LESSON 7 HEAVEN

 LESSON 7 HEAVEN

THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH

 

The 5 “W”s  of Heaven:

 

Though not formatted to answer the 5 “W”s of Heaven in this order, hopefully they will all be answered:

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

 

Who and Why is most easily answered…

 

Jesus – because that is where He is and is where we will be with Him.

 

What and Where will be answered as we progress…

 

For now, let’s answer the “WHEN”:

 

“WHEN” is heaven?

 

ETERNITY WITH CHRIST

 

“Heaven” that we all talk about will be temporary until the New Heavens and the New Earth. What will this temporary Heaven be like if I go there before the Millennium?

 

It will be more REAL than what I have ever experienced while here on earth in the body.

 

Here’s why I say that…

 

It was the Spirit that created the physical. What is spiritual is pre-physical, it is “more” real.

 

It will be more REAL than what I have ever experienced while here on earth in the body.

 

If the temporary Heaven is more wonderful in the spirit, then why get a resurrection body?

 

We’ll answer next.

 

There is more for Christians than just going to heaven and “existing” there eternally with Christ after this life.

 

The biblical teaching is that there will be a New Heavens and Earth:

Isa 65.17 - ‘‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

2 Pet 3.13 – But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

The heaven that we have always been told about is a heaven that is temporary until the New Heavens and Earth.

 

The temporary heaven is a REAL, LITERAL residence.

 

The “non-spiritual”, physical, resurrected Jesus Christ in a physical body is waiting to receive us in a real place.

 

When we go to heaven in our spiritual, non- “earth suit”, it will be more real than what we experience now.

 

So, then why be re-united with our resurrected body if our spiritual state is just as real?

 

Because Jesus has a resurrected body.

 

A resurrected body is the most fitting state to dwell in the New Heavens and Earth…physical with the physical.

 

Our resurrected body will be the best way to enjoy the physical gifts and blessings He will provide – all the senses will be unrestricted.

 

Back to the New Heavens and the New Earth…

 

Does it mean that God vaporizes this present earth? And creates a new one?

May mean “renewed”, “upgraded” – everything gets fixed that got broken due to sin.

 

In fact, we may have to start all over again building a new world! In a new world without the curse of sin. There will be LOTS to do!

 

Not to mention, and slightly off track, since the Great Tribulation was so catastrophic, there may be lots of reconstruction in the Millennium!

 

Rev 21.1-3 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (the earlier state of them), and the sea was no more.

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

 3* And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

 

and the sea was no more… The Mediterranean Sea was dangerous, with chaos and death and drowning. When people sailed out onto the Med Sea, no one had certainty that they would return. The sea was a scary place.

 

The water in the new earth and heavens is something that is glorious. Water is good, but everything bad associated with turbulent seas is no more.

 

Remember John was on Patmos, in the middle of the Med Sea where that sense would be increased. As John wrote this, he clearly understood the relief of such a statement.

 

What is heaven?

 

It is the place where God most fully makes known His presence to bring blessing.

He is omnipresent – we can never go anywhere outside of his presence:

 

Ps 139.7-10 - Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

 

BUT, throughout the Bible, there is a place where God shows or manifests his presence to bring blessing and to reveal more of himself … it is the focus of his positive activity in the universe and the focus of worship to him.

 

Isa 66.1- Thus says the LORD: ‘‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?

 

Heaven is not state of mind. It is not a dream world, nonphysical existence, or ethereal emotional state of being… it is a real place.

Everything that HOLLYWOOD ever taught you about Heaven –

TRASH IT!!!!!!

 

 

What is the temporary heaven?

 

Acts 1.11 – Two men in white robes stood by them and said, ‘‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’’

 

He went SOMEPLACE REAL… He didn’t just disappear.

 

Stephen being stoned actually saw a real place…

Acts 6.55-56 - But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

 56* And he said, ‘‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’’

 

Jn 14.3 - And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

 

Elijah was caught up in a REAL chariot of fire and his cloak fell.

“Enoch was not” – God took him to be with himself

 

Where is the temporary heaven?

 

Where is it? We can’t find it with a telescope. God has hidden it from our eyes… 

By some means he has put it just outside our reach in any type of manner – out of spectrum range but is a “physical” place outside of reach and senses. 

 

Jesus in His resurrected body is there now. His resurrected body was touchable, visible, hearable, but is now in some way outside of our senses and technology.

 

And it is where our spirits go when we die, TEMPORARILY.

 

And one wonderful day, the physical creation will be renewed and we will continue to live and act in it.

 

Many theologians believe that we are headed back to the way things once were…

 

Garden of Eden – place of perfection until they sinned and were removed from it and it was cursed.

 

Gen 3.17-19 - And to Adam he said, ‘‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’’

 

“thorns and thistles” is used to represent every painful and harmful thing: poison ivy, bees that sting, ticks and mosquitos that suck blood and in exchange gives us diseases, snakes that bite, and so on…floods, hurricanes, earthquakes…

 

The curse is the backdrop for Rom 8 – God will undo all of this:

 

Rom 8.19-21 - For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

 20* For the creation was subjected to futility (Gen 3), not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

 21* that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

 

Image how this would be if the whole earth had the abundance and productivity that was only in the Garden of Eden.

