 |
||
INTO
HEAVEN
BY
GLENN PEASE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. THE BEAUTY OF HEAVEN based on Rev.
21:9-21
CHAPTER 2. THE CLOTHES OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 7:9-17
CHAPTER 3. THE COLORS OF HEAVEN based on Rev.21:9-21
CHAPTER 4. EATING IN HEAVEN based on Rev. 22:1-6
CHAPTER 5. THE GLORY OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:22-27
CHAPTER 6. THE GOLD OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:9-21
CHAPTER 7. HUMOR IN HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:4
CHAPTER 8. THE JEWELS OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:9-21
CHAPTER 9. OCCUPATIONS IN HEAVEN bases on Rev. 22:1-5
CHAPTER 10.
THE LOCATION OF HEAVEN based on Rev.
21:1-8
CHAPTER 11.
THE MUSIC OF HEAVEN based on Rev.15:1-8
CHAPTER 12.
THE ORDER OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:9-21
CHAPTER 13.
RECOGNITION IN HEAVEN based on Luke
16:19-31
CHAPTER 14.
THE RIVER OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 22:1-2
CHAPTER 15.
THE SUN OF HEAVEN based on Rev.
21:15-27
1. THE BEAUTY OF HEAVEN based on
Rev. 21:9‑21
Among the world's famous short stories is the one called, The Lost
Words Of Love, by the French writer, Mendes. It is the fascinating tale of how
an evil spirit sought to ruin man by stealing three words out of his
vocabulary. The three words were, I love you. The spirit succeeded in this
vicious vocabulary vanishing trick, and the results were tragic. Friends drifted apart, couples broke up, and
quarreling and depression spread like a plague. People stopped singing, poets stopped writing, and it appeared
that hell on earth would soon be a reality.
The story ends happily, however, because the spirit himself falls in
love, and the world recovers the lost words of love.
It may sound weird, but it does have a message of profound
truth. For if you destroy man's love he
is as good as in hell, and without love there can be no heaven. In verse 8, John lists for us those who are
excluded from heaven and cast into the lake of fire. They are all products of hatred.
They hate God, and do not believe; they hate man and thus they murder;
they hate what is pure, and thus they pollute and corrupt the beauty of human
love; they hate the truth and thus they are habitual liars. Hatred on earth is the beginning of hell,
just as love on earth is the beginning of heaven. Love and hate‑‑heaven and hell, are almost parallel
phrases.
The ugliness of hate is what will determine the environment of
hell. Earl Panzram murdered 23 people,
and was executed in 1930. His last
words were, "I wish the whole human race had one neck and I had my hands
around it." God will cleanse the
new heaven and the new earth of all such hate.
The world itself will be cleansed by fire, and all that blots the beauty
of God's creation will be eliminated.
Love only, will be allowed in heaven, and they result will be beauty
beyond our wildest dreams. Love will
reign supreme and no evil spirit will be able to rob men of it. D. L. Moody recognized the connection of
love and beauty in heaven. He wrote,
"Heaven is the only place where the conditions of love can be
fulfilled." Then he quotes the poet‑
Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies;
Beyond death's cloudy portal,
There is a land where beauty never dies‑
Where love becomes immortal.
Heaven began in the beauty of God's love. John 3:16 begins with God's love, and ends
with God's heaven‑‑everlasting life. In between is the gift that links us to both His love and His
heaven‑‑God's Son. He is
the source of all that is beautiful in both time and eternity. Just looking at the beauty of this fallen
and this sin stained world, is enough to make us marvel at what the beauty of
heaven must be. Someone looking up at
the stars said, "If the suburbs are so beautiful, how beautiful the city
of heaven must be. All of our enjoyment
of the beauty of this world is a mere faction of the creative work of God. Much is never seen by anyone.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste it's fragrance on the desert air.
Since we know this to be true, we know by God's own handiwork
that He is a lover of beauty. This
means, even if the Bible had nothing in it about heaven, we would still know
that James Montgomery spoke true theology when he wrote‑‑
If God hath made this world so fair,
Where sin and death abound,
How beautiful, beyond compare
Will paradise be found!
The Bible tells us much about the beauty of heaven. John was caught up to see it for himself,
and he tells us much of what he saw.
First of all, he compares the holy city to a bride in verse 9. Back in verse 2 he had stressed the beauty
of the bride by saying she was adorned for her husband. The bride adorned is the universal symbol of
beauty. She represents not only the
beauty of love, but the beauty of the physical. Her gorgeous gown and magnificent jewelry set her apart as the
object of adoration.
All commentators agree that the bride represents the church in
it's ideal state. This being the case,
the beauty of this heavenly bride is relevant to all believers. They will be a part of the beauty of heaven
just as the lost will be a part of the ugliness of hell. The eternal destiny of all men is either
beauty or ugliness. It is safe to say
that every Christian will be eternally beautiful. The Bride of Christ will be without spot or wrinkle. No Christian will bear any defect of any
kind. Paul will not longer have his
thorn in the flesh, and every physical problem will cease to exist, when we
receive our resurrected bodies. Joni
stresses her hope of being rid of her wheel chair and dancing with the
angels. There is no reason to doubt
that her hope will be fulfilled.
