INTRODUCTION
Special Music – I Can Only Imagine…
1. I Can Only Imagine…
• (eg) It’s as if we are unable to see -- and have never seen the sunset and yet, a friend, who has seen and experienced a sunset, is trying to tell us what it looks like.
• Or we have never seen the Grand Canyon… never been there. Never seen photos or artist depictions – what words would or could be used to describe it?
• Or how do we describe the beauty of a piece of music to someone who has never heard any sound…
• Words seem to be limited… when we seek to describe that which is limitless…
• And yet, We have God’s Word that Reveals to us – what Heaven is like… just glimpses of this glory.
2. The reason I wanted to lead us in this study – What’s Next? is so that…
• We would deepen our Hope for Heaven and deepen our Hatred of Hell.
• That we would know that Heaven is an Awesome Place! And that Hell is Awful Place…
• Oh that we could grasp that Heaven is far better than anything I could describe or say and that Hell is far worse than anything I could ever communicate and articulate…
3. What’s Heaven Like? Let’s begin our study in this way -- When a Follower of Jesus dies – do they go straight to Heaven? The answer is YES… but there’s more to understand…
• Dennis, last week, you spoke of 2 Eternal Destinies… So, there’s Heaven and Hell, right? Right… but there’s more to understand…
4. We are going to explore Revelation 21 --- but for now, notice what 21:1 says. John, who is having this incredible Revelation of spiritual things and future things, says this – 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…
• There is a first Heaven and there is a New Heaven…
• 2 Peter 3:10-13 – 10 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. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 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. 13 But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
• There is a Heaven Now and there is a New Heaven Later…
There is a Heaven Now… The Present Heaven….
• Is where God Is and dwells --- Remember what Jesus answered the disciples question about how do we pray – Jesus said, pray this way – “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed is your Name…” Matthew 6:9
• Jesus is dying on the Cross and He tells the repentant thief on the cross – “Today, you will be with Me in paradise…” Luke 23:43
• In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 – for the believer in Jesus, to be away from this body, separated from the body, is to be at home with the Lord.
• Philippians 1:21-23 – 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; …
• Stephen, a follower of Jesus, was being persecuted for His belief and His preaching is about to be martyred by stoning… Acts 7:55-56 – 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
• In this Paradise Heaven, this Present Heaven – we are still awaiting the Coming of Christ and the resurrection of our new, glorified bodies…
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 – 13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
• In Revelation 4 and 5, John gets a glimpse of this Present Heaven… The Majesty, the Splendor, the Holiness, the Power of our God!!!
5. So when a faithful persons dies – do they go to Heaven? Yes! A Present Heaven with Jesus. But there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth… After the Coming of Christ, after the Resurrection of the dead, after the Devil is cast into the Lake of burning sulpher, after the great white throne judgment of the dead, after death and Hades have been cast into the lake of fire (HELL) – there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth… and that’s what we will see described in Revelation 21…
Today, what I want you to know and to feel more than anything… you walk away saying and knowing – Heaven is an Awesome Place!
Heaven is an Awesome Place! Heaven is a Prepared Place!
1. Jesus says -- John 14:1-7 – 1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
2. Jesus says, “Trust God! Trust me!” there’s something better. Something far better. And I personally, am preparing this place for you…
3. Imagine this -- (eg) in 6 days – God created all that we see and experience in this life. “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth… Everyday, we are discovering more of the infinite details of God’s creation… What He did in only 6 days…
• If He did this in 6 days – We can’t even imagine what He’s been preparing for us over the last 2,000 years…
4. Revelation 21 -- John gives us a Glimpse of this Glory! Of what Jesus has been preparing for us in the New Heaven, the New Earth, and the New Jersualem… As I read the text… let the Holy Spirit stir your imagination… of this Place Prepared for the faithful… you may even want to close your eyes and just Imagine…
5. Revelation 21:9-27 – 9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (14,000 miles) in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits (about 200 feet) thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
6. Heaven’s size and beauty are immense and infinite
• Just the city… would be some 1,400 miles long and wide… this city, if in the center of the United States would stretch from Canada to Mexico and from the Kentucky to California… AND it was 1,400 mile high…
• A perfect cube with, at ground level, would cover nearly 2 million square miles and would be some 2 billion, 744 million cubic miles…
• If the city contained different levels and each story was 20 feet high the city could have over 369,000 stories…
7. That’s just the city… the new Jerusalem… there’s a new Heaven and a New Earth… The gates are never shut… we get to come and go. Explore and Discover.
8. This Place, Jesus says – I am going there to prepare a Place for you… Jesus wants us there! Preparing a place for those who are preparing for that place…
Heaven is an Awesome Place! Heaven is a Promised Place!
1. Listen to His words of Promise… John 14:2-3 – 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
2. Heaven is His Promise to us. Trust it! Believe it! How do we know it’s true and why should we believe these words?
• Because Jesus said it! Jesus said these words…
• Jesus is the One Who died for our sins on the Cross, was buried and on the 3rd Day, was raised from the dead!
• And like we said on Resurrection Sunday morning – If Jesus has raised from the dead – it’s ALL true!