 

We will not be overpopulated because the entire earth will be habitable. Areas that are dry, barren and deserted, will flow with springs of water and green plush vegetation…

Already tamed and on display.

 

Peter is predicting something in the future: 

 

2 Pet 3.10-14 - But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

 11* ¶ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

 12* waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

 13* But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

 14* Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

 

Not annihilated because then the devil will have the last word. Some things will be burned up but not it’s actual existence. God will renew again that which He said was good in the beginning.

 

This new heavens/earth will be a place for our physical, resurrected bodies. Our body will be like the body of the resurrected Christ. His body consumed food, was seen, touched and was able to touch. He was not a mist or virtual image hologram. Yet, He could walk through walls:

 

He could be touched…he was physical:

Jn 20.27* Then he said to Thomas, ‘‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve but believe.’’

28* Thomas answered him, ‘‘My Lord and my God!’’

 

Joh 20:26* Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘‘Peace be with you.’’ 

 

1 Cor 15.51-52 –

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

 

Our future bodies will be like the resurrected body of Christ. 

 

Imagine your own body “upgraded” just like you’d want it to be – everything fixed. No longer subject to age or death.

 

What is the point of a body in heaven? What about heaven?

With a renewed earth and new bodies, there will be an expanse of everything we have ever known.

 

Subdue = find out how it can be useful and joyful for you – discover it and created things with it. We’ll be starting from scratch.

 

Build buildings, skyscrapers, ride on horses, then cars, then trains, then planes. Recipes, clothing, sports, music and arts finally for God’s glory. 

 

Why would God take those things from us when we have experienced so much joy in the body experiencing everything possible in God’s creation.

 

Different images of heaven:

 

Garden = great productivity and abundance and delight.

 

City = If you don’t like cities, then take away everything you don’t like about them and they will all be gone – crime, pollution, homeless... imagine everything wonderful and it will be. 

 

Kingdom = ruled by a King

 

Imagine everything that there is, is perfected. 

 

Col 3.1 – If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

 2* Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

 3* For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

 4* When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 

This earth is just a faint image of what the new earth will be…everything you love about this life will have measureless excitement … 

 

Hiking the mountains, swimming the beaches, biking the trails, sailing the oceans…laser tag! on and on…experiencing vast delight in different cultures all around the world without the force-fed social justice/diversity oppression we now experience.

 

Finally, I will be able to sit down with someone of another race or culture and delight in the differences. I will think and treat them with honor and amazement. 

The peculiarity of people will be another reason and wonderment to praise and Glorify God.

Christ will be the bond.

 

THE GOAL OF THE THIS HYMN IS FINALLY REALIZED!

 

1 Blest be the tie that binds 
our hearts in Christian love; 
the fellowship of kindred minds 
is like to that above. 

 

2 Before our Father's throne 
we pour our ardent prayers; 
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, 
our comforts and our cares. 

 

3 We share our mutual woes, 
our mutual burdens bear, 
and often for each other flows 
the sympathizing tear. 

 

4 When we are called to part, 
it gives us inward pain; 
but we shall still be joined in heart, 
and hope to meet again. 

 

5 This glorious hope revives 
our courage by the way; 
while each in expectation lives 
and waits to see the day. 

 

6 From sorrow, toil, and pain, 
and sin, we shall be free; 
and perfect love and friendship reign 
through all eternity. 

 

From the book Heaven, Randy Alcorn:

 

Illustration: Adam and Eve… Eve bites a mango and says how wonderful and delicious - “try some, Adam”. 

 

Adam says, “No Eve, stop that! We should be worshipping God.”

 

BUT she is worshipping God by freely enjoying the creation He has made.

 

Heaven will be like that feeling you get when you go back home – “I belong here”. A longing for heaven is a longing for God. 

 

Everything that we could enjoy now, that could become idolatrous or things that stir up covetousness or lust or prompts laziness or gluttony we will have in heaven, but without it being a temptation or distraction from enjoying it without God. 

 

I can read a good book and give thanks to God and enjoy it with him. I can eat a fresh strawberry and enjoy total fellowship with God while doing it. We can enjoy in everything Heaven – the New Heavens and the New Earth – has to offer while enjoying God to the uttermost. 

 

While participating in the ever-flourishing things of God, I am enjoying and worshipping the very God who gives them to me. 

 

Never do I touch or pick up one thing, or have one thought, without worshipping God at the same time. 

 

Never does anything distract me from God nor do I experience anything without the eternal weight of glory associated with it. 

 

Everything in God’s magnificent creation is released and unhidden to me and is unfettered from sin.

 

Exploring in thought….

 

Cars that are spacious and don’t break down or get into accidents…or maybe we won’t need cars. 

 

We can just be somewhere at the speed of thought – but maybe not. 

 

Maybe there will be the invention of “warp speed” or “FTL” – faster than light travel. or 

 

Maybe “beaming” or “transporting” via some device

 

Physical properties may change since no longer subject to the curse of sin. The possibilities of invention and exploration will be limitless… the imagination will never run out of ideas and the thirsting of our souls will be filled in all that God has to offer. 

