"Heaven is Out of this World!"
"Left Behind" series Part 4 of 4
Text: Rev. 21:1-3 & Selected
Cross Creek Community Church
Pastor Dave Martin - Jan. 28, 2001
www.crosscreekcc.org
God’s Word is Powerful, Relevant, and Life Changing!
Rev. 21:1-3 Then 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. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And 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.
Can we pause to imagine what it would be like in an instant of time, to step over into eternity? To go from your present life to an eternal future with the Lord? To realize we’re finally home in glory. Our eternal destiny is set - no coming back to live in time. You may say, I’m not sure if I would go to heaven or not. Let me say to you, while you have physical life and breath to choose correctly, come to Jesus Christ who has prepared the way for you. Jesus is the only way to the Father dwelling in Heaven. We must not become so attached to this earth that we don’t want to go to our ultimate home in heaven. This morning we’ll look at this paradise, our future home for the believer called heaven.
The Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Heaven will be...
1. PHYSICALLY awesome in size.
Rev. 21:16 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 in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
* 1500 miles square - It’ll be roughly from here in Pennsylvania to Texas square. Or roughly 1/2 the size of the continental United States.
* Some suggest it’ll be shaped like a pyramid. The Greeks believed the cube was the symbol of perfection. We know for sure, the New Jerusalem will be big.
* If it has different stories, with each one 20 feet that would equal 396,000 stories! But I don’t think it would need escalators or elevators.
* A place for special people - God’s own children. Enough room for all of God’s redeemed.
Tony Evans said, "Have a good time at my funeral, I’m not going to be there!"
John 14:1-3 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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.
Old and New Testament saints, represented by the 12 gates and the 12 foundations. Rev. 21:12-14
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 irate 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." --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 146.
* The builder is God. Hebrews 11:10 For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
2 Cor. 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
2. A place of No More’s:
Sea Death Sorrow Crying
Pain Night Curse Hunger
Thirst Heat Sun Moon
* Can you imagine, your arthritis pain gone, your stiff neck fixed, no more migraine headaches.
* Perfect eyesight, hearing, smell, all your senses tuned to 100%, just like before the fall of Adam.
* A perfect personality with no more relationship problems. WOW!
* Keep your thoughts upon Christ and His eternal glory...
The early Christians were so much in that other world that nothing which happened to them in this one seemed very important. Hannah Hurnard (1905-1990)
3. HOLY with nothing impure.
Rev. 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.
* Do you ever get tired of fighting the world, the flesh, or the Devil?
* Heaven will be Holy and pure, from thoughts to actions - the victory has been won!
* A special place for a special people. No bribes, money scams, corruption of any kind.
* Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? My friend - you can know for sure!
* Upon our death - I believe angels will escort you into glory, as they now watch over us.
* I believe you will remember your loved ones and will know everyone you meet.
* Death will sever ties on earth while restoring ties in Heaven with those who passed on before you.
* To once again see your loved ones, your son or daughter, your spouse, grand parents!
The Innumerable heavenly host - God’s wonderful creation.
Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
Rev. 5:11 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. (100 million plus)
Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Thomas Jefferson said, "There is not a Quaker or a Baptist, a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian, a Catholic or a Protestant in heaven; on entering the gate, we leave those badges of schism behind."
4. BEAUTIFUL beyond description.
Rev. 21:11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
* Unimaginable splendor and beauty, gold so pure you can see through it as glass.
* Precious stones, the tree of life we saw in the garden of Eden in Genesis.
Rev. 21:18-19 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone...."
Rev. 21:21 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.
Rev. 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
* No winter cold, ice, snow, or summer heat and storms - the perfect environment.
5. A time of INTIMACY with God.
Rev. 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.
* How’s your prayer life? Does it take you into God’s presence? Learn to pray - it’s powerful.
D. L. Moody said, "We talk about heaven being so far away. It is within speaking distance to those who belong there." We stand in the righteousness of Christ, not our own!
John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world...." 1Co. 15:50 says "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" - we need to be born again.
Col. 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
* Intimacy for eternity - forever, without end.
I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joys and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
J. B. Phillips said, "Heaven is not a reward for "being a good boy" but is the continuation and expansion of a quality of life which begins when a man’s central confidence is transferred from himself to God. "
Be preparing TODAY for our FUTURE activities in Heaven...
Intimacy with God will involve us in two primary ways...
* There are two things we are commanded to do today, and will be doing in heaven for eternity.
* We better get into practice here and now!
1. WORSHIP. Rev. 22:9
Rev. 22:9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
* In heaven, there will be a continuation of our celebration, praise and worship of our Great God.
* Uninhibited joy and praise around the throne - praise and worship is the language of Heaven.
Rev 19 we see the "Hallelujah" (Praise the Lord) worship of the multitudes of the heavenly host.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
* How’s your worship today? Are you filled with praise, wonder and awe?
John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
* How’s your singing? Filled with the Spirit? How’s your worship today? Dead? Ritualistic?
2. SERVICE. Rev. 22:3, 5
Rev. 22:3-5 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
* In heaven, there will be a continuation of service to our King.
* God gives us the authority to rule and reign with Him during the millennium and throughout eternity.
* I believe every saint will be assigned a work of administration with different responsibilities.
* Heaven will not be a place of inactivity or boredom, but the absolute opposite.
* A time to grow intellectually of His creation and of God Himself.
* Could it be a time to explore other worlds? Rule over creatures and kingdoms we no nothing about? Food for thought isn’t it?
A. G. Hobbs, Jr. says, "If a person does not enjoy the worship and services of the Lord, he no doubt would be out of place in heaven."
Billy Graham said, I’m not going to heaven because I’ve preached to great crowds of people. I’m going to heaven because Christ died on that cross. None of us are going to heaven because we’re good. And we’re not going to heaven because we’ve worked. We’re not going to heaven because we pray and accept Christ. We’re going to heaven because of what he did on the cross. All I have to do is receive him. And it’s so easy to receive Christ that millions stumble over its sheer simplicity."
When are you coming back, Jesus?
Rev. 22:7 "Behold, I am coming soon!"
Rev. 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon!"
Rev. 22:20 "Yes, I am coming soon."
A. W. Tozer said, "The man who is seriously convinced that he deserves to go to hell is not likely to go there, while the man who believes that he is worthy of heaven will certainly never enter that blessed place."
* There is no one worthy to make it to heaven on his or her own. You can’t earn it, merit it, or buy it.
* Our sin stands in the way. That is why God sent Jesus, the Son of God to be the perfect sacrifice.
* Don’t be "Left Behind" come to Jesus! Receive His Forgiveness Today!
Rev. 4:8b "...Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
Let’s Pray
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