Heaven - Part 3

So we're continuing our series on heaven. So let's once again, turn back to the book of Revelation, this time, Revelation chapter four. But before I get into that, someone asked me the question that all pastors fear.

No pastor wants to answer this question about heaven. Does anyone know what it is? No, no, we covered that one already. This one is, will my pets be in heaven? And see, no pastor wants to answer this because the standard answer is no, but they don't want to say that because that'll upset people, right?

So let me just say this, can we compromise? If your pet receives Christ as their savior, they will go to heaven. Fair enough?

Fair enough.

Okay, yes.

But what about where it says the lion and the lamb?

Yeah, the lion and the lamb, or that's what we commonly say. It actually says the wolf and the lamb will lay down together, but that's in the millennium. So there will be animals. Maybe you'll have pets in the millennium.

And the new heaven and new earth, there were animals in paradise. So it's not unreasonable to think that there might be animals in the new heaven and new earth. And people like to argue that Revelation 19, Jesus comes riding on a white horse.

So see, that's proof that there's animals in heaven. I don't know if that's proof or not. That could be literal or symbolic, but yeah. No more questions on that. We could get sidetracked. Revelation chapter four, starting in verse one.

John writes, after these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.

So the apostle John is taken up. We've read this before. He was taken up in the spirit and now he gets a glimpse of heaven's throne room. So this is right before the end times begin. Verse two, immediately John says, I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven.

And one sat on the throne and he who sat there was like a Jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones.

And on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

And before the throne, there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. We'll just stop there and ask the question, does heaven really look like this?

Well, I mean, I'm gonna say yes, because that's what John saw and he's describing it. Of course, again, he's doing his best to describe what he sees using earthly terms. I like what Matthew Henry says, because the real question about this, is there symbolism here or is there really, you know, these creatures with eyes all around or is that symbolic?

Here's what Matthew Henry says. These seem to be emblems of the excellence of the divine nature and of God's awful justice. And the word awful, I think back when he wrote meant, you know, it inspires awe.

So we would say awesome, but he continues, the rainbow is a fit emblem of that covenant of promise, which God has made with Christ as head of the church and with all his people in him. The prevailing color was a pleasant green, showing the reviving and refreshing nature of the new covenant.

24 seats around the throne were filled with 24 elders representing probably the whole church of God. Their sitting denotes honor, rest and satisfaction. Their sitting around the throne signifies nearness to God with the sight and enjoyment they have of him.

So do you understand Matthew Henry saying that, yes, John may have seen this, but it's symbolic. That's how I interpret Matthew Henry's words, although it doesn't mean that that isn't actually happening or the way it is, but there is probably some symbolic meaning.

Erin?

Can it be both?

Yeah, I think it can be both. So I'm gonna go with both. And with symbolism, I mean, this is really the difficulty. How do you know what green represents? So can't be dogmatic on that. But the number 24, I guess I would have a slight disagreement on 24.

What did he say? It represents the whole church of God. But why 24? Why would 24 represent the whole church? To me, I think of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of Christ and 12 and 12 equal 24.

So to me, this represents the redeemed from all ages. So once the saints are caught up and Christ takes the church to heaven, I believe he takes all saved people from all ages, Jew and Gentile, to heaven.

So that's how I would see that. But again, some of these things, it's hard to be absolutely certain. But I like what he said with the other statements. But there are differing interpretations. And I know this is one thing people complain about with maybe the Bible in general, but especially the book of Revelation.

They're like, how can we really know? Because there's all these different interpretations. Well, with stuff like this, yeah. Yeah, there are some differing views, but the big picture, we get the big picture.

Heaven is real. You know, God is reigning in heaven. He's being worshiped in heaven. So yeah, if there's a little mystery kept in it all, I think that's probably good. I think it's good to have a little bit of mystery.

But as I've said before, I think I've said this in the first two lessons, however we read about heaven and it looks so wonderful, it's gonna be even better than what we can imagine. All right, so Revelation chapter four, God's people are with him in heaven as represented by the 24 elders.

The living creatures are what? What are these four living creatures?

Four gospels.

Okay.

Okay, the four faces. There's different passages that talk about them. I would identify them as angels, probably cherubim angels, and some of them have four faces representing the four gospels and whatnot.

And what are they doing? They're crying out to God day and night. Look at verse eight. What do they say? Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. To me, this says that there is nonstop worship going on in heaven.