 

We have never known this!!!

 

We will never be bored. We will still be learning physical skills even without sin. 

 

If we like to golf, we won’t always get a hole-in-one. Archery, learning languages, bike riding… We will continue to develop skills and knowledge. 

 

We may even be able to see colors or temperatures that we have never seen before (ultraviolet and Infra-Red) that now can only be seen by devices and instruments. 

 

There will still be challenges, competition, and milestones to overcome - all of this, but without “failure”, rejection, or loss---- because our significance is no longer contorted by what we do – for we are in Christ and in perfect fellowship with our God. 

 

Everything that we will do, or think is deeply embedded in the knowledge that our position and our condition is in perfect union with our Lord.

 

Coffee? Why not.

 

Jonathan Edwards – “The saints will be progressive in knowledge throughout all eternity”. We continue to learn.

 

We will be working.

We will pick up with our relationships where we left off with them…and even recognize people we have never met.

Learning languages.

Snorkeling, sky diving – can be done without fear and without harm.

Dancing, business, technology, machinery…

 

The old saying, “All good things must come to an end.”

 

Not true in the new heavens and earth. All good things will continue forever!!!!

 

What about the bad things?

 

Isa 65.17b – “these things will not be remembered or brought to mind…” the sad, harmful, destructive memories and experiences. These things will Not return… flooding us with sorrow and depression. 

 

Re 7:17* For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’’

Re 21:4* He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’’

 

Will we all be doing in heaven what we enjoy doing now?

 

We might say, “I’m tired of this” for a thousand years and then I’d like to learn another skill and on and on for eternity. 

 

We will not be engaged with trivial pursuits or endeavors beyond our abilities that would cause stress and anxiety – though our abilities will increase and continue to expand. 

 

There will be no envy of others or any sense of inequality. We will rejoice when others get it right and excel. 

 

There will be no punishment for success or redistribution of wealth – since there is no envy or covetousness. It’s okay if every “house” is not equal. Imagine a world of no snobs, no arrogance, no corruption, no jealousy, or backbiting. 

 

We will gain new abilities with unlocked and unfettered minds.

 

How about our marriages and our relationships?

 

Matt 22.30

No Marriage – we will be like the angels? 

 

As it is today… a young woman and a young man have an unsettling urge to pair off and grow exclusive with one another – excluding others. 

 

The big question… “Who will I marry?” It’s a haunt for every single male and female. If they say they are not looking for a spouse at this time, then they are only building a temporary restraint from what looms. This quest will go away in heaven.

 

Alcorn – “the uniqueness and exclusiveness of marriage will not be there” – 

 

I disagree. My spouse will be closer to me than anybody else…in that

– my wife and I will not go somewhere alone together and hideout for eternity – 

We would invite others to come and participate or fellowship with us, and then our time of fellowship with others will not end.

 

This present life matters in eternity. 

 

In fact, the decision in this life to either reject Christ or to embrace Him determines heaven or no heaven for me. This life matters.

 

And, what I do in the flesh steers the course of many other lives and for generations to come.

 

Why would I not desire to know my wife better than I ever have? I have spent my entire life wrapping life around her – to love her, protect and to provide for her, to cherish her – I made eternal, forever vows with her in life. That means something. The devotion of many years does not go away.

 

In fact, in heaven, I will no longer carry the delightful “burden” of caring and protecting her – we are safe in heaven. Then I can spend eternity enjoying others and all that God has given…with her. 

 

What an insult to think of playing, skydiving, or even enjoying a cup of coffee more than sharing eternity with the woman God gave me throughout my life thus far. 

 

The very best things I’ve ever known were known with my wife. How can this all go away or how can my memory be wiped of these things like some kind of robot or computer hard drive?

 

If heaven is heaven and everything is better there than it is here, then why would not the best things that God gave and instituted here not still be there and be better. Flavors have no taste and color has no magnificence and birds have no song unless my wife is there to enjoy it with me. 

 

There is still more to be understood about this verse and what Jesus meant.

 

How about the physical relationship with my wife in heaven? We will be male and female. God hasn’t told us anymore. He has something better that we don’t understand.

 

What is valuable in Heaven?

 

Streets of gold – gold is asphalt in heaven – more beautiful than we can imagine.

 

What about our “understanding”?

 

We will understand a lot of the purposes for things that puzzled us or were difficult…the good that was brought out for many due to the suffering I endured.

 

1 Pet 1.6-7

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

What about “Time”?

The New creation will be eternal yet will not seem to be timeless but will include an unending succession of moments. There are things that happen one after another. Events happen in sequence. 

 

There will be “Then…”,  “next…”, and “after that…” events. Just like it is now, but we will never run out of time.

 

The doctrine of the New Creation … Provides a great motivation for storing up treasures in heaven

Mt 6:19-20* ‘‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

20* but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

Rev 21.27

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

 

Ps 16.11

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

There will be No need for sun or moon for His glory will be diffused throughout everywhere.

The throne of God will be in it and we will be able to look into the face of God the Son and His look back will be one of delight not condemnation.