Imagine what this hope must have meant to the first readers of
the book of Revelation. Christians were
of the poor class. Many were slaves,
whose bodies revealed the lack of adequate food and care. The hard life of millions of Christians left
them scarred and maimed. Like Lazarus
at the gate of the rich man, the only medical care they had was that of the
dogs, who came and licked their sores.
What a glorious hope heaven was to them. Even with all our progress in medical care, we still experience
enough of the problems of the flesh to appreciate John Mason Neal's joyful poem
of heavenly expectation‑‑
O how glorious and resplendent,
Fragile
body, shalt thou be,
When endued with heavenly beauty,
Full of health and strong and free,
Full of vigor, full of pleasure,
Thou shall last eternally.
No one in the Old Testament was allowed into the presence of
God who had any bodily defect. No
sacrifice was acceptable that had even the slightest blemish. All of this was to stress that God is a God
of beauty and perfection. Nothing short
of perfect beauty can please Him. This
being the case, all who love His Son are assured of being perfectly beautiful
forever. If Christ is our Savior, we
will be a part of this lovely bride adorned for her heavenly husband. We may not always appreciate our photograph
now, but we shall all be satisfied when we awake in His likeness. Meanwhile, with all of our defects, we can
still let the beauty of Jesus be seen in us, if we heed the wisdom of Paul and
focus our minds on what is true, noble, and lovely. Christian people should have the highest standards in every realm
of life. Quality and beauty should
characterize all that they appreciate.
Margerie Holmes writes,
Lord, let me take time for beauty.
Time for a jug of flowers on the table, or a plant if flowers
arn't in bloom. Time
for a dap of lipstick or a fresh blouse
before the family comes home.
Don't let me settle for the
dingy, the shabby, the ugly‑‑either with myself or
with my
house, just because I'm too lazy to make the effort.
Give me the energy and the will to provide a bit of beauty.
You've made the world so beautiful, Lord, let me take time
to see it. Even as I'm
rushing to the market or driving children
to their destinations, let me be aware of it: The glory of hills
and woods and shining water.
The colors of traffic lights and
yellow buses, of fruit stands and lumberyards, of girls
wearing
bright scarves that dance in the breeze.
She goes on to describe the beauty in her own back yard, the
beauty of her children, the beauty they see in nature, and the beauty
everywhere that we tend to ignore. She closes
with this prayer‑‑
Dear God, to live at all is such a miracle‑‑whether
as bug
or bird or creature of any kind. To come into existence upon
this planet and be able to witness it's beauty is such a
privilege, especially for human beings.
Help us to cherish and be a part of that beauty.
Let me take time for
beauty, God.
What you focus upon, is what you become, and this is
preparation for being a part of the beautiful bride of heaven. All the beauty of nature, family, marriage,
and all of life that we can experience in time is a taste of heaven. We are not to wait until heaven, but we are
to start living a life of beauty in all areas now.
The next thing we want to notice is that the environment of
heaven is beautiful. The beautiful
people will have a beautiful place in which to dwell. In verse 11 John says the holy city has the very glory of
God. It radiates with the brightness of
beautiful jewels‑‑like
Jasper, as clear as crystal. In
verse 18 we see that the whole city was pure gold, and verse 19 says the walls
were adorned with every jewel, and verse 21 says the gates were of solid pearl.
Whatever else this description may mean, all agree that it means the dwelling
place of the Bride of Christ‑‑the Church‑‑will be a
place of unmatchable beauty. All the splendor of the royal courts of Babylon,
Egypt, and Rome cannot match the magnificent marvels that will surround the
saints in heaven.
Again, can you imagine what this meant to the poor and
persecuted Christians of the first centuries?
They lived in poverty and were often oppressed by the wealthy. The only
time they ever saw the glory of gold and precious stones in when they were
brought before royalty to be condemned. The message to them, from Jesus, was to
be faithful even unto death, and they would receive the crown of life. This
crown of life involved a quality of life the was far superior to that of Caesar
himself.
Their is no way to escape the physical appeal of heaven.
Christians long to have nice things, and to live on the level of the highest
quality. They do all they can to beautify their environment. They carpet their floors, put art on their
walls, and decorate with things of beauty.
They enjoy the plush motel as much as anyone. The desire for beauty is
natural and is a part of the image of God in us. It can easily be perverted and
become idolatry, but in itself, it is a good thing to love beauty. God dwells
in glory and splendor. Jesus said he was going to prepare a place in the
Father's house for the redeemed. Can you imagine the work of this divine architect being less plush than
that of the best on earth? Can you imagine some of the saints in heaven saying,
"This is nice, but I stayed in a luxury motel in Florida that was even
nicer." What Jesus has gone to
prepare will be beyond comparison with the best of time.
Billy Graham, in a sermon on heaven said, "Very few
people have their homes as beautiful as they would like to have them, but
everyone in heaven will find it beautiful beyond every imagination. Heaven could
not help but be so, because God is a God of beauty." Christians were the underdogs, who first
read this book, and many have been that all through the ages, but their destiny
is to be eternal dignity and wealth. Christians will be rich beyond measure,
with none of the vices that go with riches in this life.
