ETERNITY MATTERS PART III:
THE GLORY OF IT ALL
JANUARY 26, 2003
INTRODUCTION: As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.
Gary Thomas, in Christian Times, October 3, 1994, p. 26.
We know very little about heaven, but I once heard a theologian describe it as "an unknown region with a well-know inhabitant," and there is not a better way to think of it than that.
Richard Baxter expresses the thought in these lines:
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim,
But it’s enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with him.
To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us.
James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
TRANSITION THOUGHT: As we continue to discuss Matters of Eternity, I hope we all realize, Eternity Matters! One day we will all go into eternity and as always the question is not will we life for eternity, it is where will we live for eternity. Today I want to continue to focus on Heaven. Our text for this day points to the Glory of it all. Heaven is a place described as indescribable. But, none-the-less, John the Revelator opens up our understanding of this place we all hope to attain. What is it that he desires to teach us? I think it might be summed up with this one thought:
THESIS SENTENCE: HEAVEN IS A HOLY PLACE!
IF HEAVEN IS A PLACE OF HOLINESS, HOW ON EARTH CAN WE GET THERE??
I. HEAVEN IS AN INVITATION VV. 1 & 2
A. AN INVITATION IS AN OPEN DOOR (verse 1)
1. If we were to move back two verses, we would read, ¡§Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3: 20).¡¨
2. It appears that we have the power to open the door!!
3. The truth of heaven is that the door is open, it is God¡¦s desire that we make it to our true home, not one made by hands, but one made in the eternals by Christ himself.
4. Don¡¦t forget John 14: 1-7. This is the same writer, the Apostle John.
5. Hear this awesome word again, ¡§After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.¡¨
6. Heaven is an invitation to an open door!
B. AN INVITATION IS A REQUEST TO COME (verse 1)
1. Not only is the door open, the voice of a trumpet said, ¡§Come up here¡K¡¨ 2. There is no doubt now, we are invited.
3. John here alludes back to the one who first spoke to him. To find out just who this is, we must look back at chapter 1: 10 ¡V 18.
4. Of course, the one who invites us to heaven is none other than Jesus Christ, the first and the last, the living ONE who was dead and is now alive for ever and ever. 5. Not only is HE alive, He¡¦s got some KEYS!!
6. He alone can open the door, ask us in, and make us at home.
7. ¡§No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).¡¨
C. AN INVITATION IS A PROMISED RESPONSE (verse 2)
1. Did you notice what happened in verse 2?
2. This reads like the gospel of Mark, there is no wasted time here!!
3. Immediately, ¡§At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.¡¨
4. When Jesus invites you to the party, He doesn¡¦t make you wait. This isn¡¦t Christmas; this is eternal life!!
5. What God promises, HE DELIVERS!!
ILLUSTRATION: Jesus entire ministry might be summed up with the term ¡§INVITATION¡¨. Here are a few examples:
„« JOHN 1: 39 ¡§Come,¡¨ he replied, ¡§and you will see.¡¨ So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him.
„« MARK 1: 17 ¡§Come, follow me,¡¨ Jesus said, ¡§And I will make you fishers of men.¡¨
„« MATTHEW 11: 28 ¡§Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.¡¨
„« JOHN 6: 37 ¡§All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.¡¨
„« LUKE 19: 5 ¡§When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ¡¥Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.¡¦¡¨
„« JOHN 11: 43-44 ¡§When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ¡¥Lazarus, come out!¡¦ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.¡¨
II. HEAVEN BRINGS ISOLATION (SEPARATION/HOLINESS) VV. 3 ¡V 6
A. ISOLATION IS AUTHORITY vs. 3
1. Kim doesn¡¦t like the term Isolation, but when I explained to her what I meant, she said go with it, so here it is:
2. Isolation is not a negative here but a positive. It is the promise of being separated from sin, death and all that discourages.
