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.”
We got a call this week. A good friend from the nursing home had passed away Tues. night. His name was Micheal Lee. I was never sure just exactly how old he was...I always refered to him as "kid". As some of you may know, I have been going to that nursing home for almost 5 yrs now, once a week. We don’t miss very many weeks.
I will never forget the first service I held there. I had been in contact with the staff and remembered that as a young boy our church had a nursing home ministry. I remembered it as being a lot of "older" folks just usually enjoying our company for a little while. I thought of the same thing about this nursing home. Boy, what a shock I got when I first walked into that place.
The patients were NOT like those I remembered. These patients were different.....some elderly, but by and large mostly people with physical and mental handicaps. I did the service, but was a little disturbed and wasn’t sure I wanted to go back. Sometimes it’s hard to see people in those positions....but I determined to go back and do the best I could. Most of the patients couldn’t talk, and the ones that could were usually unintelligible. One Wed as I was setting up, the only one that the staff had brought in yet was Micheal Lee. Let me tell you about him.
At one point in his life, he was a "normal" kid. Something happened and he ended up paralized in a wheelchair. His hands were of no use, his arms wouldn’t move.....but he could (and did) smile. He could light up a room! Anyway, I had my back to him when suddenly I heard someone say "Robert!" I looked around to see who it could be..there was no one there except him and I. From that point, he slowly advanced to where he would be coming down the hall saying "Robert! Gonna sing?" He even got to where he would "Amen" some of my sermonettes at times. He was a very special young man, and I took the news of his death particularly hard. He wasn’t the first we’d seen come and go....that is the hard part of that ministry...but it was harder for some reason.
My wife (God bless her) knew I was upset. She walked into the living room after a while and told me "you know what? This morning, Micheal Lee isn’t bound by a wheelchair. His hands aren’t stuck, and he is singing praises to Jesus and walking streets of gold". And I believe that! He is happy now with Jesus! The thing we’ll always remember is his smile. It lite up the whole room and inspired all of us that were there. He was always an inspiration for us....if he can smile thru his life, how can we NOT smile in ours? It made me think about heaven, and today we are going to see what the Bible says about heaven, our eternal reward!
Now while it’s true we don’t know the details about heaven, the Bible does give us a general idea. What we discover is absolutely mind-blowing!
WHAT WE WILL BE LIKE 1 John 3:2 "Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him." When we enter heaven will be changed physically and spiritually. John tells us we will be like Jesus. What will that be like? Here are a few things the Bible tells us:
WE WILL NO LONGER SIN: Phil 1:6"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." In heaven Jesus will remove our sinful nature and complete making us new creations. I want to put this in terms we can understand.Imagine you have a computer program that has problems (Ha! that’s not too hard to imagine is it?). But then the new version comes out and everything that is good about the program is left in but everything bad is fixed -- and not only that, but many great new features are added. That’s what we will be like in heaven. All those "flaws" you have in your operating system now will be fixed. You’ll be "de-bugged!"
WE WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF PHYSICS: John 20:26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” We find Jesus walking through walls and locked doors to reach the disciples. Elsewhere in the Bible we read about angels that appear and disappear. We will be able to travel anywhere instantly.
WE WILL STILL EAT AND TOUCH: LUKE 24:39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence. There is another example of Jesus eating with his disciples in John 21:12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. 14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” Paul also tells us in 1 Cor 15:50 that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven", so eating will be done for pleasure and not necessity And Revelation 22:2 tells us that in heaven there will be a tree of life that bears twelve different kinds of fruit each month. Some think that this "feast" does not refer to feasts as we tradionally know them. I believe it does because I believe the Bible literally. Also, what is the first thing that happens after the rapture? The Marriage supper of the lamb!
WE WILL NEVER BE SICK AGAIN: We currently live in a fallen, imperfect world. People get sick, suffer and die. In heaven that won’t be true. God tells us in heaven there will "no longer be any curse" (Rev. 22:3). What does that mean? Revelation 21:4 tells us: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Heaven will be a world where, Isaiah 35:5-6 "the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. And the lame will leap like a deer, and the mute tongue will shout for joy" There will be no more suffering in heaven.
Speaking of deer, WILL THERE BE ANIMALS THERE? Let’s see what the Bible says...Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.......... Isa 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox..............Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
I would say that there are animals in Heaven. All species found on Earth and even new ones. Remember we can only imagine half of what Heaven is like.
WE WILL RECOGNIZE ONE ANOTHER: MAT 17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” This is called the "transfiguration on the mount". These disciples clearly recognized Moses and Elijah, even though they both lived hindreds of years before the disciples! 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. In heaven, we will know not only our loved ones but everyone else that is there!
Love, joy and peace -- in heaven we will experience these things the way they were meant to be. We can only experience these things partly now. While it’s true we love and have joy and peace on earth, we don’t fully experience them because we also know what it is to hate, grieve, and have trouble. In heaven, when these things are removed, we will love and rejoice and be at peace completely.
WE WILL LIVE IN NEW JERUSALEM: Revelation 21:1-3 tells us we will have a new home called "New Jerusalem".1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away Jerusalem means, "city of peace". This New Jerusalem is massive! It will be about 1,500 miles wide, 1,500 miles long, and 1,500 miles high. (Revelation 21:15-16). That would make this huge city roughly the size of the moon. The city will have 12 gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them. The foundation will be twelve layers to it with the names of the twelve apostles written on them. (Revelation 21:12-17) And the entire city will be made of gold and jewels.
The walls will be made of pure diamond and the city of pure gold - clear as glass (Revelation 21:18). The foundation will be filled with precious stones (Revelation 21:19-21). As God dwells in this city, the light from His glory will shine through these stones producing a brilliant rainbow of colors! Can you see this? Can you imagine such a sight?
WE WILL BE WITH CHRIST: More important than anything else is the fact that we will be with our Lord forever. From His throne flows the River of Life. It will be perfect, clear as crystal. And we will see Him face to face...Rev 22:4 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. When we see Christ face to face His presence will dominate heaven the same way the sun dominates the hot summer sky. If heaven had streets of gold, precious gems, and angels singing overhead but no Jesus then we wouldn’t even notice those other things. Because just as the sun illuminates the summer sky, so the glory of Christ illuminates all of heaven.
When we see Christ face to face His presence will dominate heaven the same way the sun dominates the hot summer sky. If heaven had streets of gold, precious gems, and angels singing overhead but no Jesus then we wouldn’t even notice those other things. Because just as the sun illuminates the summer sky, so the glory of Christ illuminates all of heaven.
We will be able to talk to Him, ask Him questions, and listen to Him speak. Imagine hearing His voice - the Bible says it will be "like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder (Revelation 14:2). Imagine the stories He’ll tell, the lessons He’ll teach, the love He’ll share.
So we say good-bye to Micheal Lee...and thank you God for giving us the priviledge of having him in our lives for this short time. By the way...will your soul "sleep" when you die? 2 Cor 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Here is what Jesus says about heaven in John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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.”5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
1 Cor 2:9 says “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” Listen, Jesus also said that we should do everything possible to get to heaven...
Mat 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
I’d like for you to think about your eternity. You will spend it....somewhere. The choice is yours.
