Would you open your Bibles tonight to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. For the last 30, 3-0, weeks we have been "Rediscovering Our Foundations". In that time, we have looked at the basics. The basic stuff we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, man, redemption, the church, and even hell. And tonight we look at what really is the fitting close to this series with our gaze as believers toward the future at heaven. You know, some think we shouldn't do that. They say you, you can be so heavenly minded you're no earthly good.
I agree with C.S. Lewis who said, "It's largely that Christians haven't thought so much of the next world that they have become so ineffective in this one."
Speaking of Isotopes games, I was there July 3 when they shot off the fireworks for Independence Day, it was a great game, even though we lost, it was a great game. The stadium was packed, and there were a couple of guys in front of me that were just slamming down the brewskies. By the time the fireworks were going off, these guys were well saturated, and at this emotional moment of the fireworks going up, and the national anthem, and it was quite a moment, one turned to his friend, and quoting the immortal Budweiser commercial said, "It doesn't get any better than this."
Unfortunately, that's true. Unfortunately for some people as good as it will ever get is a few beers at a baseball game in Albuquerque. Isn't that sad? That's sad. But for others it's going to get a lot better. It's called heaven. This world is not our home. You wouldn't know it the way some Christians even live or talk about this life. They put so much into it, so much stock into the temporary. I wonder if we could really echo Paul's heart where he said, For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. To be with Christ is far, far better.
Heaven occurs 732 times in the Bible. In its plural form heavens, it occurs 171 times. Over 700 times it's a large subject in the Scripture. It's huge. It occupies a lot of thought. It's a big, major doctrine. Now, there's also the term kingdom of heaven, that's mentioned 32 times interestingly enough. All in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus our Savior spoke of the kingdom of God 70 times in the New Testament. So, it's a big deal.
The word heaven comes from the old Anglo Saxon word hevon, and hevon was an ancient way of saying be uplifted or go up higher. Interestingly, the Bible always speaks of heaven as being up. The problem we have is that there are three heavens in the Bible. There's the atmospheric heavens, or what we would call the terrestrial heavens. That's just where the air is, the clouds are, the birds are. The Bible says in Isaiah, As rain comes down from the heaven. The Bible speaks about the birds of heaven.
The second heaven is the celestial heaven. That's "space, the final frontier," as Star Trek opens up. It's the place of the moon, the sun, the stars, etc.
Then there's the third heaven. And the third heaven is the place where God dwells in all of his glory. It's where Paul went to, at least in a vision if not somehow mysteriously in presence. He was caught up into the third heaven That's where God dwells, and that's the heaven we're dealing with here in this chapter.
If you look just at verse 1, the chapter opens with, Now I saw a new heaven and new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. I want you to notice that John here is an eyewitness. This is something he saw. And I don't know about you, but I would much rather believe John's testimony about heaven and what he writes than all the dumb jokes and stories about Peter at the gate of heaven with a clipboard and all those little things; or even life after death experiences that some people have- bright lights, warm fuzzies. I'd believe John before I believe any of them, and here's why.
Revelation 1:1 says that it's the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him. Jesus Christ gives the revelation to the angels. The angel makes sure that John writes it down accurately. And after all, Jesus died and rose from the dead. He ought to know what lies beyond the grave. And this is an accurate revelation of life after death. But because heaven is so unlike earth, it almost defies written description. It almost defies the ability to talk about it.
Even Paul was caught up in the third heaven. He said, I saw things so wonderful, it's unlawful for a man to even utter them. So he did not. We have no record of what Paul saw. But here we do have a record. Yet, it is often described poorly by some. And you know what? Parents don't even help all that much. Trying to describe heaven to a kid's tough, isn't it?
Dad was on this beach, on the beach at the ocean with a few of his kids, and one of his children, a four year old boy, saw a dead seagull. Brought Dad over and said, "Dad, look. What happened?"
And Dad tried to soften it by saying, "The creature died and went to heaven."
And the boy thought about that for a moment. It just didn't make sense. He said, "Well, why did God throw him back down?"
