Holiness — Al Whittinghill

Eternal Fellowship With God

Enjoying fellowship with God. I wonder what you think of when you hear that glorious phrase. Enjoying fellowship with God. Well, it means a whole lot more than the glory of experiencing His love on earth for 70 or 80 or 90 or 100 years.

You see, I believe the Lord wants to set before us this morning that we have a destiny, an eternal destiny. It's eternal fellowship with our Lord. And when this vapor, this life on earth is over, then things just get really started in the mind and heart of God's plan for us.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

Listen to the book of Revelation. Will you turn there and read in chapter 21 with me several verses? We'll read several verses together, and I hope they will just be burned like a brand upon your mind and heart.

One brother read several verses from this this morning, and I was rejoicing. The Lord was already attracting our attention to these words. Revelation chapter 21, verse one. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.

And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people.

And God himself shall be with them and and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there'll be no more death and neither sorrow nor crying. And neither shall there be any more pain because the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write this down, for these words are faithful and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and I will give unto him that is thirsty of the water of the what of the fountain of the water of life freely and to him that overcomes shall he will inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son.

What a eternal exaltation and then the spirit of God as a agonizing addendum reminds us, but the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and the murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars or all falsehood shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death at the head of that list.

Before the whoremongers and the murderers are the fearful and the unbelieving. But that little addendum must be made as that for this morning and go to Revelation chapter seven and look in verse 15 because of the fact that we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 15, Revelation chapter seven, therefore, because of the blood of the Lamb, they are in the presence of the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them, literally spread his tabernacle over them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sun light upon them nor any heat for the lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

The Eternal Weight of Glory

And now to Second Corinthians, if you turn there to Second Corinthians, chapter four, and we'll read together several verses from Second Corinthians four, beginning in verse 14, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you for all things.

Or for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many overflow or redound to the glory of God, for which cause we do not faint, though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is just for but a moment.

It works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen the visible, but we look at the things that are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal or temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Now, the practical working of all this out, Paul puts before us in these next verses in chapter five, he says this, for we know that if our earthly house, meaning the body, the body of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands.

It's eternal in the heavens. If something happens to my body, I know I have a dwelling place in heaven. A house that's not made with hands. It's God's gift. Verse two, for in this, meaning in this body, we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.

If so, that being clothed, we will no longer be found naked for we that are in this body, this tabernacle do groan. We are burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but rather we're burdened that we be clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

We are anxious for that moment. It's saying now he that has wrought us for this selfsame very thing is God. Our destiny is this to have mortality swallowed up in life. He's saying God has given to us the arrow bond, the engagement ring, the earnest, the seal of the spirit of God, meaning in our hearts.

Therefore, because of this, we are always confident. Again, it says it knowing that while we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by the invisible, not by what's shouting at us in the temporary world.

We are confident again. It says, I say, rather willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord there. Wherefore, we labor that whether we are present or absent, we may be well pleasing to him or accepted by him.

Remembering Death and Preparing for Eternity

Well, it was several months ago now that I was in Pennsylvania in a Mennonite church and there was a large men's conference going on. We were using these facilities. It was a wonderful church there. I was so blessed by it.

It was so tastefully presented to the Lord. You could see that the people took great care to make this place an excellent gathering point for worship. And during the breaks, we would walk from the sanctuary over to a hall to have refreshments.

But the breezeway had been glassed in. And as we walked out to the left, there was this absolutely beautiful cemetery. I mean, it was green and it had beautiful tombstones. It looked like Arlington, but it was it was all believers are those who had been buried in the faith.

And and this was maybe 200 years old, this church in the cemetery. And so you could see the older gravestones out there. And as I walked by there, every time I looked out there, God ministered to me. He seemed to say to me, you will pass through this door, redeem the time.

The days are evil. Your life is but a vapor. And as I looked at that place where the bodies of those saints had been laid to rest, I remember thinking, I wonder why we don't have graveyards around our churches anymore.