24, who knows, is it gonna be a 24 hour day? I don't know, because there's no sun, but it's just constant worship going on in heaven. Verse nine says, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever and the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the Lord saying, you are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created.

So basically, the point is heaven is gonna be beautiful. It inspires awe and wonder. And this is what we're gonna be doing in heaven. Now, we might do other things, but one thing we can be assured of, what are we gonna be doing in heaven?

Worship.

Yeah, we're gonna be worshiping God in heaven. We'll worship God the Father and we will worship Jesus who is referred to as what or who in these two chapters? The lamb. Okay, so Jesus, John calls him the lamb.

Now flip over to chapter five. Chapter five, this speaks about Jesus preparing to judge the earth during the tribulation period, Revelation 5, 13. It says, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.

Then the four living creatures said, amen, and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever. And then the rest of the book of Revelation, we've talked about this before several months ago in our series on the end times, chapters six through 18 cover what?

Yeah, we believe that's the tribulation period. Jesus returns in Revelation 19, right on that white horse. Then the millennium is set up, thousand year kingdom on the earth, that's chapter 20. Now, is the millennium heaven on earth?

No, I mean, it's sort of like, it's been described as earth's golden age. So it's a lot better than this, but it's still not quite heaven on earth. But at the end of the thousand years, that's when the new heavenly city, new Jerusalem comes down from God, from heaven.

And that's when chapters 21 and 22, that's when heaven and earth become one, as I refer to it as the eternal state. So that's at least, do the math, the eternal state, Revelation 21 and 22, that's how long away, at least?

1 ,070 years.

Right, so this earth is gonna be around for at least another 1 ,007 years. And obviously there's people who take a different view of Revelation, but I'm convinced this is a correct viewpoint. So eternity is always for us, at least 1 ,007 years away.

Because if the rapture happens today or tomorrow, yeah, 1 ,000, seven years, and then 1 ,000 years, and then there you go. All right, any questions on that? Yes, Janet.

Are the tribulation starts, is that exactly seven years from the day it starts to the end? And when it starts, 1 ,000 years?

You know, whether it's exactly seven years to the day, I don't know, because of course, the Jewish calendar did not have 365 days. And of course, we have leap year, I think they had 360 days. So you know how that, if it's exactly to the day that, I don't know if that's the point, but generally, seven years and 1 ,000 years.

Okay, so when I was preparing for this study, the biggest challenge, because there's all sorts of things that I wanted to talk about, different side trails to go down. So there's so much information, so many verses we could look at, the real struggle was to just categorize all the information and kind of have it flow.

So I feel like up until this point, the first two lessons and what I've said so far kind of covers most of the bases. But we briefly touched on this last time, how the Old Testament doesn't really talk much about, I think Ray had brought this up last week, how the Old Testament, when someone died, it doesn't say they died and went to heaven, right?

And I've said this before, the first time I read through the Old Testament, I was really struck by how little it says about the afterlife. Because the New Testament, Jesus and the disciples are mentioning heaven and hell just again and again and again, but the Old Testament, it's not silent, but it almost comes off that way.

Who's noticed that?

So why is that?

How is it that heaven is hardly referred to in the Old Testament, then Jesus comes and now it's a major theme? So I would like to go back and kind of lay out why I think that is. And I'll just kind of walk through the story of scripture and give you my thoughts on why heaven is not talked about originally and why it's so frequently talked about in the pages of the New Testament.

So give me a chance to explain this, okay? So God has always existed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So the triune God from all the eternity past, they have had fellowship with one another. At a certain point, the angels were created, probably before Genesis 1 .1.

So at least from the creation of the angels, heaven, God's dwelling place has existed. If not, it's always existed. But then you get to Genesis 1 and God creates the heavens and the earth. And who believes that God knew ahead of time what would take place with Adam sinning and the fall and everything?

Yeah, of course, God is omniscient. God has foreknowledge. God knew exactly what was going to happen before he created, which kind of begs the question, knowing all that,.

Why would God do that?

Why would God create knowing that all of these bad things are gonna happen? It's kind of the ultimate question. And it comes out in the first question in any catechism. Why did God create all things? What's the answer?

For his own glory. That might not satisfy everybody, but that is the answer. So think about it this way. God created all things for the express purpose of glorifying his Son. By creating all things, this is a gift to the Son.

