WHAT WILL HEAVEN BE LIKE?

Religion

Acts 1:9-11

We all have questions about what heaven will be like. We also form ideas about how it will be. Lloyd George, who was once Prime Minister of England said, “When I was a boy the thought of heaven used to frighten me more than the thought of hell. I pictured heaven as a place where there would be perpetual Sundays with perpetual services, from which there would be no break. It was a horrible nightmare and made me an atheist for ten years.”
Is your view of heaven a place where we will float on clouds and sing hymns all day?

The reason there is so much mystery about heaven is that in the providence of God he has not told us all of the details. But he has told us enough to assure us that it will be beyond anything that we can imagine.

THE THINGS THAT WE DO KNOW ABOUT HEAVEN

First, we know that heaven is a place that Jesus is preparing for us. He called heaven, “My Father’s House.” He told his disciples, “I am going there to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)

Also, heaven is a place of “No Mores.” John was on the Isle of Patmos when God gave him the vision of heaven recorded in Revelation 21:1-4.

There will be no more separations. Our loved ones will never be beyond our ability to be with them. Now we go decades without the presence of those we love. We will never have the painful goodbyes again.

“No more sea” is a statement that there will be nothing that can separate us from God or our loved ones. Four times I have been privileged to with our missionaries on Islands in the Caribbean. They told me that living there over a period of years they develop “Island fever” which is a feeling of being trapped by the sea and being unable to go where you want to go. The water’s edge on a small island is very limiting. The Apostle John felt this on Patmos where he was exiled for preaching the Gospel of Christ. After a while the sea becomes your enemy.

“No More Death.” We have to live with the effects of death every day, but heaven will correct that. We have the assurance that we will never die and that our loved ones will never die. Our minds will never again have to dwell on the thoughts of losing a loved one. We will never again have to wonder about how our deaths will occur. That will be a great blessing to have that peace of mind.

“No More Mourning.” The grief process is powerful and has a strong affect on our well-being. It can last for months, years, or a lifetime. This is a temporal matter that we only have to deal with in this life. In heaven our emotions will no longer be raw and drain the very life out of us in grief.

“No More Crying.” Sometimes our tears seem ceaseless. Here there are times when just a thought, a place, a holiday, a birthday, a family gathering, a song, a scripture verse, a photograph, a possession, and a myriad of other things prompt us to cry for our loss. But in heaven there will be nothing to cry about.

“No More Pain.” We spend so much of our time now with sickness and pain. As we grow older our bodies hurt in places we never knew we had. Just think, we will not need pain medications, corrective surgery, doctors, hospitals, insurance, recovery times or any of the things we associate with physical limitations.

You will not have to worry about attending church all day as Lloyd George did for there will be no churches in heaven. In Revelation 21:22, we read, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” No church will be needed. We will be able to worship God fully at any time and at any place. We will be free from all of this denominational haggling about who is the true church and who interprets the scriptures properly, which day is the Sabbath, what version of the Bible to use, and who is doing God’s work in the earth. We will be free of conflicts among members of the church with some believing that their way is the only way. There will no longer be broken relationships in the body of Christ.

“No More Sin.” We live now with the presence of sin all around us. We have to contend with the power of sin within us. There will be no more crime reports on television portrayed as news. Heaven is a place where “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.” Revelation 21:27).

“No More Curse.” “No longer will there be any curse.” (Revelation 22:3). Now we live under the curse of sin that has infected the human race. All of that will be ended. We will no longer see terrorist plotting to kill and ravage those who do not agree with their warped concept of God. The curse of corrupt rulers of nations who subdue their people by force in order to stay in power will be over. The curse of false religions that Satan has developed in opposition to God that has led many astray will be ended. The curse of greed that has destroyed the economies of nations will be no more. The curse of sexual perversions of all kinds will be revealed for what it really is and will be ended. All of these curses that bring eternal death will not exist any longer.

In addition to John, there were three others in scripture who saw a glimpse of heaven. In Genesis 28:12 we read that Jacob had a dream and saw “…a stairway resting on the earth with it top reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”

Stephen was privileged to peer into heaven. “Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56). Paul was caught up in the glory of heaven. “He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. (2 Corinthians 12:4). He also said, “…No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (I Corinthians 2:9).

THINGS THAT WE QUESTION ABOUT HEAVEN

Will we know our loved ones there? Sometimes the best way to answer a question is with another question. Do we think that God will destroy the family? Of course not! We will have the same identity there as we have here and it is our family that gives us our identity. The family is God’s creation.

What if someone in my family does not make it to heaven? It is true that all family members may not be saved. The best that we can do for them is to pray for their salvation and live and life before them that would make them want to know the Lord. Somehow, the Lord will have a way to minister to you if someone in your family is not there. In the meantime, we should make every effort to win every member of our families to faith in Christ.

Will someone who commits suicide be there? Suicide is a tragic occurrence. We must remember that anyone who takes his or her own life is not rational at the moment. The only thing that keeps a person out of heaven is the unpardonable sin – which is the continual rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior. It is possible for a Christian to become so depressed and despairing that they become out of touch with reality and believe that taking their life is the only way out. Although taking one’s own life is the ultimate murder, it is inconceivable that God would reject one’s salvation because of a mental illness.

Is it possible for those in heaven to see us on earth? Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” This follows the great chapter eleven listing of the heroes of the faith. It is impossible for us to do anything but guess about the answer, but scripture indicates that those in heaven have a window on to the world. It is natural to assume that they have an interest in what we are doing.

What will our resurrection body be like? We can learn a few things from the resurrection body of Jesus. He was still a male, so this indicates that we will still be male and female. He had the same physical appearance to his friends as he did before his death. His body could be touched. He could eat. He was not limited by walls. He could appear where he wanted to be. He still had his wounds that were related to our redemption, but he said that we would be made whole through his suffering. Therefore, it is indicated that our spiritual bodies will be whole.

Will we be married in heaven? In Matthew 22:23-32, Jesus gives a mysterious answer to the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. The matter in question was if a woman had been married to seven brothers, who wife would she be in heaven if she had no children. This was an absurd question based on Deuteronomy 25:5. “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bares shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” Jesus answered their question and referred to another truth that they did not believe, which was in the reality of angels. “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” He is saying, in effect, that marriage will not be used for procreation in heaven. He is not saying that marriage relationships that we know here on earth will be dissolved. Is it is reasonable to assume that deep life marriage relationships that we know here on earth are just for this life? Jesus said that we would be like the angels in that the human race will not continue to grow. We will not have babies that will grow up and have babies of their own.

What age will be in heaven? There is no way of knowing. But one thing we do know is that we will be ageless. But the big question is:

ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN?

In John 14 Jesus told his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He also said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through me.”

A man named Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born again when he is old?” Jesus told him, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The scripture say that you have to have your name written in the Lamb’s book of Life. It is only written there when a person comes to believe that he or she is separated from God because of sin and repents which causes a life change of direction which leads to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Charles E. Fuller announced that the next Sunday he would preach on “Heaven.” During the week received a letter which stated;

“Next Sunday you are to talk about heaven. I am very interested in that because I have a clear title to a piece of property there. I did not buy it. It was given to me by the donor who purchased it for me at a great price. For more than half a century, I have been sending materials, out of which the greatest architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me. Termites can never undermine the foundation for it rests on the Rock of Ages. No locks or bolts will ever be placed on the doors for no vicious person can ever enter that place where my dwelling stands. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey. I am ready to go.”

Will you hear him say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world?” (Matthew 25:34).

If you are prepared, you will enter the glory of Heaven. PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!

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