A Living Hope - Jesus is Your High Priest Forever! — Santosh Poonen

Hearing and Seeing God’s Word

The verse we heard from, I believe it was the preschool, which is the youngest class, it's been on my mind even before this morning. I don't know if you remember what it said, Matthew 13, 16, blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.

There's a lot of people who have the opportunity to hear God's word. I believe that's true in this country. Many of you probably didn't have the opportunity to grow up in a country where God's word is not common.

And there are countries like that. In India, for example, Christians, even just people who identify as Christians, whether they're actually believers or not, are just 2 of the population. It's a very small percentage.

And there are some places where Bibles are not common. And I thought about that, even as I was reminded of it this morning, hearing the children, blessed are your eyes because they see. Blessed are your ears because they hear.

May it never be that we take for granted what God speaks to us and what God shows us. I believe there'll be many people at the judgment seat of Christ whom God will say you had the chance to see and you had the chance to hear.

You had a Bible in your home. I thought about even, for example, it's common that you go to a hotel room. I don't know if it's still the case, but you would find a Bible there in the drawer placed by the Gideons usually.

I don't know if they're allowed to do that still, but I think so. We live in a country where you can go to a hotel room and there'll be a Bible there. You have an app on your phone. You have all these resources and God will say you had no excuse.

The Privilege of Christ’s Church and Presence

I believe that's also true about RLCF. There are many people who have taken this church for granted. It's just, you know, they have some complaint about this or complain about that. I believe God will say blessed are your eyes because they could see in your ears.

They could hear the things that you got to hear. I remember hearing that as a kid growing up and there was a time in my life where I took it for granted, I'll be honest. The fact that I got to hear the richness of the truth, I took it for granted.

I had complaints. I had a lackadaisical attitude towards my Christian life, but it's not this. It's not the case today. I'll tell you honestly. I don't take this church for granted even though I've been here longer than all of you.

I don't take it for granted. Every time I get to meet with you all is fresh because the Spirit of Christ is here and you all want that. I believe you are a people. We are a people that desire Christ. We don't want the traditions of men.

We don't want popularity. We don't want fame. We don't want a big church. We want Jesus Christ himself like we've been singing all morning long. That's what I want too and so honestly whether it's staying till nine o 'clock like we were last night or coming again at nine o 'clock this morning to start over or it was at eight o 'clock, it's okay.

This is where I want to be around God's people. I have no other interest. Yes, you know me. I do a lot of other things, but this is where I want to be. This is what I look forward to being, to doing and being who I look forward to being with and you might think, well, is that that might work for you, Santosh?

Is that how it is for me? I don't know. Each of us has a personal walk with the Lord, but there is a joy in Christ in his church that I believe he wants all of us to experience. I gave up being around my family and job prospects in California.

Don't say that to brag, please. No or for you to feel sorry for me. No, but because I said I found the pearl of great price. It's Jesus Christ in his church and I knew that the Lord had called me and planted me here and it didn't matter who came and went or who was around whether I got along with them or didn't.

Jesus was here and he had planted me here and I tell you my dear brothers and sisters that that rock will bring such a stability in your life if you find Jesus in his church and that if you're here because of the presence of Jesus, not for any other reason.

Otherwise, you'll have an up and down Christian life and I'm not saying this to beat anybody up or to you know say that I'm better. No, I've wondered for so long. I had the privilege more than probably any of you or most of you to grow up in the church that was like this and I took it for granted and it took me many years to see the value of Jesus Christ himself the head of the body and to find my place in the church but now it's like I found an oasis in the desert.

I'm not going to leave and it's not based on circumstances or people. It's based on the presence of Christ in his church and the Holy Spirit. So blessed are your eyes because they see. Blessed are your ears because they hear.

Let's never take that for granted. I'm humbled and fresh this morning meditating on that because there's a lot of other people. Why do you think you and I are sitting here and the other person down the road is sitting in their home watching TV?