And in return, the Son would glorify who? The Father. So God created to make Christ Lord over all by Christ dying and redeeming the creation, Jesus would be crowned Lord over all creation because he redeemed all of creation.

So it's a way of glorifying Christ who in return glorifies the Father. God is glorified in all of this. So God created for the sake of his Son to glorify him. So in the beginning, God created Adam. And you could argue, and I think I did argue that Adam and Eve, because they lived in paradise, it's almost like heaven and earth were one back then in a sense.

So you could argue that because originally God dwelt with Adam in the garden, right? So they had fellowship with God, perfect environment. Then you had the fall into sin. And at that point where the curse came in, that fellowship with God was severed.

Adam's nature changed, he became a sinner and something else changed, Adam's vision. Because the very first effect of sin was they realized something about themselves, they realized they were naked. So from that time forward, Adam and mankind in general had a knowledge of sin and Adam started to become blind to spiritual things.

So that knowledge of sin caused him and all of mankind to become blind. Remember, I believe that there are spiritual things happening all around us. We talked about Elisha and his servants and whatnot.

But we can't see, we don't know what's going on in the spiritual realm, right? We're blind to it all. So I believe he became blind and then the whole story of scripture after that is Jesus restoring that fellowship, restoring that vision.

So Christ is the link, he is the bridge that will once again join heaven and earth because of his death and resurrection. And Christ is the bridge that joins man to God. So starting out, what did Adam's descendants know about the story of redemption and heaven?

What did they know? Well, it doesn't really tell us, does it? Like we have very little information. So maybe Cain and Abel and Seth, maybe they had some information, we're not sure. But if they did, over time, it seems to be lost.

So, or their descendants failed to pass it on. So by the time you get to Genesis chapter six, you remember what Genesis six says?

And it was only evil continually.

Yeah, the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So if they knew something about heaven and God's plan of redemption by Genesis six, the whole world didn't care. Right, and then there was the flood, which was like a reset.

And then by the time you get to Genesis 11, with the Tower of Babel, same thing. Nobody on earth cares anymore. So the Tower of Babel, what was that? God has his kingdom, which they may have known about, but we want to build our kingdom.

It's kind of the same thing that's happening today. Like people have a general awareness of God and Jesus and spiritual things. They just don't really care all that much. They're more interested in what?

Carnal things, right? I mean, what are the things that drive the world? Spiritual things? No, carnal things. So while some people may have known about God, they really weren't interested. So whatever knowledge Adam may have had about heaven in the afterlife, by the time you get to Abraham in Genesis 12, it was more or less forgotten about.

But God started to do a new thing in Genesis 12. So God called Abraham to have a set-apart people, and God, over time, would reveal more and more to Abraham and these men, Moses, that we call prophets.

So over time, God is revealing more and more and more. What's the term for this? One term is progressive revelation. Not like progressive in the political sense, obviously, but it's progressive revelation.

God is revealing more and more over time. So during the Old Testament, if you look really close, there are hints here and there about the afterlife, heaven and hell. It's sparse, but it's there. Now let's turn to Daniel chapter 12.

Daniel chapter 12. If I had to pick one place where you can definitely find it, it would be Daniel 12. But the point is, things had gotten so bad on earth, the main focus was on earthly things instead of heavenly things.

Remember, Jesus said, how can I tell you about heavenly things? You don't even believe the earthly things that I tell you. How are you gonna understand or believe heavenly things? So the way I understand it is this.

God is using Abraham in the nation of Israel to establish a people for his name. So all of these Old Testament stories and events are written down as types and foreshadows of what was to come or who was to come.

So that when the world was ready, and God knowing the time when the world would be ready, Jesus came, the scripture says, in the fullness of time. And what did Jesus do? Him and his disciples, they used all these Old Testament stories to teach people about heavenly things.

So the kingdom, how did the Jews understand the kingdom? Well, they understood, you know, they thought of David and this earthly kingdom, you know, Lord, are you gonna restore the kingdom to Israel? They were thinking purely in physical terms, right?

And Jesus talked about the kingdom. But when Jesus talked about the kingdom, it wasn't purely physical. I mean, there will be a physical kingdom, but Jesus is talking about spiritual things. At one time he said, the kingdom is within you.

