To Heaven And Back? (Part 1)

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. 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. But let's remember the context so far going back to chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians. The false teachers in Corinth were basically talking themselves up while they were talking the apostle Paul down.

They were attacking his ministry. So now Paul has to defend himself. And that's what he's doing here. He's basically saying, although not in these words, I've seen heaven.

Have you?

And of course, the answer was no. 2 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 1. He writes, it is doubtless, not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body, I do not know.

God knows such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 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.

Let's just say a brief word of prayer before going forward. Lord, we are humbled by this passage. Your servant, Paul, who received a vision, a look into the very abode of God. And what's even greater than that is that if we would trust in Christ by faith, we too, one day, we'll see that sight.

Lord, I pray each and everyone here is on that path. Lord, by the end of this service, by the time everyone walks out, if there is anyone who does not know Christ, I pray they would know him this morning.

So that like the thief, they would see Christ in paradise. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Beginning with verse one, Paul says, it is doubtless, not profitable for me to boast. And the question I think then, okay, why are you doing it?

But he's already said, boasting is what?

It's foolish.

He's acting like a fool. So he says about himself, but remember, the Corinthian church was very carnal. Obviously they were influenced by the boasting of the false apostles. So basically you're going to listen to them.

You're impressed by them. I have something for you. So drastic times call for drastic measures. The false apostles boasted. Paul said, okay, I'll boast. I've seen paradise. I've seen the third heaven.

Paul continues in verse one by saying, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. And I'd like to take a little bit of time to talk about these two words, visions and revelations. The two can be tied together.

They're not necessarily the same thing. A vision. And this is what I believe. This is that Paul saw a vision of paradise, but a vision is a spiritual experience. When you see something that is not really there physically.

Think of it as like a dream that is so vivid you would swear it was real, but you're awake. Also, people in the Bible did have visions while they were sleeping. And since none of us have had these experiences, although I guess somebody might claim they have, I don't know.

But someone might wonder, how would you know the difference between a dream and a vision? Well, it's sort of like the people that you hear going around and saying, you know, God spoke to me and he said this.

Well, you know, my response would be, you know, if God spoke to you, like literally spoke to you, you'd know it. You wouldn't have to wonder if it was your conscience or your voice. You'd know it. If you have a vision, you'd know it.

Okay.

So I don't believe that God is actively doing these things today. Obviously, there are Christians who disagree with that. And the reason I say that is because God has given. And this leads us to our second term.

God has given revelation through his prophets and his apostles. And there are no more prophets and apostles in the world today. So the English word translated revelation is the Greek term apocalypsis.

And what does that sound like? Yeah, it sounds like apocalypse. And when most people hear the word apocalypse, they think of the end of the world. Well, that's not necessarily the case.

All right.

Apocalypse and revelation. The two words mean the exact same thing. As Christians, we think of the book of Revelation. And it's the final book in the Bible that tells us of the end of the world or at least the end of the world as we know it.

So I think that's where the confusion comes in. But even if you find a really old copy of the King James Version of the Bible, it has to be a really old one. If you go to the back, the book of Revelation in your Bible is probably called the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

I think that's the best name or title for it. But in really old copies of the Bible, sometimes it will call the book of Revelation the apocalypse of St. John the Divine. What does that mean? It's the apocalypse.

It is the revelation.

God is revealing things. God is revealing truth. He is giving revelation knowledge from heaven. So that's what revelation is. It is knowledge from God from heaven to man. All throughout the Bible, God is giving more and more revelation of himself.

He's revealing more and more truth to mankind. You think of God giving revelation to Abraham. He gave revelation to Moses and the prophets. Obviously, Jesus gave revelation to man. More than that, of course, Jesus was the object of revelation.

God's revelation revolves around Jesus Christ. As the book of Jude puts it, we now have the faith once for all delivered to the saints. So that's just a really long way of saying we already have all the revelation.

We already have all the knowledge that God wants us to have. We don't need prophets and apostles giving us more. We have the faith once delivered to the saints. Everything God wants you to know about himself, he's already revealed it.

So you can see, going back to the context of the chapter, but you can see how Paul could boast. He had received visions and he had received direct revelation from God. God revealed things to Paul that no other human being knew up until that period of time.

An example of this would be the rapture of the church. People knew of the resurrection, which is tied in with the rapture. But Paul revealed, because God first revealed it to him, that there would be a generation of believers that would never die.

Paul calls it a mystery. Why? Because nobody knew it before. He's revealing it. It's new revelation. So the apostle Paul, more than any other man, saved Christ himself. If there was ever a man mankind should listen to, it was Paul.

But Paul's not going to say that. He's not going to boast about himself and say, I am one of the greatest men in history. Listen to me. He's not going to say that. Even though it's true. It's true. But he will defend his ministry.

Because the church was important enough. The souls of the people in the church were important enough to where Paul has to get this point across. Do not listen to the false teachers. Do not listen to the false apostles.

Please listen to me as an apostle of Christ. But he acknowledges what he's doing is foolish. But it's a rare situation. So it's necessary. First one again.

Look at it.

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body, I do not know.

God knows such a one was caught up to what? The third heaven.

All right.

That's an interesting term. We'll get to that in a moment. But who is this man that Paul knows? Well, he's obviously referring to himself. And people do this at times. Although it is somewhat uncommon.

But people at times do refer to themselves in the third person. You've heard people do this. If I say to you, this is normally how we talk. You know, I woke up this morning and I had a cup of coffee and I got dressed and I came to church.

And I read something in the newspaper earlier that, you know, I want to tell you about what I read. That's just normal way we talk. If I said, you know, Mike woke up this morning and Mike had a cup of coffee and he came to church.

And Mike has something to tell you that you would think that was that's kind of weird, you know. But it is an accepted form of speech.

A little odd.

True. But that's what Paul's doing. He's speaking of himself in the third person. Now, there is a tiny minority that would claim that Paul isn't actually referring to himself. That he's speaking of someone else.

It really doesn't make any sense. You know, if you take the Bible in context, it doesn't add up. Yes, it's odd to speak of yourself in this manner. But just think, why is he doing it then? I think Paul's trying to be humble.

You know, he's not so in your face. I saw heaven. I did this. I did that. He's trying to remain humble. But the whole context is that Paul is trying to validate his ministry. If he's talking about someone else, how does that validate his ministry?

Then he's going to go on to that because of these visions and revelations, to keep him humble, the Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh. So, obviously, Paul is referring to himself. And what he says is, whether he was in the body or out of the body, he doesn't know.

But he was caught up to the third heaven. Now, turn to Revelation chapter 1, if you would. Before we talk about the third heaven. Again, it is certainly my belief, firm belief, that this is a vision of paradise.

So, that's the title of the message, a vision of paradise. Paul did not actually go to heaven in the body. However, it seemed so real. It was as if he did. So, you're turning to Revelation chapter 1. And what we're going to do is this.

We're going to compare Paul's experience to that of the apostle John, because something very similar happened to John. Look at Revelation chapter 1, starting in verse 9. Apostle John says, I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see right in a book. Now, skip over to chapter 4.

Revelation chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. And after these things, I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like I was like a trumpet speaking to me, saying, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.

And look at this.

And immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne. So the difference between Paul and John is that John knew that he was not physically taken to heaven. Notice what he says.

Immediately I was in the spirit. Paul isn't so sure. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com.

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