HEAVEN: THE BELIEVER’S FINAL DESTINATION – PT. 1
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to
life, and only a few find it. (Matt. 7:13-14)
It is important to know something about your final destination. This is why believers
should study about heaven. For example, this past summer Teresa and I visited California for
about ten days. In all our married life together we had ever been in that state, so for over a year I
did a lot of research about the national parks and the specific places we wanted to see. I wanted to
know something about our destination before we got there.
If we know nothing about heaven and face the possibility of death, it could be quite fearful –
unless we know where we are going. We should desire to know as much as we can about our
final destination and Who will meet us at the end of our life=s journey.
Last Sunday we watched a video by Billy Graham about heaven and life after death. I have
some extra copies of that video if you didn’t get to see it or want to share it with someone else.
According to the Bible every man is on a journey in life and we all have two possible final
destinations: There is a narrow way of life, which is heaven, and there is a broad way of
destruction, which is hell We will talk occasionally about the reality of hell, but today, and next
week, Lord willing, I want us to study about heaven. I believe this is the destination where most
of us, not necessarily all of us, are headed.
Some believers don’t seem that excited about heaven: Why? [RESPONSE]
Two basic reasons (1) we may enjoy this present life too much – in 21st cent. America we have it
pretty nice; and (2) we may have some...
MISCONCEPTIONS OF HEAVEN
1. Place of inactivity – e.g., floating on clouds, slowly strumming golden harps, or just resting in
a chair... -e.g., book cover [SLIDE] – girl sitting on clouds
2. Living in my “mansion” (Jn. 14:2 KJV) In My Father’s house are many mansions...
NAS = dwelling places; NIV = rooms
Greek, mone = inn; stopping places along a journey; hut for watching in a field.
The word implies a person is on the move; not stationary for long
“Heaven could easily be a place of unfolding vistas, horizons, plateaus, and new sights.”
(Dick Mills)
3. Place where your personality dissolves – e.g., a student once asked me, “Will we know what’s
going on in heaven?” In Lk. 16 – rich man and Lazarus – we see our spiritual bodies will very
much have senses. In the Buddhist concept of afterlife, after you gain the right enlightenment
and banish all greed and vices, you achieve Nirvana, where you are finally free from the cycle
of life and are united into oneness with the Supreme God, Brahma. But there is no emphasis
on you continuing after death as a person
4. A continual praise service – e.g., “It’s just where Jesus is and we’ll be praising him all the
time...” In heaven we will certainly praise the Lord, but the activity of heaven is going to be
much broader than that.
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Huck Finn, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comments about heaven.
[Miss Watson] went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to
do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think
much of it.... I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a
considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
(Huck Finn, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain)
[Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p. 54]
That idea of heaven wasn’t appealing to Huck Finn and it’s not appealing to me either!
5. Place where selfish lusts are satisfied (e.g., Muslims)
Islamic Paradise (it is never called Heaven) is a place where a Muslim man can have all the sex
he wants with 72 virgins, drink wine and never get a hangover, eat all he wants and watch the
people in Hell be tortured and taunt them. (You wonder what women have to look forward to;
they will only have one man in paradise.) The Muslim paradise is a sensual place, not a spiritual
place.
There is a place for selfish people, but it is hell, not heaven...
6. Place where we know everything, and life is somewhat predictable, so it’s probably boring.
BORING?
“I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing
heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be
even worse.” (Isaac Asimov)
What a pathetic perspective!
[Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p. 54]
Heaven is a lot bigger than we can comprehend. It will not be like taking a visit to Hawaii and
then you can say, “Well, I’ve seen that place now.”
“There will be new planets to develop, new principles to discover, new joys to experience. Every
moment of eternity will be an adventure of discovery.” (Ray C. Stedman)
[Sermon: “The City of Glory” 1990]
The Bible gives us
DIFFERENT PICTURES OF HEAVEN [also people who have died, and come back to life,
sometimes describe heaven in different ways]
1. Paradise, a beautiful garden
2. A wedding celebration
3. A glorious city, the New Jerusalem
Which is correct? All are! There is no contradiction here. Suppose we were to invite a
group of ten year old rural African children to America for a month. We took them to New York
City; we took them to the vast wheatfields in the mid-western states; we took them to the Rocky
Mountains, and we took them to Washington DC. What would they describe? Their
descriptions would certainly not be the exact same.
