“Heaven – Why on Earth does it Matter?”
Scripture / Text: Revelation 21:3-4
In my preteen years and well into late teens, my parents assigned work chores to my two brothers and me. From a posted house-cleaning checklist on the refrigerator, to loading the shed with firewood or cutting logs for our new house, we laboured without question, never once thinking there was the luxury of saying “I’m not doing that”! To me it was work – and more work. To my mom and dad it was how life worked. Every detail was part of something bigger, a compliment to achieving a grander purpose, one of shaping work ethic and value systems, of recognizing that all the little jobs contributed to a bigger picture of clean house and heat in the winter. When I understood the bigger picture I valued my work instead of despising it.
I tell you this story because it is a small analogy that represents a bigger truth that we will be considering today. Have you ever stopped to ponder that your going to work, helping the neighbour with a ride to the doctor’s office or stopping by KCC to be involved in some type of ministry, are the ‘home chores’ of life that have a grander plan? These and all similar labours are steps toward “renewing order” according to the Original design (Capital “O”)! So much of what we do in this life should be about partnering with God in the work of “renewing order” in preparation for heaven.
To appreciate these statements we need to understand the Original design (Capital “O”). Our earliest accounts were written somewhere around 1400 BC in what we know as the book of Genesis. God created things, from light and dark, to a ‘vault’ that separated water and sky, to vegetation, animals and solar systems and so on. He finally came to the pinnacle of all that he created – humanity. We pick up the story with three very essential records. The first is Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” The second key record is Genesis 2:15 which says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” The third central reference for our exploration is Genesis 3:8, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…”
The Original design (Capital “O”) included earth’s hemisphere as central to heaven’s masterplan. The downside of course is humanity’s disobedience to the Original design (congregational response with ‘Original with a capital “?”) Our disobedience disrupted the “ebb and flow” of relationships and order. Sadly, we have adopted a disordered philosophy. Teilhard de Chardin, (French Geologist, Priest, Philosopher and Mystic, 1881-1955) attempts to correct our flawed philosophy when he suggested, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
If evolution is about formation, development and growth then we should understand we are in a process of regression. Contrary to popular opinion that we are evolving, we should consider that in the current state of affairs, we are regressing to the Original design. (‘Original with a capital “?”) You see, we were created in the image of God as Genesis 1:26 records, God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness”. You can’t improve on perfection! You can only mar – damage, spoil, impair – perfection.
So, we are regressing, returning to the Original design (Original with a capital “?”)! We are getting earth ready for heaven, participating in resetting the clock, reformating the System!
Now, there’s a problem with heaven! John Eldridge, Christian author and lecturer was quoted as saying, “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service…We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? That’s it? That the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual’. We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”
Our understanding of life and purpose needs alignment. We need to fix that! So, let’s first duly consider the fact that
1. Heaven is another realm
American evangelist and publisher of the 19th century, Dwight Lyman Moody, once wrote, “There are {people} who say that there is no heaven. I was once talking with a man who said he thought there was nothing to justify us in believing in any other heaven than we know here on earth. If this is heaven, it is a very strange one – this world of sickness, and sorrow, and sin. I pity from the depths of my heart the man or woman who has that idea.”
You have of course those who believe the direct opposite to this statement. There are people who are very confident of this other realm called Heaven. Someone once wrote that some people’s investment in Heaven is so significant that they cheapen their commitment to earth.
Both these statements are extremes. If we live in the camp of ‘no heaven’ or are so preoccupied with heaven that we minimize earth’s value, we live in extremes and like most extremes, they tend to be unhealthy.
There are multiple Bible examples to illustrate the fact of heaven, of another dimension beyond this existence. I will give you four references quickly.