We're going to read tonight about heaven. It's described as a place of perfect sinlessness, perfect fellowship, perfect service, perfect glory, with a perfect government, where there will be perfect worship.
And tonight, and I wish I really had about four weeks on this subject, I'm going to show you three monumental experiences. I've summed them up into three, three monumental experiences that you can expect when it comes to heaven, this final frontier.
Number one is that our intimacy will be restored. I'll show you what I mean. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passes away, and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.'
One of the first things we notice in reading about heaven is the fellowship we're going to have with God. And the words they use to describe a restored and perfect way of communicating with God. Notice the word dwell. It's a Greek word. The word is skenao, which means "to pitch your tent or to build your house." Some of you have done that. You bought property, or you built a house, or you bought a house. You have "skenao-ed" in your neighborhood. That's where you hang out. You go home, and that's where you chill out. That's where you enjoy one another's company is in the home.
It says, his tabernacle is with men. Now, you know a tabernacle is an old way of saying a tent or a hangout place. It speaks of intimacy. You know what it says in John 1 concerning Jesus. And the word was made flesh, and he tabernacled among us. He hung out with us in flesh.
Israel built a tabernacle, and that was the place where God met with man, had fellowship with man. For God said to Moses, I will meet with you there, and I will speak with you there. Now skip ahead in our text to verse 7. He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. It's language of intimacy, fellowship, closeness.
Now skip ahead to chapter 22. Look at the fourth verse of that chapter. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. We will have immediate access and total communion with God in that place. We're going to see God. We're going to see him, and that is unfathomable to us, but it's a promise. Job knew about this. It's what drove him on. Job in the midst of all his physical anguish wrote these words, I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God. Yes, I, myself, will see him with my own eyes. You're going to see God with your own eyes, but they're going to be new eyes. You'll have a resurrected body.
You know, every time I read about heaven in the book of Revelation I notice a couple things. It's bright and it's loud. And I know a lot of us don't like bright. We don't like loud. But you know what the good news is? You're going to have new eyes and new ears. You'll be able to handle it and like it.
So our intimacy with God will be absolute, will be restored even as it was before the fall of man. Now, in a sense there is a level of intimacy in fellowship we have with God now that can be quite good, can be quite satisfying. It might be a great time of worship like we had tonight, or it might be a time of quiet, your own personal devotions.
Jesus said, Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I'm in their midst, he promised, fellowship and intimacy. He said, Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. But full, complete intimacy with our creator will not be reached until we get here in heaven. That's total satisfaction. That's what the Psalmist meant in Psalm 17. He said, I will be fully satisfied when I see you face to face.
Think of it. Think of it. You will never again have to push away the distractions from your mind to focus on God. You will never again wrestle with things that tempt you. You'll never have to worry about competition for time. God will never have to compete for your time again. You'll never have to depend on music, just the right kind that you like to get you in the mood of God. You'll never again have to listen to a Bible study. You'll never have to bow your head and pray. You will have direct contact and intimacy with God. It's what Moses wanted. He cried for it. Oh, Lord, show me your glory. It's exactly what Phillip wanted. He said, Show us the Father and it'll be enough for us. Here's the answer for that. Total fellowship, as well as worship.
In verse 24, And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it. That's into the holy city of Jerusalem. It's gate shall not be shut at all by day. There will be no night there. And it shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
Heaven's main attraction. What is it? Gold streets? Gates of pearl? No. It's God. It's the one sitting on the throne. And it's the vision of him, seeing him that will evoke a response in us in heaven that will be worship, glory, adoration. It will be a constant, incessant thing.
You know, sometimes people wonder, "Will there be football in heaven?" "Will there be pets in heaven?" Who cares. It's, like, God's there, alright?
"Ladies and Gentlemen, God," and nothing can get better than that.
I want you to turn with me. Keep a marker here. Go backwards to Revelation chapter 4 with me. This will answer a lot of those questions. This will answer questions like, "What are we going to do?" Revelation 4, verse 2. Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne sat in heaven, and one sat on the throne, get the main attraction. And he who sat there was like a jasper, the idea is he was diamond-like, a sardias stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, and appearance like an emerald.
