OPEN: This is the last in our 9 part sermon series from Revelation.
A lot of preachers won’t preach through the whole book of Revelation (it me took me 30 years to believe I could do it) because they feel it is a confusing book - and they fear they’ll get things wrong and mess something up.
A few weeks back one of the ladies of the church came up to me and asked what my opinion was of the 4 horses of the Apocalypse (I’d just preached from that text but didn’t deal with them).
I looked at her for a moment and then said:
“Despite what you may have heard...
(pause) or what you may have sensed from being around me ...
(pause) I don’t know everything.”
And neither do the popular teachers of prophecy who populate the airwaves and book stores. If these folks tell you that they KNOW much of what they teach for certain – they’re pulling your chain. They don’t really know what they say they know.
As I've preached my way through this series I’ve tried to focus on the things I KNOW for certain from Scripture, and one of the most important things I know is this:
Jesus is coming back!
And when He comes back He’ll set everything to rights.
And when He comes back He will take us to be where He is…
He’ll take us to heaven.
So I want to take a moment and sing about that.
Sing with me:
“Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed,
He’ll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
we’ll sing and shout the victory!”
That’s what we’re all looking forward to.
Getting to heaven!
Seeing Jesus!
There will be nothing on earth that can compare with all of that.
But not everyone believes that.
Mark Twain was a noted humorist and atheist in his day didn’t think much of heaven.
A couple of comments were these:
“There is no humor in heaven.” (Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven)
And he said he preferred “Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”
Now, that’s what you’d expect an atheist to say.
But there are people who are even religious that have had their doubts about how wonderful Heaven might be.
ILLUS: A famous preacher named Bill Hybles said one of his earliest memories was being in a children’s choir at church. They dressed up in robes, and stood on risers, and practiced a lot. As a child he hated almost every minute of it. He hated putting that robe on, and he hated having to stand still for so long.
He said: “To make matters even worse, the Choir director told me, ‘If you don’t like singing in the choir, you’re not going to enjoy heaven.’
So as a child, I thought of heaven as putting on a choir robe and standing on a riser and singing for all eternity. So I wasn’t really all that excited about going to heaven.”
Now… is that REALLY what heaven will be all about?
Well, kinda…
I mean – there IS singing
Back in Revelation 4:2-3 we read:
“The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were SINGING A NEW SONG before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders...”
Now I can get into that.
I like to sing. In fact people will tell you that they know when I’m in the building because I’m always singing, or humming or whistling something. There’s something truly satisfying about singing for me.
I love to feel the vibration in my chest as I go for a low note.
And I love to sing harmonies, and counter-melodies and I love to throw in a little improvisation now and again.
And I especially love to sing when I KNOW THE WORDS!!!
But now, what if you can’t sing?
Well, I’ve noticed that even folks who don’t “sing” really do like to sing.
They just don’t like to sing solo… unless it is SO LOW you can’t hear them.
(expect groans)
I've found that most folks sing in the shower or in the car and they have a favorite group of songs that they’ll hum or sing … mostly when no one else is around.
But here’s the cool part.
I’m convinced that in Heaven… everybody is going to be able to sing.
Consider this passage from I Corinthians 15:51-53 says “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
You know what that’s saying?
It’s saying that when you get to heaven, you’re going to have a perfect body.
There won’t be a thing wrong with your body… including your voice.
That’s right… you’ll be able to SING.
And I’m also convinced that when we get to heaven we’ll know all the words and the notes. We won’t have to spend long hours learning the songs or reading them out of a book or off a screen.
And I don’t think anybody will mind if you harmonize and play around with songs.
No one will care because everyone will be so focused on singing God’s praises.
ILLUS: The story’s told of a missionary work amongst the Chol Indians in Southern Mexico. The work lasted for years but it ultimately resulted in a thriving church of 12,000 believers. What's interesting is that when the missionaries came, the Chol Indians didn't know how to sing. But when they fell in love with Jesus, the believers in the tribe became known as "the singers".
One of the missionaries noted:
"They love to sing now, because they have something to sing about.”
(“Psalms of the Heart," George Sweeting)
When we get to heaven we will DEFINITELY have a reason to sing.