I started thinking about it and all the megachurches in Atlanta. I don't think I know one that has a graveyard round about it. And what I do see instead of graveyards with the ground that would be used for that part of a ministry of that memory to the church that you're going to pass to this door instead of graveyards, you see gymnasiums and activity centers and places of exercise of the flesh.

And I'm not making a statement, but I believe this. I believe we seem to be reluctant as a church to think about death. We seem to be reluctant as a people of God to really talk about death to others.

We use safe words now like expire or pass on or something that doesn't really make a person panic or they they can still feel like they're immortal when we don't talk about you're going to be dead. You know, we don't use that words.

We we pass on simple things. And I think I know why we're nervous about this and why we don't talk about it. I believe this, we have lost sight of the eternal and we no longer have as our fixed point of reference, these verses that I just read and the verses like them that talk about our eternal fellowship and destiny with the Lord himself.

Contrast the Bible church in the book of the word of God that existed on this earth for a few years. They saw their life to prepare men and women for eternity to get them to be ready to face the the certainty of an everlasting existence.

A contrast that with the church of today that no longer deals with death really exactly. But now we see our ministry instead of preparing men and women for eternity, it might be more defined as fixing them up for time to have them have a happy life and meaning in their existence.

People are overwhelmed with the difficulty of earth. And so we want to fix that, make it easier for them. And so we we manifest the natural tendency to have a wrong focus. We've lost sight, I think, of the heavenly vision.

And I believe this may be the first generation of Christians to really and truly, really and truly lose our long term vision for heaven. It doesn't move us anymore. In fact, you will hear very few sermons on heaven.

There are very few books about heaven. They're rare. And when you find out where they are, they're even harder to get because they just don't sell them anymore. There's some good new books being written on heaven.

A lot of them are experience centered rather than theologically centered. But there is still an improvement about our eternal destiny. You see, consequently, because we don't know this as a church, we tend to go by tradition.

Or worse yet, what television and Hollywood would convince us that heaven are like we see those things, we use vague hand-me-down images of what heaven must be like. And sentimental, denominational, the way grandmom and grandpa believed in its second hand, heaven seems remote.

It's like wings and harps and gold streets and all the things that have leaving us with no gripping power of assurance. But you see, little biblical knowledge of heaven leaves me with little desire for it.

Here's an axiom that I like. The more of heaven that we cherish, the less of earth will covet, the more of heaven that your heart is set upon, the less of earth that will have a hold in your life. And if we're focusing on this earth, looking at the visible, we'll be earthbound and locked into a trap of visible prison.

Longing for Heaven More Than Earth

Now, to illustrate the unreality in which we live, I want to just give you an example. Let's suppose that I could put in your hand a little box like a television controller that had one button on it. And this button was red.

And beneath this button, it said, I will go now. And you had it in your hand. And you knew that if I gave you this box and you had the option, you could push that button and immediately your time on earth would be over and you would go immediately to the presence of God where you would spend eternity.

I wonder if I said, here it is, brother, you can have it now, you can push it if you want to. Would you push it? Yeah, there's a lot of mixed feelings, everybody. We're supposed to say yes. And so you usually do say yes.

But you see, most people would say, well, I'm in the middle of raising grandchildren and helping my career is right at a crucial point or there's a whole lot of things. My ministry is taking off. And so maybe in a few years, I just don't feel fulfilled yet.

And so I'm going to let it go for now. Well, let me ask you this. Suppose you had a little controller that said, go to Hawaii now. Two weeks. Would you push it? Most assuredly, most of us would push it because you know why?

Because we've been sold on Hawaii. We know all about it or we think we do, but we don't know about heaven. And that's why we wouldn't push it, because we're just uneducated biblically about it. The Bible says Ecclesiastes seven one, the day of death is better than the day of one's birth.

