In Revelation 21, John, the disciple, had an awesome opportunity to peak into Heaven. He had a vision of what Heaven is like. God was revealing some things to him about Heaven so that he could pass those revelations on to Christ’s followers. I’m glad we have the awesome descriptions of Heaven found in Revelation. They encourage me. Sometimes we need encouragement that leads to endurance. Sometimes we need to see the finish line and what awaits to understand that the race is worth it. Glimpses of Heaven keep us inspired to stay faithful to Jesus and help us align our priorities with our future destiny instead of with all this world offers.
Look at verses 1 and 2: 1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
It is as if a curtain opened and a vision of reality, beyond what John could see in the natural, descended in front of him. Our current experience with life on earth and what we can perceive from this planet, faded in that moment. What John saw was a holy place, a place without chaos or corruption. God, Himself, the Creator of all we know now, was also responsible for the new Heaven. And I love the added description about this place being prepared as a bride who is beautifully dressed for her husband.
I love, love! I love weddings! Our daughter is getting married next month, and we are so excited! (We would love to be able to have you all there, but due to the fact that she was on a large church staff recently, her fiancé is on a church staff currently, and she is now on staff at a Christian school, and they have lots of college friends, and they both have childhood friends, and with all the extended family, we had to limit the guest list to people who played a special role in her life.) That said, watch for pictures because we will be overloading the internet with images of a bride who is beautifully dressed for her husband.
Am I the only one who loves the online videos of the first look at a wedding? I love to see how overwhelmed the grooms are when they see their bride walking down the aisle. It is an emotional moment for sure. Brides go all out, and they should. They have help with hair and makeup. They spend a lot of time shopping for the perfect dress. They have it altered to make sure it helps them look their best. The goal is to make a WOW impression. The bride wants to take the groom’s breath away when he sees her.
Friends, what we see pictured here in Revelation 21 is a scene that took John’s breath away. He said that Heaven was breathtaking. He was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. John used the most striking, beautiful image he could think of, the beauty of a bride, to describe what he had seen.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
When you read the Old Testament, you read about a tabernacle. Moses had been instructed by God to construct a tabernacle. It represented the dwelling place of God on earth. It became the place where God would meet with His people, but an earthly tabernacle could never truly house the presence of the Almighty God. We’re talking about a God so magnificent, so awesome, a God that is larger than all that He has created. He could never really be contained in a physical temple, but it was the best the Jewish nation had.
We know that because the Holy Spirit lives inside of believers, in a very real sense, God now dwells in His people through His Spirit. However, what John saw was the reality of God’s presence without limitation. In Heaven, God dwells with His people. The fellowship is close. The relationship is tight. This is the ultimate restoration of what was lost in the Fall when Adam and Eve sinned. Remember, they knew God intimately before sin entered the world. There was no distance between them and God. They knew nothing but the love of God. Heaven is a place of true restoration where God’s people get to enjoy Him without limit. Church, the glory of the Garden of Eden wasn’t the lush trees and grassy picnic areas. The glory of Eden was unbroken fellowship with God, and John saw how it would all be restored in Heaven! In other words, in Heaven, it is as God intended it to be when He created earth.
Verses 4 and 5: 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Life as we know it is over in Heaven, but that is a wonderful thing for the people who are there enjoying it. Sister Betty Thorn is thrilled to be in Heaven with Jesus. Bethany Chapman, your dad is thrilled to be in Heaven with Jesus. Doug Holbrook, your brother is ecstatic to be around the throne! I had a close friend pass away this week, and I know she is living her best life. I’ve been thinking about all that is behind her. Death is behind her. Mourning is behind her. There is no crying or pain. Everything old that leads to death, decay, depression, destruction, difficulty, despair and desperation is gone. John couldn’t see any of that in his vision because it wasn’t there.
