For 40 years Rev. William Tennent served as pastor of the historic
Presbyterian Church at Freehold, New Jersey. As a young man this pastor
experienced a remarkable trance. He was in bad health, and one day while
talking with his brother he fainted away and appeared to have died. The
doctor pronounced him dead and the funeral service was arranged. Friends
assembled for it, and then to the amazement of everyone young Tennent spoiled
everything by opening his eyes. The funeral was canceled, and for weeks he
lingered near death, but finally recovered. It took a long time, but one day his
memory was restored, and he told of what he had experienced.
He said he was in another world being escorted along by a heavenly being.
They approached a new environment dazzling with glory and resounding with
the most beautiful music. There were innumerable happy beings there, and he
longed to stay with them, but he was told he must return to earth. This came as
such a shock that it was too much for him, and it took him a long time to
recover and face life on earth again. Such a story would be worthless if it had
not come from a man of God with such a solid reputation. If some crackpot or
fanatic told such a story, who would take it seriously? But this man of strong
repute cannot be dismissed, for his experience is similar to that of the Apostle
Paul.
Paul did not see, but he heard, and he too was left with a physical problem
after the experience. Going to heaven before you actually die can be harmful to
your health. It is not the trip there, but the return trip that does the damage.
If you stay, you never know suffering again, but to return to earth is a chock to
the human system. If man could actually organize tours to the heavenly Holy
City, as he does to the earthly Holy Land, he would have to advertise that this
trip may be harmful to your health.
Paul's experience of being caught up to heaven must have been a
marvelous one, but he does not tell us a single thing about what he saw or
heard, except that it was so out of this world that he was not allowed to tell of
it. All his emphasis is on what the trip cost him in terms of his health. Paul
had to pay a heavy price for his peak at heaven's glory. Examining his
testimony might convince us that it is better to wait until we die and enter
heaven permanently rather than to long for a special preview while we are yet
in the flesh.
Someone once asked G. Campbell Morgan if he thought people still had
such experiences, and he responded, "Undoubtedly. I am certain that
experiences like that have been granted under certain conditions to certain
persons, and always with a certain definite purpose." He went to say that a
real and authentic vision would be a very personal experience and one not
likely to be shared by the person experiencing it.
Had there not been a special need for revealing it we never would have
known that the Apostle Paul had such an experience. He had been laboring for
Christ all over the world, and he had spent much time with the Corinthians,
and yet never once did he mention his trip to heaven, but now he feels a need to
share it. It happened 14 years ago he says in verse 2. For 14 years Paul had
concealed this unique experience, for it was private, and he was fearful of
boasting about it. the experience led him to have to suffer with the thorn in the
flesh. Any boasting in pride about it to exalt himself could only lead to greater
problems, and so he was very cautious. Heaven had already been harmful to
his health, and he was not anxious to make it fatal.
The Corinthians, however, were having so many problems, and there was
so much pride among them because of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Paul felt
it was necessary to share his experience with them. He was so careful to avoid
boasting that he refers to his experience as if it was another man who had it. He
was hoping that his humility about such a blessing would give the Corinthians
a pattern to follow to guide them away from pride and boasting over their
lesser spiritual experiences. The paradox we see here is that Paul is bringing
forth his hidden basis for boasting in order to build up his own authority, but
to do it in such a way that they will see the folly of boasting.
Some of them are strutting all over the place boasting of their ability to
speak in tongues. Paul seeks to take the wind out of their sales by revealing his
supreme spiritual blessing, which was his trip to heaven. This is far superior to
anything God has done for them, but Paul does not boast of it. He goes on to
explain how it humbled him and caused him to glory in his weakness. What
Paul clearly implies in this passage is not only that heaven can be harmful to
your health, but that any heavenly experience can be harmful. If any gift from
heaven leads you to pride and a show of arrogance over your brother's in
Christ, you are allowing a good thing to be used for evil. The only way for God
to offset this folly is to use an evil thing for good. That is what God did for
Paul. He used the messenger of Satan to keep Paul humble lest he become
proud due to his heavenly vision.
Man can use everything that is good and heavenly in low and negative
ways, and that is why heaven can be harmful to your health. As long as we are
in the flesh and subject to the temptation to pervert heavenly gifts to earth
centered goals, God has to hole back the flesh by means of some thorn in the
flesh. The greater your spiritual gifts the greater your danger. Some in
Corinth apparently became so proud about their spirituality that God had to
bring about their death and remove them from this life. They could not handle
heaven on earth, and so God took them to heaven where they would receive a
nature capable of handling it. Only this desperate need made Paul reveal his
own unique experience, and how it humbled him.
Opinions vary as to just when this vision took place. The two times most
commonly held are at the time of his conversion when he was blinded, of the
time when he was stoned at Lystra and left for dead. No one is very dogmatic
about it, for it is very uncertain, and really doesn't matter. Paul didn't know
whether he was taken up in his body or in spirit only. It could have been either
way, and if he didn't know, there is no point in speculating about it.
The third heaven where Paul was caught up to is the heaven of the
presence of God. The clouds of heaven represent the lowest and first heaven.
The stars of heaven are in the second heaven, and our Father in heaven is in the
third heaven. In verse 4 Paul calls it Paradise, and so the two are equated.
