Tonight, I want to build off of our conversation from last week as we talked about eternity. The main point last week was that eternity is not only a future matter but that it also a present matter. Not only are we physical creations of God but we are also spiritual creations as well. Likewise, the world that we live in is not only physical but is filled with a spiritual reality as well. Heaven and Hell, or at least glimpses of them surround us as we make choices every day that affects our spiritual lives and the spiritual world that we are part of.
The question we posed last week was this: Eternity in Heaven and Hell are a present reality; which are you living in? Are you living in the Kingdom of Heaven, obeying God’s Word and living to be like Jesus? Or, are you filling your life with garbage, disobeying God, and displaying a Hell on Earth?
For our time tonight, I want to continue to look at this idea of eternity but instead of looking at the present reality, I want to look at the future reality. For most of our time we are going to be focusing on the future reality of Heaven but we will briefly touch on Hell towards the end. As we mentioned last week, and as some of your small groups talked about, there is a lot of interest in what the afterlife is going to be like and what is going to happen. Now, unfortunately, there are a lot of different opinions out there when it comes to trying to describe what Heaven will be like, even among those who have a relationship with Christ. To help get our minds going, let’s take a second to share what you have heard that Heaven is going to be like – whether it is from the Bible, from culture, or anywhere else.
***Let the youth share their thoughts***
There are definitely a lot of different opinions out there concerning what Heaven is going to be like. What is most important to remember as we think about what Heaven is going to be like is that at the foundation of any conversation needs to be the Bible. Even though most would agree that we can’t tell you exactly, with 100% certainty, what Heaven is going to be like, the Bible does offer us some glimpses that can begin our hopeful imaginations in the right direction. Our main passage for tonight is in Isaiah 65:17-25. Let’s open our Bibles there and open our hearts and minds to God’s picture of Heaven.
***Read Isaiah 65:17-25***
Last week, we started off by stating a big misconception that a lot of people buy into about the idea of eternity being only a future matter. Well, I want to point out another misconception concerning the final resting place in Heaven for those who have a relationship with Christ. Author and speaker Rob Bell, in a sermon last month for his church in Michigan said this about heaven. “You can’t find one verse in all of the Bible that says that people die and go to heaven somewhere else…No where does the Bible say that the final place of humans is somewhere else. It’s always here.”
Let me clarify this before we jump to conclusions. First off, the Bible does speak to the fact that right now, when someone dies, their soul goes off to be with God. This is generally what we understand as Heaven by the way we use the word. Anyone who has a relationship with Christ when they die will be with Him. So, I’m not saying that, if you die now you just rot in the ground or just sleep for a long time. If you die and you have a relationship with Christ, you will be with Him.
The issue at hand here is that at the end of time, the Bible tells us that Jesus is going to come back and conquer Satan and evil and sin once and for all and then we will all live with Him here, on earth BUT, that is a huge but, it will be renewed and restored back to the way it was intended to be when God created the world back in Genesis 1. At that point, the people currently living will be given what the Bible calls “heavenly bodies” and all the people who have died will be resurrected and be given heavenly bodies as well so that they can live forever with Jesus in eternity on earth.
This whole idea of a restoration project is why last week we said that Heaven is a present reality, a present Kingdom of Jesus, and something that is happening as apposed to a place. At some point, Jesus will come back to earth and the Kingdom of Heaven will be brought about in it fullness on the earth, Jesus will reign as supreme King over everything, and it will be magnificent for those who choose a relationship with Him!
This restoration project is what Isaiah talks about here in chapter 65. “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.” Elsewhere, Isaiah in 43:19, speaks to this restoration project saying, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Then, in Revelation, John writes, “The one sitting on the throne [God] said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’”
As Isaiah continues, he talks about this restoration project in three phases that will bring about Heaven on Earth in its fullness and majesty; the restoration of the relationship between humans and nature; the restoration between the relationships with one another; and, last but not least, the restoration of the relationship between God and humans.
First, the completion of the restoration project of God’s creation will restore the relationship between humans and nature. When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden there was no death and man was in perfect harmony with nature. Genesis talks about all the animals living with Adam and him naming each one of them. He wasn’t terrified of lions, and tigers, and bears but instead lived with them. On top of that, Adam and Eve had more than enough food as God provided a beautiful garden that was watered by underground springs. They didn’t have to worry about pulling weeds and toiling to make food grow, but instead the work was easy and man was charged to take care of creation.
As the story goes though, sin entered the world and Adam and Eve disobeyed God and this order and harmony with nature was broken. Death entered the world, man began having to toil and labor long, hard days for their food, and animals no longer lived side by side the humans. But Isaiah, tells us that this will be overturned and restored back to the way it was at the beginning. Verse 20, “No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!” Verse 23, “They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.” And verse 25, “The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow.” God is in the process of doing this and in the end, the Kingdom of Heaven will bring about a perfect harmony between humans and nature.
Second, the completion of the restoration project of God’s creation will restore the relationships between one another. Again, going back to Genesis, as sin entered the world, the relationships between mankind began to deteriorate. Genesis 4 tells the story of the brothers, Cain and Able, where jealously, selfishness, and rivalry were born in the heart of Cain and brought him to murder his brother Able. This was only the beginning as we can look over history, and unfortunately the present as well, and see too many illustrations of man turning against one another – murder, jealousy, stealing, wars, battles, etc. Humans were created to be in relationship with one another in perfect harmony. This too, in the Kingdom of Heaven, will be restored!
Listen to Isaiah’s words in verses 21-23. “In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed.” We will again live in peace and harmony with one another as their will be peace on earth under the rule of the King of Heaven!
Third, and again, last but not least, the completion of the restoration project of God’s creation will restore the relationships between God and humans. Again, going back to Genesis, Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. In fact, He used to come into the Garden of Eden and take walks with them, just talking, face to face, for hours! God laughed with them, hung out with them, played with them; just the way we do with our friends today. When they disobeyed, that perfect relationship was broken, a wall of sin and evil blocked the path to God and in His love, He needed to discipline his creation.
Thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for each one of us, this restoration process of having a right relationship with God has already begun but at the end of time, when the Kingdom of Heaven comes on earth, we will again live in perfect harmony with God. This is what Isaiah refers to in verse 24 and the end of verse 25. “I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!...In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.” John also speaks to this in Revelation 21:4-5. “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” The walks, the laughter, the playing will all return for us to take part in with Jesus. Ahhh, I can’t wait!!!
Heaven, the restoration of the earth, is going to be a magnificent and amazing thing, better than anything every imagined. Again, using the words of Isaiah, this process has already begun which is why our daily lives are filled with glimpses of a present reality of heaven and of hell, but at some day this process will be completed. Heaven on Earth will be brought about in its fullness and those who have a relationship with Christ will be in perfect harmony with nature, with one another, and with God!
As I said at the beginning, we need to briefly bring Hell into our conversation here as well. As Heaven is going to be a restoration project to make things the way they were meant to be, Hell is going to be exactly the opposite. Isaiah compares the eternity of heaven and hell in the verse just before what we read together. “My servants will eat, but you will starve. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed. My servants will sing for joy, but you will cry in sorrow and despair. Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and will call his true servants by another name.”
The restoration project on the earth began when Christ sacrificed His life for every one of us. When we accept that death and stand in the resurrection of Jesus and jump into a relationship with Him, we begin the restoration project in our hearts that will one day be complete. Heaven is happening every day and will one day come in its fullness. Only those who have a relationship with Christ will be here at the end. Those who reject Christ, will face the opposite of perfection. The choice is yours…
