If this sermon is helpful to you look for my latest book, “The Greatest Commands: Learning To Love Like Jesus.” Each chapter is sermon length, alliterated, and focuses on the life and love of Jesus. You can find it here:
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When Christ Comes: The Hope of Redemption!
Scott Bayles, pastor
First Christian Church
Have you ever wondered what Heaven will be like? Will we sit around on clouds strumming harps for endless eternity? Will it be like a never-ending church service? There are a lot of misconceptions out there about Heaven, not the least of which is the idea that we can’t possibly know what it will be like. One of the most often quoted verses of the Bible in relation to Heaven is this 1 Corinthians 2:9, which says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” In reality, this wonderful verse actually says exactly the opposite of what it is usually cited to prove.
If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is read the very next verse, which says, “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10 NIV). So, while previously no eye had seen nor ear heard what God has in store for us, what we otherwise could not have known, God says he has revealed to us through his Spirit. The context isn’t really talking about Heaven, but even if we apply these words to Heaven, they mean that God has revealed to us what it’s like. Maybe not exhaustively, but accurately.
God tells us about Heaven in his Word, not so that we can shrug our shoulders and remain ignorant, but because he wants us to understand and anticipate what awaits us. While many things about Heaven are secrets and God has countless surprises in store for us, the things God has revealed to us about Heaven belong to us and give us a beautiful picture of our eternal home. So, that being said, what does the Bible tells us Heaven will be like?
The Bible gives us several briefs glimpses into eternity through the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel as well as the apostle John, but the first thing we need to understand is that the place we normally think of as Heaven is actually just a transitional stopping point—what scholars refer to as the intermediate Heaven or sometimes the present Heaven.
• THE PRESENT HEAVEN
Remember that when a person dies their spirit leaves their body and goes Hades, which is simply a generic word that refers to the immaterial spiritual realm. Within this spirit realm exists both Tartarus (the shadowy prison for condemned spirits and fallen angels) and what Jesus calls paradise, or the present Heaven. Life in the present heaven, according to Paul, will be “far better” than living here on Earth away from the direct presence of God, but it isn’t the place we were made for, the eternal home God has promised us. While there we’ll experience the presence of God and of Christ, but this is just an intermediate state, a transitional period while we await and anticipate the return of Christ and the final resurrection—when our spirits will be returned to our new and improved bodies. When that time comes, God will not only return our spirits to our resurrected bodies but he will return Heaven to a resurrected Earth. Listen to what Peter writes: “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13 NIV).
Peter himself was merely echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah, who recorded God’s declaration: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth…As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure” (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22 NIV). God’s children are destined for life as physical resurrected beings on a physical resurrected Earth. The present Heaven is a temporary residence where departed saints live until the return of Christ and our bodily resurrection. But the eternal Heaven, the New Earth is our true home, the place where we will live forever with our Lord and one another. All of this, I understand, may come as a surprise to some people. It may be very different than the way you’ve imagined Heaven. Collectively we imagine Heaven as this ethereal wraithlike realm, where people are walking on clouds and disembodied spirit wisp through the air. For some reason we have it in our minds that anything physical couldn’t possibly be spiritual. But the picture the Bible gives us of Heaven is quite the opposite. In fact, the Bible tells us that the future Heaven will be right here on our physical Earth.
• THE PROMISED HEAVEN
What we need to understand is that the destinies of mankind and the Earth are inseparably linked. Our planet will be redeemed—raised to new life in the same way that our bodies will be raised to new life. Listen to what Paul writes:
All creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. (Romans 8:19-23 NLT)
You see, when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, all of creation, even the Earth itself, was affected. And just as we look forward to having new bodies that will be eternally young and strong, that will never grow old; the Earth has a similar future in store for itself. But before it can be re-created, it first needs to be cleansed. The Bible says, “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” (2 Peter 3:10 NIV). On this day of destruction, the Earth will be “laid bare,” completely cleansed similar to the way it was after the flood, but much more thoroughly. Only once the present Earth has been laid bare or wiped clean will John’s vision of a New Earth become reality:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them… And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:1-5 NLT)
It shouldn’t be difficult for Christians to imagine a world where Heaven and Earth are one; after all, we have the perfect parallel in Jesus Christ. Just as God and man will be forever united in Jesus, so Heaven and Earth will be forever united in the new universe. And just as the wall that separates God and mankind is torn down in Jesus, the wall that separates Heaven and Earth will be forever demolished. Paradise lost will be paradise restored. God’s plan is to abolish the gulf between the spiritual and physical worlds. There will be no divided loyalties or divided realms. Hades, the Bible says, will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and will be no more. There will be one cosmos; one universe united under one Lord—forever. This is the unstoppable plan of God. This is where history is headed. God’s ultimate plan is not for us to live with him in an immaterial Heaven, but for him to live with us on a New Earth. God will make his home among men. God will live with us on the New Earth and will bring all things in Heaven and on Earth together. Finally, with this understanding of our eternal home in the New Heaven, we can have a much clearer picture of what that world will be like. We find that picture in the second to last chapter of Revelation.