- Deuteronomy 26:15, “Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place…”
- Psalm 14:2 (David), “The LORD looks down from heaven on the human race…”
- Psalm 103:19 (David), “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”
- Matthew 3:17, “…voice from heaven…”
Author Joe Beam in, “The Real Heaven: It’s not what You Think” sparks our imagination. “The Bible tells us Heaven is as real as your own backyard.” I know how real my backyard is. I spent many hours there last summer and autumn sitting beneath our gazebo, enjoying a shade from the sun, listening to the birds, and experienced deep satisfaction with my lemonade and hunger-satisfying food. If someone ventured close and said, “Dale, you’re not in your backyard. You just think you are in your backyard! Actually, this yard doesn’t really exist! It’s a figment of your imagination and childhood impressions.” Well, I’d have to ask what they’re drinking! My yard is real!
Beam says, “We will not have to “open our minds” or “listen to our hearts” to experience it; we will know it is absolute reality…Heaven will not be some vaporous, transparent illusion. It will be {IS} a real place that can be seen, smelled, touched, heard and tasted.”
Mars Hill pastor, Rob Bell, also well known for his Nooma devotional videos, recently wrote a controversial book called, “Love Wins”. He makes a comment that should be universally safe. He said, “Jesus consistently affirmed heaven as a real place, space, and dimension of God’s creation, where God’s will and only God’s will is done. Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be.”
Heaven is real. Let’s go further and explore
2. Activity in the Heavenly realm
The prophet Isaiah offers valuable insight to guide our understanding. There’s good news for people troubled about heaven who think it is only a never-ending sing-along in the sky! Isaiah talks about the new age, the time to come when God will establish the world order that was intended from the beginning. God will settle disputes between people; weapons of war will become obsolete and replaced with work tools. Examples in chapters 2, 11 and 25 include swords becoming plowshares and spears turned into pruning hooks. There will not be any destruction, death or sorrow or dying or tears. There will be a rich colour of nationalities and peoples and feasts galore! All of this language is repeated in the Bible book Revelation.
I remember a sermon some years ago titled, “Will there be Tim Horton’s in Heaven?” I won’t credit who I believe it was to preach that sermon because I couldn’t resource it. The question was around the idea of what we’ll do in heaven. The answer offered was the very things we do now. There will be enterprise, golf courses and meal times. We will enjoy the company of the saints of the past and be reunited with people we love who have left this world. Our relationship will not be characterised the same as it is in this world but the connection to people as having very special places in our lives will remain. I am not even scratching the surface on this subject because my time limits me to provide an exhaustive study.
I will say again that I am absolutely convinced God is “reformatting the System”. I apologize that this illustration will not make a lot of sense to non-computer users but it makes the point well. It’s like using a computer that is wracked with viruses and Trojans. If you just bought it you won’t throw it out and buy another. We apply virus software to attempt to block further viruses. We run a system scan and the software picks up the viruses and quarantines it or isolates it so we can remove it and get it out of the system. It still freezes up along the way so we reboot the system, hoping that will purge the computer of the problem. However, sometimes our best efforts just don’t work so we have to do what we’ve been trying to avoid – reformat the system. This means wiping everything out and giving it the factory-set condition it was in when we first opened the box.
God has been applying anti-virus solutions to our Trojan-invested lives and world. He is methodically reformatting the System to His Original design (Original with a “??). He is taking us back; back to labour life and love the way He always intended it should be; always in harmony with heaven where His throne and rule remains; always in community, partnership and fellowship with Him. He is taking us back to the Garden. Heaven will be as it should be when earth becomes again all she was meant to be. This leads me to a final point to be made.
3. Earth is part of Heaven’s realm
When I was only a boy I joined the minor hockey league. The test of my devotion first meant my dad wasn’t able to give me rides to the arena to practice. The second test was Northern Newfoundland winters, not like these namby-pamby winters we get in Kitchener! The final test was getting to the arena by 7 a.m. – no ride, cold as the Artic and a 7 a.m. start! Well, I slept on the living room sofa to make sure I didn’t oversleep. I grabbed my hockey bag and come wind or high weather, trekked my way to the arena. Why would I bother? Why get out of bed at 6 a.m. and walk to an arena, shivering like a dog in a bucket? Well, I was going to be a pro hockey player of course! This was serious stuff and my dream and confidence of one day being a pro shaped my values and behaviour in that respect.
