HEAVEN
THE FINAL HOME OF THE REDEEMED

       The Bible is the most amazing book in the world.  Its truth and authenticity have no match in the history of mankind.  Just think for a moment what this Book of Books reveals to us.  For example, it reveals:

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• The ultimate sovereignty and superiority of God the Father:

  • As to His might to create everything,

  • As to His power to sustain His creation,

  • As to His glory of total perfection and holiness,

  • As to His everlasting love and presence in the life of man.

• The amazing story of God’s plan and program of man’s redemption:

  • Through the birth of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God,

  • Through Jesus’ work, life, and message of salvation as “Immanuel” (God with us, God for us, and God in us),

  • Through whom Jesus Christ would manifest Himself to be: “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,”

  • Through the declaration of the Army of Heaven who shouted the best news ever that Jesus was God’s gracious gift of peace, good pleasure, and great joy.  Why?  He is nonother than the long-awaited Savior, the Messiah, God Himself in human flesh,

  • Through the revelation that Jesus was the God-Man being 100% man and 100% God; born of a virgin; lived a sinless life; was rejected by wicked men; died on the Cross to save man from God’s curse by becoming the only acceptable and perfect sacrifice which could bring the sinner from the position of alienation from God to forgiveness and reconciliation.  By faith in Christ, the lost man, dressed in ungodliness and unrighteousness, receives from God a new set of clothing.  He is dressed in the righteousness of Christ which enables him to live by God’s perfect law of love and holy character,

  • Through the resurrection of Jesus, He proved that life in Him is stronger than death; that the doom of sin and Satan is certain; that because He lives the man of faith will rise again to live eternally with God; that man will inherit a new heaven and a new earth of perfect holiness; that God Himself will bring with Him the Holy city whose name will be New Jerusalem and, in this city, as their reward, the saints will dwell in the eternal presence of God (Rev. 21:1-3).

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          Finally, we turn to the question of what the differences from our present world and the final home of will be to the redeemed.  What will the new world look like?  What will the saints of God be doing for all eternity?  How big will the New Jerusalem be?  What will it be like to see God face to face?  Our answers to these questions will fall far from REALITY!  The Prophet Isaiah who lived over seven hundred years before the birth of Christ gave an amazing description of both the temporal kingdom of a thousand years and the eternal kingdom of God’s creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Isa. 65:17-25).  Then in the New Testament, the Apostles John and Peter reveal our heavenly inheritance as a fact and a mystery beyond our capacity, vocabulary, understanding to describe with perfect clarity (Rev. 20:1-6; 21:1-27; 22:1-5; 2 Pet. 3:10-13).  Paul answers the question of what happens to Christians who die before Christ return to set up His eternal kingdom on the new earth (1 Thess. 4:13-18).  And even today, Paul can declare that the secrets of the mysteries and wisdom of God are not fully known.  Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:7-9).  The writer of Hebrews says that we are surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses, that declare by their experiences of living and dying for their faith in Christ that God’s promises are real, that faith works, and that Heaven is worth the fight (Heb. 11).  Therefore, Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.  Heaven is God’s gift for those who run life’s race with their eyes fixed on Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).  Heaven is God’s Home.  Jesus is the only way to God’s Home.  Jesus was sent for lost sinners to be led to God’s Home.  Jesus is God’s Guide out of the jungle of sin into God’s presence through the revelation of God’s truth as to the lostness of sinful man.  God has given His Word as our map to Heaven.  God has given us the Life of His Son to empower us for our journey to the City of God.  Jesus is our only hope to the Celestial City of God. 

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          Therefore, what will we experience, see, hear, and discover when we get to Heaven? How will our present loneliness, grief, emptiness, and deep longing for those we have lost through death be replaced by fixing our eyes on the beauty, wonder, and magnificence of our Lord?  Many insights for answering these questions are provided by the Apostle John who wrote both the Gospel of John and Revelation.  In John 13:1-19:42, John focuses on what happened during the final 24 hours of the life of Jesus.  This final conversations, teachings, predictions, prayers, denials, and actions of Jesus emphasize His purpose in coming to the earth from Heaven, the hope He offers to man, and the exalted joy Christians will enjoy in God’s presence for all eternity.  However, when Jesus told His disciples that He came into the world to save lost sinners by suffering a horrible death on the Cross, that He would conquer death, hell, and the grave by the resurrection, they were filled with fear and unbelief.  For them, their world was falling apart, their sun was setting at noon, and chaos was raining down upon them.  And it was at that moment when Jesus told the disciples of His Father’s house.  Jesus said, “You believe in God.  Just trust Me! In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places and I’m going to get the house in order for you.  I’ll be back to get you and you will live with Me forever.  In My Father’s house there is room for all of His children.  It is as big as the heart of God.  It is a place of magnificent dwellings with multiple levels, terraces, fountains, and beautiful gardens which far exceeds the houses of the Ultra-wealthy and the Kings of the earth” (Jh. 14:3 with my paraphrase).

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          The Apostle Peter reveals more details of Heaven when he tells us that God in judgment and justice is going to clean up the present heavens and earth by fire (2 Pet. 3:10-12).  Peter also describes the creation of the new heavens and new earth and many of the physical features of this new creation (1 Pet. 1:3-13).

 

          Peter says that the Christian is one who has been born again.  He has been reborn again by God to a new life so changed, so radical, so definite, and so new that he is a new creation.  This new creation takes place by the will and act of God.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit brought about by the word of truth and through faith in Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:3; James 1:18, Jh. 3:1-15).  As a result of this rebirth, the Christian has a living hope of eternal life.  Through forgiveness of sin, decay, and defeat, he is now emancipated from sin and given the power to walk in a right relationship with God.  He now learns the power of victorious living over self, sin, Satan, and circumstances.  He has now entered into a great inheritance far greater than when the Jews settled into the Promised Land which also was a gift from God.  To describe this wonderful inheritance that is promised to the man who has been born again, Peter paints a beautiful picture using three very rich words.

 

          First, our Inheritance is Incorruptible.  It is a land that is imperishable or unravaged by invading enemy soldiers.  No decay of houses, no slums of or by poverty, no smell or sights of anything spoiled or corrupt, no presence of soldiers without limbs or burned faces beyond recognition, no walking sticks or walkers or wheelchairs caring for disabled people, no need of medical personnel, no funeral directors, no handyman for repairs, no hospitals to provide for the sick and dying, no threats of bombs, no nuclear destruction, no houses of shame and disgrace, no crooks, no murderers, no degenerate or profane people, no prisons overrun with criminals, no need of firefighters, no need of street, road, or highway repairmen, no fear of volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, cyclones or hurricanes, no sex traders, no drug cartels, no gas chambers, electric chairs or lethal injection syringes, no chariots of fire crashes, no buses, airplanes, or subways.  Nothing to stop God’s children!  That means Big Changes are in our future.  Today, we inhabit a physical body that is corrupted, deviant, evil, and depraved.  A body that needs a Redeemer!  A corruptible body cannot share life with a holy God or live where He lives.  However, Paul tells us that God’s children are going to have a spiritual body which will be incorruptible.  This new spiritual body will be made into the likeness of Christ and be the perfect new man recreated to live in fellowship with God (1Cor. 15:35-49).

 

          Let us examine Paul’s contrast of the first Adam who came from the dust of the earth with the second Adam who came from Heaven.  The first Adam is the Earthly man from whom we receive our natural, physical body.  The second Adam (Christ) is the Heavenly Man form whom we receive our spiritual body on the day of resurrection.