The Healing Of Heaven Series

The Healing of Heaven

Revelation 21:1-4, 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, 2 Corinthians 5:1-4

May 8, 2011

Morning Service

Introduction

Happy Mother’s Day

We are in the middle of a series of messages on the subject of Heaven.

Heaven is a place of sacrifice because Jesus gave Himself for us. Heaven is a place of residence because Christ is preparing a place for us. Heaven is also a place of personal healing.

Understanding the reality of healing

No matter who you are or what your place in life, you know the reality of pain. We experience pain in a variety of ways and often some form of pain strikes us each and every day. Pain often requires a pursuit of healing.

Physical pain

Physical pain can happen in any number of ways. We seem to be good at injuring ourselves or causing aches and pains. The depth of physical pain comes through our life experiences. We might feel the pain of past injuries. (Broken bones, damaged joints or other things) We may feel the pain of an overtaxing day (we over do it, we try to do more than we should,). We may feel the pain physical ailments (arthritis, acid reflux, migraines).

Emotional Pain

Emotional pain is the sign of invisible scars that everyone carries. There are things that some people may never know that have happened to us. There are things that people have done to us that still remain. There are words that still echo through our minds and hearts. There are hurts that run well below skin deep. There is sorrow for lost relationships, pain from broken heartedness, remembrance of tears long shed. Emotional pain has a way of running deep and lasting long.

Spiritual Pain

Spiritual pain is the most difficult to nail down because it is in many ways subjective. We experience spiritual pain differently because we all have individual issues. There is a spiritual pain that happens when we remember the ways that we have let God down. There is spiritual pain when we are confronted with our failures. Spiritual pain has a way of crippling our walk with God. The truth is that spiritual pain can really only be healed through an encounter with Jesus Christ.

Scripture is filled with the message of healing. God offers us physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Healing is the removal of pain or the restoration of strength. The problem is that the healing that we experience here on earth is normally temporary. The healing that Heaven offers is full and complete. This morning we are going to examine a couple of different scriptures to gain a deeper understanding of the healing of Heaven.

Jesus wants to give us more

Jesus brings the ultimate healing when the new order of things comes into existence. Notice how the new heaven and new earth are described. There will be no more sorrow, no more crying, no more sickness, no more death and no more pain. The reality of what Jesus does is that He removes the power of pain from existence. If there is no more pain, there is no more need for healing.

The promise of heaven is simple, Jesus removes the pain. The pain and suffering of life are forever washed away in His power and grace. There is no more of the problems of the earthly life. Everything that was impacted by the power of sin has been removed and creation has been made new. Our hope is found in the fact that we no longer have to be the way that we are but can become all that Jesus is. We can have life that never ends, we can have a body that never ages, we can have a life free of pain and suffering and we can have the presence of Christ Himself.

Many believe that just having faith is the end of the access into heaven. Jesus wants more for our lives than for us to just be saved. The desire of Christ is that we would make the decision to follow Him. The result of following Jesus is to become more like Him. The purpose of holiness is to become more like Christ each and every day. When we seek to be more like Jesus we are really walking in His footsteps.

The discipleship process comes to an end when Jesus finishes the job and makes us completely like Him. We are given a glorified body and are empowered by the fullness of the resurrection.

Heaven requires a change

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.