3. Now to this authority, someone is in charge! What John is stating here is that Heaven is ruled by the ONE sitting on the Throne.
4. There is no chaos here; there is no anarchy. There is only authority. 5. This is made clear by the Location of the Throne and the activity surrounding it! The throne is dead center. Everything else revolves around the throne. 6. God is in control! He is the final authority.
B. ISOLATION IS OVERCOMING vs. 4
1. The second thing that stands out here is what comes next.
2. 24 thrones surround THE THRONE!
3. 24 elders sit on these thrones, but who are these elders?
4. John says these are special people/ Holy People.
5. Two key qualifiers are given: Dressed in white and wearing crowns of Gold. 6. Chapter 2 verse 10 explains the crown, ¡§Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.¡¨ The Crown is the reward for faithfulness unto the point of death and is the crown of eternal life, the completion of Salvation.
7. Chapter 6 verse 11 tells us that those who wore white are those that were martyred for their faith.
8. Chapter 7 verses 13 ¡V 14 make it even clearer. Hear what one of the Elders say about these in white.
9. HEAVEN IS A PLACE OF HOLINESS!
ILLUSTRATION: Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed shutters, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision. "I used all means to divert my imagination from the sun," he writes, "But if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in the dark." If he had stared a few minutes longer, Newton might have permanently lost all vision. The chemical receptors that govern eyesight cannot withstand the full force of unfiltered sunlight.
There is a parable in Isaac Newton’s experiment, and it helps illustrate what the Israelites ultimately learned from the wilderness wanderings. They had attempted to live with the Lord of the Universe visibly present in their midst; but, in the end, out of all the thousands who had so gladly fled Egypt, only two survived God’s Presence. If you can barely endure candlelight, how can you gaze at the sun?
Philip Yancey, Disappointment With God, Zondervan, p. 74.
III. HEAVEN RELEASES INTERACTION VV. 7 ¡V 11
A. INTERACTION IS WORSHIP 7 ¡V 8
1. The descriptions in these verses are vivid and a bit overwhelming
2. The real problem that must be avoided is getting so bogged down in the imagry that we lose site of what John is teaching here.
3. John is teaching us that Heaven is about worship, about interacting with the LIVING GOD!
4. Heaven is not static; it is dynamic!!
5. And the dynamic offered is that those closes to THE THRONE worship: ¡§Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come (verse 8).¡¨ HEAVEN IS A PLACE OF HOLINESS WHERE THE HOLINESS OF GOD IS CELEBRATED!
6. ¡§The Living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever (verse 9).¡¨
B. INTERACTION IS A SPONTANEOUS REACTION VV. 10 ¡V 11
1. When God is getting all the praise it causes others to what share in the praise. 2. Maybe, just maybe, if we want people to praise the Lord, we should praise the Lord! Just maybe, it would become addictive.
3. Remembers those crowns? Those crowns were earned! Perseverance until the point of death brought those crowns.
4. Who gets the crowns? They go back to the ONE who made it all possible, a real praise offering. This is the offering of one¡¦s life to another. In essence, these Elders are resubmitting their lives to the one who gives life!
5. An interesting thought, they gave Jesus their lives on earth, now they give Jesus their lives in heaven.
6. Do you think you can wait to get to heaven to give God your life?
7. Let the praises role!! ¡§You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.¡¨
8. The one truth these Elders have is that it is all about God. Heaven is all about God. Nothing exists without Him. He is the Solo responsible party, so HE gets all the praise.
ILLUSTRATION: What is worship? Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven.
A.W. Tozer, quoted in D.J. Fant, A.W. Tozer, Christian Publications, 1964, p. 90.
CONCLUSION: ARE YOU READY TO GO? DO YOU HAVE YOUR TICKET? DID YOU REALIZE HOW AWESOME AND HOLY IT WOULD BE? ARE YOU PREPARED TO ENTER THOSE GATES?
BENEDICTION: JUDE 24 ¡V 25