Verse 8, The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night saying, 'Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; who was, and is, and is to come.' Get used to that refrain. You're going to hear it forever. Whenever the living creatures give glory, and honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne saying, 'You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power. For you created all things. By your will they exist and were created.'
Look at the next chapter, verse 8. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp, that's where you get the idea of harps, and golden bowls full of incense, don't leave that out, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, 'You are worthy to take the scroll an open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.'
Skip ahead to verse 14, same chapter. The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever.
I don't know everything you're going to do in heaven, but one thing you're going to do is sing. Everybody's going to sing. Even people who sit in the back and don't sing now, they're going to sing in heaven. Isn't that great? It takes heaven to get them to sing sometimes. You'll be worshiping forever. I suggest you make it a lifestyle now. Get ready for it. Get tuned up for it.
Let's go back. Revelation 21. So the first mega experience in heaven is that our intimacy will be restored, number one. Number two, our misery will be removed. Verse 4, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain. For the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And he said to me, 'Write. These things are true and faithful.'
It's interesting to me that before John describes what is there, he tells us what's not there. Verse 1 he said, There's no more sea. That's always bothered me immensely. That's one of the verses I've never liked, that there's not going to be sea, no ocean. And there's a lot of ways to look at that, but honestly, when I look ahead and read what I just read and find out what else is not there, I don't care. I don't care. I read what's not there in verses 4 and 5, and I go, "Yes! Bring it on!"
Since heaven is unlike anything we experience on earth, John writes in the negative. It makes more of an impact because what he writes about are the experiences we are very familiar with, aren't they? Look at them one by one.
He'll wipe away every tear, we know what that's like, from their eyes. There will be no more crying. I remember my first day of kindergarten as if it were like yesterday. I cried like a little baby all day long. I did. I just missed my mommy. It was traumatic, and I still remember how traumatic it was. A day of tears. There have been other days in my life that have been days of tears. I think back to the day I got the phone call that my brother was killed in a motorcycle wreck. Days of tears. My father's funeral. Days of tears. I am promised there will come a time when those tears are over. There is no crying. There are no tears. That means tears of loneliness, tears of misfortune, tears of poverty, tears of sympathy, tears of persecution, of whatever are all a thing of the pass.
Now, life is presently painted with tears simply because nothing on this earth can satisfy those of us who are creatures built for eternity. No matter what we get involved in, or buy, or go after we always come up dry, thirsty. Drink of this water, said Jesus, you'll thirst again. You can write that over every experience in life. So nothing satisfies.
I told you before about the story of the two teardrops floating down the river of life, and one saw the other and said, "Who are you?".
And that second teardrop said to the first, "I am a teardrop from a woman who loved a man and lost him." And that same one said, "And who are you?"
And that first one said, "I'm a teardrop from a woman who got him."
So, in this life, we cry over what we lose and over what we gain sometimes. Life is painted with tears.
You have in your head, right in the corner of your eye little ducts called lacrimal glands. They emit tears. They are there to protect you, to wash away the bacteria, to bathe your eyes with enzymes, to take out foreign debris. But they are also connected to the emotional centers in your brain, especially when you're sad you emit them. Your new body won't have them. Won't need them. No lacrimal glands, new ways to express emotion and joy.
Also there will be no more death. Fifty-two million people die a year. I mentioned last week, that's a 147,000 people everyday. Now, can you imagine how comforting this was to the early church who had lost in the first 150 years of Christianity millions, millions of brothers and sisters who were killed at the edge of the sword, or by the lion, or by burnt hot oil consuming them, or whatever? Killing by persecution. No more death.
So common were the persecutions 2000 years ago, that Tirtulion, one of the historians said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," the seed of the church. But here's the promise. You will never, ever go to a cemetery again after this. No funerals in heaven, and you'll never age. You'll never age. We are aging.
I got up this morning, and I, I do groan now everyday. And I do it because it's Scriptural. We, Paul said in these bodies do earnestly groan. And so I got up and groaned. Then I recognized, realized I'm aging. There's coming a time when it's over.