This truth about heaven is to have practical effects in time.
We are not to grieve as those who have no hope, when we lose the treasures of time.
We are to lay up treasure in heaven that can never be lost. D. L. Moody tells
of how John Newton, author of Amazing Grace, once called on a family that lost
all in a fire. He said to the mother, "I have you joy madam." She was
surprised, and said, "What? Joy that all my property is consumed?" He
replied, "O no, but joy that you have so much that fire cannot
touch." He was urging her not to forget he tremendous treasure in heaven
just because she lost her trivial treasure in time. We all tend to do this
because of our thoughtlessness about the riches of heaven.
The great saints of the Bible kept their eyes on the things
above. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that faith in God's ultimate reward is what
made the great men of God great. Abraham was rich, and could have built a city,
but he dwelt in tents and was satisfied. Heb.11:10 says, "For he looked
forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is
God." Moses has the chance to dwell
in the royal palace of Egypt, and to enjoy the riches of royalty, but he gave
it up to lead the slaves to freedom. Heb.11:26 says, "He considered abuse
suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he
looked to the reward." We so often try to be more spiritual than the
Bible. We fail to appeal to man's God‑given nature which desires riches
and reward. It is true, this can be a dangerous appeal to what is perverted,
but you can't escape the fact that it can also be an honest appeal to what is
God‑like in man. Heaven appeals to our desire for the very best.
Jesus promised his disciples that they would receive ten times
whatever they gave up to follow and serve him. Heaven is pictured as so
beautiful, to encourage God's people to be willing to make sacrifices for Christ,
so as to lay up treasure in the New Jerusalem. We only deceive ourselves if we
pretend we have no desire to be rich, and to dwell in great splendor. God is
the author of our nature, and the expert on psychology, and he appeals to our
love of beauty and wealth. If our hearts have no desire for God's best, then
their is something wrong with our hearts, and we will not be looking for the
coming of our Lord to take us to the mansion he has prepared.
The good, the true, and the beautiful are three goals man has
always sought. All three will be achieved and fulfilled completely in the Holy
City. H.C. Stanton said, "Christ loves beauty, otherwise He would not be
forever creating it." If we lack a love for beauty, their is something
wrong with our love for the author of all beauty. Love and beauty go together,
and they will for all eternity.
An old English story tells of how the Lord of Burleigh found
and won the heart of a simple village maiden. She had no idea of his position
and wealth. After the wedding she expected to be taken to his cottage. They
passed one beautiful dwelling after another until‑‑
......a gateway she discerns
with armorial bearings stately,
And beneath the gate she turns,
Sees a
mansion more majestic
Than all those she saw before;
Many a gallant gay domestic
Bows before him at the door.
And they speak in gentle murmur,
When they answer to his call,
While he treads with footstep firmer,
Leading on from hall to hall.
And while now she wonders blindly,
Nor the meaning can divine,
Proudly turns he round and kindly
"All of
this is mine and thine."
She was suddenly, by marriage, Lady of Burleigh, a women of
great dignity and wealth. So it will be for all who are a part of the Bride of
the Lamb. Every dream, and every fantasy of having all the resources possible
for happiness, will suddenly be a reality in the mansion Jesus has gone to
prepare. This means, the ugliest thing
a person can do is to refuse to receive Jesus as Savior, and the most beautiful
thing a person can do is to receive him as Savior. This is the only way to be a
part of that Bride who will enjoy unmatched glory forever, in the beauty of heaven.
2.THE CLOTHES OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 7:9‑17
A taylor who used an apple as a trade mark was asked why he
used that particular symbol. He
replied, "If it hadn't been for the apple, where would the clothing
business be?" He had a good
point. The clothing business did start
in the garden of Eden because of sin, and the need to cover the bodies of those
who had started sin by eating of the forbidden fruit. Clothing is not a part of the origin of sin, but rather, a
necessity to overcome the emotions set loose by sin.
God was the first taylor to create garments for man. Adam and Eve had sewn fig leaves together to
cover their bodies, but shortly thereafter we read in Gen. 3:21, "And the
Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed
them." From that point on,
clothing has played a major role in the life of man. Scripture is literally packed with references to clothes and
their significance.
Man is the only creature that God created who has a desire to
adorn itself with clothes. No animal
has any appreciation for styles, and for a variety of clothing, or for jewelry. Males often wish God would have made females
more animal like in this respect.
Wilfred Funk calls the daughters of Eve the Insatiable Sex. He goes to great extremes to express himself
in poetry.
If I scaled the heights of Venus
And ransacked ten million stars
Of their fineries‑‑Orsinus,
Mercury, Arcturus, Mars.
Plucked the pleiades and hung them
Flaming on your ivory breast,
With the shining moon among them
As a diadem and crest.
Seized the Milky Way and tore it
From the skies to make a gown
For you, dearest, and you wore it
With Orion as a crown‑‑
Would it help you?
Would you try a
Little thrift then? No! my guess is
You would merely go and buy a
Dozen other hats and dresses!
Most of the humor directed at clothing is connected with women,
but the facts of history reveal that men have been just as involved in the
fashion fuss, vanity, and folly connected with clothing. The history of men's pants is a joke if
there ever was one. Battles have raged
over them from ancient Persian times.