Why? Is it because we're better than them? Absolutely not. God called me. God had mercy on me. God drew me to this place. I don't take that for granted. I don't think I'm better than the person down the road who who's looking for joy in something else.

If I found, if you and I have found our joy in Christ, let's just fall on our face and humbly say thank you Lord. That's it. I did nothing to deserve that you opened my eyes to see you. That you would find, that you would bring me joy more than anything else.

So let's humbly seek the Lord together and we will see a great and glorious day coming. What will it look like when the sun turns to darkness and the moon to blood? I don't know. But I know what's coming after that.

A great and glorious day. So I don't have to be afraid of what that, you know, I wondered what the children thought. They're not here right now. They said, well the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood.

Does that scare them? Maybe they'll ask, you ask them this afternoon. Children, were you afraid when you think about the moon turning to blood? No. Because there's a great and glorious day coming. You know, Hebrews chapter, Hebrews chapter 11 talks about faith.

Faith as Confidence in God’s Promise

And I've been thinking recently about this. I'd just like to share some thoughts on that before the children come and present to us what the Lord's been speaking to them for the last few months. Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

And faith is important. Jesus is called the beginner and finisher, author and perfecter of our faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. But in order for us to have faith, we must have something to have faith in.

And this is something that, it might seem simple, it might seem straightforward. But faith, when you think about faith, often you think about yourself and the fact that you lack faith. The disciples fell into the same trap.

They said, Lord, increase our faith. That would be like me standing across a bridge, on the other side of a bridge, a concrete bridge, a sturdy bridge. I see everybody walking across just fine. And I stand on the other side and said, Lord, help me to have faith to cross this bridge.

Now, if it's a shaky wooden bridge that's swaying, then I might say, Lord, give me faith to cross this bridge. But if it's a strong bridge, if it's built, and I've seen the example of others who have crossed this bridge and made it to the other side, then what do I need?

Is it small faith or big faith? What difference does it make? It's the bridge that's big and strong. So in order for me to have quality faith, faith that endures, faith that will overcome the world, like we read in 1st John, it's got to have something that I have faith in that allows me to have faith that overcomes the world.

And that's why we see here that it's faith is the assurance of something that I'm hoping for. I've come to see in my Christian life, and I hope this is of encouragement to some of you as well, that the reason that I often lack faith in my life is because I haven't seen the hope first.

If I haven't seen something that I'm hoping for, what is the hope of my calling? That no matter how much I pray, Lord, increase my faith, increase my faith, increase my faith, I haven't seen the hope.

My eyes haven't been opened to see the bridge. That would be like a blind man who hasn't seen the bridge yet, and you're telling him or her, a blind person, you need to cross this bridge. And he says, I don't know.

Can I? I hear the rushing water underneath. I see, I sense that this is quite high up above the gorge that we are. And then if such a person could have their eyes open to see the bridge, now how much longer do you tarry on the other side saying, well, I don't know.

I need more faith. So I have come to see that the secret to having more faith is ultimately to have my eyes opened to see what is the hope of my calling. This was Paul's prayer. Let's look at this in 2nd Peter.

The Eyes of the Heart and the Hope of Calling

Well, Paul said that in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 17. With the last part of verse 16, he says, I don't, verse 16 says, I don't cease giving thanks for you. And while Paul was telling the church in Ephesus, now remember, we've seen this often, that the church in Ephesus at this time is perhaps the most spiritual church.

Paul lived there for three years, planted that church. And you read how when he came there, it started with a little Bible study where all they had was God's word and they'd been baptized in the baptism of John.

He says, you know about the Holy Spirit? I believe that was Ephesus, right? And now he's writing to the church and he says, when I'm praying for you, I thank God for you and I make mention of you in my prayers, the last part of verse 16, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and eye-opening, you can say, of a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, may be open. Think about that blind person standing on the other side of this big chasm and Paul's saying, hey, I know why you lack faith because your eyes haven't been open to see the bridge.