When Jesus promised the thief he would be with Him in Paradise He could
have said, "This day you shall be with me in the third heaven." Heaven has the
idea of glory and the presence of God as its main image. Paradise carries the
idea of the place of pleasure and delight. We can only wish Paul would have
said a few things about it, but in verse 4 he says he heard things that cannot be
retold. We want to ask why that is, but there is no answer.
It is possible that man cannot tell what he experiences of heaven because
there is no human vocabulary to describe it, and also because any attempt
would only vulgarize it. There are some experiences even in this life that are
too personal and precious to describe. Paul could no more share what God
revealed to him in heaven than a man can share with others what has been
revealed to him on his honeymoon. Paul didn't want to share the experience in
the first place, and now that he does, he makes it clear that any request for
details will be offensive. He can share no more than what he has.
Paul did not hesitate to share his marvelous and miraculous conversion
experience. He told of that every chance he got, and three times it is recorded
in Acts. He gladly shared the details of this, for all the glory of it was Christ's.
Personal testimony is powerful for good when the glory goes to Christ. Being
caught up in heaven, however, is a spectacular experience, which would have a
tendency to lead to self-exaltation. Paul knew this and that is why in verse 5 he
says that he will boast for the man caught up, but not for himself, even though
he was the one caught up.
This is Paul's clever way of saving that this was an experience worthy of
boasting, but I refuse to exalt myself. It was the Lord's doing and no credit
goes to me. I will boast of the butterfly, but not of the caterpillar is about what
Paul is saying. They are the same, but in two different stages, and so the one
caught up and Paul are the same man, but also in two different stages. Paul is
the caterpillar-the un-glorified Apostle in the flesh. The one caught up was a
glorified version of his future self. He has not yet reached that stage, even
though God gave him a preview, so he does not boast as if he has attained that
state.
Try explaining a marvelous thing that has happened to you without
seeming to boast and you will see why Paul is so complex in his description of
this experience. He already had one thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. He
is not anxious to add another by boasting. But in verse 6 he admits that his
experience is so worthy of boasting that he would not be a fool to do so, for he
would only be speaking the truth. He refrains, however, because he wants no
one to think of him on the basis of anything other than what they see or hear
from him. Paul was a very wise and realistic man. He did not want to get a
reputation as the man who went to heaven. He didn't want to be put on display
like some unique character in a sideshow. People would look up and say, "I
don't' see that he is any different than anyone else." They would only be
disappointed because they would expect to see someone divine, or at least super
superior.
Men who do make great claims for them selves usually end up as a
laughing stock because they cannot escape the flesh and their fallible human
mind. If they claim to be divine and infallible, they become a joke because they
are so obviously human and fallible like the rest of us. Paul didn't let himself
get suckered into anything like that. If he would have boasted of being in
heaven, and of having heard the wisdom of God directly, he would then have to
exalt himself to a level of infallibility. He clearly took no such position. He
even told the Corinthians that some of his opinions on the questions they put to
him were his own and not divinely inspired.
Paul wanted to be judged on his actions and his preaching, and not on the
basis of his trip to heaven. But what a trip it was, and what revelations he
received! They were so great he says in verse 7 that God had to do something
to keep his head from swelling. It is possible to be too happy about heaven, and
to be so elated, and so God had to allow Satan to afflict Paul in some way to
keep him humble. Paul calls this messenger of Satan a thorn in the flesh. The
Greek word for thorn can also mean stake. Many commentators point this out
in order to make clear that whatever Paul's problem was, it was not a mere
minor irritation like hangnails or chapped lips. It was a serious problem that
plagued Paul and kept him in a state of constant remembrance. There have
been many guesses as to what Paul's thorn was.
Calvin thought it was strong temptation to give up his duties as an Apostle,
and the pangs of conscience he suffered when he was tempted. Luther felt it
was the constant persecution he had to endure from those who opposed him
and tried to undo his work. The Catholic view is that it was temptations of the
flesh. Some are convinced it was his physical appearance, and they suggest
that he had some disfigurement. Other popular guesses are epilepsy, migraine
headaches, eye trouble, insomnia and malaria. No one can say for sure what
his problem was, but whatever it was, he got it because of his trip to heaven.
He didn't like it and prayed to get rid of it, but God would not pull out the
thorn. His heavenly vision made it a necessity for his own good.
Heaven can be harmful to your health. Any blessing of God can bring with
it some handicap or problem because human nature has a tendency to pride
that is so strong that if the blessings of life are not balanced off with some kind
of burden they can actually lead to evil rather than to good. Jacob wrestled
with God and got a blessing, but he also got a limp. Uzziah was the king of
Judah, and he was greatly blessed of God and became famous for his skills and
inventions. It went to his head, however, and in II Chron. 26:16 we read, "But
when he was strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was false to the
Lord his God, and entered the temple of his Lord to burn incense on the alter
of incense." He was so blessed of God that he got proud and took the law of
God into his own hands. If a godly king could do this, and if the great Apostle
Paul was in danger of doing it, who are we to think we could handle heavenly
vision and not end up worse off for it because of pride?
In our study of heaven we need to recognize the blessing of our ignorance.
If God showed us more and even gave us a preview as He did Paul, we would
need a serious problem to keep us from self-exaltation. Therefore, let us be
thankful there is much we do not know, and be content to wait until we can see
it all without it being harmful to our health.