You know, that's an interesting verse, Philippians one twenty one says, for unto me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And Philippians one twenty three, Paul says, I have a strong desire to leave earth, to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

And he says in the text that we just read in Second Corinthians five eight, I would prefer to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Now, is this true? Are these verses true or are they kind of outmoded thinking?

Maybe that's back when it was tough in Bible times and they didn't have all the conveniences that we have. Instant everything, instant water, instant sanitation, instant everything. Are we missing something here?

See, I think we are. I think the church has missed it. Most of us are imprisoned in the time and in the visible. And to show you again how unconscious this is, it may be unconscious to you, but it's real.

I'll illustrate it by a joke that I heard about a certain man that went to his preacher. This man absolutely loved golf. Now, I love golf, too. Somebody says, what's your handicap? I say my swing. But but but I love golf.

But but it's I'm not messing with your golf. But brother, there's no reward for golf, even though there's nothing wrong with it necessarily. I mean, it can make something wrong. I can show what you really like out there.

But but there's no reward for it either. I mean, you can't do it well enough down here to get a reward. God's not going to reward you for it. But this particular man went to the preacher and he said, preacher, I just have a stupid question, but I love golf and I want to ask you to can you tell me, will there be golf in heaven?

Can we still play golf? I really hope so. And the preacher thought that was kind of dumb, but he prayed about it and he got an answer from the Lord. And he went back to this man and he said, well, brother, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news.

And the man says, well, I'll take that. Tell me the good news. He says, well, there is golf in heaven. He says, well, praise the Lord. What's the bad news? He says, you have a tee off time tomorrow morning at 11 a .m.

Now, I want to ask you this question. Why did you laugh at that? Because, you see, we think that's bad news. I mean, I mean, we don't really think it's bad news, but the suddenness of such an announcement as that would be a shock.

We're not prepared for it. Well, Matthew Henry said our duty as Christians is to keep heaven ever in our eye and earth under our feet. I believe the reason we don't like to think about death is because we aren't full of the truth about heaven and the eternal destiny.

And it seems remote to us. We don't take time to learn about heaven until it can't be avoided. I mean, we may feel that we are going to pass off anytime soon. And so we do this massive Bible study of heaven and become so full.

See, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. There was a Buddhist woman who asked a question of a friend of mine who is a godly man. It shocked me, this question, and it was quite perceptive.

You see what you think about it. This Buddhist woman said to this man, she said to him, Preacher, if you Christians believe that you'll go to heaven when you die and if it's such a great place, as you say, then why do you pray so desperately for healing?

It blew me away. It blew me away. I mean, of course we want to be healed and God does heal. But I mean, it's as if there's a desperation in our prayers like there's nothing left if we don't see the healing.

See, the early church, you read about them. They knew about heaven. It was etched in their vision, their spiritual retina, and they could blaze with zeal and passion about it as they faced death. They faced martyrdom with joy because they knew what was on the other side.

Abraham and the Heavenly Country

It really came together for me afresh when I read about Abraham. Listen to what it says about Abraham in Hebrews 11, verse 10. Listen to what it says. He looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

It goes on and it says, by faith, Abraham sojourned in a land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Then it says he looked for a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Reading on in verse 13 about all these Old Testament saints, it says they all died in faith, not having received the promises, but they saw them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and they embraced them.

And what they saw, they said, we are strangers on earth, they confessed. And pilgrims, they that say such things, declare plainly that they're seeking a country. Then it says, truly, if these people, the Old Testament people, had been mindful of the country they were coming out of, they could have returned.

They could save their life. They could go back. But now they desire a better country that is heavenly. And wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called. He's not ashamed to be called their God because he has prepared for them a city.

They were literally invigorated by the assurance of future reward and blessing and fellowship that would last forever. It says that they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they have in heaven a more enduring substance.

There was a freedom from the fear of death, it says in Hebrews. Also, Paul says, if in this life only we have hope, we are indeed most miserable. If fellowship with Jesus just means in this life on this earth only, then we are most miserable.