Church councils have met, sermons have been preached, and pamphlets have
been written declaring them to be designed by the devil. A ruler in Germany in 1790, ordered all
criminals in chain gangs, working on the roads, to be clad in long trousers, in
order to deride and discredit the fashion.
In 1820, it was forbidden in England for any clergyman to wear long
trousers in the pulpit. Nothing could
stop the onward march of a good idea, and so, we all now feel perfectly
comfortable in what has become a traditional garment with us.
Men, of course, did not wear pants in Bible days, but they
wore what we would call a robe. They
were as proud of their robes however, as the modern man is of his suits. Joseph had a robe of many colors. It made him the best dressed man in his big
family. It was a garment of great value
and was an expression of his fathers affection.
Wealth was often determined by the number of garments a man
possessed. Samson is usually portrayed
as half bare, to show his great muscles, but his goal was to become the best
dressed man in Israel. In Judges 14, he
made a deal with 30 men at a feast. If
they could guess his riddle, he would give them 30 linen garments and 30 festal
garments. If they failed, however, they
would give him the 60 outfits instead.
Samson was confident that he would start out married life with a huge
wardrobe. It turned out, he lost, and
had to pay them their 60 garments. The
whole transaction reveals that clothes mean a lot to men, just as they do to women.
Clothes mean a lot to God as well. Numerous are the references to the holy garments that God
ordained for the priests to wear, and to the beautiful jeweled garb of the high
priest. Several references are even
made to the garments of God. We read in
Psalm 93:1, "The Lord reigns; He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed,
He is girded with strength." In
Psalm 104:1‑2 we read, "O Lord, my God, Thou art very great! Thou are clothed with honor and majesty, who
coverest Thyself with light as with a garment." Looking at God's wardrobe is like looking into the sun. Don't you wonder what kind of clothes we
will wear in the presence of God? If He
demanded holy garments on those who served Him here on earth, what will he
demand when we are before Him in heaven?
The book of Revelation answers this question for us, not just to satisfy
our curiosity, but because clothing has such important symbolic meaning.
John makes it clear, that there is no going back to Eden's
innocent nudity, but a moving ahead to cosmic clothing and divine dress. The future fashion will be garments of
glory. Jesus modeled this garment
briefly when He walked the earth, His daily garments were, doubtless, of fine
quality, and He had a special robe of unique value. The soldiers at the cross gambled to possess His robe rather than
throw it away. Even His daily attire
had to be attractive, to convince the seriously sick woman that a touch of the
hem of it, could heal her.
His earthly clothes were of fine quality, but they were still
earthly clothes. Only briefly did He
model the garments of glory. This He
did on the Mt. of Transfiguration. We
read in Mark 9:3, "...his garments became glistening, intensely white, as
no fuller on earth could bleach them."
White was the common color, and so a lot of bleach was used in that day,
but no bleach could create the whiteness the disciples saw that day. You favorite detergent could not match the
whiteness produced here, for it was not due to any miracle product, but to a
literal miracle. Christ was suddenly
clothed with the garment He will wear in glory. Mark 17:3 says, "His garments became white as light." Only one other time did the disciples ever
see clothing so white, and that was when they saw visitors from heaven. In other words, angels also wear these
bright white garments of glory. In
Matt. 28:3, the angel at the tomb is described like this‑"his
raiment was white as snow." If
white is the color that always describes the garments of heaven, then we could
guess that white is what we will wear also.
There is no need for guessing, however, for Scripture makes it clear,
white will be the color of our garments of glory.
This fact has much meaning, or otherwise, it is hard to understand
why the book of Revelation stresses it over and over. I counted 17 uses of the word white in this book. Jesus promises, that those who conquer, will
walk with Him in white. In our text,
twice the vast multitudes of heaven are described as being clothed in white
robes. If we are to live by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God, white is to be a part of our spiritual
menu. The white garments are a way of
saying, we will be partakers of the divine nature, and will share in the very glory
of God.
There are many things in nature more beautiful than man. Jesus said even Solomon in all his glory
could not match the beauty of the lilies.
Isaac Watts lamented the fact, that man cannot make any clothes to match
the beauty that God has given to lower creatures. He wrote,
The Tulip and the butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I.
Let me be dressed as fine I will,
Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.
This will no longer be true, however, when we get our garments
of glory. We will then possess the
beauty of the Creator of all beauty.
Let's focus on these garments of glory and consider the reasons for
their whiteness. The first reason most
commentators suggest is‑
I. WHITENESS
SYMBOLIZES PURITY.
Eccles. 9:8 says, "Let your garments be always
white." To keep unspotted by the
world is the Christian ideal, but it will never be completely accomplished
until we become the Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle. The only clothes we will ever have that
never need washing will be the bridal gown of heaven. No sin will ever stain this garment again. Charles Spurgeon preached one of the
greatest sermons I have ever read on these white robes. He says they refer to the actual character
of the saints. They are not symbolic of
the righteousness of Christ, for his righteousness is not washed in the blood
of the Lamb. It is the righteousness of
men, which once was filthy rags, but now has been washed in the blood of
Christ, and made perfect. What is now
inputted, will there, be imparted.