• Every Word is True! Every Teaching is True! Everything He said is True! Every Promise is True!
3. His Promise is our Peace! Knowing His Promise for my tomorrow gives me Peace for my Today. Jesus said - Do not let your hearts be troubled… Trust in God! Trust also in me!
4. Heaven is our Hope… our Confidence! Our Expectation!
• (eg) Here’s a way to remember what our HOPE truly is…
• H.O.P.E. = Heaven - Our Promised Eternity! That’s Hope!
• If we live for Jesus Now, the Promise is this, our Hope is this – we will live with Jesus then!
Heaven is an Awesome Place! Heaven is a Perfect Place!
1. Let’s go back to the beginning of Chapter 21 --- Revelation 21:1-7 – 1Then 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. 2 I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 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. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
2. This place is a Prepared Place and it is a Perfect Place… Perfect in it’s beauty! Perfect in it’s Splendor! Perfect in it’s Glory! Perfect in it’s Design! Perfect in it’s Magnificence! Perfect in every way…
3. Everything IN Heaven; Everything ABOUT Heaven is far better than anything you have ever experienced in this life… Far better than anything you know; you love; you understand; you can imagine… More Exciting! More Exhilarating! More Thrilling!
• Everything bad here will be absent there…
• Everything good here will be perfect there… In Heaven, everything good about earth will be refreshed, revised, renewed, expanded, enhanced…
4. What captures my heart most in this glimpse of Glory is in 21:4 – He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be NO MORE death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
• There will be NO MORE – suffering; struggle, sin, stress
• lust, greed, murder, stealing, rape, crime, molestation of little children
• Rust, rot, mold, Sickness, Sadness, Sorrow,
• Diabetes, divorce, deceit, disappointment, depression, discouragement
• Unemployment, lay offs, rejections, computer crashes, traffic,
• Funerals, hospitals, Intense Care Units, walkers and wheelchairs
• No more War, conflicts, battles, fighting,
• Hunger, poverty, desolation, no more cancer, strokes, chronic fatigue syndrome, hearing loss or deafness, chemotherapy, surgeries, comas, transplants,
(eg) I heard an Interview with Joni Eareckson Tada speaking about Heaven… Joni is a quadriplegic due to a diving accident when she was a teenager. As a result, she is bound to a wheelchair and to the complete care of others.
• In the interview, this committed Christian described the years of struggle and pain and yet how God was confirming all sorts of things even in the midst of her disability.
• Even with the struggles of everyday life, she indicated that she wanted to take her wheelchair with her to Heaven…
• She says this – “When I get to heaven, I want to take my old, clunky, dusty, big bulky wheelchair with me… She said – “I know it’s not theologically correct to take a wheelchair to Heaven… but if I could, I would because when I get my resurrected body and soon after I have gotten up off my grateful, glorified knees, I’m gonna stand next to Jesus and I will say, “Lord Jesus, do You see that wheelchair right there? You were right when You said, “In this world I would have trouble”, because I’ll tell you what - that thing was a lot of trouble. But Lord Jesus, the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on You. And the harder I leaned on You, the stronger I discovered You to be. And I just don’t think I would have realized the depth and the wonder and the joy and the peace and the amazement of Your grace if it were not for that awful thing.
• And I just wanted You to have it up here so that I could tell you – Thank You for the gift that You gave me of living more than 3 and half decades in that wheelchair that I might come to feel the nearness of You and know Your sweetness and the fragrance of Your sustaining power and peace and perspective…
• And now You can send it to Hell! And she says – That’s probably not in the Bible either…
5. Romans 8:18 -- I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
• What’s your worst stuff experience?
• It will all be lost in His Perfect Love. All that you Suffered here will be Consumed in His Perfect Splendor there… All you’ve lost here will be perfectly gained there!
Heaven is an Awesome Place! Heaven is a His-Presence Place!
1. Heaven is Perfect – because God is there… Heaven is Awesome because God is there… That’s the best part!!!
2. 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.
• His Presence is what this Place is all about! We will be with Him… That’s Heaven!
3. Jesus said – John 14:3 -- And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.
4. We may not fully understand ALL of WHAT Heaven will be like – but we do know WHO will be there – and that’s enough… and that’s the best part…
• That’s what makes Heaven a Perfect Place – His Presence! Complete and Full…
• The One who loves you most is there and We will be With Him
• the One who gave His life for you is there! And we will be with Him.
• The One who gives you new life here and an eternal life for there – is there!
Heaven is an Awesome Place! Heaven is a Permanent Place!
1. Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever! INFINITY!
• Jesus says -- You will be with me always!!!
2. (eg) Someday, we will never have to say, “Good bye” again.
• No more moving. No more separation. No more death. No more funerals. No more waiting. No more saying – Good bye!
3. (eg) We live at 4915 West Cedar Creek Drive…
• That’s our house – but Heaven is our Home! This earth and this life is not our home! Heaven is our Home – Our Forever Home!
• Remember the last verse of the Song of the Shepherd? Psalm 23:6 – Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
CONCLUSION –
Eternity is not left up to Chance – Eternity is determined by your Choice!
Jesus is preparing a Place – are you?
Live for Jesus now and you will live with Jesus then…