The Martyrs' Vision of Heaven

It's a glorious thing to walk with Jesus day by day, but it means a whole lot more than this little preparatory period for which we're in right now. You see, we can see it in perspective. I just came across a book called The Martyrs Mirror.

I got it up at a used bookstore in Michigan. And so I began to look for it where I could find it today. And I found it's a Mennonite publication. But this book was written in 1660 over in Europe, in Dutch.

And what it was, it makes Fox's Book of Martyrs looks like a little two page handbook. This book weighs about 13 pounds. It's about this thick and it comes in a brown paper wrapper of all things. And it's translated.

Well, first of all, it was written in 1660, but it wasn't even translated out of Dutch until it was translated into German in 1742. And it was brought to America by the German speaking Mennonites because they were concerned that their young man lacked fiber and didn't have a vision for suffering and for faithful witness in the face of harm.

So they translated it into German and they gave it to these Mennonite young men. It's an amazingly thick, colossal book, but it traces martyrdom according to the ancient church records right from Stephen and the Lord Jesus right on through all the way up through the Reformation.

What it does is it tells you how that early church divided the world, those disciples into 12 sections, and each disciple took a section and they ended up all but one giving their lives on onto the gospel in that section.

When I was in a certain place on Earth, I saw the grave of Thomas, the ex doubter. I never knew until I read this account how Thomas had died. I'll tell you, you read through this book and you see what happened to Aquila and Priscilla and Nekor and Sylvanus and Onesiphorus and all those names like Rufus and others that you just read over in the New Testament.

You don't know what happened to the 70 that the Lord sent out two by two that the early church knew quite well. But this book cites references and early writings that describe their manner of death. And I'll tell you, it's glorious.

They went through that doorway of martyrdom and it talks about that in clarity. Now, how did they do that? Well, because heaven was real to them. They did all of that without a New Testament. Think of it.

They didn't have the Bible in their hands like you have, but they went to some of the cruelest deaths. I'll tell you, when I read about how the Apostle Andrew died, I just had to go lay on my face and realize I don't know a thing about that kind of stuff.

When I read about how the Apostle Matthew died, it just made me go cry because I realized I said, Lord, what a privilege these men saw it to be. Andrew was out preaching in a place far away. And when Andrew preached, the governor's wife, the Roman governor's wife, Maximilia, she was saved.

And it made this man so mad that he arrested Andrew and he threatened him. He says, unless you stop your preaching and recant, I will take you to the cross. And Andrew said, these words recorded, sir, had I feared the cross, I would not preach the gloriousness of the cross.

I love it. And so he took him to be crucified. And as Andrew came near the cross, his words are recorded. It says something like this. Oh, cross, how I have greatly longed for thee. It is my honor to come to thee.

The closer that I am to you, the nearer I am to my savior. The further I am from you, the further I am from the savior. And they put him on that cross. They didn't nail him to the cross. They tied him to a cross and he hung there for three days, it says.

But I love it. It says he was not, however, silent as he hung there for three days and for three days he exhorted believers who came and they pled with the governor for his life. And he exhorted them to continue in the word of God and the faithfulness of the spiritual walk with the Lord Jesus.

And after about two and a half days, they had persuaded the governor to release him off the cross. And Philip Andrew heard about it and he prayed, oh, Lord Jesus, suffer me not to return to the land of the living.

And the Lord took him right there. I read these things over and over about these early saints and all through history until sometime we've lost that vision, that understanding of what it means. You see, it's it's a little known fact that I want to just present to you something that I hope will shake you in the core of your being.

The Resurrection of the Saints

In Matthew 27, there's a little obscure verse there that gives an account of what happened after the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead. It says in Matthew 27, verse verse verse 51, it says, behold, this is when the Lord Jesus gave up his spirit.

It says, verse 51, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in half from the top to the bottom. The earth did quake and the rocks opened. And then it says, and the graves were opened when he gave up his spirit.

And for three days, apparently those graves were open. And it says, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, comma, and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many.