He points out that white is the union and blending of all the
colors of light. White is the symbol of
perfection, because it is the perfect combination of all colors. Spurgeon says, "In the character of
just men made perfect we have the combination of all virtues, the balancing of
all excellencies, a display of all the beauties of grace. Are they not like their Lord, and is He not
all beauties in one?" No color but
the combination of all colors, could express the balance and completeness of
our perfection in heaven.
These garments of glory are our assurance that in heaven we
will be able to stand before God, and not feel guilt because of our sinful
past. They are to challenge us to keep
unspotted by the world in this life.
Peter, after saying we look for a new heaven and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells, says, in II Peter 3:14, "Therefore, beloved, since
you wait for these, be zealous to be found by Him without spot or
blemish." The Christian is not to
look back at his spotted past, but to look ahead to the pure white garments of
the future. The poet said,
Waste no tears
Upon the blotted record of the lost years,
But turn the leaf, and smile, oh, smile to see
The fair white pages that remain for thee.
For the Christian, the future is always bright, and we will
walk forever with Jesus in white. The
second reason white is stressed is‑
II. WHITENESS SYMBOLIZES
JOY.
It is no accident that wedding gowns are white. White is a universal symbol of the joy of
marriage. No other color can portray
the joy of love between two people. No
other color can convey the joy of the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride. These beautiful garments of glory are to
fill us with anticipation.
All through history, generals have ridden into conquered
cities on pure white horses, to symbolize they are victors. Jesus is pictured as riding on a white horse
as He rides to victory. The great White
Throne Judgment symbolizes the victory of God over evil. White it the color of joy because it is the
color of the victor. When the enemy
runs up the white flag they are saying, we surrender, you win.
These white robes are to fill the Christian with the joy of
anticipation. Just having such a future
to anticipate is the basis for Christian joy.
The English novelist, C. P. Snow, was asked what he regarded as the main
difference between the world in which he grew up, and the world we share
now. His immediate response was,
"The absence of a future."
That is one of the problems, in the thinking of man, that leads to the
devil may care attitude‑let us eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we
die. Where there is no future, nothing
matters but the now. The lack of a
future robs man of a motive to live with eternity's values in view.
The Christian has future goals that radically affect his
present behavior and joy. They can be
summed up in these three statements‑
1. To be in Christ.
2. To be like Christ.
3. To be with Christ.
All three of these involve the color white. To be in Christ is to be forgiven and delivered from sin. It is to be given the spotless robe of His
righteousness. To be like Christ, is to
keep unspotted from the world, and to stay clean by confession and
forgiveness. To be with Christ, is to
walk with Him forever in white. All of
life is a sort of getting dressed for the greatest of all parties.
Karl Olson, in his book, Come To The Party, expresses the fact
that the Gospel is like an invitation to a party. When the Prodigal Son returned, the father was concerned about
the clothes he was wearing. He said in
Luke 15:22, "Bring quickly the best robe,
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his
feet." After he was dressed for
the occasion, they began to make merry.
Beautiful clothing and joyful times, go together.
The message of the Gospel is the good news that God has a
great party planned, but only those who are dressed properly can get in. Unless you are clothed in the bright white
garments of glory, you will be excluded.
There is only way to get your garments white enough to be fit for this
party. All the soap in the world will
fail; all the scrubbing of good works will fail. Only those who wash there robes in the blood of the Lamb
will have a whiteness fit for the joys
of heaven.
That is why the song of the saints gives all the glory to God
and to the Lamb. They are not
congratulating themselves on being clever spot removers, but recognize that all
the whiteness of their garments is due to grace alone. The white robes are symbols of the joy and
the victory of the cross. No words can
describe the total victory over sin like the message of these white garments.
They are whiter than snow, or the feathers of a dove.
They are whiter than the lilies below, or the clouds
which are above.
Whiter than is a moonlit
sail, whiter than the foam of the sea.
Whiter than fleece or chalk or hail, lime, cotton, or
pearl or ivory.
No whiteness man has ever seen on earth or in the skies
Can match the whiteness of the garments of glory we'll
wear in paradise.
The most important thing you can do in life is to get ready
for that party, and the only way to do it is to put your trust in Jesus Christ
as Savior and Lord. When you do this
you are ready to wear the garments of glory.
3. THE COLORS OF HEAVEN based on
Rev.21:9‑21
Mr. Jones was having her living room painted, and she was
explaining to the unsympathetic painter just what she wanted. "I want a
light green blue, which will be sort of a cross between a darker blue and a
light bluey blue", she said. The painter replied, "Lady, there ain't
no such color. What you are describing is nothing but a pigment of your
imagination." Colors may exist in our minds that do no exist in reality.
But God is an artist who invites us to use our imagination to try and conceive
of the beautiful colors of heaven.
