The New Heavens And New Earth - Part 1 Series

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. # “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1–3 LSB)

A Place of God

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, (Revelation 21:3 LSB)

It will be a holy city, not only because of the absence of evil, sin, crime, and death. It will be a holy city because God, The Lord Jesus Christ, will be in that city. Heaven is a place where we will live with God. We typically think about heaven as a place with pearled gates, streets of gold, angels, music, and so on. But none of that will make Heaven heaven. Heaven and the New Jerusalem will only be what it is because he will dwell with us.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24 LSB)

I shall walk before Yahweh In the land of the living. (Psalm 116:9 LSB)

Most people are comfortable with knowing God at arm’s length. They don’t want to get too close. That’s not heaven. Puritan commentator Richard Baxter said that “We shall then have light without candle and perpetual day without the sun. We shall have enlightened understandings without Scripture and be governed without a written law.” What a description and all of that comes not because of ourselves but because we will dwell that closely with the Lord Almighty.

When Isaiah comes close to God he says, “Woe is me for I am ruined." (Isaiah 6:5)

When Peter realized who Jesus was, he cried, “Depart from me because I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20 LSB)

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18 LSB)

No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal might! Amen. ( (1 John 4:12 LSB)

“If God is accessible, if God is invisible if no one can look upon him, if He is too holy, too pure, too spotless, and we are too iniquitous, how is it that we can see him?” (MacArthur). It is the transformation that will take place through our Lord. We are resurrected like the Lord, the second Adam, in his likeness. With that, we will dwell in heaven close to God just as it was designed in the garden.

That is our desire. That should be your desire above all things in this life are preparing for the life to come. If you’re having trouble desiring heaven, it is because you’re having trouble desiring to see God.