion on it."
This is my opinion on it. This is my opinion on it. I think it’s pretty accurate. I think it kinda lines up with especially a timeline. But if you get there and a couple a things are a little off, don’t blame me. You won’t even remember. But I think this is kinda the drill. And what I wanna do is I’m gonna set it up like a drama, a play, ’cause it kinda works out in that way and I’m gonna give you seven acts to the End of Your Life play.
When a Christian dies, Act No. 1 is this. It’s the screening process, the screening process. When a Christian dies, like this, I mean immediately, when anybody dies, there is an immediate separation, there is an immediate screening process. It’s similar to -- if you’ve ever flown on an airplane, it’s similar to the fact that you get your ticket and then you go through the metal detector. Those are a lot of fun, aren’t they? They’re an opportunity for you to undress in front of a whole bunch a people that you don’t know. But it’s good because it keeps the wrong people off the plane and the right people on the plane. And the screening process is the same.
It’s like your life is screened immediately for sin. And if sin is found, then you’re ushered off to a waiting room, and it’s a really, really bad waiting room. It’s not your final judgment, but it’s a waiting room. It’s worse than a doctor’s office with old magazines. It’s just really bad. And if you’re found to be without sin, then you go on through. You go, "Well, that’s a problem, Greg. I’ve got sin." In fact, somebody sent me the question that said, "What is the quota for sin? Just how much can you have and still get to Heaven?" Interesting question. I can answer that fairly quickly.
One is the quota, okay, because sin doesn’t coexist with God. So how do I deal with that? Well, that’s Jesus. That’s the Jesus deal. He died for our sin. And so when you go through the screening process, the Bible says that actually that we wear robes of Christ righteousness, that he -- it’s kind of a symbolic thing that he puts a robe on us. It’s about his sinlessness, not our sinlessness. So that’s how our guilt is dealt with. And so we walk through the screening process not on our ticket, but on Jesus’ ticket.
Now Act 2 is this. Act 2 is Heaven, Part 1, Heaven, Part 1. You say, "There’s more than one Heaven?" Yes, there is, and we’ll explain that. While Heaven is your final destination as a believer, there’s a one stop process to get there. Now in Charleston -- those of you who are gathered here in Charleston -- I don’t know about some of the other cities, but in Charleston, it should be easy to understand. If you’ve ever flown a plane, you don’t go directly anywhere from Charleston. You go through where? Atlanta or Charlotte or Cincinnati, okay? You don’t go directly anywhere. Well, it’s kinda the same way with Christians when they die. They go immediately into the presence of God. How do I know that? Luke 23:43 says, "And Jesus replied to the people on the cross, ’I assure you today’" -- can you say "today" together?
Response: Today.
That means today, okay? "’Today, you will be with me’" -- where? In paradise. What is paradise? Paradise is the first step on the way to our ultimate destination. If I was flying to Denver and I went to the counter to get my ticket and they said, "What’s your destination?" I wouldn’t say, "Atlanta," ’cause that’s not where I’m gonna stay. I would say, "Denver," ’cause that’s where I’m gonna be, then I’ll like go through Atlanta to get there. Well, your first stop as a Christian is an intermediate Heaven. Most theologians call it an intermediate state of Heaven. It’s a lot nicer than Atlanta, okay? So don’t worry about it. Jesus is there. Your friends, your family that have gone on before you are there. But it’s simply not your final destination.
"So where is it?" you say. Well, we don’t know. But we do know that it’s normally invisible to us, although, in the Bible we have some instances of God giving humans a peek. In the Old Testament, Elijah, the profit, was surrounded by an enemy army. Things looked really bad. His servant, Gahasi is really upset about it. Elijah’s cool. And Elijah prays as and says, "God, open his eyes so he can see the truth here." He opens his eyes and he sees another reality. And the reality that he sees is the armies of God, more numerous than the army that has surrounded him, and that’s why Elijah is kinda -- he’s okay.
In the New Testament, the same thing happens to Stephen. Stephen was a Christian who was stoned. He was not smoking marijuana. He was actually losing his life at the time. Somebody asked the question, "Can you smoke marijuana as a believer, according to Genesis that it said, ’All of the herbs of the field.’?" Only at Seacoast, probably one of the band members. Rule of thumb, if it’s illegal, you can’t do it, okay? That’s just as far as I’m gonna go with that one. If it’s illegal, you can’t do it. So anyway, where were we at? Oh, Stephen was stoned -- he was getting stoned. People were throwing rocks at him.