You can go into most any jewelry store and see many of the
gems that are seen here in the walls of the Holy City. The colors are very
bright and beautiful. I bought Lavonne a pink ice ring recently, and when the
sun hits it just right, it startles me with it's beauty. In the shade it is
just a dull piece of matter, but in the sunlight it is a sparkling piece of
beauty. This is the picture we get of heaven, and the New Jerusalem. It is
transparent like glass, and there is brilliant light bouncing off millions of
jewels. The beauty of this scene is beyond our grasp. Man would need all the
jewels of the world just to copy a fraction of the jeweled wall described here.
Dr. Criswell, who was for many years the pastor of the First Baptist Church of
Dallas, tries to describe the color of heaven, in these words‑
What a proliferation of color! What
incomparable, brilliant iridescence it
possesses! It
looks like frozen light
in diamonds, sapphire, ruby, emerald
and pearl. It looks as if God were
mingling together the azure blue of
the sky, the surf of the sea, the
rainbow of
autumnal glory, and
the fire of an august sunset.
There is no eloquence adequate to describe the color of
heaven. Probably, the best we can do is to compare the experience of the 18 year
old boy who was born blind, but who by surgery was made to see for the first
time at age 18. One year later, reporters asked him what the most wonderful
thing about seeing was, and he replied, "Color." He said he never
dreamed that color was so beautiful. He
had always thought of it as being like our conception of black and white with
contrasts and highlights. He said the beauties of the various colored flowers
fascinated him beyond all human imagination. He said everything in this world
was more beautiful than he ever dreamed.
So it will be for us in heaven. It will be like the blind
seeing for the first time. The colors will be brighter and more beautiful than
the brightest rainbow we have ever seen in time. We will say, as did the Queen
of Sheba, when she saw the glory of
Solomon's empire, the half was not told me. We will say, more than likely, the
hundredth or the thousandth, was not told me. But, since God has revealed some
of the glory of the colors of heaven, we should do our best to try and see it
as He wants us to see it.
The first thing we want to observe is the color of the people.
Heaven is the ultimate in the melting pot of colors. This is implied in the
gates of the New Jerusalem that face in every direction. People from every
direction are welcome to enter these ever open gates, and this implies
universality. But we do not need to depend upon symbolism. In Rev.7:9 we read,
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the
throne and in front of the Lamb." It is not a matter of speculation or
inference, it is a Biblical fact, stated clearly, that every color of skin will
be a part of the eternal kingdom of God. Colors are not just temporary and
incidental accidents of time, they are part of the color scheme of God's
eternal city. The song, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in
His sight, is right, and not a poetic fiction. Any color that you try to
imagine is not in heaven, is a pigment of your imagination.
A church hired an artist to paint them a picture of Jesus with little children. When
he finished it, he felt it was his best work ever. He could almost hear them
singing, "Glory! glory! glory be to God on high." He was so pleased
that he called the committee from the church to come and see it the next day.
That night he had a dream, and saw himself walking into his studio and finding
a stranger with his thumb through his artists palette painting on his picture.
He rushed over and cried for him to stop for he was spoiling his work. The
stranger said, "No, you have spoiled it. You have 5 colors on your
palette, but you have used only one on the faces of the children. I have used
the other 4 colors, for these little ones have come from many lands in answer
to my call." "What call?" he asked. The stranger responded,
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of
such is the kingdom of heaven." Then the artist knew it was the Lord, and
he suddenly awoke. He rushed to the studio, and saw all the faces were still
white. It was only a dream. But he knew it was a dream with a message. He took
his palette and began to paint with all the colors. When the committee came to
see it they loved the picture. It was just what they wanted, something that
represented the whole family of God. It takes all colors to do that. No one will feel they are the wrong color in
heaven for heaven is the color of God's people, which means, it is all colors.
This truth inspired me to write the poem, Heaven Is The Color You Are.
WHAT COLOR IS HEAVEN YOU ASK
TO ANSWERS A COMPLEXING TASK.
THE REASON IS SIMPLY QUITE
PLAIN
IT WILL EVERY COLOR CONTAIN.
THE RAINBOW OF COLOR THAT'S
THERE
MAKES HEAVEN A PLACE OF SUCH FLAIR,
OUR EYES WILL FOREVER ENJOY
A VISUAL FEAST THAT WILL NOT CLOY.
II.
THE COLOR OF GOD WE WILL SEE
IS WHAT ANY COLOR CAN BE,
FOR ALL COLORS COMBINE IN
WHITE,
AND GOD'S NATURE IS, GOD IS LIGHT.
GOD IS LIGHT AND THUS HE IS
WHITE,
WHICH IS EVERY COLOR IN SIGHT.
THE ANSWER IS VERY CLEAR
THEN,
HEAVEN'S COLORS COVER ALL MEN.
III.
WE SING RED, YELLOW, BLACK
AND WHITE
THAT ALL ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT,
SO NO ONE ON COLOR NEEDS
SPAR,
HEAVEN IS THE COLOR YOU ARE.
HEAVEN IS THE COLOR YOU ARE
THE MOST COLORFUL PLACE BY FAR,
FOR THERE EVERY COLORS A
STAR
HEAVEN IS THE COLOR YOU ARE.
