THE END IS NEAR
Part 6, “God With Us!”
Revelation 21:1-22:6
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Pastor Brian Matherlee
I heard about a rich man who was determined to take his wealth with him. He told his wife to get all his money together, put it in a sack, and then hang the sack from the rafters in the attic. He said, "When my spirit is caught up to heaven, I’ll grab the sack on my way." Well he eventually died, and the woman raced to the attic, only to find the money still there. She said, "I knew I should’ve put the sack in the basement."
Open up with a Q & A time about heaven.
What I find most interesting about the Biblical account we have just read is that it tells us more specifically of what we won’t have than what heaven will be like. What we have just read is good enough for me—I want to go to that place, don’t you?
What is the Biblical record concerning Heaven?
1. Heaven is a real place
a. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you”.
b. Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus points to the truth of a physical existence after death.
c. The Bible declares there will be a physical resurrection and that these bodies will not decay. Paul explains this in I Corinthians 15. Physical bodies exist in physical surroundings.
d. The passage we read describes crops & food. We will eat and it won’t be bad for us. We’ll have celebrations and feasting.
e. God makes a new Heaven and a new earth. They physical appearance will be something of what we have known but with no flaws. The Garden of Eden revisited.
f. The most awesome thing is that the new things God creates—the new heaven and earth, the new city of Jerusalem—that God will make His dwelling among us.
2. Heaven is a rejoicing place
a. Revelation 5:11-14, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ The four living creatures said, ‘Amen’, and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
b. If you don’t enjoy rejoicing here…it’s gonna be tough over there. If you like to tell people you don’t like new songs here, what are you going to tell God there? Revelation 5:9 says, “And they sang a new song.”
c. Our rejoicing will come because there will be no sorrow, no separation, no illness, no misunderstandings, no words spoken harshly, no worrying about our physical appearance, no worries about being loved or wanted, no desires unmet (because they are all found and met in Christ).
d. Our rejoicing will be a result of the constant state of learning and growth. It only makes sense that in heaven we will continue to learn more as finite beings about our infinite God and the infinite time we have together will still never change the fact that God is greater and wholly other than what we are.
3. Heaven is a rewarded place
a. Luke 19:12-19—the parable of talents is given in the midst of Jesus’ teaching concerning the kingdom of heaven. We will be judged by what we have done with what we have.
b. Jesus tells us in Matthew 19 about a rich young man who felt like he had followed all the commandments and yet chose riches over following Jesus and having eternal life. Jesus makes a radical statement, (19:23-24) “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
i. This statement is radical because Jewish teaching held that if you were blessed in this life it was because you were living right. If you were poor, sick or suffering it was for sin.
ii. So if this blessed man couldn’t make it to heaven then who had any hope to make it to heaven?
iii. The other thing to note is that Jesus answers the question they raise, “Who then can be saved?” by declaring, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
c. The reward of heaven is God’s to give, not ours to earn. Last week I quoted Adam Clarke, who said, “A righteous man goes to haven because Christ died for him; the sinner goes to hell because he deserves to go there.”
d. But the Scripture seems to indicate that there will be varying degrees of reward in heaven based upon our deeds. Did we follow God’s plan and purpose for our life?
e. Many people have a hard time grasping the concept of varying rewards in heaven. The great reward of entrance is up to God. The degree of reward in heaven is up to our faithful execution of Christian living on this earth. What will that mean? The Bible doesn’t explain but Revelation 20:12 declares that all will be judged “according to their deeds.”
f. A bus driver and a minister were standing in line to get into heaven. The bus driver approached the gate and St. Peter said, "Welcome, I understand you were a bus driver. Since I’m in charge of housing, I believe I have found the perfect place for you. See that mansion over the hilltop? It’s yours. The minister heard all this and began to stand a little taller. He said to himself, "If a bus driver got a place like that, just think what I’ll get." The minister approached the gate and St. Peter said, "Welcome, I understand you were a minister. See that shack in the valley?" St. Peter had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when the shocked minister said, "I was a minister, I preached the gospel, I helped teach people about God. Why does that bus driver get a mansion, and I get a shack?" Sadly St. Peter responded, "Well, it seems when you preached, people slept. When the bus driver drove, people prayed."
g. Are you making your life count? Is it your desire to do more than earn a paycheck, have your kids “succeed”, fellowship in retirement?
h. Why do we claim Christ and yet we are so easily satisfied with living pretty much like the world?
4. Heaven is a restricted place
a. Revelation 21:27, “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.” (Jesus has a “little black book”)
b. Little Billy, caught in mischief, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into heaven?" He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I’ll just run in and out and keep slamming the door until they say, ’For heaven’s sake, either come in or stay out.’ Then I’ll go in."
c. Who will be there?
i. Holy Trinity
ii. Holy angels
iii. Children who die in their innocence
iv. Those who have lived by what God has revealed to them
v. Those whose “faith is an active trust in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior and involves the commitment of oneself to Him as Lord.” (A Contemporary Wesleyan Theology, volume 2, pg. 1132) Emphasis on the active.
vi. Are any of your loved ones there?
d. Who will not be there?
i. “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life.” (Rev. 20:15)
ii. Matthew 25:31-46
e. If you have loved ones who aren’t ready to meet God and you are, then every fiber of your being should be consumed with prayer, consistent living, encouraging them, reaching out to them…that they may know Christ!
What about you? Are you spiritually connecting to God? Have you acknowledged your sin? Have you expressed your desire to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Have you turned from sin?
As we sing, can you say, “it is well with my soul”?