It was written, “What you believe about the future shapes, informs, and determines how you live now.” That is easy to back with Scripture when Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:20 Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Friends, hear me on this – we are partnering with God in preparing this world for the age to come! We are helping God reformat the System! You can read the whole story in the book called Revelation, which is like skipping to the end of the movie. You watched the anxious parts knowing how it will end so you can endure the nail-biting segments of the story! And in our nail-biting life drama, things get put right in the end!
Think about this for a moment. Every decision, every investment, every priority and action, has an impact on the final product of earth when Jesus returns. Knowing this, will it affect how you make decisions, invest, prioritize and act?
We forget that the earth is part of God’s Kingdom. It started that way in Genesis and has always been a huge part of what God’s Kingdom is about. Jesus makes a critically important comment in Matthew chapter 11. It is the time when John the Baptizer who is preaching Jesus as the Way to God, was put in prison for his preaching. Jesus said in verse 12, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it.” Now the things that people are raiding and subjecting to violence have an earthly reality. Surely Jesus must have been talking about earth as part of the kingdom of heaven! We pray all the time that God’s will “be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Why would we pray that? Because with St. Paul in Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Are you getting the picture? We are partners with God, through Christ, in preparing this world for His return!
It’s been said, “We were made to explore and discover and learn and create and shape and form and engage this world.” May I add that these activities reflect godly engagement in our lives!
How do we engage life in preparation for heaven? How do we partner with God in getting earth ready for His return? What does that look like?
Well, it includes adjusting how we look at our activity in the world. Author Anne Graham Lotz told a story in her book, “Heaven, My Father’s House” that makes the point well. It is the story of an old missionary named Samuel Morrison who had spent twenty five years doing ministry in Africa. He returned to America on the same ocean liner that brought President Teddy Roosevelt back from a hunting expedition in Africa. Upon docking, President Roosevelt was bombarded with scores of people welcoming him home from his hunting expedition. Barriers and police escorts were needed to keep the masses of people from rushing on the President and mobbing him or crushing him as he was welcomed with cheering, ticker tape and confetti. Morrison walked off the ship alone; no one noticed, no one even knew he was there. He couldn’t even hail a cab for a ride. In his heart Morrison complained to God. “The president was in Africa hunting for three weeks, killing animals for sport and the whole world turns out to welcome him home. I’ve given twenty-five years of my life in Africa, serving You and no one has greeted me or even knows I’m here.” In his questioning heart he heard the gentle, loving voice of God whisper to his spirit, “My child, you are not home yet!” Point taken
Other examples of preparing the world for Jesus’ return could be how we invest in social justice such as fighting battles like sexual trafficking in an effort to defend the rights of the abused. It is an act of instilling the values of love, well-being for the common good and working toward human dignity of humanity, all steps deeply critical to preparing the world for God’s return. Or, what about the issue of investing more money in your local church to hire the staff we need to disciple children and youth so that they are taught who Jesus is and are supported to growth in their relationship with Him. Then when He returns they are ready to meet Him, not run from Him like a stranger because no one taught them. These are only two of hundreds of examples of partnering with God to prepare for “the age to come”. God’s place has always been with His people, as offered in our text of Revelation 21:3-4. Our purpose here includes preparing us and moving us toward that breath-taking moment when God will finally clean house and set all things right!
Heaven – why on earth does it matter? Surely you can answer that question now! It makes all the difference in the world!
Conclusion
I’ll conclude with a convicting verse to my heart. I’ve been thinking much these days about a couple of questions. I’m wondering if I am living, investing, building and creating with the view that what I’m doing will have eternal repercussions and impact. And I’ve been wondering, “If I am to be serious about living with that view in mind, what will I change about how I “do life”?” Matthew 6:20, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
To that comes the convicting verse in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Faith is as much about what I’m doing as what I believe. Of course, what we believe is reflected in how we behave isn’t it? Remember Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Please let me make one final comment. Heaven is not something we should only consider as the “Sweet by and by” that shows up when we die. There is heaven-life to be lived now; here; on earth. That other realm is a certainty and we will go there some day. But it’s part of this realm, part of this current reality. We have a responsibility to live here fully alive and active! May it be so!
Let’s pray.