Keep in mind, the New Jerusalem is a symbol of the people of
God‑‑The Bride of the Lamb. The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles
represent the O.T. and the N.T. people of God. That is why the 24 elders are
considered as a symbol of the total people of God. I looked up the 24th element
in the building blocks of the universe, and I discovered it is chromium. What
is of interest is this is called the color element. It comes from the Greek
word for color because it is the element which gives color to the jewels we so
much treasure, and which are a part of the color of heaven. The emerald, for
example, is green because of this 24th element. The ruby is red because of it,
and the sapphire is usually blue because of it.
The basic compounds of many gems are colorless. It is the
chromium that gives them their color. Many of the paints you buy are red,
green, yellow, and orange because of chromium. Almost every color possible is
determined by the quantity of chromium that is mixed with other elements. If
God follows the natural laws He has formed for time, in eternity, the 24th
element will go on forever being the source of color and beauty in our heavenly
environment.
If 24 is the color element, not by accident or coincidence,
but by the design of God, then we can see the possibility of the Bride of
Christ being the source of color for much of the beauty we will see in heaven.
The people of God will represent, not just the red and yellow, black and white,
but every imaginable color, and millions we can't imagine. One thing is for
sure, heaven will be the most colorful place we will ever be. The light of God
will bring out every color the mind of God can conceive. It is always light,
and never night, and this means never ending color and beauty. Spurgeon wrote,
"Light is the cause of
beauty. That is obvious to you all, Take the light away,
and there is no beauty anywhere. The fairest woman charms
the eye no more than a heap
of ashes when the sun has de‑
parted. Your garden may be
gay with many colored flowers,
but when the sun goes down you
cannot know them from the grass which borders them. You look upon the trees,
all fair with the verdure of summer, but when the sun goes down they are all
hung in black. Without light no radiance flashes from
the sapphire, no peaceful
ray proceedeth from the pearl. There
is naught of beauty left
when light is gone. Light is the mother
of beauty. In such sense the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are the light of heaven;
that is to say, all the beauty of the
saints above comes from God
incarnate."
I love the prayer poem written by Harold Kohn, which he calls,
The God Who Loves To Color.
O God,
In whose colors
of sunrise and sunset,
golden day and black night,
Yellow wildflower and red
garden rose,
Rich, brown soil and white
mantle of snow
We delight,
Forgive us
Where we have rejoiced
in all the glorious hues
of Thy world
Excepting
the
skin‑color
of
Thy
children,
Father of us all,
Forgive
If we have dared despise
The pigments of skin
that
Thou hast honored
with Thy creative care,
Thy loving touch,
and with the indwelling
presence
of
Thy Spirit.
Bless
All Thy colored ones, O
Father.
May they,
and we,
with Thee,
Rejoice in the beauty
of
Their blackness,
brownness
and yellowness.
Let them,
Let us altogether,
Praise Thee,
The God who loves to color
the heavens,
the earth,
and even
Thy
children.
‑AMEN
Let's face it, heaven will be a place of incredible color,
with people of all color ,and gems of color, and a rainbow of color, and a God
who loves to color. Infinite color is what we are trying to grasp here. The practical
implications of this are that we as Christians are to be people who love color.
We have gotten away from the black only Bibles, and the black only at funerals,
but few have written so boldly of their color‑filled hope as Gertrude
Knevels.
Shall I wear
morning for my soldier dead‑
I, a believer? ‑‑give me red;
Or give me royal purple for the King
at whose high court my love is visiting;
Dress me in green for growth, for life made new;
For skies his dear feet march, dress me in blue;
In white for his white soul; robe me in gold
For all the pride that his new rank shall hold;
In earth's dim gardens bloom no hue too bright
To dress me for my love who walks in light.
Here is a woman who takes the colors of heaven seriously, and
wants to bear a clear witness to her faith in the God of all colors. My godly aunt
had it arranged, so that at her funeral, many colored balloons were released,
and we watched them soar up into the sky. It was a symbol of her conviction
that we should be joyful, and even in a mood of celebration, when we enter
God's presence, and when a loved one does so. Color is a part of celebration.
The reason man could not be content with black and white
television is because it is not natural. Real life is in color, for God made
color a basic part of His creation, and no scene is complete without color.
Because man is made in the image of God, he can never be satisfied without
color. Charles Goff in, A Better Hope,
quotes Criswell who said, "God must like color. For example, do you ever see the sunset in the evening when the
clouds are burning with fire and there is gold, crimson, orange, blue, all the
riot of the rainbow in the sky? Is
there a man who ever lived who could tell us any earthly, utilitarian use for a
sunset? Do you hug them, can you plow
them, can you water with them? What
good are the colors of the sunset? Just
this, that God loves color and things beautiful. So ii is with His holy city.
Beyond imagination is the flooding of color in that incomparable
city. All of these stones named here
are exquisite with color."
T. DeWitt Telmage, the great preacher in the early part of the
century, said in one of his sermons, "I think heaven must have a material
splendor as well as a spiritual grandeur.
Oh, what grandeur....when that divine hand which plunges the sea into blue,
and foliage into green, and sets the sunset on fire, shall gather all the
beautiful colors of earth around His throne."