It's funny what we will resort to to stop the aging process. Even this thing called cryonic suspension. There's five firms in America that are involved in cryonic technology, that is putting the body in a state of suspension in liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit, either the head or the whole body. The idea is to freeze the person until we come up with cures to extant diseases, and then revive them somehow back to life, somehow treat the disease, and they live on and on and on. Now get this. Hundreds have already paid in advance for this service. It costs $35,000 to freeze your head. These people really want to get "a-head" in the next life, I suppose. (Why do I do that?) Or $100,000 to freeze your whole body. Listen. I'll wait. It's free what's coming down the pike.
It says, nor sorrow. Look at those words. Nor sorrow. Are you ever moody? Do you ever have gray days emotionally? Everybody does, and even Christians do. And that's, by the way, why we like the book of Psalms so much, because we read Psalms and we go, "I can relate to that." Some of you can relate even tonight to David's Psalm in Psalm 6. I am weary with groaning. All night I make my bed to swim. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. You can relate to that, but listen, there's coming a time when you can't relate to that. There isn't sorrow. There isn't a capacity for sorrow.
Right before Dwight L. Moody died, he was in and out of sleep, and kind of periods where he would be lucid, and then he would be kind of comatosed. And he'd have these periods in the latter ends of his days on his deathbed. He woke from his sleep one night, and he said out loud, "Earth recedes. Heaven opens for me. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go." And his last few words that he uttered before he went into heaven were this, "This is my triumph. This is my coronation day. It is glorious." No sorrow. No tears.
And then notice, no more pain. Three billion dollars per year in America alone we spend on over the counter analgesics, aspirin. The commercial, "I haven't got time for the pain." One in five senior citizens take medication for chronic pain. I was thinking about this, and this is what I was thinking. If you are not a Christian, the worst thing in life is growing old, because you only have one way to look, friend, and that's backward. Think about it. The only thing that you can look at is your vacations that you had, some great times with your family, the pets you loved; but for a lot of people looking back is not pleasant. It brings up bad memories.
Growing old as a nonbeliever is the worst thing, because you have nothing forward. The best is beer at a baseball game in Albuquerque. But if you're God's child the best is yet to be. No sorrow, no hospital, no funeral, no rehab clinics, no wheelchairs, no broken homes, no broken hearts, and no hell.
So, this is heaven: Our intimacy will be restored. Our misery will be removed. There's a third and final thing, and we have a lot of verses, so let's get at it. Our community will be redeemed.
Look at verse 2. I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And verse 10, And he carried me away in the spirit, that's an angel who said, "Come here. I want to have you check something out," to a great and mighty mountain, and he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
How many of you remember "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? Remember that movie from years ago? Remember in that movie, two of you? How many? "Oh, no, we don't watch movies, we're Christians." Yeah, right. I forget. You remember that huge spaceship city that descended. The dimensions of that city in "Close Encounters" doesn't even compare to the dimensions of this holy city. Move over "Close Encounters". This is something God made. The New Jerusalem.
It's something Abraham looked for, wasn't it? He wasn't just looking for Canaan. Hebrews 11 tells us, He waited for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. This is what Jesus referred to when he said, In my Father's house are many, you tell me, what? Mansions. I'm going to go prepare a place for you. John sees it.
Verse 2, it is called a holy city. It is hard for me to imagine an entire city that's holy. Maybe a home or two in a neighborhood, maybe a few churches that would be places of holy worship, but here an entire city. An entire city.
Now, the fact that this thing comes out of heaven, and it's never said to land on the earth cause most of us to believe, us, self included, that this is a city that hovers near, orbits near, like a satellite, near the new earth. So think about it. You've heard about New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, New Mexico. This is New Jerusalem. And it's hovering near a brand new earth in a new set of galaxies known as the new heaven. This is wild.