So Jesus picks up on these Old Testament things and uses them to teach about heavenly things. The Christ, most Jews back then, just like most Jews today, if you talk to a reformed or an Orthodox Jew who believes there is a Messiah coming, they believe that he is purely just a human being.

He's not God. But Jesus, yes, he was a human being, but he also was divine. So whether it's the kingdom or the Christ, Jesus used these earthly things that they understood to teach about heavenly things.

Because if he tried that back in Genesis 6 or Genesis 11, the world just wasn't ready for it. That's my hypothesis. So the Old Testament fathers, the people who died, remember what it says, they were gathered unto their people.

Remember these statements? And it just kind of sounds like this generic thing. You don't really know what happened to them or where they went, if anywhere. But they had to be gathered somewhere, right?

So where are they gathered? Well, the Old Testament word, and it is on the screen here, the Old Testament word in the bottom left-hand corner is sheol. So they died. When people died in the Old Testament, they died and they went to sheol, which is either translated the grave or particularly in the King James Version, hell.

So the grave or hell. In the New Testament, it's Hades. And you can see that in sheol or Hades, there's two compartments, right? There's the bad side, which we call hell. And then there's the other side, the other compartment, which we call paradise.

Okay, so in the Old Testament, people died and they went to where?

Sheol.

Now, we don't really have that explained, what that means. But in the New Testament, Jesus does explain it. But we do see a little hint in Daniel 12. You had something?

Don't they call it the bosom of Abraham?

Yep, that's what we're gonna get to in Luke 16. It's also called Abraham's bosom. But there is a statement in the Old Testament, at least one, there's more than that. But look at Daniel 12, two and three.

It says, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame in everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

Do you agree this is talking about the afterlife? But it doesn't really come right out and tell you that, yeah, they're alive and conscious right then and there. What's the focus, on earthly things or heavenly things?

Earthly, because it's just focusing on the body. So one day, the body will be risen. So the Old Testament saints, even before Jesus came, they had a hope of the resurrection. This is why, if you remember in John chapter 11, when Jesus raised Lazarus, remember what Martha said?

She said, I know he will be raised at the last day. So she knew there was going to be a resurrection. But they didn't really know about what was happening until then. And Jesus is going to explain it.

So they had some ideas, just not the full story. All right, let's go to Luke 16. This is where I think Jesus gives the clearest explanation of where the souls of people went back then. Because you have to believe that God gave Adam a great deal of truth in the beginning or gave these people truth.

And then over time, it was kind of lost and corrupted. And we even see this with Christianity, right? The apostles in the early church, they had the truth. And then by the end of the first century, there's all sorts of heretical sects popping up in the Judaizers.

And then of course today, somebody saying I'm a Christian, unfortunately, it doesn't even mean that much because their beliefs are so far away from scripture. So over time, knowledge is gonna get lost.

Knowledge is going to get corrupted. I mean, that's just the nature of it. So Jesus, look at it this way. Jesus came to set the record straight. And his word and his apostles' word in the Bible, that's how we know.

All right, you're at Luke 16. So for the Jews, basically, what we learn in this story, everyone who died up until Jesus, everyone who died went to Sheol or Hades. And this was either a place of torment in one compartment or it was a place of comfort in the other compartment.

The place of comfort is called Paradise or Abraham's bosom. And why is it called Abraham's? Because Abraham's bosom is a body part. It's not a place, right? What's the meaning there?

By his side.

Yeah, Abraham is sort of embracing the one who... The idea, I think, is that if anyone was in heaven or if anyone is in a state of blessedness, it's gotta be Abraham. Like he was the founder of the whole nation.

So I think that's why Jesus uses that. Look at Luke 16, verse 19. Jesus says, there was a certain rich man. And some people say, well, this is a parable. Others will say it's a true story. Even if it is a parable, it's describing reality, the way it is, I think.

So Luke 16, 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 the beggar died and was carried by the angels to where? Abraham's bosom. So in other words, we could say that the beggar died and he went to the saved compartment of Hades, which is also called paradise.

Or we could just say he died and went to heaven. But it's not really heaven at this point because it's in the underworld. So it was still down there. And that's the way they always understood it, that people died and they went into the heart of the earth.

So paradise was originally down there. But when Jesus died and rose again, there's a phrase in Ephesians four where he led captivity captive. The idea is Jesus, he went down, he preached to the spirits in prison.