I never thought seriously about that verse that after three days of laying open the graves, you know, you're concerned your dad's grave was opened by an earthquake. So you're there waiting. You can't go near because it's high feast day.

You can't touch the grave. You can't attend. But you set a watch around the graveyard. And after this, after the resurrection, it it's an amazing fact to me that these appearances of these saints that came into Jerusalem were documented by believers of that day.

We call it the anti-Nicene library. A .W. Tozer, whom Jerry White quoted, he read those and you can find them. They're hard to find, but they're called anti-Nicene library. And they are the writings of the disciples, disciples, people like Polycarp and Ignatius and others.

These are eyewitnesses in many cases of the book of Acts, people that that weren't in that first level of discipleship, you might say, but they are historically trustworthy. They're not scripture, but I'll tell you that they're accurate and they are amazing.

And in these anti-Nicene writings, various writers recount this clearly and in detail, they write more than one wrote this, that about twelve thousand of the Old Testament saints, when Jesus was raised from the dead, they were the first fruits talked about in first Corinthians 15, Christ, the first fruits and afterwards, they that are here, that is coming.

But there were first fruits like that shock of wheat that was raised and cut and taken into the temple, presented to the priest and blessed, guaranteeing a fuller harvest and all to be blessed. They said twelve thousand Old Testament saints came and walked through the streets of Jerusalem, as it says here, and appeared to many and testified of the things of God.

And they for 40 days, along with the Lord Jesus, told about the eternity and the things of God and eternal judgment. Several documents from this time that are even secular document this. And they they claim that this happened, that I believe this happened.

Simeon, remember the old priest that the Lord Jesus was presented to? Well, he died shortly after he said, not my soul to part in peace or took him. And he had two sons who were also pretty old and they lived in Arimathea.

They were both priests. And by the time of this crucifixion, they also had gone to be that they had died. And they are purported in this writing to have appeared with this twelve thousand Simeon and his two sons.

And they were well known to the Sanhedrin and the priesthood of that day. So they were cross examined by the court separately. It's written down and their account of who they were and where they were from was the same.

They separately were questioned and they both told the same story. And here's what it is. Christ had appeared to them in what was known then as Abraham's bosom and had heralded to them the victories of his crucifixion.

And they were then taken as captivity, captive with him, raised with him and brought giving given the body they had at that time. And they were there to preach with him the message of the gospel. Do you believe that?

Well, I tell you what, I'm amazed that people have never heard that. I mean, you can look it up and it'll ring your bell so loud your dinger might break. I'm telling you, it's a powerful thing. They appeared in Jerusalem to many.

And then it says they ascended with the Lord. One little fact that I just love is in the book of Acts. It says that Jesus, when he ascended, he ascended into the cloud and was received into a cloud. The word is the word Nephos.

It's the same word used over in Hebrews 12 when it says we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. This same Jesus, the one you saw leaving, is going to come back in the same way you saw leaving with.

And how's he coming with saints all around him? He's going to bring the saints with him. And I believe personally that the Lord Jesus ascended those twelve thousand ascended. And you know what that would do to those people who saw that?

The same thing it'll do to you if you believe it'll put iron in your soul. It'll invigorate you and it'll give you what you need. Apart from paper, it'll give you what you need in your heart to do whatever you need to do to face the future.

The Unsearchable Glory Prepared by God

See, the Bible says the Bible says that I have not seen in First Corinthians, Chapter two, verse nine. It says it is written, quoting from Isaiah. I has not seen ear has never heard. It's neither entered into the heart of man.

The things that God has prepared for them that love him. I has never seen. Think about it. The things your eye has seen. I mean, what's more beautiful than looking at the ear of a little newborn baby?

What's beautiful to you like the little fingers or hands of a baby? Maybe you like nature and you look at the sea pounding in a hurricane or or see underwater coral reefs or mountain majesties or amber fields of grain or whatever it is that you think is beautiful.

