WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?
TEXT: II COR. 12:2-4
INTRODUCTION:
I want to acknowledge Dr. John Barnett as an inspiration for this message, and for stimulating me to my own research on this topic. I didn’t quote him, but after viewing several of his YouTube sermon videos, some of his thoughts inevitably are here reflected, though in my own words.
The word for “heaven” Paul uses here is the Greek, oo-ran-os'. It can have three meanings: 1) the visible expanse of the sky that we can see above us, including that region where the clouds and the tempests gather, and where thunder and lightning are produced; 2) the sidereal or starry heavens, that we would call “outer space, and 3) the region above the starry heavens, where God and other heavenly-beings dwell. Paul also uses the word, “paradise.” This word is of Oriental or Persian origin and is par-ad'-i-sos, and one meaning is, “the upper reaches of the heavens, above and beyond the world.” In our text, the place Paul was taken was that place where God and other heavenly beings’ dwell, which is beyond this world.
Jesus also used the word “Paradise” when He was dying on the cross. One of the thieves who was crucified with Jesus asked that Jesus “remember” him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus did better than just “remember” him. He said to the thief, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 24:43). Notice that Jesus said, “You” will be with “Me.” The thief himself, in his very person, would be with the Jesus with whom he was crucified. The thief and Jesus left their physical bodies on earth when they died. But remember, Paul wrote that we have celestial bodies, i.e., heavenly bodies, and we have terrestrial bodies, i.e., earthly, or physical bodies. (I Cor. 15:40). He emphasized this further in verse fifty-three, when he wrote, “…corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” So, Jesus and the thief went to Paradise together. The first person to enter heaven after the crucifixion was a thief! Amazing!
In John 14 Jesus called heaven His “Father’s house” that has “many mansions” (John 14:2) and He was going to go a prepare a “place” for us there” (John 14:2-3). Jesus is saying that God has a family home – a household – a vast estate, and in it are many residences or places of abode, where His children will live forever under His watchful care and kindness. There is much in both the Old and New Testaments about the place where God, the ascended saints, and other heavenly beings’ dwell.
I want to share with you some thoughts God has dropped in my heart on what is heaven like under the following headings: 1) the scope of heaven, 2) the scenes of heaven, 3) the sovereign of heaven, and 4) the seat of heaven.
I. THE SCOPE OF HEAVEN
A. By the “scope” of heaven, I mean its range, its extent, its scale, and its size.
B. We must first remember that God is infinite so He cannot be limited, and although He has created heaven, heaven cannot contain Him. When Solomon prayed to God at the dedication of the first temple he built in Jerusalem, he said “…the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built?” (I Kings 8:27).
C. The Bible doesn’t give an exact measurement of the size of heaven, but it does give us the size of the New Jerusalem. In Rev. 21:16 the angel of the Lord gives the dimensions: “And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.”
D. To help me understand this, a website called, “Virily.com” says, “The measurement works out to 1,500 miles in all three dimensions…1,500 cubic miles.” I checked several other sources and almost all agree with these numbers.
E. In terms we can better understand that would be about the distance from Vanceburg, KY to Albuquerque, NM. Drive time, assuming you’re doing 55 MPH, would take about 27 hours. But the city is as wide as it is long, so add another 27 hours to your drive time. But the city is also 1,500 miles high, so add another twenty-seven driving hours.
F. A story in a building, as in a 10-story building, is about fourteen feet on average. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, times 1,500 miles, so you get 7,920,000 feet. Divide the standard 14-foot story into that and you get 565,714 stories! That is a pretty big high-rise!
G. And this is just THE SIZE OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF HEAVEN! In Rev. 7:9 John said he saw in heaven “…a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues…” standing “…before the throne, and before the Lamb…”
H. So, heaven is big enough for an innumerable multitude, no one can number, without anyone feeling crowded. The scope of heaven is so vast that we cannot imagine it.
II. THE SCENES OF HEAVEN
A. There are so many things to see in heaven that would be too many to list all of them, but I want to list a few.
B. We know of the streets of transparent, pure gold, about the pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal; we read of the walls of the holy city made of 12 precious stones, the gates to the city that look like giant transparent pearls, and the tree of life bearing 12 diverse kinds of fruit, yielding fruit every month, and the leaves have healing power.
C. But I want to look at the unusual creatures and the diverse kinds of angels and other beings that are in heaven. The Apostle John, while exiled on the island of Patmos, saw some of these creatures, which he describes in Rev. 4:6-9 as “beasts,” or “living creatures.” There were four of them and they had eyes in front, in the back, and on the sides.
1. One had the face of a lion, another, the face of a calf, the third, the face of man, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
2. Each one of them had six wings, and as they flew, they continually cried out: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”
3. In Isaiah 6:1-3, Isaiah describes his vision of heaven, and saw creatures like the “beasts” of Revelation called “Seraphim.” Seraphim is from a Greek word meaning “fiery or burning.”
4. He describes them as does John, but without the four faces, and having six wings, two they used to fly, with two they covered their feet, and with two they covered their face. When Isaiah saw them and the glory of God, he realized his sinfulness, so one of the Seraphim took a lump of burning coal off the altar of heaven, touched it to Isaiah’s lips, and told him his sin was forgiven.