And in Acts 7:55, it says, "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into Heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand, and he told them, ’Look. I see the heavens opened and Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.’" What did he see? He saw the next life. He saw the intermediate Heaven. Well, how can that be? I don’t know. One possibility is those who embrace the string theory science say that there are ten unobservable dimensions and an infinite number of imperceptible universes out there that we can’t see. I don’t understand all that. Maybe God’s using one of ’em.
Here’s how I understand it. If you’ve ever used a spreadsheet on computer -- have you ever used a spreadsheet on a computer? Okay. On a spreadsheet like Excel, you’ve got columns and the columns are A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Well, you can put numbers in all the columns and you can hide one of ’em. Have you ever done that where you go -- it’s not there, but if you look at the top, it goes A, B, C, D, E, skips F, and then it’s got G, a hidden column that can be opened. Maybe that’s kinda how it is. That’s one way I perceive it. I don’t think Heaven’s like way out there. I think it might be even around us. It’s just imperceptible to what we can see. This is Heaven Part 1, the intermediate state where we go to be with Jesus.
Can people in Heaven Part 1 intermediate state, see what’s happening on earth? Several accounts in the Bible seem to indicate that they can, at least sometimes. In Revelations, multitudes get all fired up about the stuff that God’s doing on earth. How can they get fired up if they couldn’t see a little bit at least? In Hebrews it refers to a mighty cloud of witnesses cheering us on. How can they cheer us on if they can’t see at least a little bit? Jesus said, "There is rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner who repents. There’s rejoicing in Heaven." How would they know to rejoice if they couldn’t at least see something going on? Maybe not everything.
Now here’s the next question. If they could see, wouldn’t they be sad from time to time and doesn’t that violate what Heaven is about? Well, I would say probably if they could see, that they may very well grieve from time to time. Jesus grieved on earth about the condition of man’s soul. I think he probably does in Heaven, also, Heaven Part 1. And I think that possibly people could grieve, also, about choices that people make.
Now, will it be a deep depression? Don’t think so. I think it comes from another perspective of where they’re at. You say, "Well, Greg, how does that line up with Revelations 21:4 where it says" -- and Eric Clapton did a song about this -- "’He will remove all of their sorrow and there will be no more death or sorrow or crime. There’ll be no tears in Heaven, for the old world and its evil are gone forever’?" Here’s the answer to that. That Scripture does not refer to Heaven Part 1, the intermediate Heaven, because the old world and its sins are not gone forever yet. We’re still here. They’re there. There will obviously be another state of being, which I’ll deal with in just a few minutes.
So, first act is a screening process. Second act is Heaven Part 1. Act 3 is what I call the awards ceremony, the awards ceremony. That’s where you will be rewarded for every act of service, for every good choice, for every time that you resisted temptation. You will be rewarded. Somebody said, "Well, is there gonna be a time -- I heard there was gonna be a judgment of Christians where all my bad stuff’s gonna be up on the screen. Will everybody see that?" No, because of this. What does God say about your sin? "When you repent of your sin," he says, "your sin is as far as the east is from the west." And, in fact, it says he forgets it. So he’s not gonna bring it back up if you have repented of it. So there’s not that for believers.
There’s another type of judgment. Romans 14:10 says, "For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. Each of us will given account an account of his self to God." It says judgment seat. Doesn’t it judgment seat? Well, there are two judgments. There’s one that is the great white throne judgment that we’ll talk about in a few minutes. And then there’s this one which this judgment is referring to the Bema seat judgment of God. The Bema seat was like in the Olympic at the time, sporting events, when someone would win and they would present them their awards, they would stand up on what was called the Bema seat, or the judgment seat.
That’s where you received your rewards. And that’s what this will be about. You’ll receive rewards for how you handled it down here. And probably some assignments as to what you’re gonna do for the rest of your time in Heaven. ’Cause we’re not gonna sit on a cloud. We’re actually gonna have work to do that fits with who we are. Maybe we’ll get to that in just a little white. So, there will be an awards ceremony.