Look at the setting, verse 9. One of the seven angels, I just read that in verse 10. Verse 11, here's the description. Having the glory of God, her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper, clear as crystal. In other words, like a diamond. And also she had a great wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates, and the names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Three gates on the east. Three gates on the north. Three gates on the south. Three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, its wall. And the city is laid out as a square. It's length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with a reed, 12,000 furlongs. That's a long fur. We'll tell you what that is in a minute. It's length, breadth, height are equal. And he measured its wall, 140 cubits according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold like clear glass. Have you ever seen transparent gold? Neither have I. You will. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second sapphire; the third, chalcedony. It comes from Chalcedon in Turkey, a striped stone. The fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardias; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There will be no night there. Hmm. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. But there shall be by no means, there shall by no means enter anything that defiles or causes abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Now I want to give you something that will help. We are dealing with something in an entirely different dimension here. This is an eternal dimension. Keep in mind at this time the rapture is passed. The tribulation is passed. The second coming is over. Armageddon is done with. The millennium is over. The Great White Throne Judgment is done. The previous heaven and earth, including the millennial earth are gone, and this is an eternal state. A whole different dimensions{sic}.
How many of you have ever been on a tour to Israel with us? Raise your hand. It's a great place to go, especially to compare. You see, I reckon when I get up and see this, and I have a brief description, then I'm going go, "Boy, I remember the first one. I mean, I thought that was cool, but not like this." There's about ¾ of a million people that live in the environs of Jerusalem today, but notice this thing. It is described as either a perfect cube, or some see it as a pyramid, 12,000 furlongs, that is 1500 miles cubed, or in a pyramid, depending on how you read it, or a diamond shape. 1500 miles is the distance from Florida to Maine. Now, imagine something that size in a square hovering above you. Sounds cool, doesn't it?
The moon's diameter is 2,160 miles. The New Jerusalem diameter will be 26,000 miles. Twelve times larger than the moon as a satellite hovering city around the new earth. That would make it 2,250,000 square miles. 2,250,000 square miles. A square mileage of modern London is,is so much smaller. That's 15,000 times bigger than London.
I'm going to read you something. It's by a scientist, Henry Morris. This scientist, guessing that there have been perhaps 40 billion since Adam, people on the earth. He's accounting the flood and its destruction. Assuming a similar number were born, or will be born during the millennium, plus 20 billion who have died before or soon after birth, there will have been 100 billion people in the human race says this scientist. And if we assume that 20% of them will be saved, he's just assuming, it's just conjecture, for Jesus said a large majority will never be saved, he guessed that 20 billion people could inhabit this one city. And he assumed that 25% of the city will be used for dwelling places, the rest for whatever else, streets, parks, public buildings, and he calculates that each person could have a cubical block, each person, 20 billion people, could have a cubical block with 75 acres on each face to call their own.
I know that's conjecture, but it's a lot of fun to think about. It's described as a cube, and it would seem, did you notice that the streets aren't all horizontal, but that travel is vertical, multidimensional, as well as horizontal. This makes Star Wars look primitive. Anything Hollywood could ever come up with as first grade stuff in comparison.
Not only that, but notice the luminescence of the streets, transparent gold. And look at verse 11. Just look at that. Having the glory of God. And look at verse 22, or 23. The city had no need of sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. Remember when Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration? What did those three disciples notice? He was bright, right? His garment shown like the sun. Light emanated from the person of Jesus. It was so bright. Jesus for a moment pulled back the curtain on his own flesh and let the glory of the future momentarily, fractionally, shine upon the them. Just a fraction.
By the way, just as an aside. This solves the problem that skeptics have about Genesis 1, evolutionists sometimes have about Genesis 1. Here's the problem. They say, "Well, the Bible says that on the first day God said, 'Let there be light,' but then it says on the fourth day God created the sun and the moon. We have a contradiction." No, we don't. God doesn't need a sun or a moon to have light. Light emanates from his own person. And when he was done doing that, and saving it all for heaven, he created the sun and the moon.
Now, we're going to close up, and I want you to look at who's there in heaven, in this community of the redeemed. He said to me, "It's done. I am the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. And he who overcomes shall inherit all things. I will be his God. He will be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and in case you think, whew, I'm not included, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Listen. This is a city for believers only. There will not be one single unbeliever in heaven at all. At all.