D. The Cherubim are listed in the KJV 57 times, fifty-six are in the OT, of which seventeen are in Ezekiel, and once in Hebrews. The Cherubim are heavenly beings that are right up next to God’s throne, watching over it.
1. The Bible says that the devil was created as a Cherubim, originally placed beside God’s throne, but he rebelled against God and now is the enemy of God. The Cherubim have one set of wings.
2. When God told Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant after the likeness of the Ark in heaven, two Cherubim were to be placed over the Ark with their wings touching.
E. In Ezek. 1 & 10, the Prophet describes “four living creatures,” similar to what Isaiah and John saw, but with differences that make them strange indeed. There is nothing else like these beings in the Bible.
F. Each living creature had wheels beside and under them that shone like Beryl, which is a mineral that has colors of gold, green, red, and blue. The rims of the wheels had eyes all around. I looked at several commentaries and I liked what Vine’s Expository Notes said. They write, “…like the chariot wheels…The best object for imagining what Ezekiel saw is a gyroscope. The (living beings) he saw could go in any direction without having to turn….”
G. “Ezekiel continued to describe the…interaction between the wheels and the cherubim. Wherever the cherubim went, the wheels went. He reported that the Spirit of God was manifest in all that was happening…The multiple eyes…represented God’s complete awareness—He sees and knows everything.
H. Heaven also has innumerable hosts of angels.
1. John said the number of angels in heaven “…was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” (Rev. 5:11). In other words, a numberless host.
2. Angels don’t have wings, and they usually appear in human form. They appear and disappear at will and although sexless, look like males.
3. I put “angel” in the search bar at Bible Gateway, and there were 283 citations in the KJV version in thirty-five books of the Bible.
4. Gabriel is a special messenger angel. He came to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of the Messiah. He also brought God’s word to the prophet Daniel.
5. The only angel the Bible specifically labels as an Archangel is Michael. He appears twice in the Book of Daniel and once in the Book of Jude. He comes to Gabriel’s aide and engages in a spiritual fight against the Prince of Persia so Gabriel could deliver a message to the prophet (Daniel 10).
6. In Daniel 12:1 Michael appears, protecting the Israelites from spiritual attack. He also appears in Jude 1:9 where he is contending with the devil over the body of Moses and he tells the devil, “The Lord rebuke you.”
I. The scenes of Heaven and the beings in heaven will continually amaze us throughout the untold ages.
III. THE SOVEREIGN OF HEAVEN
A. Paul writes in Colossians 1:16-17 of the sovereign of heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him, all things consist.”
B. In Rev. 19 Jesus comes from heaven back to the earth with His ascended saints to rule and reign with a rod of iron, treading out the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and written on His robe is His title: “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
C. He is the center and ruler of heaven and not just heaven, but the entire universe. In Rev. 11:15, John heard the seventh angel, and all voices say, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
D. When the martyr Stephen was being stoned to death, he looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).
E. In this life, there will be, discouragements, persecutions, sorrows, physical pain, or even a martyr’s death, but we can be confident in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sovereign ruler of heaven is waiting for us in eternity.
F. Jesus is the Sovereign of heaven.
IV. THE SEAT OF HEAVEN
A. The seat of heaven is where our Sovereign sits, called a throne. In Isaiah 6:1, the prophet sees his vision of heaven, and says, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up…”
B. In Ezekiel’s visions, he also saw the heavenly throne, the seat of heaven where the Sovereign sits.
C. King Solomon's throne described in I Kings 10:18-20 was the most glorious throne any earthly king ever sat upon. Made of ivory and covered with gold, it had six steps leading up to and it had a round top. On each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions stood on each end of each of the six steps.” The writer says, “The like of it was never made in any kingdom.”
D. But that throne will be as less than nothing in comparison to the seat of our Sovereign Lord. It will be like no throne that has ever been created on this earth.
E. Daniel described the Sovereign God and His seat this way: “…the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame…” (Dan 7:9).
F. In Rev. 4 John describes the seat of the Sovereign Lord as having a rainbow around it looking like an emerald. He said twenty-four elders were sitting on seats around the throne. He also said, “…out of the throne proceeded lightning, and thundering, and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (vs 2-5).
G. Then he said, “…every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13). And Jesus makes this most amazing statement about His throne –
H. He says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Rev. 3:21).
I. Glory to Him who sits on the throne!
Closing:
We’ve looked at the Scope of heaven, the Scenes of heaven, the Sovereign of heaven, and the Seat of heaven, but I want to consider some things that are not in heaven. There will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, and no more pain (Rev. 21:4). In heaven, there will be no more night, for the lamb is the light: (Rev. 20:23 & 21:5). But there is one other thing that will not be in heaven: there will be no unsaved people in heaven.
I am deeply sorry to say that if you have not put your faith in the Lord Jesus as your only hope for eternal life, there will be no heaven awaiting you. You will not see those wonderful and glorious sights. The only thing awaiting you is an eternal curse, forever separated from God. You will hear Jesus say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). But it does not have to be so. The Bible says: “…whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21). Call on Him, confessing your sins, and Jesus will make sure that heaven becomes your eternal home.
