To Heaven And Back? (Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Have you ever wondered what heaven looks like? We've all heard of the street of gold and the pearly gates.

I don't think I've ever had a dream about it, but I certainly wondered, where do we go to find the information? Where do we get that information about heaven? There's only one source. So, turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians chapter 12 is a very interesting chapter. And it starts out with the Apostle Paul speaking of a man who was allowed to see and hear things that no living person had ever seen or heard before.

As Paul says, these things were unlawful for a man to utter. And that right there kind of flies in the face of all these people who claim they've died and gone to heaven and come back to write a book about it or produce a movie about it.

But we'll comment more on that later on. He says in verse 2, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know, whether out of the body I do not know, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

All right, so let's talk about this term, the third heaven. The Bible talks about heaven basically in three ways. There is the first heaven, which is the sky. There is the second heaven where the sun, the moon and the stars are.

And then there is the third heaven, which is the dwelling place of God. Just a few verses on this. Genesis 120. The Bible says, let the birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.

So if you want to see the first heaven, let's go outside and look up.

There it is.

If you want to see the second heaven, wait until nighttime and then look up and you'll see it. Genesis 22, 17. The Lord says to Abraham blessing, I will bless you in multiplying. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven.

And now if you want to see the third heaven, you need to trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior. That's where God is. The third heaven. Psalm 115 verse 3 says, but our God dwells in heaven. So this is where Paul was caught up to.

The third heaven, the dwelling place of God. And we see that Paul uses the terms third heaven and paradise interchangeably. Look at verses 3 and 4. He says, and I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Now go to Luke chapter 16, because I know if I don't say something in the sermon, I know someone will ask me about it later on.

As to whether or not the location of paradise changed from Old Testament to New Testament, or when people died before the cross, where did they go? Is it different from where they go now? Basically, in the Old Testament, when someone died, the scripture says that they went to Sheol, which is a Hebrew word, which sometimes is translated the grave, or it's just referring to the common place of the dead.

Everyone went to Sheol, but also it can be translated as hell as well. There are also passages that indicate that when Jesus died, he went to this place called Hades. Acts 2 .27 would indicate this. And Hades and Sheol, the same thing.

Sheol is the Hebrew term. Hades is the Greek term. So Hades and Sheol, same place, just like third heaven and paradise. So it can be the grave, it can be hell, or just generally the place of the dead, depending on the context.

And remember what I said earlier in the sermon, God, over time, gave more and more revelation of himself. He gave more and more truth as mankind went on. So in the Old Testament, they knew very little compared to us today.

They knew people who died. They went to the place of the dead. And here in Luke chapter 16, whether or not this is a parable or an actual event, there is some question over that. Either way, it's expressing a truth that there are two compartments to this place called Sheol or Hades.

There is a place of torment that we would refer to as hell, or a place of blessedness, which is called here Abraham's bosom. And before we read why, okay, Abraham's bosom, that's kind of a strange name for a place.

Well, the Jews, if there's one thing the Jews agreed on, is that if anyone was in a state of blessedness, it was Abraham. So it's a place of comfort where Abraham was. All right, Luke 16, starting in verse 19.

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that when the beggar died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Then he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things.

But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

So you see the finality of this, that once a person dies, there's no second chances. So in this story that Jesus tells along with other passages that we don't have time to look at, we conclude that before Jesus died on the cross, everyone went to Hades or Sheol, the place of the dead.

But there were two compartments. There was the one for the saved, the redeemed, and then one for the lost. Ephesians chapter four says about Jesus, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

Now this, he ascended. What does it mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. So after his death, we believe that Jesus did indeed go to the place of the dead. He went to Hades.

And what did he do there? He preached to the spirits in prison, according to first Peter three, 19, and he led captivity captive. He turned the tables on death. Death could not hold him. So he seems to have gone to this redeemed compartment of Hades and then brought all of them into paradise, the third heaven.

Now it's important to note nowhere in the Old Testament was Hades or Sheol ever called paradise. It was never called that until Christ died. It's important to note. So why did he have to take them? If they're in a place of blessedness, if this was a place of comfort, why did they have to be taken to the third heaven?

That's not where they wanted to be. You know, God's people have a desire to be in the presence of the Lord. They were being comforted by Abraham and that place.

That's good.

But they wanted to be comforted in the presence of the Lord. So one thing we now know for certain, after the cross, when a believer dies, is absent from the body present with the Lord in paradise, the third heaven.

All right.

Now go back to second Corinthians 12 and we will close. So we've covered a lot of information and let's not lose sight of why Paul is writing these things. He's defending his ministry. The false teachers, false apostles are boasting.

And I don't know what they were boasting about, but compared to what Paul has seen and gone through, there's no comparison, no comparison at all. But Paul being the humble man that he was, he didn't just want to be again in your face.

I have seen heaven instead. He says, well, I know a man who has seen first for I know a man how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, before we close, this is one of those reasons why I think people should steer clear of these books where people have a near death experience.

Their heart stopped. I died and I went to heaven and let me tell you all about it. Either that's revelation from God or it's a lie. Some of these people might be.

I don't know.

They might mean well, they might really believe it. Some of them. I believe there is probably a near death experience that might seem real to people. It's not revelation from God. So I would steer clear of all of that.

Paul says the things that he saw, he was not allowed to tell of it. How are they allowed to tell of everything? And then on top of that, he says the words he heard were inexpressible. He couldn't tell you even if he wanted to.

So listen, we don't need a New York Times bestselling book to know that heaven is real. We already knew that.

Amen.

And listen, there have been people who have wrote books about going to heaven and a few of them later on after they've made all their money, they've admitted that it was not true. So let me leave you with this.

Heaven is real because God's word says so. And we believe it by faith. And the person who does not know Christ, if you accept him and acknowledge your guilt,. I'm a sinner.

I need you.

I believe. And I accept this by faith. You'll see paradise, too. You'll see what Paul saw. Jesus said this in John 14 verse 2. Speaking of heaven, he said these things. If we're not so, I would have told you.

So if you want to read about heaven, read the Bible.

Amen.

Don't listen to the false teachers. That's what Paul would have said. The Bible is sufficient. It is God's word. It contains everything we need for life and godliness. So in conclusion, how could Paul make the claims that he was making?

On what basis did Paul have any authority at all? Because he received these visions and revelations directly from God. And it wasn't just, hey, take my word for it. Paul, we're going to see this in the chapter.

Paul could do miracles to prove it. And also because of this great privilege of seeing heaven. So that Paul would not get too big of a head or so that Paul would remain humble. The Lord, we're going to read about this next time.

The Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh. We'll look at that next week. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we love to think about paradise and the third heaven. We think of places on earth we would describe as paradise.

And while we know very little, really, we know one thing. That paradise on earth cannot even come close to what we will experience in your kingdom. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who has never confessed their sin before God, that they would do it now.

And trust that Jesus died for their sin and rose again the third day. And trust in him fully by faith to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.