So, if any of us were to visit heaven, it is so awesome and beyond anything in human
experience, that we would probably not be able to explain in a few words.
The Bible does not give too many details about heaven, but we do have some glimpses.
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WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?
1. The place where God dwells.
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. (Is. 66:1)
Heaven is the home of God; so if a person does not want God, he would not want to be in
God’s residence.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you. (Ps. 73:25)
2. Where we will finally see Christ face-to-face.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John
3:2)
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face...(1 Cor. 13:12)
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Rev. 22:4)
When we who follow Christ finally see him face-to-face, there will not be any apprehension, of
not wanting to see him, or sense of guilt. We will have been transformed and will be like him. This
does not mean we will be identical to him, but we will be like him. All the defects in our character
will have been perfected. We will have final victory over all the besetting sins we struggled with.
We will stand in heaven, fully accepted in the righteousness of our Savior, and he will smile and
say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your master.” Are you looking
forward to that day?!
What is the significance of the expression “face-to-face”?
Helen Keller, after a lifetime of blindness, was once asked what she would do if, for just one day,
the power of sight were restored to her. She replied, “I should call to me all my dear friends and
look long into their faces.” Bruce Milne says,
“What a prospect for every child of God, to be called into the presence of the dearest
Friend of our lives, whom we have here known by faith and not by sight, and there to
look, and look, for ever.” (Bruce Milne)
[Bruce Milne, The Message of Heaven and Hell; Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p. 243]
Wayne Grudem commented,
“When we look into the face of our Lord and he looks back at us with infinite love, we
will see in him the fulfillment of everything that we know to be good and right and
desirable in the universe. In the face of God we will see the fulfillment of all the longing
we have ever had to know perfect love, peace, and joy, and to know truth and justice,
holiness and wisdom, goodness and power, and glory and beauty.” (Wayne Grudem)
[Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology pp. 1158-1164]
In other words, we will understand Christ – his character and his action –as never before.
Also, “face-to-face” implies we are not looking at a ghost or some nebulous spirit being; but we
are gazing upon the perfect man; the glorified man Jesus, but yet a man.
3. Light and beauty beyond anything man can compare.
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No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared
for those who love him. (1 Cor. 2:9)
John the apostle was privileged to see this place; He used the best words, the most
extravagant human words possible to describe this place – streets of pure gold like transparent
glass; walls made of jasper; foundations decorated with every kind of precious stones. Is this all
literal? Maybe, but whatever, it will be so beautiful, it will take our breath away!
There will be nothing in our present realm of experience to compare it to.
The apostle Paul was caught up into Paradise and said,
...was caught up into Paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put
into human language. (2 Cor. 12:4 New Jerusalem Bible)
Just about everyone who has had a supposed visitation to heaven describes the
incredible beauty that will be there.
We know heaven is a place of complete perfection; where everything is right. No withered
leaves; no dying vegetation; no signs of aging; no sickness; no bad sounding music. Pure beauty.
4. Great enlargement of knowledge, but still learning....
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with
perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know
everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. (1 Cor. 13:12 NLT)
Greek = to know thoroughly and accurately – e.g., about this life and why God allowed things
to happen.
Some of you may have had terrible suffering or disappointment and you’ve asked, “Lord, why
did that happen?” Those kind of questions will be fully answered.
In that day you will no longer ask me anything. (Jn. 16:23)
But God will have many other things to reveal to us...all through eternity. In The Last Battle in
the Chronicles of Narnia, it talks about these children who have now died and entered heaven:
“But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world ...had only
been the cover and the title page; now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great
Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on for ever, in which every chapter is better
than the one before.” (C. S. Lewis, In The Last Battle)
Only God is infinite and since we are finite, we will always have something new to learn from
the Almighty One... Sam Storms, in his book, Heaven: The Eternal Increase of Joy, wrote,
“We will constantly be more amazed with God, more in love with God, and thus ever more
relishing his presence and our relationship with him. Our experience of God will never reach
its consummation. We will never finally arrive, as if upon reaching a peak we discover there
is nothing beyond. Our experience of God will never become stale. It will deepen and
develop, intensify and amplify, unfold and increase, broaden and balloon.” (Sam Storms)
[Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p. 240]
5. A place of many surprises.
John Newton said,
“If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there:
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First to meet some I had not thought to see there;
Second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and
Third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.”
