Sunday, November 1, 2020

Sermon preached today at Lake Marburg Baptist Church - Heaven

 

Heaven – sermon notes

 

Nearly two thousand years before Christ  Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the man from the land of Uz, the most righteous man on earth, a Gentile named Job, said;

Job 19:25  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins [internal organs] be consumed within me.

 

Over a thousand years later during the century, most likely, that saw the founding of the city of Rome, a prophet named Isaiah wrote;

 

Isaiah 26:19  Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

 

And again, in a few hundred years, when the Persian Empire occupied all of the ancient Near East, a prophet named Daniel wrote;

 

Daniel 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

Also read starting in Ezekiel 37:1 for an explanation that not only Israel at that time but one about resurrection of a physical body WE can understand.

 

So, before Christ, there was an understanding that there would be a resurrection. Daniel noted that some would have everlasting life. But, based on what? How do we have everlasting life?

According to the New Testament, by the very words of Jesus Christ Himself, by believing what He said about Himself, believing in His resurrection, and trusting in His righteousness and not our own for our salvation.

 

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

Then, in the same chapter John noted that Jesus elaborated further.

 

7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

 

Peter declared;

 

Acts 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

 

Paul told us;

 

Romans 10:8b:The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

    12 ¶  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [Gentile]: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

John wrote for us;

 

1John 5:20  And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

 

And by this faith we are sealed until the day of redemption, the day of our resurrection.

 

Romans 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

 

2Corinthians 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

 

Ephesians 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

 

Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

 

In fact, as soon as we leave our current mortal body we are with Christ.

 

2Corinthians 5:1 ¶  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [like earnest money; a desposit] of the Spirit. 6  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

And where is this eternal place in the heavens? Paul himself was taken there, perhaps when he was stoned with stones and rocks and thought dead as recorded in Acts 14.

 

2Corinthians 12:1 ¶  It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught UP to the third heaven. 3  And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4  How that he was caught UP into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

 

Galatians 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

Hebrews 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

 

Revelation 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

 

Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

Christ promised that this place was being prepared for us.

 

John 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

 

The book of Revelation provides us with a picture of what this heavenly city looks like and you can read it for yourself although it is overwhelming.

 

You know all of our lives we face suffering because of our bodies of flesh and bone. We might think we are invincible as young people but by the time we get old, if we are so blessed to get old, we know for a fact that we are definitely not invincible. As sickness and weakness overtake us and death begins its nasty work of bringing our bodies of flesh to their natural end we realize just how fragile our lives are.

 

Hebrews 2:14 ¶  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

So, we will receive a resurrected body, a resurrection body, as it was originally meant to be before our first ancestor passed death on to us.

 

Genesis 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

 

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

 

This is a body that will not know suffering and sorrow, pain and discouragement. Those things are not OUR destiny if we believe on Christ.

 

Revelation 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 

Twenty years ago tomorrow was the absolute worst day of my life and it was the worse day in the flesh of someone else’s life. That someone was very precious to me and someone I loved dearly even though we were constantly at odds. Her name was Bridget and she was my 17-year old daughter.

 

Bridget had prayed to receive Christ as her Saviour ten years prior to that date on October 7, 1990. She had been counselled by a deacon in our church after going forward to tell the Pastor she was a believer. She then submitted to baptism. She was seven years old.

 

Now, at 17 after suffering from things I don’t even know about, and things I do know about like bipolar disorder she hung herself in our backyard. There are no words that I can say to express my grief and horror at that night, the first Monday in November in the year 2000.

 

I cling to two things. One is her salvation and two is that in her suicide note left on the family computer she swore that she loved God and that He knows she loved Him but that she felt abandoned by Him. Bridget had started doing drugs and engaging in risky and immoral behavior and along with everything else her biological mother had rejected her for the second and last time.

 

So, I believe that Bridget is in heaven with the Lord. I believe that I will see her again. I believe that our reunion will NOT be one with tears and regrets but with joy and love unimaginable. I believe that we will be praising God with an innumerable company of other creatures made perfect and complete.

 

Revelation 5:11  And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12  Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

 

Revelation 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

 

Think of the triumph in those scenes in Heaven. Think of the uplifting joy, the eternal gratitude and the everlasting blessing of that outcome.

 

You know that even God’s soldiers die in this flesh, no matter how valuable their service.

 

2Kings 13:14a  Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died.

 

Can you imagine? Elisha, Elisha got sick and died. King David grew old…

 

1Kings 1:1a  Now king David was old and stricken in years…

 

…knowing that he too was going to die.

 

1Kings 2:1 ¶  Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2b  I go the way of all the earth…

 

You sit in a waiting room, in a doctor’s office, this sterile environment, so cold and impersonal. Can you even think of heaven? Fear, doubt, regret, and profound sense of feeling that you are going to miss out on some sweet and precious things if the doctor’s words are true, if this is truly God’s will for you.

 

But, in the matter of eternity, you are already there with your loved ones.

 

Ephesians 2:4 ¶  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

 

In fact, a saved physicist told me after Bridget died that we misunderstand eternity like we misunderstand infinity. Eternity isn’t one event after another going on and on for an endless sequence any more than infinity is one number after another. It is a place without time where everything is now, an experience we cannot comprehend in our finite minds. He told me that I was with my daughter in Heaven before we went home from the funeral. Now, whether or not that is true is irrelevant. My point is that the time our loved ones left here have before they are with us is infinitesimal compared to the eternity we will have with them and Christ, if they are saved.

