Saturday, July 21, 2007

What is Heaven Like?

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

1. Where is heaven?
The English rock group Led Zepplin did a song called "Stairway to Heaven", which is the single most requested and most played song on FM radio stations in the United States. The idea of a "stairway" to heaven wasn't new… In biblical times heaven was believed to be located in the sky where God and angels dwell. In Genesis 28, Jacob has a dream in which he sees a stairway to heaven, and angels climbing up and down on it, bringing messages down to earth from God, and up to God from earth.

But even scripture acknowledged that even heaven was too small to contain all the glory and presence of God. When the wealthy and wise king Solomon built the first temple of God, he prayed (1 Kings 8:27): "The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!"

Jesus said, when he sent out his 12 disciples: "As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near,'" (Matthew 10:7). Jesus also added another word to the sermon that clarifies heaven, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," (Matthew 3:2, 4:17).

He said this because heaven is experienced as salvation is received. In the Revelation 21 text we see the author's vision of heaven: "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them." As God is welcomed fully by creation, that's where and what heaven is.

2. What will we do in heaven?
Here's what Revelation 22:3-4 says about what we will do in heaven: "The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face…" Seeing God's face and serving God are two sides of the same coin. They complete one another. So in heaven we will not only see God, we will serve God.

One of the ways we serve God is through worship (and that could be good or bad, depending on what church you've been to!). The author of Revelation 7 says this about worship in heaven: "They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"

Have you ever had one of those moments when you were you, and God was God and you were ridiculously grateful that that's how it was? When worship of the almighty God just exploded spontaneously from you and all creation around you? It's indescribable joy. The Psalmist talked of the joy and pleasures in heaven when he wrote: “You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11). Heaven will be a place of service and ecstatic worship, a place of joy in the presence of the Lord.

3. Who will be in heaven?
Heaven is described in Revelation 21 as a holy city, the "new Jerusalem". A city with no people in it is a ghost town. A city is only a city because it is filled with people. The people in heaven are those who have accepted God's gift of salvation. They are people who are changed, no longer saddled with the brokenness of their earthly bodies and spirits, no longer bound by aging and illness and death, nor by egos and past mistakes and fears (Corinthians 15:50-52). These transformed people are wonderfully diverse. The Bible says that Jesus has, “purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

4. Heaven understands your thirst
God said, “To all who are thirsty I will give to drink freely from the spring of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God and they will be my children,” (Revelation 21:6-7).

God knows you are thirsty for something this world just can't give. God understands that there are things you will have to face and overcome. The hope of heaven isn't a means to escape the difficulties of life. It's the hope of heaven that gives you the strength to keep facing the struggle. Maybe today Jesus is calling you. Turn to him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

May heaven break upon you like rain on the desert sands.
May you look up and rejoice in the gift being offered to you.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Does God send people to Hell?

by Matt Brown
Revelation 20:11-15, John 3:14-18

On being lost and dead.
One thing that we know as Christians is that without reconciliation with God we are spiritually dead. The point of much of the Old Testament is God showing us that he will send us a messiah that will save and redeem us. Even when Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, God promises them a way back in. When God chooses Abraham he foretells of a blessing for all the nations. Our faith is built on the premise that we are fallen – a fact we see everyday – and that God has reached out a hand to save us.

God is looking for that which is lost.
Jesus reflects God’s intent when he tells us that he wants to find the lost. In the parable of the women looking for her coin he conveys the desperate sense that God is looking hard for us. The great commission is all about getting the word out. The nature of the incarnation itself illustrates the extent of God’s commitment to seek the lost. Why does God seek to save us? Because we are worth saving.

God honors free will (and we can choose hell).
Being "cast into hell" is a joint decision. While God has a salvation plan for us it is not one that allows us to remain passive. God created us with free will and he continues to honor that free will. If we deny that hell exists, we deny free will. God is putting out his hand to pull us off this path of destruction. Hell is a place that exists – that God made – for people who choose to live apart from him. God will allow us to choose that which is bent away from love and salvation.

It's never too late to start making better decisions.
You are a product of the decisions that you make every day. Everywhere you go you make decisions – taking your mind captive and conforming it to God’s will is a decision that you can make, but standing in the way of that decision may be feelings of pride. Pride makes you want to not look stupid if things don’t work out. Pride is the by-product of living in a world that has turned away from God, and is always trying to get you to turn away and buy into its products, activities, values, and distractions. When we live by the world's standards, we are conditioning ourselves to live outside of the presence of God.

How will you think about the knowledge of hell?
Hell is real and as a follower of Jesus it does not scare me for myself, but makes me want to get the word out. Last month we discussed evangelism and at the heart of the evangelistic message is the truth and call for help – salvation, from being separated forever from fulfillment from God. So what can we do and how can we spread the message of Jesus into our little corners of the world.

One mode of evangelism is to remember that you are always on duty – not perfect – but striving to be grace-full. Maybe extending grace is the most powerful way to spread the good news.