(John Newton)
We have already said that boredom will not exist in heaven. We will find ourselves being thrilled
over and over again. Let me repeat that great quote from Ray Stedman:
“Every moment of eternity will be an adventure of discovery.” (Ray Stedman)
“On the New Earth we may experience adventures that make our current mountain climbs,
surfing, skydiving, and upside-down roller coaster rides seem tame. Why do I say this? It’s more
than wishful thinking. It’s an argument from design. We take pleasure in exhilarating
experiences not because of sin but because God wired us this way....We weren’t made to sit all
day in dark rooms, watching actors pretend to live and athletes do what we can’t.” (Randy
Alcorn)
[Heaven, p. 413]
6. Place where we continue to serve the Lord (Rev. 22:3) The throne of God and of the Lamb will
be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
There will be glorious singing and worship in heaven, but there will be activity as well.
There will be no sense of drudgery, or the ‘daily grind” in heaven. Each of us will thoroughly enjoy
doing the tasks we are given. I believe some of the tasks we have enjoyed on earth we will enjoy
in heaven. Will we do such activities as reading, planning, building? There is no reason to think
not. Now, those of you who have been involved in medical work will have to find something new
to do!
“Heaven will be a place of rest but not retirement. We will have plenty of fascinating, fulfilling
things to do and an eternity to do them.” (Doug Connelly)
[Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p. 600]
Mailboxes: an old sermon by Thomas Dewitt Talmage. Talmage was one of America’s greatest
preachers in the later 19th century. He pastored Brooklyn Tabernacle Church for 24 years and
hos weekly sermons were printed in 3,600 newspapers, reaching 20 million readers each week.
One of his popular sermons was, “What Are They Now Doing in Heaven?”
7. Joy unspeakable
In Your presence is fulness of joy. In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Ps. 16:11)
Take the happiest occasion you have ever experienced, your greatest time ...and multiply X
1,000! C. S. Lewis said, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying
or pain... (Rev. 21:4)
Life in our present world is not always happy. There is always some war going on, some
tragedy, someone being murdered, some racial strife, some big disappointment.
Heaven will be a place of supreme happiness with nothing to ever interrupt it.
No funerals, accidents, no remorse, no guilt, no clouds, no depression, no night.
Doesn’t that sound that a great destination to plan for?!
“Always remember whither you are going; that you are preparing for everlasting rest and joy.”
Richard Baxter [Quoted in Alcorn, Eternal Perspectives, p.567]
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NEXT WEEK – We will at five more aspects of
heaven and also examine some of the popular books
and films about people who have claimed to visit
heaven.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS (by Randy Alcorn)
I don’t know of anyone who has researched this
topic of heaven more than Randy Alcorn:
As we close, let me ask:
WILL YOU HAVE A PLACE IN HEAVEN? Three questions for each of us
1. Do you want Jesus the Savior, the focal point of heaven?
2. Do you want to be with your Christian brethren, the future citizens of heaven?
I can tell you a lot about a person’s faith by the kind of friends he has.
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. (1
Jn. 3:14)
3. Do you want the holy character of heaven?
We must remember that heaven will be a holy place. God is a holy God. The angels are holy.
The inhabitants are holy people. It is a holy city and nothing unholy will be allowed in it.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem... Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone
who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life. (Rev. 21:2, 27)
“There is no heaven with a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure
and holy and right...” (Oswald Chambers)
One day soon, I am going to leave this present world and join the inhabitants of heaven. I
have no doubt about it; it is my final destination in life and I can’t wait to see that place!
I believe most of you here will be with me. Isn’t that great?! Our fellowship will not stop
here, but will only deepen and continue in a much broader way.
Some of you, if you were to die today, sad to say, would not make it. If you were to die today,
you would miss heaven. You may see the Lord, but he will say, “Depart from me...I never
knew you...” The good news, however, is that you are still alive... and you are still hearing
God’s call to come. Surrender your life to Christ and you can have this same wonderful
destination.
Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. (2 Cor. 6:2)
You can do this right now, in your own heart, and if you, be sure and tell some of us about it.
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