Then Act 4 is this, the extreme makeover, the extreme makeover. When the time is right, everybody will get a massive extreme makeover. How man of you are looking forwards to that? Some of you really should be, okay? You really should be. You need to get real with this stuff. Get honest, okay? There’s gonna be a mass -- let me read about it. Let me tell you what’s gonna happen. And in Act 4 and 5, they’re kinda simultaneous or in a similar time, so don’t think too linear on the next two or three things.
1 Corinthians 15:51. It says, "But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed." He says that there will be some people that when this happens were still alive, okay? Obviously. If Jesus came today and there was a transformation today, you guys would be still alive. That’s what he’s talking about. There are other Christians that have died before you. So he says there’ll be some of us that will be still alive, but we will all be transformed. "It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies." Those who were buried, died, gone, they’re gonna be raised.
Now where will they be at that point? They were be in the intermediate state of Heaven, okay? Their still will be. Will you have a body in the intermediate state of Heaven? It seems that you’ll have some kind of body. You will be recognizable. Seems that you’ll be able to recognize loved ones and what have you. But your ultimate body, you will not receive. You’re gonna have a software upgrade when the second coming comes, when Jesus comes, which we’ll talk about in a minute, and you are transformed.
Some people have asked and said, "Well, what about cremation then? Is it right or wrong?" During those times, during Bible times, they didn’t cremate. The Jewish faith didn’t. Christians didn’t. And it was more of a customary thing having to do with the fact that Pagans in the area did and made a big ceremony of it, and so they wanted to differentiate themselves from the Pagan culture.
One of these weeks, I’m gonna talk about it ’cause people have asked me, "Why do you pick and choose laws from the Old Testament?" It’s because there are three different kinds of laws in the Old Testament. I’ll deal with that maybe more next week. There are moral laws, ceremonial laws, and customary laws. And moral laws are universal. Other laws -- ceremonial laws were only for those times, and customary laws, or laws that had to do with customs of the time. Times have changed. Things are different today. Some people would even say that it’s more earth friendly to cremate. Who knows? I’m not gonna get into that argument. All I’m gonna say is that you probably have liberty there. And as far as can God -- if someone is cremated and scattered, can God bring the ashes together, yeah. God made something out of nothing, so that’s not the issue.
But he says that when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised and their bodies transformed. They’ll get a new body. And then we who are living -- those of you, if you happen to be living at the time, you’ll be caught up with the Lord, and you will be transformed, also. So everybody is transformed at the same time and they will join Jesus in what is called Act No. 5, the great comeback, the great comeback.
Now the Bible calls it the Day of the Lord. It also calls it the second coming. And we’ll read about it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It says, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God." Here’s the scenario. First of all, Christians who have died will raise from their graves when Jesus comes back. That’s called the rapture. Some people have asked, "What is the rapture?" Well, that’s what it is. It’s when those who have died raise from the dead, and those who are living at the time also are transformed and rise to be with Jesus. Is the word "rapture" in the Bible? No, it isn’t. It is a word that we have created to describe a concept, and it’s the concept that I just described, okay?
Now, then we will come back together with Jesus to establish his reign forever on the earth. When does this happen? Well that depends -- and let me warn you. Warning right now. Theology warning. We’re gonna go into Theology 201 right here, okay? We’re gonna go into some eschatology. And for most of you that sounds like boring as a box of rocks, and it may be, but it’s only gonna be three minutes, okay? But we’re gonna dig a little bit deeper right here.
When Jesus is coming back depends on your view of Revelations 20 where John, who writes Revelations, describes an event called the millennium. Millennium means a thousand years, literally means a thousand years. And it describes a 1,000 year reign of Christ on the earth when things are good, okay? Now, there are three different views of how that’s to be seen. View No. 1 is called pre millennialism. Can you say that together with me?
Response: Pre millennialism.
Someone who believes in pre millennialism, believes that what John was talking about in Revelations 20 is literal, that literally there will be 1,000 years, count ’em, 365 days, 1,000 years, that Jesus will reign on the earth at the end of time, before actually it’s all transformed and made new, which is the next step -- actually, two steps from now.