 

But, what about Heaven? When Paradise was in the heart of the earth, before Christ’s resurrection, the blessed dead lived there. But, Paradise, like the ark of God, has been removed to the New Jerusalem after Christ preached to the spirits there. When it was in the heart of the earth God let a woman who had a familiar spirit in her think she had the power to call up Samuel from there and Samuel wasn’t all too happy about it.

 

1Samuel 28:15a ¶  And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?...

 

Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

 

Luke 23:43  And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

 

1Peter 3:18 ¶  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

 

But Paul would write;

 

2Corinthians 12:4  How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

 

And John would write;

 

Revelation 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

 

Revelation 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

 

Christ went down but Paul went up. That’s a change of location.

 

It is commonly understood among conservative Christians that before Christ’s resurrection that Hell, the place of suffering, was next to Paradise, the place of joy and peace. In Luke 16:26 it is said that there was an unbridgeable gap between them. The Greeks, who were represented as traders and mercenaries throughout the Ancient Near East from the earliest times and even fought on the side of Nebuchadnezzar and his opponent, Pharaoh Necho, at Carchemish as mentioned in Jeremiah 46:2, were often the hired men of Jeremiah 46:21. They took many slaves as spoils of war including many Jews.

 

Joel 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

 

It is very possible that Greek versions of Hades, their word for Hell, were formed by what they heard from their Hebrew captives just as later Greek writers would say, during the Christian era, that Greek mythical heroes were amalgamations of Bible characters. For example, Hercules may be a combination of Samson and Jonah due to the experiences he supposedly endured some have thought. Even Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian who lived hundreds of years before Christ supposed that the Greeks lifted their mythologies from Egypt. Archaeologists, linguists, and mythographers have concluded that the Greeks got their mythologies from the Ancient Near East, which the Bible confirms in part.  The Greek view of Hades as a place that contained not only suffering but a place of joy and rest confirms this view.

 

Hel, in Norse mythology, is not a good point to start with as virtually all we know about the Norse gods was written by Christian writers during the 13th century and beyond, presumably from older sources but who can say for certain. It has been noted that early writers said even their mythology came from the Near East.

 

Paradise, in Heaven, synonymous with Heaven itself perhaps, is a word derived from the Persian word for a hunting preserve or park or garden and I’m talking about something fantastic and wonderful, carefully preserved and cared for. Remember, too, that our first Ancestor, Adam’s, employment was caring for the Garden of God, Eden. I can imagine a place more magnificent and amazing than even our most picturesque places on earth with beauty and nature and no death. Just picture it. Samuel wasn’t very pleased being called from there and I can understand why.

 

Imagine for a moment right now that you are in Paradise, in Heaven, with everyone you love, with people you’ve influenced for Christ, and with people, complete strangers, who you’ve helped with a gift or offering who belonged to Christ. You just haven’t experienced it yet. It isn’t knowable to you in this body of flesh.

 

It is a city and a place of immeasurable beauty and majesty and promise.

 

Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

 

Just imagine that, if you’ve lost, if you’ve suffered, if you’ve worried about losing someone or suffering something. It goes on and gets very specific;

 

21:16  And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17  And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18  And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.19  And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20  The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.21  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several [meaning individual] gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25  And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26  And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

 

22:1 ¶  And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Check my math but it looks to me like the city is a cube with measurements of about 1500 miles on all sides. Note that its sides are not just 1500 miles but its height is 1500 miles so that consists of space inside of this cube is 1500x1500x1500 miles. This is over 3 billion cubic miles of space available within this cube. That seems like plenty of room for anything you can imagine. This is God the Father’s house.

John 14:2  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Our modern understanding of a mansion is a large manor house. An older definition is a luxury apartment in a manor house. It is clear in the New Jerusalem there is room for anything you can imagine.

Are you excited yet about going there? You can’t even picture it can you? And God will wipe away all your tears. There will be no more sorrow, no more death, no more pain, no more suffering because all of those things are passed away.

 

Most of all we will be with our Maker, our Creator, for eternity, and joy unspeakable. This is what we’ve been promised.

 

John 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30  I and my Father are one.

 

We have an expectation but while we live and flourish in our flesh we often forget about that expectation and that state of being we have been promised once we shake off this body of flesh. When things are going great, we are healthy and feel strong, and life seems to hold so many possibilities for us we tend to focus only on it and what is happening right now.

 

But, we have a home in Heaven. Our soul longs for that home and for that joy and for that peace and for a reunion with our Creator and those who have gone on before us.

 

So, what I wanted to do today was to renew that sense of hope in you or to give you that spark of expectation for the first time, if necessary. We have a home in Heaven and we long for that reunion. I could have said much more but it is enough. Trust God’s word.

 

Isaiah 64:4  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

 

Paul saw it but was not permitted to tell us about it. John saw it and told what he was permitted to tell. But, there is so much more there that we cannot see in this finite body with these finite eyes. As Jesus said in Luke 21:28, Look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.

 

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