• THE PICTURE OF HEAVEN
The New Earth and New Jerusalem are portrayed as concrete, tangible places with detailed physical descriptions—as real and as solid as pew in front of you. The Bible describes Heaven as a place that will have rivers, trees, cities, buildings, gates, streets, mountains, and houses (Revelation 21-22). Although its glory will be beyond description, its essential components will be the same as those we find here on Earth. The very best that this world has to offer is only a shadow of what it was intended to be and what the New Heaven and Earth will be.
In John’s vision of Heaven, he says, “And the angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was shining with the glory of God and was bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:10-11 NCV).
In this vision, John describes a “very large and high mountain.” If you’ve ever stood in awe at the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, then you’ve seen a glimmer of Heaven’s grandeur. Nature will be an essential aspect of the New Heaven and Earth. In fact, Ezekiel prophesied that “people will say, ‘This former wasteland is now like the Garden of Eden!’” (Ezekiel 36:35 NLT). Just like the Garden of Eden, the New Earth will be paradise restored—a place of sensory delight and breathtaking beauty, complete with the Tree of Life right in the middle.
Not only will Heaven be a delight to nature-lovers, but John describes the City of God, the New Jerusalem, with shimmering spires, jewel encrusted buildings, and streets of purest gold. If you’ve ever marveled at the Chicago skyline or gazed at New York’s skyscrapers, you have a faint image of the City of God. Fifteen times in Revelation 21 and 22 the place God will live with his people is called a city. Certainly there’s a great deal of symbolism in these chapters. I don’t know that the streets of Heaven will literally be paved with gold or that the walls will be gilded with every type of jewel. These are metaphors, communicating how beautiful the heavenly city will be. But the repetition of the word and the detailed description of the architecture, walls, streets, and other features of the city strongly suggest that the term city isn’t just a figure of speech, but a literal geographical location. Everyone knows what a city is—a place with buildings, streets, bustling activity, music, arts and entertainment. The New Jerusalem will have all of the advantages we associate with earthly cities, but none of the disadvantages. The city will be filled with natural wonders, thriving culture, magnificent architecture (“a city designed and built by God”—Hebrews 11:10)—but it will have no crime, pollution, sirens, traffic, fatalities, garbage, or homelessness. It will truly be Heaven on Earth—in the most literal sense.
John goes on to say, “The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city” (vs. 24-26 NCV).
This passage supposes the idea that the best of each culture—the history, art, music, and perhaps even languages of the old Earth—will be redeemed, purified and carried over to the New Earth. Do you have a special interest in Europe of the Middle Ages? Then perhaps you’ll enjoy developing relationships with people who lived in that era. And don’t think for a moment that we will all be carbon copies of one another; Jesus’ resurrected body may have appeared slightly different, but he still looked like a Hebrew. And the fact that Heaven will be home to “every nation, tribe, language and people” (Revelation 14:6 NIV), indicates that we will retain our national and cultural distinctiveness. Though we will be one kingdom untied by our love for the King, we will also rejoice in our many differences as a tribute to our King’s creativity and multifaceted character.
The fact that Jesus will “make everything new” also opens the doors of opportunity for limitless discovery and exploration. Some people have the mistaken idea that we will know everything once we reach Heaven, that all our questions will be instantly answered. But the Bible never tells us that. In Heaven, we will be flawless, but not knowing everything isn’t a flaw. It’s part of being finite. God alone is omniscient. Even the angels don’t know everything. We’ll have all of eternity to explore the wealth of knowledge and discoveries within the New Heaven. God may enhance our knowledge, understanding and certainly our memories, but we will never begin to exhaust the depths of all that God has to teach us.
Of course, one of the greatest blessings of Heaven is what won’t be there. John tells us, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Rev. 21:4 NLT). And that’s just the beginning. No death, disease, or divorce. No trials, tribulation, or turmoil. Without the presence of evil, the New Heaven and New Earth will be like nothing we’ve ever experienced.
No death, no suffering. No funeral homes, abortion clinics, or psychiatric wards. No rape, missing children, or drug rehabilitation centers. No bigotry, no muggings or killings. No worry or depression or economic downturns. No wars, no unemployment… Close friendships but no cliques, laughter but no put-downs. Intimacy, but no temptation to immorality. No hidden agendas, no backroom deals, no betrayals. (Heaven, Alcorn)
Take the best and brightest world you can imagine, multiply that a thousand-fold and you’re just beginning to reach the vicinity of life on the New Earth. Probably the most wonderful aspect of the New Heaven for many of us will be the reunions we’ll share—relationships with lost loved ones, spouses, children, parents, and so many others. Even more amazing will be our relationship with God. But we don’t have time to even being discussing all that entails. We’ll explore the hope of reunion in a couple weeks—but for now let’s be content with what God has revealed through his Word concerning our future home.
INVITATION
As we sing this invitation song, realize that this world, as it is, is not our home—but this world will one day be redeemed. Jesus has always been a carpenter at heart. As a carpenter, he has two primary jobs—making things and fixing things. That’s what he does with us and that’s what he will do with this world—our home! In the meantime, let’s sing our invitation song…