He says, I pray, not that you'll have more faith or anything like that, I simply pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

Peter says the same thing. If you go over to second Peter chapter one, second Peter chapter one, we read, you know, see Peter lays it out, diligence, applying diligence in your faith. This is verse five, moral excellence, moral excellence, knowledge, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.

Think about this ladder as it were going up, ascending in the Christian life, becoming more and more like Christ. But then he says, therefore brethren be all the more, because you have such a high calling, because it's not just that God's called you to live a substandard, barely making it, sometimes good, sometimes not Christian life, because you've got love and partaking of his divine nature as the ultimate goal, therefore brethren be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble and if you do this, the entrance into the eternal kingdom will be abundantly supplied to you.

It'll be as if the gates, you know, you read verse 11, for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Here's a picture the Lord gave me some time ago about this.

I wonder if, this is just picture analogy, don't just take it with a pinch of salt, that for some people they're crawling like a snail into the kingdom of heaven that God will look, okay he's going to take his time to enter, we'll just slowly open the gates and eventually he'll make it in and there'll be others from a mile and away you can see them speeding into the kingdom of heaven and God will say, angels open it quickly, he's charging into the kingdom of heaven.

Is that the testimony you want? Santosh is coming full speed into the kingdom of heaven, swing the gates open wide. That's what I want. I don't want a riding off into the sunset type of Christian life where I'm slowing down as I get older.

I don't see Paul did that. We've been reading the biographies of godly men and women. They charge the gates of heaven while they, because they charge the gates of hell when they were here on this earth.

Becoming Like Christ Through God’s Promises

So verse 12 for me is verse 11, charging the gates of heaven, abundantly supply the gates will swing wide open. Why? Because verse 4, God has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises that are what?

What is the hope of our calling? What is the bridge? The bridge is that God has promised he wants you to be a partaker of his divine nature. He wants you to be fully conformed into the image of Jesus.

Romans 8 verse 29. This is what our hope is. If you've seen it, if you believe it, not just that for some of you, but for you personally, I've seen it. I'm seeing it more and more. I'm having my eyes opened more and more to the greatness of his loving heart as it were.

And I'm seeing a little bit more that God in his tremendously great love said, Santosh you will be like Jesus. Santosh you will be like Jesus. You will be a partaker of my divine nature. That's for me.

Now you must see that for yourself. The Holy Spirit. See Paul, I think when we read in Ephesians 1, he says I pray that your eyes will be opened. I think part of Paul would have wished that he could have opened their eyes.

He says you know if Paul could go to the blind person, spiritually blind person and open their eyes, but he says no I can't do that. Because whatever Paul did would be a work of man. And all our preaching, all our teaching, all our exhortation, all our encouragement and all of that is simply out of saying you must have the Holy Spirit open your own eyes.

We can't open your eyes as teachers. We can't even open the eyes of our children as their parents. But what we can do is pray. That's what I pray for our children, my own personal children and every child in this church.

Because God has placed them within the circle of our responsibility. Lord let the eyes of their heart be opened with all their Bible memorization. With all their singing the songs and doing the presentation.

Lord open the eyes of their heart. They will see that the hope that they have a calling as well. That Santosh and put each of them will see that they too can be conformed into the image of Jesus. And that God has already promised it.

The hope of his calling. Let's go back to the book to the book of Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. And this is a phrase or a concept that the writer of Hebrews emphasizes more than once. Don't grow weary.

I think it's in chapter 3 also. Hebrews chapter 3 says in verse 6, Christ was faithful as a son over his house whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

And that's what he says in verse 11 as well of chapter 6. Hebrews 6 verse 11. We desire. Now let me let me stop there for a moment. If you read the earlier part of chapter 6 you'll see that he's talking about people who once upon a time received the truth.

They sat in a church like RLCF perhaps. So they sat under good teaching and they've fallen away. This is a verse that many people who believe certain doctrines don't want to teach from. That it's possible, read it carefully, that verse 4 that some people could have had once been enlightened.

In other words, once upon a time their eyes were opened to see the bridge. They've tasted of the heavenly gift. Made partakers of the Holy Spirit. We're not talking about people who uh you know were just faking it.