They believe that there will be -- just before the millennial reign of Christ, there will be seven years of horrible tribulation on the earth. It’ll be very, very bad. And those who are pre millenialists are divided into three camps on when the rapture will happen. Some say that the rapture will happen at the beginning of the seven years of tribulation. That’ll be the beginning of the end and the church is taken away ’cause the church will not go through the tribulation.
Some people who are pre millenialists believe that it will happen halfway through the tribulation, three and a half years. And some believe that it’ll happen at the end of the tribulation. The church will go through the tribulation and then they will be raptured and they will come back with Christ for a literal 1,000 year reign. Now there are a lot of people that believe that. Among them are Tim LaHaye, who wrote the Left Behind series that scared living you know what out of a lot of people, okay? And that’s okay. That’s one belief. That’s a belief I basically was raised with.
The second belief is called amillennialism. Say, "amillennialism."
Response: Amillennialism.
Puts an A before millennial. A means "not," as in atheist. A, not, theist, okay? They don’t believe in God. So amillennialists do not believe that millennium, referred to Revelations 20, is a literal event. In other words, a literal thousand years. They think that it is symbolic of the church age, okay? Now, what is the church age? Follow me on this. In the Bible, there are three ages. There’s the Old Testament age. There is the Jesus age, the gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then there is the church age, which begins at the beginning of the church in Acts 1, and continues to today, which is approximately 2,000 years from when Jesus lived and died and was rose again. So Old Testament, Jesus time, church age, which we’re living in today.
Amillennialists believe that the thousand year reign referred to symbolically the church age, that Jesus is ruling and reigning right now through the church. They believe that things are getting bad, that they’re getting worse and worse and worse, and will continue to get worse. There’ll be more violence, more wars, more of those types of things until finally seven years before Jesus actually returns for the final time, there will be a time of tribulation and it’ll be really, really bad. And then Jesus comes back, the church is raptured, and then begins our final destination. That’s amillennialism.
Post millennialism -- say "post with me."
Response: Post amillennialism.
Post amillennialism, belief similar to amillennialism in that they don’t believe that it’s a literal time. They believe that it’s symbolic of the church age. But here’s the difference. They believe that the tribulation has already happened, that it happened when Nero was in Rome and really did some horrible things to the church. It was a terrible time. They believe that was the tribulation. They believe that since that time, things have gotten progressively better a little bit at a time. There are some places where Christ’s rule is just wonderful. And you can go into some church settings and some community settings and you can see good things happening. And they believe that things will get better and better and better until finally much of evil will be destroyed as Christians are salt and light to the earth, and that Jesus will come back for a triumphant church and then we’ll come to judgment.
So those are the three views. And you ask, "Which one is right?" Well, let me tell ya, ’cause you wanna know what I believe because that’s the right one. Actually, if you’re just new here, at the beginning of the series I said you have right -- you can disagree with me on any of this. You have a right to be wrong, okay? What do I think honestly? I don’t know. I really don’t. I don’t get real fired up about escotology. I should. I’m being transparent here. But my view is, it’s all gonna pan out somehow.
Maybe I’m pan millennium or pan trib or something, and I know that Jesus is coming and I know that my job is to share the good news and make the earth a better place. So I’m gonna do a really good job of that. And for some of you, you might say that’s a really shallow theological view, and it is. But it is what it is. That’s who I am, okay? And so that’s what I think. But I think you need to know what people think and generally what’s gonna happen. They’re all similar except for timeframes and some of that.
Then Acts 6 is the judgment day. That’s one last time the good from the bad will be judged. Those who are in the waiting room over here, who the sin scanner said, "Uh uh," they will be brought before God. Devil and his demons will be judged and separated, and those who continue to resist God, will be separated, also. And I talked about that last week and so I won’t get into it much this week ’cause I wanna get to the good stuff.
Act 7 is Heaven, the sequel, okay? We talked about Heaven Part 1, which was temporary. Heaven, the sequel, is permanent and forever. It is the final restoration of planet earth. I love restored stuff. In fact, I was walking Downtown Charleston the other day with Debbie, and I said, "You know what? I think I like restored things better than I like brand new things, especially when they’re restored to a better state than they were browser." That is what God is an artist at. He’s a restoration artist. He’s begun restoring our lives. Some of you have testimonies on how you screwed it up and God is in the process of restoring it. Well, let me tell you, in the last days, in the final act, God will restore Heaven and earth. He will restore planet earth to what was intended in the Garden of Eden.