And I love how verse 4 opens. God wipes every tear from our eyes. Think of the oceans of tears that have been cried by humanity over the course of time. He wipes each one away forever. Think about the kinds of tears you have cried. EVERY tear will be wiped away. Tears of grief. No one but Jesus knows the tears of grief that have run down the back of your heart when you have suffered the loss of a loved one or friend. What about tears of compassion and sympathy? Has anyone cried tears over the devastation caused by the Hurricane? Anyone had tears over the wars that rage around the world and particularly in the Middle East? What about tears when someone’s innocence is lost? How many of you have dealt with tears of rejection? Tears that come from being overlooked or passed over? Tears from a brutal breakup? Tears that are the result of loneliness or feelings of unworthiness? Maybe your tears ran through your soul from years of neglect. Maybe you have shed tears that flowed from being persecuted for your faith. Maybe your tears simply represent the longings of your heart that may never be realized in this life. John said God wipes EVERY tear from every kind of trial. He wipes them not just away, but He wipes away the experiences that cause them.
There is mention of the glory of God in Revelation 20:11 and how it had a brilliance to it that was LIKE jasper, that was as clear as crystal. John goes on to describe that the walls and gates were tall and thick. He saw the thick foundation made out of precious stones. Jasper. Sapphire. Agate. Emerald. Onyx. Ruby. Chrysolite. Beryl. Topaz. Turquoise. Jacinth. And amethyst. The gates were made out of pearl. The streets were paved with gold and were as pure as transparent glass. I’ve been to some cool places, but I’ve never seen anything like that!
How could he really capture the essence of Heaven with his words and by comparing its beauty to earthly jewels and gold? He did the best he could with the vocabulary that he had.
Verses 22-23: 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
It’s never dark in Heaven. Anyone already dreading the time when you look out at 5:30 p.m. and it is pitch dark? It messes with you, doesn’t it? It feels heavy, oppressive, and it can be limiting. I know a lot of people who don’t drive after dark. I know a lot of people who lose motivation to go anywhere or do anything after dark. Every Fall as the days get shorter, for about the last six years, I have had an emotional struggle with the darkness. I won’t have to worry about it in Heaven. God is the light. Jesus is the light.
Verse 27: 27 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.
There is no sin in Heaven. No-one in this room has ever known a community that wasn’t tainted by sin. We can’t even conceive of what a place without sin would look like. Nothing impure enters Heaven. These verses are very clear, and they aren’t the only ones to point to the reality that not everyone goes to Heaven. There is a reservation book. It is called the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” It records the names of those who have made peace with God through the sacrifice of Jesus. Those who have come to Jesus, whose sins have been forgiven, who have trusted Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, only they will dwell with God in Heaven. You have to make a reservation.
I’ve preached a lot of funerals. None of them have been easy, but most of them have been sweet. They’ve been sweet because I have known beyond a shadow of a doubt that many people whose lives I have been honored to commemorate, many of those people were Christians, believers, Christ-followers, people whose sin had been redeemed by Christ’s blood.
It is faulty thinking to believe that everyone goes to Heaven. That everyone is in a “better place” when they die. Oh, we will all live eternally, but only those who have been redeemed will be in Heaven. For people who lived before the time of Christ, that would be people who lived with faith in God that He would send a Redeemer. They looked forward in faith to the cross. We who live on this side of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we look back in faith to what happened on that Cross. What you do with the Cross of Christ is of eternal consequence.
There are only two eternal destinations. There is Heaven and there is Hell. Hell wasn’t meant for people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. Jesus talks to His disciples in Matthew 25 about a separating of people groups. He talks about the righteous entering into their eternal inheritance in Heaven. They are referred to as sheep in his story. The second group of people, referred to as goats, will spend eternity in Hell. Verse 41 says, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Those who reject God’s work in their lives, those who reject His salvation, share the same eternity as the devil and his angels.