You know, it talks about at the end of this chapter that those who are saved will walk in its light, saved. You know, some people think they're automatically saved. Have you noticed that? It's the old American idea. "If you're just good enough, and sincere enough, and believe in anything hard enough you'll be saved. Or if you do good works, and you go to religious things, you'll be saved. Or if you're a Muslim, and you're a suicide bomber, and you kill at least one Jew you'll immediately go to heaven and have 72 wives. That sounds like punishment for, for the husband and the wives.
Now, it is not how sincere you are. It's not how good you are. It's not how religious you are. You can get to heaven, listen carefully, by Jesus Christ alone, through faith in him alone, as an act of God's grace alone. That's what Jesus said, Unless you're born again, you will never, ever see the kingdom of God.
You say, "Wait a minute. How could God send people to hell?"
We already covered that last week, didn't we? Listen, it's not like our lives are in neutral, and God just arbitrarily says, "Hell. Heaven. Heaven. Hell." Just arbitrarily sending people there. We are all condemned to hell the day we are born. We're all headed there. Were it not for an act of God intercepting us, we would all end up there. All of us. All of us.
Jesus said, Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Perish.
John 3 says, he who believes in the son has everlasting life. He who does not believe shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
I think we're going to have three surprises in heaven. Number one, who's there. There's a lot of people we, we never would've imagined are going to be there.
"You got in. How?"
"Same way you did. Grace."
The second surprise will be who's not there.
"Where's so and so. I expected him or her."
The third surprise, the greatest surprise of all is that we're there. We're there by God's goodness.
Brings up sort of another question people ask me. Will we recognize each other in heaven? I love what Charles Spurgeon said. He says, "Do you think, honestly, we're going to be more stupid in heaven than we are here?" Can you recognize me now? Peter, James, and John recognized Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. They had been dead 900 years. There was instant recognition.
And what are we going to look like? Better. A lot better. Resurrected body. And I can only imagine when your body will be resurrected, it will slightly resemble your body now, but be completely different, just like a seed somehow resembles a full bloomed flower, but just in a miniscule way. You'll really blossom. You'll probably be at your peak age or peak strength. I don't think you're going to look like you did the day you dies. That would be depressing. Wouldn't it? I mean, if we all looked that, if we died at the peak age, great, but what if you die at an old age or you're a baby. I think we're all going to be at that perfect age. And 1 Corinthians 15 brings more of that out.
That's heaven. That's the final frontier. And I love what Marco Polo said on his deathbed. You know, Marco Polo visited all sorts of places. He was a 13th century explorer. He visited China, and nobody believed, a lot of people didn't believe he did it. When he died, they told him on his deathbed , "Take it back. Recant all those weird, fanciful, made up stories about China."
And he smiled, and he said, "I haven't told you the half. I haven't told you the half of what's there."
John gives us a good portion, but I have a hunch we're just barely getting a glimpse.
So, is the beer ad right? "It doesn't get any better than this?" Dead wrong. It can get a whole lot better, or it can get a whole lot worse.
Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to run away from. We thank you that Jesus came and died for sin, to deliver us from eternal second death, to resurrect us, to give us hope in a place that any Hollywood film could never come close to describing. We have a small glimpse of it here. Lord, I pray, I pray that we your people would be motivated by heaven. That it would be a motivation even more than a destination. That here on this earth, after this study, after this series we, your church, this group of people would live differently with this in mind. That we'd start planning and thinking about heaven and laying up treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt.
Father, once again I pray for anyone here who does not know Jesus personally. They've thought about you. They've thought about heaven and hell. They've thought about church, and they've just sort of taken a, a hands off approach to it, a distant approach. Some of them, frankly, are burned out on church, and I can understand why. Some of them are afraid to trust you, and that's unfortunate, and that I don't understand, because you are so good and trustworthy. I pray that tonight, Lord, this moment would be a time of relinquishing, releasing all those burdens, all that junk from the past, just to lay it down before you, and come to you, and be honest with you, and be born again, and have their names written in heaven's book of life. This is a real place, a real place. In Jesus' name, Amen. Would you all stand.