What will that be like? Well, we live in a pretty nice place right here in Charleston and Columbia and Greenville and Greensborough, Savannah, wherever else that you might happen to be -- Ashville. I didn’t wanna forget Ashville. I’ve probably forgotten someplace, but -- can you imagine -- I’m just gonna talk about Mount Pleasant. Can you imagine Mount Pleasant without the stain of sin? This would be an incredible place. And you know what? That will be Heaven. You say, "It’ll be right here?" Yes, it will. God will restore. Heaven and earth will come together, and God will restore planet earth to what it was. You may live right here forever. Some of you may live in the low country and smell pluff mud forever and ever and ever and ever if that’s your thing, with your family, with your friends, with those who have come to trust in Jesus.
So, what will it be like? I’m gonna take the next eight minutes, and we’re gonna time this so that I don’t get off into a tangent. And I’m gonna cover as many of your questions about what that final Heaven will be like as I can in eight minutes. Are we ready? Is the timer up? Let’s go. Alright, here we go.
What will our bodies by like? Some of you asked that question. Well, let me tell you this. If we could have seen Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it would have taken our breath away. If they could see us today, it would take their breath away. Our bodies will be restored. Our new body will be restored to what theirs were, plus some added things. And we can see that in Jesus after the resurrection. It will be cool.
1 Corinthians 15:53 says, "For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never ever die." Wow. God will decide what perfect looks like. You wanna know what perfect looks like? Take a look. Actually, not. But you know what? It’ll be different. Somebody asked, "Will everybody look alike?" No, no. Perfect’s not one version. It’s gonna be incredible to see as God makes us all unique and perfect. I do know you won’t have to try to be beautiful. I would not invest in beauty products in the last days. You just will be beautiful.
How old will we be? People ask that question. Will a child who dies at 6 and a man at 80 look their age? That’s -- we don’t know, but it’s been debated for centuries. In fact, in the 13th Century, they came to a consensus that man is at its peak at 30 years old. That’s how old Jesus was when he was went into ministry, 30 to 33 years old. Most theologians believe that if there’s an age, that will probably be the age that you will be resurrected at.
What about children? This was a tough one. Every question comes with context. And this one came from a father who said that his -- I believe six years ago or eight years ago his son was born stillborn. And he said, "First, will I see him again? And secondly, how old will eh be?" I just sensed just a bunch of stuff there. And the first question is yes, you’ll see him again. If you trust social justice children have a special place in God’s heart. And we went through that one week.
Hold old will he be? Let’s see if we can get some clues. Isaiah 11:6 says this. "In that day" -- there’s so much in this Scripture, I want you to get -- I want you to get the symbolism and the beauty of this Scripture. "In that day" -- what day? It’s the day we’re talking about, the second coming of Christ, the new heavenly new earth -- "the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions" -- just think about that. Just think about that. No evil, no violence. Everybody will live together, including the animals -- "and a little child will lead them. The cattle will graze among bears" -- this is powerful here -- "cubs" -- circle the word cubs. There will be Cubs in Heaven. I don’t see a thing about Cardinals here. I don’t see anything about Braves. I don’t see about Yankees, especially, or Red Sox. I don’t see any of that. But I see Cubs in Heaven. Amen. God is gonna reward ’em and all their fans for the awful life they had here on earth.
"Cubs and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do." Look at this. "Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes." Because they’ll have no harm to ’em. "Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed." You won’t have to baby proof Heaven ’cause it’ll be good for everybody. "Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know god." Wow.
Okay, here’s a question to answer my last question. Where’d the babies come from? Because, as I’m gonna talk to you in a few minutes, there won’t be babies born there. We don’t think so. So where’d they come from? Where’d they come from? I think that it’s possible that children that died will be resurrected at their age. I think that’s who it’s referring to. I think it’s babies that -- from the womb, and babies who died early, and may be allowed to grow up in the new earth, the new Heaven, and believing parents be able to see their kids grow up and have a role in their life. Parents whose hearts were broken -- we’ve been there -- may experience the joy of watching them grow. Why wouldn’t God do that, and where else would the babies come from? Wow.