They were made partakers of the Holy Spirit and they've tasted the good word of God. Verse 5 and the powers they've seen experienced the powers of the age to come but then they fell away. It's possible that God be true and every man a liar.

This is not me preaching a certain doctrine. It's God's just simply reading God's word. But having said that he says in verse 9, beloved dear brothers and sisters who are loved by God, we are convinced of better things concerning you.

The writer of Hebrews says whoever he's writing it to this church wherever it was he says I'm convinced that you're not going to be one of those that falls away. He says I'm hoping for that. I'm convinced of it and I hope you're convinced of it as well that you won't be one of those who falls away.

Because verse 10 God's not unjust to forget your work etc. But then he says in verse 11 so how shall we be convinced that we won't fall away like others will or may. We desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.

So what I see God saying here through the Holy Spirit is not you better make sure you make it. You better make sure you don't fall. You better make sure you overcome. These are the things that I tend to tell myself.

Santoshi don't fall, don't fall, don't fall and I keep reminding myself better not fall. That's okay but what I see the writer the Holy Spirit telling us to says make sure that you don't lose sight of the bridge.

Make sure that you don't lose sight of the full assurance of hope and if your eyes if you see that bridge completely God has finished it. It goes all the way to the other end. He's finished that bridge then you won't fall away.

Falling away doesn't come because I fell into sin. I used to think that oh I fall into sin I must have fallen away. No falling away comes because I've lost sight of the bridge. I've lost my way. That's what Jesus prayed for Peter.

I pray that your faith will not fail. Why? That you don't lose sight of the hope and isn't it wonderful that Peter writes years later in 2nd Peter chapter 1. I want you also to not lose sight of that hope just like Jesus was praying for me.

Peter's saying I'm praying for you friends saints gathered all over Asia that your hope will not fail that your faith will not fail that you don't lose sight of the hope and then he says verse 17 he talks about Abraham.

Abraham, Perseverance, and the Certainty of God’s Oath

Let me read verse 12 also so that you will not be sluggish sluggish. It's a phrase that's been on my mind for the last few weeks sluggishness. I'm wary of sluggishness creeping into my Christian life where things are pretty good you know nothing rocking the boat really outwardly.

My job's pretty safe. I got a place to live. I'm not you know I have enough food to eat. My children are growing. We have a comfortable church environment. That's the time when sluggishness will creep in.

It's when things are relatively at ease outwardly and you tend to think well actually yeah my life's pretty good that sluggishness will catch in will step will creep in and that's how many who are first will be last.

How is it that many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first because those who are first look at others around them and say oh I'm better than that person. I'm better than the other person so they become sluggish.

I've been a Christian for so long. I've been married for so long. I'm an elder in a church. Oh yeah sluggishness and others who are last will be first. So let's not sluggishness come in. How can we make sure that sluggishness does not come in?

Hold on to that hope the full assurance of that hope and he gives the example of Abraham in verse 17. He says first of all you know that when God gave Abraham he says that in verse 13 when he gave him a promise he says you will have a son and by your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed they will be as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore and then he said it's through Isaac.

Isaac is your promised one because he tried it with Ishmael but God didn't just say it will be so. It says that he said it and then he took an oath. Does God need to swear? I wish some of the children were here.

They're back there still. There's only one person who's allowed to swear. You know Jesus said don't swear by heaven or by earth because you can't change one hair on your head but God is allowed to swear.

You know again it's using earthly language. Why is it? Because he wants us to be absolutely certain if God takes the effort to swear. So that's what you're going to read here. It means he says I'm going to actually swear.

I'm going to say it that in itself is enough but on top of that I'm going to take an oath and then after that if there are people it's like God saying I'm going to build a bridge and I'm going to assure you you will get to the other side and then you sit there and says no I don't believe you God.

What a tragedy that God said it and swore it and there will be people who said no Lord you can't do it for me. I failed too many times or I don't feel it'll work out this and that. For when God verse 13 made the promise to Abraham since he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself saying I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.

