An elderly couple passed away and found themselves at the pearly gates. Peter was there to welcome them. First he showed them their mansion. The man overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of it all asked, "How much does this place cost per night?" Peter replied, "Sir, this is Heaven, it doesn’t cost anything." Then Peter took them to the dining room where table upon table was piled high with the most delicious foods you could imagine. Again overwhelmed by the glory of it all the man asked, "How much for the meals?" Peter said, "You forget, this is Heaven, it’s free." Peter then took them out back where they saw a fantastically beautiful golf course. As the man stood there open-mouthed Peter said, "Now before you ask, there are no greens fees, this is Heaven, everything is free." The man looked at his wife and said, "You and your confounded bran muffins, I could have been here 10 years ago!" Sometimes when people think of heaven they think of it as dull and boring. This joke however captures the promise of eternal life - a place of unbelievable beauty and delight. [SermonCentral]
But the best thing about heaven is not where we are, but who we are with.
The verses that we are looking at today are the Seventh of the seven Last Things described in the book of Revelation. They are about heaven!
REV 21:1 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.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 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. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
REV 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
REV 21:6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. (NIV)
I. There is a real heaven.
Scripture is clear to us that there is a real heaven. Every description of it draws a picture of perfection, be it numbers, or be it dimensions, whatever the descriptions are in the book of Revelation, we find perfection.
This earth is not our rest.
Try to fill the vessel in any way you want with the things of earth and you will still not find the fullness of heaven. The apostle Paul said that if this life is all that there is, then we as Christians should be pitied above all people.
Great prophets proclaimed their frailties of this world. Elijah requested that he might die, so did Jonah and so did Jeremiah saying, cursed be the day that I was born. Though there is joy in following and serving the Lord here on this earth, the curse is still here.
People who have had all sorts of wealth, Solomon, saying, it is all vanity. Heaven is not something that we can build here on earth. Heaven is the work of God.
How many of you all want to go to heaven? I recall the story of a preacher asking that question to his congregation one Sunday morning, and everyone but one older lady in the back raised their hands. After the service he asked the woman why she didn’t raise her hand. “Don’t you want to go to heaven,” he inquired? She said, “just how soon were you aiming to make this trip?”
The unknown is scary to us. In Scripture we have some glimpses of heaven, but ultimately the same Scripture says that “ear has not heard, nor eye seen what God has in store for us.” It is good beyond what we can even begin to imagine.
John saw a new heaven and earth.
REV 21:1 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. (NIV)
Some believe in heaven as an earthly paradise, and in some ways it is, but the old earth is gone. It is a brand new creation. In the midst of this new creation John says:
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. In the chapter that follows you see all of the perfect numbers.
What does the Bible compare to a bride? Yes, the church, all who are saved are compared to a bride. This new creation is populated by all believers. These verses go on to talk about the absence of the curse, “no more tears.” But before that is mentioned, something greater is mentioned.
. 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.
I have mentioned before in sermons that you find scattered throughout the bible a statement from God basically saying, “I will be their God and they will be my people and I will dwell with them.”
This is the plan of salvation. Salvation is God’s presence and reign in the life of the believer.
In Genesis humankind was separated from God, and the whole of the Bible depicts a story of redemption which is fulfilled through Jesus. And, salvation is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Salvation begins here. But the ultimate fruition of salvation is God dwelling with us fully in a brand new place.
So, as I said earlier, the most important thing about heaven is who we are with. Who wants to spend eternity with a God whom they wanted nothing to do with here on this earth?
Does your heart thirst for the Living God?
. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
I have heard people argue over whether our new body would be a physical body with spiritual attributes or a spiritual body with physical attributes. You cannot die there, no more crying or pain. We are new creatures.
REV 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
REV 21:6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Absolute authority, nothing before him, nothing after him, always has been, always will be God Almighty! And, if your heart thirsts for him, then you can drink from the fount of salvation here and now, and in heaven through eternity.
II. Salvation is offered to us free of cost. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Someone asked Melvin Trotter, who was a hopeless alcoholic before his conversion, "How do you know you are a Christian?" Trotter replied, "I was there when it happened!"
[SermonCentral: Contributed by: Lanny Carpenter]
In his book "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life", the author Charles Swindoll tells a story about the 19th Century agnostic Thomas Huxley (some of you might know that it was Huxley who promoted Darwinism and Humanism in his attacks on Christianity). Huxley was in Dublin and was rushing to catch a train. He climbed aboard one of Dublin’s famous horse drawn taxis and said to the driver -"Hurry, I’m almost late ... drive fast". Off they went at a furious pace and Huxley sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. After a while Huxley opened his eyes and glanced out the window to notice that they were going in the wrong direction. Realizing that he hadn’t told the driver where to take him he called out ‘do you know where you’re going?’ The driver replied "No, your honour, but I am driving very fast’.
SOURCE: "Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life" by Charles Swindoll
[SermonCentral: Contributed by: Philip Cairns]
7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
III. Yet, there is another side to this coin also.
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
The same Bible that tells of heaven also tells of a lake of sulfur. And, those who will be there are described in this verse.
Look at some of these items. The cowardly are listed are listed first. This may not seem significant in our day, but it certainly was in the day in which this was written, and it will be vital in the days in which these things are fulfilled as well.
The cowardly will deny Jesus. But doesn’t this knock Peter out? Didn’t Peter deny Jesus? The difference is that Peter repented.
The unbelieving are listed. Yet, if the unbelieving become believers it just may be that God will have used your words to kindle their faith.
Murderers are listed here. Wasn’t Paul a murderer?
And, yet, there was repentance.
The sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, those who worship other gods are all listed here.
Liars will be here? Doesn’t that include all of us?
Friends, these things are lifestyles apart from repentance. Without forgiveness, we would all be in this lake.
The lifestyles listed here are those who saw no need for the forgiveness and salvation offered by Jesus. They are people headed in the wrong direction.
A man was watching the news one night when it was reported that a car was going the wrong direction on the freeway. The man knew his wife was on that freeway and became very concerned so called her on her cell phone. She answered and he said, "Dear, there’s one car going in the wrong direction on the freeway." She exclaimed, "One car! There’s hundreds of them!"
[SermonCentral: Contributed by: Mark Sutherlin]
There is one thing in Scripture that the Bible tells us that God will forget, and that one thing is the sins that we have asked forgiveness for.
He will wipe our slate clean, if we thirst for the salvation that he offers.
Do you thirst for salvation, there is no better day than to day to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior and start out on a brand new path. He will make all things new, including us.