Talked about animals there. "What about my pets?" That was a big question. There will be animals. Where will they come from? Either God will create new ones or he’ll take your old ratty pets and re up ’em. And a lotta people think that that’s the case, and that’s okay. It just will be in a different part of Heaven from where I’m at, okay?
Will there be Starbucks in Heaven? Why not? I mean coffee won’t be addictive. Why not have coffee with Jesus. I don’t know if it’ll be Starbucks, but maybe another third place. Because heaven is all about relationships.
Somebody said, "Will I know anybody there?" It depends on who you’re hanging out with, okay, now. It really depends. But God strategically placed you. Last week we talked about the fact that God knows the times, the hours, the days when you were born, and he placed you there strategically. Why wouldn’t he do that in Heaven? I mean why wouldn’t you be around people that you knew maybe from several generations. That would be incredible. Alright. But I gotta hurry. We got a minutes and 52 seconds left, two really big questions, one smaller one.
Will there be sex in Heaven? A lotta guys wanted to know. They really wanna know. One young guy wants to know, "If Jesus" -- hey, he wants Jesus to come, but could he wait until he experiences that" Here’s my response. Why wouldn’t there be? Why wouldn’t there be? It’s a gift from God. In the context of marriage, it’s good. If humanity is perfected, wouldn’t there be perfected sex? Can I have an amen? It ties into the next question, though, "Will we be married in Heaven?" and somebody wrote in, "To which wife?" okay? That question was asked of Jesus. It was serious here. I think if Jesus were trying to trip him up, Sad you sees came to Jesus, tried to trip him up. They sad, you see, because they did not believe in the resurrection.
In Mark 12:25, Jesus said, "For when the dead rise, they won’t be married. They will be like the angels in heaven." Does that mean you’ll be an angel in Heaven? Somebody asked the question, "How long before I turn into an angel?" Ain’t gonna happen baby. You are a human being. Angels are angels. It says you are like the angels in that there will not be marriage. There will be male and female, but there will not be marriage as such. And since sex is for marriage, looks like sex doesn’t make the cut, okay? Bummer, huh?
But, listen. Let me tell you something. Intimacy, which marriage kind of portrays and sex and marriage portrays, will be the characteristic of Heaven. It says, "You will know and you will be known." We will be male and female. That doesn’t man that you’ll never be with your husband again, you’ll never be able to be with your wife. I believe you’ll be forever. But there will be another way of relating that expresses perfect intimacy. And trust me, if God thought up sex, I’m gonna trust him to come up with something good in haven. Amen? I’m gonna trust that. Alright. (Bell Rings) whoa, ran outta time. Alright. Let’s -- (Laughs)
Is sports, music, arts in Heaven? Yes. Okay? Why not? They’re part of the fall -- or they’re not a part of the fall.
Alright. Let me just kinda wrap it up like this. I think that -- I wanna deal with one other issue. What about things you never got to experience here? See, without an eternal perspective, we assume that those who died young never got to experience some things. Those who may never were married or maybe had some of physical challenge, they were handicapped or -- you fill in the blank. You go, "Man, they missed on" whatever happened to be. They missed out on the best that life had to offer. You know what? That’s a wrong assumption. That’s assuming that this life is all there is, and that the best stuff is here.
You need to remember that God is a God of second chances. Why wouldn’t go restore and reward what is lost? I think that’s his nature. In fact, in Romans 8:18, in the message says this, "That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures or ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens."
See, I believe that God promises to make up for the heartbreaks of this earth. Maybe you have an experience of -- maybe you’ve lived in an unfulfilled marriage. You say, "Why shouldn’t I get out? Why should I just let it go?" Well, you know what? If this all there is, maybe you should. But this isn’t all there is. And I believe that God will reward you beyond what you could ever imagine in the life to come.
Some people have written me, frankly, and have said, "My life pretty much" -- and they used all kinda words for it, but, "I’ve been dealt a bad set a cards and God hasn’t been good to me." You know what? I’ve got two things to say to you. No. 1, Jesus came not just for the afterlife, but he came to give you life now. And I believe that you can have that regardless of circumstances. I believe that most of life is lived between the years and its perspective, and it’s how we live and how we look. And I think that I would encourage you if that’s your perspective, to read Philippians over and over and over again.
