How beautiful heaven must be

 

A little girl was looking up at the stars with her dad. Her dad could tell that she was deep in thought about something, so he asked her what are you thinking about? She replied If the top of heaven is a beautiful as the bottom, I want to go there don’t you?

 

I think it would help us all in our walk of faith to stop and consider how beautiful heaven must be. When we look around our world and see that it is full of both good and evil things it should help us to think about how heaven will be nothing like this place we live out now. The Word of God talks about heaven but mere words can’t even begin to adequately describe the true beauty of heaven. But when we take time our busy lives to think about this wonderful place it should put a smile on our face and make it possible for us to continue the day knowing that if we live faithfully that that beautiful place will be our home. So, this morning we are going to be looking at several scriptures that talk about this beautiful place called heaven.

 

The first thing I want to point is that heaven is literal place.

 

For instance Jesus talks about heaven as being a real place in:

 

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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know."

 

Now when it says that Jesus is preparing a place for us this carries the idea that he is making reservation for us. For instance when a King would travel to another city they would prepare that is to make ready the place he was going to stay and that is what Jesus is doing for us and when he comes again he will take all those who are saved to heaven.

 

Whenever Stephen was being stoned for preaching the truth he also speaks of heaven as a place.

 

Acts 7:56 .. "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

 

Please notice that Paul confirms the realty of heaven.

 

Philippians 3:20  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

 

And finally Peter also makes this truth known.

 

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

So without a doubt the Word of God makes it very clear that heaven is real and it ours to have if we live our of life for God.

 

Now let’s look at few Biblical names that heaven is called within the Bible.

 

  • The new Jerusalem Rev. 21:2
  • The city of God Heb. 12:22
  • Paradise Rev. 2:7
  • Our Father’s House John 14:2
  • The heavenly country Heb. 11:16

 

Now there maybe more names than this but I just wanted to show you sometimes the Bible refers to heaven by different names.

 

Another thing I want to point out about heaven is that real people will be there. For instance Jesus will be there.

 

Acts 1:9- Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,  11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

 

Here we see the record of Jesus ascending to heaven to site at the at the right hand of the father in heaven. Jesus is heaven right now and just as the angels told the apostles one day Jesus will return from heaven just as he ascended into heaven. So we can see that Jesus is in heaven.

 

Now 2 Characters that I find very interesting are also in heaven. There names are Enoch and Elijah. These are only 2 men recorded in the Bible that did not have to physically die before they went to heaven. Lets look at verses that show this.

 

Hebrews 11:5  By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

 

2 Kings 2:11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.  12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" So he saw him no more.

 

Even though we have these 2 instances recorded where someone went to heaven without having to physical die. The exact same thing will happen to every faithful Christian who is alive when Christ comes again. That Paul teaches us in,

 

1 Corinthians 15:51 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 incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

 

Some other real people that will be in heaven are found in,

 

Matthew 8:11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

 

Not only will these men be there so will people like Moses and Stephen the first Martyred Christian. If fact that Bible teaches us that every faithful child of God will be there in Rev. 2:10. So we can clearly see that not only is heaven a real place real people will be there as well.

 

The next thing I want to talk about is how heaven is place of bliss.

 

I like what David says in Psalms 16,

 

Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.  10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.  11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 

 

David understood that God had the power to keep him from remaining is the place called Sheol and as you can see from the text he knew that God could show him the pathway to a life that was full of joy and happiness forevermore and that is just one aspect of what awaits us in that beautiful place called heaven.

 

I like how the apostle Paul describes this place of bliss and how every person should long to be there.

 

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,  3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.  4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.  5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.  6 So we are always confident, knowing that while 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, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

 

I really like what Paul says here because he shows us that we can be confident knowing that if we walk by faith with God’s Word being our guide that we can enter into this wonderful place of bliss where we can experience and fully embrace this place called heaven which is not made with hands. We also learn from the text that old physical bodies will be done away with and we will be provided with new spiritual bodies. This fact is further shown in several other places in the Bible.

 

1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

 

You see we must go through a change before we can enter into heaven.

 

Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,  21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. 

 

Now know one knows exactly what that new spiritual body will be like not even the apostle John.

 

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

 

However we do know that this new body that we are given is one that last through eternity. We learn more about what will happen to us in heaven from the discussion that Jesus had with some Sadducees in,

 

Luke 20:27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,  28 saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  29 "Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children.  30 "And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  31 "Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  32 "Last of all the woman died also.  33 "Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife."  34 And Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  35 "But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;  36 "nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 

 

In this text the Sadducees were trying to trip up Jesus and of course they failed to do so. But we learn several more things about what will happen in heaven. For instance we see that on the judgment day when all Christians are resurrected in heaven we will no longer marriages and we will be equal with angels. Right now as we live and breath we are considered to be a little lower than the angels according to Heb. 2:9. Now please note this our text does not say that we will become angels it only says that we will be like them. We also learn from this text that in heaven there will be no more death. Can you imagine it? No more death, what thing to look forward to.

 

Well the book of Revelation gives us even more insight in,

 

Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.  2 Then I, John, 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 heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.  4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."  5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."  6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  7 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

 

Here I believe John is talking about heaven itself and in this symbolic description we learn several things about the bliss of heaven especially in verse 4. Please notice this verse again.

 

4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 

 

Think about how wonderful this place will be. No more funerals or cemeteries. No more hospitals, medicines, contacts lenses, wheel chairs, cains. No more headaches or colds. All of these things will be gone when we make it to heaven. We will get to rest from our labors and the greatest thing of all is that we be in the very presence of God. So clearly we can see that heaven is a placed of bliss.

 

Now I heard people ask the question will we know each other in heaven and I believe the answer is yes. We can see from the story of the Rich man and Lazarus that even though the rich man was in the bad place he was able to recognize both Abraham and Lazarus.

 

Luke 16:23 "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

 

I believe this shows without a doubt that we will be able to recognize one another and I also believe that is someway we will know who other people like Rich man was able to know who Abraham was.

 

Well now that we have examined things about heaven let us now take a look at how heaven is described in the book revelation. Now this is long read but I want you to visually what is being said to the best of you ability.

 

Revelation 21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."  10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,  11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.  12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:  13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.  14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.  15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.  16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.  17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.  18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.  19 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 (kal-c-dough-knee) , the fourth emerald,  20 the fifth sardonyx, (sar-don-x) the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite (chris-o-light) , the eighth beryl (barrel), the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (am-a-thist) 21 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.  22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.  24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.  25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).  26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.  27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. 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 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.  5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

 

Now think about this. No matter how great you imagination is or how vivid a picture you had in your mind from this description it will not even come close to real beauty of heaven. That is why we can only say how beautiful heaven must be because we can fully know its beauty until we get there.

 

But as we learned from our lesson this morning heaven is the place that we want to be and everyone can go there that is willing to love God enough to obey his will. Every Christian should take great comfort in knowing that God has promised us a wonderful home in this place called heaven.

 

Now if you are here this morning and you would like to this beautiful place called heaven then you must first become a Christian. The only way to get access to heaven is through Jesus Christ. In order to embrace the hope of heaven we must first believe the Jesus in the son of God John 3:16. We must repent that is to have a change of heart and stop living our lives for ourselves and start living them for God. Luke 13:3, We must confess Jesus as our Lord Rom. 10:9 and we must also submit ourselves to being baptized into the name of Jesus for the remission of our sins. Acts 2:38. It only when we are obedient to all these things that we become a child of God and can have the hope of heaven being our home one day.