And we will enjoy singing so much it will seem almost unnatural not to.
So singing will be more fun in heaven than about anything you can do now on earth.
But there are people out there who aren’t convinced of that.
They maintain that heaven is going to be boring place to be.
A lot of times - the folks that say that are just people that hate God or hate the church.
But their argument is that heaven will just be the same old thing over and over again.
It become drudgery and will get old and tedious.
ILLUS: Have you ever heard a kid say “I’m bored”?
“I’m SOOOO bored. I am bored, bored, bored, bored.”
(PAUSE)
And what is the next thing they say?
“There’s nothing to do”
Well, of course there’s something to do!
They could wash the dishes, sweep the floor, go clean their room.
There’s all kinds of things to do.
But that’s not what they mean is it?
They’re saying they want to do something exciting, something different… something that will catch their attention and keep them entertained.
They don’t want to do the same OLD things again.
They want something NEW.
John said he saw “a NEW heaven and a NEW earth” Revelation 21:1
And that “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making ALL THINGS NEW…’” Revelation 21:5
You see, it’s all going to be new and different in heaven.
It’s going to be a place of excitement and pleasure… it’s gonna be fun up there!!!
As if to drive that fact home, God uses imagery that everybody identifies with – a wedding.
No matter what culture or what country you may go to … everybody enjoys weddings.
Now in our culture a wedding can take up most of a day.
There’s the ceremony followed by a reception that can last several hours.
But back in the days of Jesus, wedding celebrations could last for days. There was food, drink, singing, dancing. Everyone had a good time and it was THE social event of any town in Israel.
ILLUS: I went to a wedding some time back.
There was the ceremony of course… but then there was a reception – and it was lots of fun. There was lots of food and drink and music (no alcohol). And the DJ was playing songs most people knew and could sing along with. There was lots of singing and laughing and most of all, there was lots of dancing … even a Conga line. Everybody was a having a great time.
That is the imagery God used to describe Heaven!
(PAUSE) Then there was something else God used to describe Heaven
He tells us: “The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,… etc. etc.” Rev 21:18-19
Everything in heaven speaks of elegance and beauty.
When you guys sent me to Israel last winter it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Every day we’d go and walk 8 or 9 miles sightseeing in Galilee or Jerusalem or Nazareth. I went up on the top of Masada, floated in the Dead Sea, visited the site where they believe Jesus was baptized and went up the headwaters of the Jordan and saw (among other things) the oldest gate known to exist – the gate Abraham would likely have passed through on his way down into Canaan.
(I showed a few of the photos I’d taken there)
I saw things I’d never seen before.
I tasted food I’d never had before.
There was an adventure around every corner.
But when the day was done… we were tired.
And so we went home to elegant 5 star hotels like this one
(I showed a couple of shots of the interior of the Golden Crown Hotel in Nazareth)
There were marble floors and marble columns, and bellboys and those Chefs in those funny hats who served us the kind of food we don’t get to eat much at home.
And on our last day in the Middle East we stayed overnight in another 5 star hotel. It had been a long tiresome day of sightseeing and all I wanted to do was get into my room, take a long hot shower and go to bed. I put my luggage away, stepped into the shower and turned it on… and it was glorious. The shower felt like I was standing in a heavy spring rain - but it nice HOT water. I wanted to stand there for hours.
The next morning at breakfast they had all kinds of food set out for us. But the one thing that caught my attention was that they had this comb of honey on a spit. You could cut off a portion of it and eat it with your meal. I’d never had honey on the comb before.
It was great!
My point is: that is just an INKLING of what heaven is going to be like.
Heaven WILL NOT be boring.
It will be an adventure like nothing you’ve ever experienced.
And there’s one more thing.
I can’t give you chapter and verse, but I’m convinced that when we get to heaven God will let us visit anyplace in the universe we’d want to go.
You want to go Saturn and see the rings up close… you could do that.
You want to see inside a star in the heavens… you could do that too.
You want to ride a meteor thru heavens… yep, that too
We could explore the depths of the seas.
The highest mountains.
We could go spelunking in any cave that has ever existed.
We could go anywhere and do anything we want to do!
What makes me think that?