I think Peter mentions that. And he takes the compartment known as paradise and he takes it up to the third heaven. And that's why Paul in second Corinthians, he calls paradise, the third heaven. And heaven is paradise.

But originally it was down there. So after the cross, Jesus brought all those who were down there up here. You understand what I'm saying?

Okay.

That's the way it looks. So today heaven is where?

Up there.

So now you see.

The planets and the galaxies and all physical things.

Yeah, we're just learning more and more as time goes on. Christ is the preeminent teacher on both heaven and hell. If you wanna know about heaven, turn to Christ. If you wanna know about the other place, he talks about the statement that you commonly hear is Jesus talking more about hell than anyone else.

And I've never fact checked that, but that's what people say and it's probably true. You say, well, the book of Revelation has the most information about heaven. Yeah, but what is revelation? It is what?

The revelation of who?

Jesus.

Right, so it's still Jesus telling us.

Okay.

So this is why there is a change from Old Testament to New Testament. Back then they had very little information, but by the time Jesus comes, now he's telling you all that we need to know. Let's turn to Revelation chapter six and we'll probably close here.

So right now, someone who believes in Christ, they die. They go where? Heaven. Heaven or paradise, same thing, right? What goes there?

Spirit.

Their spirit or their soul, soul and spirit. Because their body obviously does not go to heaven. That doesn't happen until the resurrection. So that's what we would call the rapture. First Thessalonians four, when Jesus returns, he catches them up.

The saints are raised, resurrected. They go to be with the Lord in heaven. So anyone who has died in Christ, whether it's people we know, family, they're all in heaven right now. And one passage that tells us this, look at Revelation six, verse nine.

When he opened the fifth seal, John says, I saw under the altar, the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, oh Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.

Then a white robe was given to each of them. And it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer. So what's John seeing? This vision that John has is of what? It's of heaven. And he says he sees souls under the altar.

Now this is a specific group who died as martyrs. That is true. But we believe that all the souls of all the redeemed are in heaven with God. And that last verse, they are told they should rest a little while longer.

I mean, this is basically where you get the idea of rest in peace. We've all seen the tombstone, RIP, rest in peace. Well, that's where it comes from because those in heaven, the souls in heaven are with the Lord and they are given rest.

What did Jesus say? Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you what?

Rest.

Well, how much rest do we have in this life? Well, you don't work your way to heaven. You rest in Christ, you trust in him. But in heaven, we will be resting. So the soul is given rest until it is reunited with the body at the rapture.

This rest is a conscious state of blessedness with Christ. Because if you read that story about Lazarus going to Abraham's bosom, Lazarus, he's awake, he's aware. He knows what's going on. Of course, the rich man, he knows what's going on too, right?

So we believe that really when somebody dies, there's no state of unconsciousness as soon as they enter into the next world. Remember that verse, 2 Corinthians 5, 8, says what? Absent from the body, present with the Lord.

I mean, it really is that simple. As soon as you die here, you just go straight into the presence of the Lord. That's what Paul said. One last verse, because this is our hope of heaven and knowing that when a believer dies, they're not really dead, right?

This is why Christians, depending on the circumstances, obviously, but when a believer dies, it should be a time of, you're sad, but it's a time of rejoicing as well, because we say they what? They went.

To be with the Lord.

Yeah, or people say they went home, right? If somebody doesn't know Christ or there's no hope, I mean, I don't know how you get comfort from that, but Christians have this hope. The verse is Psalm 116, verse 15.

Does anyone know it? It's one of those verses, if you read it, you're like, oh, that seems odd, maybe the first time you read it. Psalm 116, verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Well, how can that be? So when a believer dies, that's a precious thing in the eyes of God. Well, that's what it says.

Why is that?

No more pain, no more suffering, but they go home to be with the Lord. Yeah, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. That's in your Bible too, right? Okay, just making sure. So we can say that because we believe this, absent from the body, present with the Lord.

So looking at it this way, the Christian never dies. Yes, the body does. Of course, if the rapture happens, even that doesn't take place. But for the Christian, we never die. We just pass on, not from life to death, we just pass from life to life.

So man was originally created from the dust. Jesus, however, came from dust. No, Jesus came from glory, came down from heaven. So if we are in covenant with Christ, if we trust in Jesus by faith, the story of man really is a story from dust to glory.

So this is our passing on from life to life everlasting. As we go to our eternal home, which is where? In heaven.