Read Philippians 4. Take a look at the Old Testament in Genesis where it talks about Joseph. Joseph had bad circumstance after bad circumstance after bad circumstance. And truthfully, his life didn’t look very good until the last chapter was written. But he excelled at every level because of attitude, and I think that you can, too. But I also believe that this is not all there is, and that you will be rewarded in the life to come. See, the good news is this. In the new earth -- maybe you had poor health or time prevented you from pursuing the great adventure, or on and on and on and on and on -- in the new earth, you’ll get a second chance. You’ll get a second chance. We will regain lost opportunity.
So if that’s true, and if what I’ve said is true, what should I do in light of what I know? Let me give you two things to take home with you. No. 1, you need to make sure you’re ready to go. You need to make sure that you are ready to go to Heaven. You say, "Doesn’t everybody go?" Jesus says not. In Matthew 7:21, he says, "Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven."
And we’ve spent a lot of time in this church talking about the fact that Jesus died for your sin, that he’s the provision that a loving God made for you to avoid the wrath against sin. And I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t be ready. I mean, you say, "Well, maybe what you’re saying is not true." What if it is? I’m not sure I’d gamble on that.
Somebody wrote a song years ago that said "if Heaven had never been promised, I’d still love the Lord," and I would because of just the life in Christ. But you know what? You’ve got family; you’ve got friends who want to spend eternity with you. Are you ready to go? In just a few minutes, we’re gonna have a response time and I’m gonna invite you to examine that question and to deal with it. And if you are ready, the second question that I would love for you to look at is: Are you allowing Heaven to fill your thoughts? Are you? Are you thinking about it?
In my research for this in one of the books that I read, came across a story about a pastor’s father -- well known pastor’s father who lay near death. And he said to his dad, he said, "Dad, how are you feeling?" The dad who was about to about to die, he said, "Son, I feel like a little boy on Christmas eve." That’s perspective, that’s living in light of Heaven.
See, if we really believe this -- look at what Paul says. Paul says in Colossians 1:1, "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sites on the realities of Heaven where Christ sits at the right-hand, in the placed of honor and power. Let Heaven fill your thoughts. Can I tell ya when Heaven’s not filing my thoughts that’ when I’m -- I made bad choices. When Heaven’s not filling my thoughts, that’s when I get discouraged, and that’s when I allow this depression to come in. He said, "Let Heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think about only the things down here on earth, for you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." So if you really believe this, if we believe this, gang, then we’d look at life differently. We’d hold things a little bit lighter. We’d make decisions a little bit differently. Don’t let a day go by without anticipating Heaven.
I’ve got -- in my office, I’ve got a little whiteboard where I’ve written a few things that are only for me and that I want to look at every day, and one of them is this, "Have I thought about Heaven today?" I wanna be reminded. CT Stud said this -- he was a missionary. He said, "Only one life twill soon be passed, and only what’s done for Christ will last."
What will last for eternity? Every time you went out on Adopt a Block and you went to a neighborhood that didn’t have the same opportunities as you had and you gave them something and you fed them and you clothed them and you gave a cup of water in Jesus’ name, and every time that you gave a dollar toward a mission trip for someone else or you did it for yourself, or every time you gave to a church like this that shares the good news, and every time you cared for children and the widows and those who didn’t’ have the same opportunities as you did, it’s gonna last beyond you.
Will your cars last? No. Your house? No. Your rewards? No. Jesus said this, "Store up for yourself treasures in Heaven where moth and rust to not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heard t be also. Someone said, "Remember, the most ordinary day in Heaven is better than the most incredible day on earth that you could ever experience. And can I say to you this? When you’re having your best day and you say, "It doesn’t get any better than this," my response, "Oh, yes it will. Let’s pray.
God, thank you for an opportunity just to study your Word and to hear about you. And, God, I just pray that you would help us to fix our thoughts on the realities of Heaven, to set our mind on things above, and not just earthly things. And, God, in the next few minutes, I pray that you would be honest with where we are in relationship to you. And, God, I pray that your Kingdom would and your will would be done in our lives today in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