In Psalm 37:4 God promises:
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
And in 2 Samuel 12:8 God recites to David all the things He had blessed him with… and then said “if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!.”
If that’s those are God’s kinds of promises to us here on earth, I’m convinced they’re even more so in heaven.
Heaven’s going to be a wonderful place.
In fact I want to have you sing a little chorus with me that says that:
“Heaven is a wonderful place
Filled with glory and grace
I want to see my savior’s face
For heaven is a wonderful place… I wanna go there.”
(We went thru this chorus 3 times)
Now, one last thought. Revelation 21:3-4 tells us
“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. 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.”
Someone took this promise and composed a poem that goes like this:
“No dust, nor rust, no rats, no rot,
No raucous rock, no potent pot.
All tell the truth, state only facts,
No wars, no debts, no income tax.
No growing old with weakened sight,
No dentures slipping when you bite,
No bombs, no guns, no courts, no jails,
Where all succeed and no one fails.
According to this dream of mine
In Heaven no one stands in line.
And there are only smiling faces
And lots and lots of parking places.”
(Humorist Richard Armour)
Someone else saw this in a more serious vein.
There’s the true story of a missionary who was teaching in W. African Bible College. In the course of one of the lessons they came across this from 1 Thessalonians 4:16
“the Lord himself shall descend from heaven WITH A SHOUT…”
One of the students asked "What will he say when he shouts?"
The teacher said the question took him by surprise and, for whatever reason his mind began to wander back to things he’d seen in Africa. He’d just had a good friend arrested by the authorities who’d been tortured for no other reason than they could. He recalled the way poverty destroyed dignity, and how he was haunted by the vacant eyes of people who had lost all hope.
He was so lost in thought that he was surprised to hear the student say:
"You have not given me an answer. What will he shout?"
The teacher paused… and then said
"ENOUGH” "He will shout, ’Enough’ when he returns."
A look of surprise opened the face of the student. "What do you mean, ’Enough’?"
"Enough suffering.
Enough starvation.
Enough terror.
Enough death.
Enough indignity.
Enough lives trapped in hopelessness.
Enough sickness and disease.
Enough time.
Enough!"
(A missionary named Gregory Fisher quoted in a sermon on sermoncentral.com)
As American Christians… we’ve got it pretty good.
The idea of struggling for most of us is when our car won’t start.
In many countries of the world, just a car that would start “sometimes” is considered a blessing.
And as Christians we have been taught to be grateful for all of God’s blessings.
Philippians 4 tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always...” and that when we do so “the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
But even the best of us can get down.
Even the most grateful will have times when they struggle, and hurt, and feel pain… and cry.
That’s why God stresses so strongly that in heaven there will be no more mourning, crying or pain. n heaven, everything will be alright again. It will be a safe place. A place of peace and joy and contentment. And it will be a place where all the loved ones that have died in Christ… will be there to meet us.
CLOSE: A famous preacher by the name of W. A Criswell told of being on an airplane flight beside a well-known theologian that he respected. They got acquainted and talk for a while.
And then this theologian told Criswell about that his young son had recently died.
Criswell listened as he told his story:
He said the boy had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, BUT it was a very virulent form of meningitis.
The doctor said “we can’t save your little boy. He’ll die.”
So this father sat down by his son’s hospital bed … and never left his side.
It was the middle of the day and the little boy was getting weaker. His vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?"
The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark."
Of course it was very dark for him.
A short while later his son said, "Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?"
He said, "Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep."
The professor said his son had a way of fixing his pillow just so and putting his head on his hands when he slept. And that’s what he did that day. He fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning."
Then he closed his eyes … and stepped over into heaven.
Criswell said the professor didn’t say anything for a long time after that. He just looked out the window of the airplane. When he turned back he had tears coming down his cheeks and he said,
"Mr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
That’s the message from Scripture:
There will come a morning when all the dead in Christ will rise.
There will come a morning when there will be no crying, no pain, no sorrow.
There will come a morning when all that is wrong in life will be set right.
And that is the morning that we need to yearn for.
That is the morning that we can hardly wait for.
But you can’t lay claim to that promise if you don’t belong to Jesus Christ.
INVITATION