That word surely says I swear I will bless you. I swear I will multiply you. Now this was for Abraham and so verse 15 Abraham saw God say it and swear it and he says okay Lord I'm going to hold on to that.

Now he lost his way a little bit. He tried with Ishmael. He did this. He went to Egypt and put his wife in a compromising situation but he held on despite the fact that he failed now and then despite the fact that I mean read Genesis 20 and imagine put yourself in Abraham's situation where he's failed his wife he's failed God so miserably and the very next thing you read in the next chapter is God remembered Sarah and Abraham says okay I'm going to fulfill my promise.

Abraham I see with all your failures and all that sin and all that other stuff you're still holding on to me you haven't lost sight of the bridge guess what you're going to get to the other side. Don't lose sight of your hope brothers sisters even if it feels like you're sluggish if it feels like you're dragging you can't you don't feel like it's going well hold on to that hope say Lord I'm going to press in I'm not going to be sluggish so it says having patiently waited he obtained the promise he got to the other side of his journey of faith.

That's why we were singing in father Abraham in the same way so that was just a type God's promise to Abraham was a physical son and earthly blessings in the same way for you and I whose promise is what divine nature becoming conformed in the image of Jesus in the same way God desiring even more to show to Santos.

Somebody asks you where's your name in the Bible you show them Hebrew 7 verse 17 to the heirs of the promise that's you and I in the same way God desiring even more to show to Santos the unchangeable unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath.

God took an oath when he spoke to me as well. Can you say that did you hear. God swear it. I'm not trying to be irreverent please understand but I'm trying to point you to Christ so that he will speak faith into your heart to see how he has said it and he has sworn it in the same way God desiring even more to show Santos the promise put your name there please.

And the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with a note so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have taken Santos who has taken refuge would have strong encouragement and take hold of the hope set before us.

Jesus as the Anchor and Forever High Priest

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul a hope sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So it's like Jesus has built the bridge and he's walked to the other side and he's calling me from the other side saying hey I'm here and I've built the bridge. I said it you will get there and you will be standing with me.

And I've sworn it that you will get there and you will be standing with me seated on the throne with me for all ages. Now walk. We have as an anchor of the soul a hope. Oh don't lose sight of Jesus on the other side of that bridge.

Don't lose sight of it. A hope both sure and steadfast where Christ is now. Really what. What. What started this. These thoughts. Was this phrase here in verse 20 that Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever.

This is the phrase I've been thinking about for two weeks. The word forever. Yes I know Jesus is forever. He is the beginning and the end the alpha and the omega with him. There's no beginning or end but he's a forever priest.

What does it mean for Jesus to be a priest forever. Let me ask you this question. Is Jesus a priest for you today. Is there some way in which Jesus is functioning and serving you as a high priest today.

I think most Christians know about what Jesus did for them on Calvary that he died for their sins. They rose again. But what about today. What about June. What are we on June 11th. Right. June 11th 2023.

How is Jesus a high priest today. It says he's a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now this is what God swore. He says that in Psalm 110 the writer of Hebrews is actually quoting.

And he does this quotes this passage three or four times. I think Psalm 110 verse 4 why can we have confidence in this bridge that we see ahead of us. Why this hope. It's like a bridge a sturdy bridge.

And therefore I don't need to wait for more faith. It's like my faith is in the promise of God and the hope that I have. Psalm 110 verse 4. The Lord has sworn. The Lord has sworn. The Lord has taken an oath.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. He said it he swore it and he's not going to change his mind. That's like a third time almost what. What was the swearing that God did. He says to Jesus you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

This is what God swore that Jesus is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. So I wanted you to see that. That's swearing. Now let's go back to Hebrews chapter 7. And I want you to see three things that in in which God is that Jesus Christ is a forever high priest not a high priest who once upon a time offered a sacrifice 2 ,000 years ago on Calvary.

But since then every moment of every day he's been serving as a high priest and will forever ask yourself Lord how are you a high priest for me today let the Lord show you that. That's really what I wanted to share this morning.