A starry night. I'm telling you, the Bible says it's unworthy. In six days, Jesus spoke and all the heavens that we heard about went poof. He tossed them into space with his hand. All of that happened in six days.

Everything that was made was made. In fact, it says in the Bible that one day he's going to take all those stars and fold them up like an old suit. All those things, six days, 1900 years ago, he said, I'm going to prepare a place for you for 1900 years.

He's been preparing a place for you. If you're a believer, think what that must be like. I has never seen ear has never heard to some people. It's a delicious symphony or their mother's voice or their child's voice to them, whatever it might be, children playing the most beautiful sounds you've ever heard.

It can't compare with the sounds that you will hear when you get to heaven. One little kid looked up at the stars. It was so beautiful. He says, Daddy, if the underside of heaven is so beautiful, think what the top side must look like.

Neither has it entered into the heart of man. You've never been able to conceive. And infinitely above what you could ever think or ask, God has prepared. Imagine a conversation by two twins in a womb.

Here's where it becomes a ludicrous illustration. But imagine a conversation between two twins in a mother's womb. And one of them looks over at the other one, whatever looks over means in a womb. But he points to those holes right here around his nose that we call eyes.

And he says, what are those things on your face? And he says, these are the little round things that in a world that's coming, there will be colors and all sides of things to see things. The other one says, what do you mean?

Colors. What do you mean? Things. That's ridiculous. Colors and things. Why don't you be a realist? Look around. All we have here is just blue and gray. And what are those things at the end of those appendages on your arms, on your shoulders?

Those are hands. What are they for? Well, they are to to touch objects. What do you mean objects? You see, the whole concept of beauty and objects is foreign. These little holes in the side of that round thing, they're called ears.

They're for sounds. You mean you can hear a kind of a muffle, but that's going to be full and it's going to be glorious out there, full and rich. That's what is going to happen. The other says, oh, come on, you need to concentrate on where you are and plug in.

A Foretaste of Glory Divine

Well, you see, people say to you, what's that thing? And you call it a spirit. This is that that God has given to me that has given me a foretaste, an engagement ring of that which is to come. It's just through a glass darkly now that I can see or even hear or even know in part.

But it's a foretaste of glory divine. And in that day, these little tiny drops of grace and mercy that I experience now are going to be expanded into affinity and eternity. And I will be able to live in the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Let me tell you, it says I has never seen here, has never heard, but God has revealed him to us by his spirit. You can lay hold of this. You can lay hold of what we're talking about and it can grip your heart.

You can read a book like The Martyr's Mirror and be possessed with the same awareness of heaven that those people were possessed in. Why? Because God has sent the spirit of his son into your heart and that spirit has a figure in the scripture of being a dove.

And when a dove is released by the father, that dove is always straining to return to whence it came. That's what a homing pigeon is all about. He wants to go back to the rest. And the spirit of God that is sent into my heart is that that spirit that is longing and groaning, as Paul said, to return to that from where it came.

There's a there's a longing in my heart to be with the Lord God. And it's a wonderful thing. I'll tell you, it is a glorious thing. Now we know in part I've had people say to I've heard him say to people, well, brother, you're so heavenly minded, you're of no earthly use.

You ever heard that? Let me tell you something. That is not the church's problem. The church's problem is we're so earthly minded. We're of no heavenly consequence. We're so worldly minded. We're so caught up.

The Three Heavens and God's Dwelling Place

We've never bothered to think about heaven. It's never we've never transferred our citizenship. You see, the scriptures speak of three heavens and one of them is the atmosphere. That's about 3000 miles up.

And and that's where it says in Hebrews that the Lord Jesus went through the heaven. Try that with a rocket. You read about people going into heaven, but you shoot a rocket through the heavens and you're going to get people's attention.

Jesus went through the heavens, out through the first and out through the second, the second heaven we heard about last night. I mean, if you were to take our own Milky Way and make the earth just one inch, the distance to our nearest star is fifty one thousand miles.