Jesus tells two stories in Matthew 13 that speak about the same kind of separation. In Matthew 5, set in the context of relationships and how we are to treat one another, He said this in verses 21-22: 21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[d] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
He said in Matthew 10:28–Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Conservatively, Jesus spoke about Hell 40 times, but if you look for contextual references, it’s arguable He talked about it closer to 80 times. Jesus’ followers heard about Hell. It’s not easy or fun for me to have to talk about Hell this morning, but I can’t preach the truth about Heaven without also preaching about the reality of Hell.
Why would a loving God send someone to Hell? First, God doesn’t send people to Hell. People choose their eternal destination when they decide to follow God or reject Him. It would be unloving of God not to make the two destinations clear. It would be unloving of God not to warn us of the dangers of Hell.
Four different words have been translated as “hell” in the Bible. One Old Testament word is “sheol.” It refers to a shadowy underworld and words like “sorrow,” “pain,” and “destruction” are used to describe it.
A second word is “hades.” It’s used ten times in the New Testament. It means the same as the Old Testament Hebrew word, “sheol.” Judgment and suffering are always connected with it.
A third word is found only once. It is in II Peter 2:4. It says that disobedient children angels are cast into “tartarus.” It’s a prison-like or dungeon-like place where there is judgment and intense darkness.
The fourth word is “Gehenna.” It is used 12 times in the New Testament and is translated as Hell. It was a place outside of Jerusalem where rubbish and debris burned constantly.
Elsewhere, Hell is referred to as “everlasting punishment,” “outer darkness,” a place where there is “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” It is said it is a place where the worm never dies and where the fire is never quenched.
The topic is more than adequately addressed in the Bible.
In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus told a story about a rich man and a man named Lazarus, not His friend, Lazarus, but another Lazarus. This story isn’t told as if it was a parable, but as an actual account of something that had taken place.
The rich man lived for the things of the world. Now, you can be rich and honor God with your riches and use your riches under His direction and wind up being financially blessed and continually richer than you were. Riches aren’t the problem. The problem was the rich man didn’t have a relationship with God. The text indicates he had a relationship with his riches. He was focused on an earthly reward. He wasn’t focused on eternity.
Right outside his house, at his gate, a beggar named Lazarus sat. Lazarus was covered in sores, so his everyday life was miserable. Impoverished by his condition, he was hungry, and he longed to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Verse 21 says that dogs came and licked his sores. I don’t see how a person could have it worse.
Well, the beggar died, and he was carried to Abraham’s side. In other words, he went to Heaven. The rich man also died, but he went the opposite direction. Verse 23 says that he wound up in Hades and was in torment. He could look up and see Abraham and Lazarus together, but he couldn’t leave where he was to get to them.
Here’s verses 24 and following? 24 So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” Hell is a place of agony. The Bible pictures it as perpetual burning. I’m not trying to scare anyone today; I’m just trying to tell the truth about Hell.
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ There is no escaping eternity once you enter it.
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
The rich man became desperate that others would know about the reality of the place called Hell.
Listen, Jesus has given us enough information to know that Hell is a place to avoid, but honestly, what makes Hell, Hell, in addition to the flames and darkness and torment that goes with all that goes on there, what makes Hell, Hell, is that God isn’t there. The place where God dwells in fullness with His people is Heaven. Hell is basically separation from God.
We prepare for a lot of things. We’re trying to prepare for this wedding. We try to prepare for retirement. We try to prepare for a rainy day. We prepare for education and businesses and all kinds of things, but I’m not so sure many think about how important it is to prepare for eternity. Hebrews 9:27 tells us we will all face death. Are we prepared?
Preparing for death isn’t something we can put off because we never know when it will happen.
If you aren’t right with Christ, I could argue that in many ways you are living in hell now because hell is separation from God. You don’t have to live that way. You certainly don’t have to die that way. We weren’t made to live life separated from God. Not now. Not later. Not ever. We were made for life, to enjoy life with God, and to experience God’s love, joy, and peace and to experience Heaven with God. Have you made your reservation? Do you know where you will spend eternity?
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