Melchizedek and Christ’s Greater Priesthood

So first of all Hebrews 7 we read in verse 6 Hebrews 7 verse 6 the one now he uses the order of Melchizedek and you can read about it sometime in the book of Genesis. I think it's chapter 15 or so where or 14 maybe where Abraham had just won a great battle against the kings of Sodom in that area.

And as he was coming back with a spoil he met this priest and king. Now under the law you couldn't be a king and a priest. David couldn't be a priest. Abimelech couldn't be king. It was you either one or the other.

You were the priest or the king. The kings were descended from Judah. The line of David. The priests were descended from Levi two completely different. And everything back in the old covenant was physical lineage.

If you said well I'd like to be a priest. They'll say well what's your lineage. Oh you're Judah. Nope sorry. No matter how much you feel qualified by it or anything like that you're not descended from Levi.

You cannot be a priest. And if you wanted to be a king it was those who are descended from Judah initially. But you couldn't be both. But there's one man who like we read here we don't know where he came from or where he ended up.

We don't know how he started. We don't know his genealogy as it were. And it's a type we'll find out who this Melchizedek was. You know what. What was he actually. Who was he actually. But he was a type God allowed this person to kind of show up all of a sudden in the middle of this the history of Israel.

Without father without son no trace of his ancestry no trace of his descendants. Is this person just kind of pop up in the middle of history. And he shows up there just in that one place in Genesis to minister to Abraham.

And it says here in verse 6 that the one whose genealogy is not traced Hebrew 7 verse 6 from them collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. So Abraham is a picture of us.

Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus. And it's it's what I want you to see. That might seem simple but Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Abraham had received the promise of the son and he didn't have Isaac yet.

But Melchizedek was the one that blessed Abraham. And the writer of Hebrews goes on to clarify that that he's very intentional by saying in verse 7 without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

The lesser is blessed by the greater. Here's what the Lord comforted me with as I meditated on this. He is blessing me. You know we sang come bless the Lord. We sing often about bless the Lord. Oh my soul.

Have you paused for a moment to let God bless you. The greater blesses the lesser. That's the point of it. Have you let Jesus bless you. In some way is your spiritual life is how thriving a life you're living coming because Jesus has blessed you not.

Well thank you for my many blessings Lord you. I have enough food I have clothes I have health and all this stuff. No spiritual blessings. Jesus is greater than you and he's blessing you. Now. Do you think you won't succeed now.

Do you think that you won't finish the end of your life. The greater blesses the lesser. Remember that Jesus is blessing you the greater blesses. Jesus blesses you who has the promises. The next thing I want you to see is Hebrews 7.

Christ’s Perfect Sacrifice and Our Acceptance

Let's skip down to verse 26. Jesus is a perfect high priest. Now if you were there under the Old Testament and you watch these Levitical priests offering sacrifices. And you watched for example Aaron offering up the high priest and you knew that Aaron's going to go offer a sacrifice for you.

If you were really honest you would look in there and thinking man this is the same guy that one upon once upon a time built an idol for us a calf and we sinned together. And then God punished a whole bunch of us.

And my friend my best friend over there was struck down with a plague because of it. And that other cousin of mine died my son was killed or my father died. And this guy is going to make make you know be my intercessor going into the most holy place.

And that's what he says. And and throughout history if you watch these priests you knew they were just like you. They shouted at their wives they fought they got irritated and all these things. And you thought how is this person who's just as simple as I am going to go in there.

And how is God going to accept this sacrifice that Aaron or Eliezer or whoever else down the line offers. And that's what he says. Verse 26. It was fitting for us to have such a high priest holy innocent undefiled separated from sinners exalted above the heavens who does not need daily like those old high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people.

So what Aaron had to do is go before God say Lord I'm a sinner and so please cleanse me first of all with his blood and then I'm bringing the sins of the others as well. Jesus didn't have to do that because he was holy undefiled innocent separated from sinners exalted above the heaven.