J. Vernon McGee in his famous Through The Bible series says,
"The New Jerusalem is a city of light and a city of color. God is light and He is there. All of this color will be coming out and
flooding God's universe." He sees
the light of God creating more colors than we find in time. He writes, "The light shining from
within through the Jasper stone, acting as a prism, would give every color and
shade of color in the rainbow‑‑colors that you and I have not even
thought of yet."
In a book of children's prayers, I read this one from Eugene‑‑"Dear
God, I didn't think orange went very good with purple until I saw the sunset
you made on Tuesday. That was
cool." The ultimate in cool will
be the Niagara of color that will pour into our eyes in the New Jerusalem.
We could go on quoting the hopes and visions of the saints,
but the question is, does this colorful hope of heaven have any practical value
for us time, beside the thrill of anticipation? The answer is yes! God
made color to play a more important role in life than we realize. Color plays a major role in your physical,
mental, spiritual health. Studies show
that people who live in a drab world, devoid of pretty colors, get depressed
with life. People flock out to see the
country side in the fall, because it is uplifting, and gives one a feeling of
optimism and well being. The bright
colors are a form of therapy that brings encouragement. Man is learning that he can be healthier by
changing the colors of his surroundings.
The British airways had a high number of passengers suffering
from air sickness. They changed the
color inside from yellow to sky blue, and there was an immediate
improvement. The colors in your
environment affect you for good or bad.
Color makes everything more fun, enjoyable, and romantic. Color is one of God's best gifts for the joy
of life.
Al Koran has a chapter on the magic of color. He writes from a secular perspective, but if
you listen to what he is saying, you can see what a powerful impact the colors
of heaven will have on our eternal health and happiness. He writes,
"Do you wear colored shoes? Have you a colored um‑
brella, pair of gloves, or
coat? Do you cook in colored sauce‑
pans, drink from colored
glasses, wash with a colored sponge,
and dry yourself with a
colored towel? Do you sleep between
colored sheets? Are your
nightclothes bright, and your slip‑
pers gay? Is your car and
your traveling case a color that
cheers? There are thousands
of people wanting to be a men‑
tal magician, but few of
them turn to color. Your day should
be full of fascinating
colors, your favorite color predominate‑
ing. Have you seen the sun
shining through colored glass
ornaments? It is beautiful.
Colored glass attracts the light
with a brilliance undreamed
of, and these colors help to
bring magic into your
life."
One of the reasons Christmas is such a joyful time of the year
is because it is the most colorful time of the year. A merry Christmas is greatly aided by the lovely colors
everywhere. The New Jerusalem will be
lit up like a perpetual ice palace, with sparkling jewels reflecting the light
of the Lamb, and with color greater than any Christmas display we have ever
seen. Color and joy are linked in time
and eternity.
Color has an effect on our emotions. We say he is seeing red, to convey his anger, or he is feeling
blue, to convey his depression, or he is feeling green with envy, or purple
with rage. He may be feeling in the
pink, or be in black depression. If he
does you a kindness, that is white of him.
If he refuses to take a chance, you think he is yellow. Color is a part of the psychology of
life. Faber Birren, the color expert,
in his book, Color In Your World, writes, "My profession is color, I use
research to measure human preferences in color trends in consumer goods. I decorate factories, offices, schools,
hospitals, stores, not merely to make them more attractive, but also to achieve
practical ends‑‑to increase production, lower accident rates, aid
convalescence, relieve psychological
and physical fatigue, and of course to promote business."
Studies show red light increases blood pressure, respiration
rate, and muscular tension. Blue light,
on the other hand, will retard them.
Red will arouse, and blue will calm.
The person who wants to have a wild time will want to be surrounded by
red. The one who wants to relax will
prefer a blue setting.
Mary Crowley, the first woman to be on the board of the Billy
Graham association, and the founder of the multimillion dollar business, Home
Interiors, wrote in, Women Who Win, "God instilled in every human being
the hunger for stimulation, excitement, and romance. That's why He created the world in color! He could have made it in black and white, and
it would have functioned just as well, but God knew that this aesthetic creature
called man would need color and beauty to inspire and excite him. What wonderful things God has given us for
pure enjoyment!"
The first words of God in the Bible are, "Let there be
light." That was also the beginning of color. Creation began in a blaze of
color, and the consummation of God's plan will also be an everlasting blaze of
color. Those who do not receive Jesus as their Savior will have a colorless
eternity of darkness. Where there is no light, there is no color, and hell is
darkness. Those who do take Christ as Savior will dwell in eternal light and
color that never ends. In Jesus there is the promise of everlasting joy and
happiness in the color of heaven.
4. EATING IN HEAVEN based on Rev.
22:1-6
Benjamin Franklin formed a
very close friendship with a Frenchwoman, who was 40 years younger than
himself, when he was the American Minister in Paris. They wrote numerous
letters to each other and though she refused all his proposals, she did finally
agree to marry him in heaven, and live on roasted apples. If that was the best
he could hope for, he wrote back and endorsed the plan. In the next world he
said, they would eat the apples of paradise roasted with butter and nutmeg and
they would pity those who were not dead.
People tend to get fanciful
in romantic settings, but the question we want to focus on is this‑will
the pleasure of eating be one of the pleasures that we enjoy at God's right
hand forever? Will there be literal eating in the eternal kingdom? Most people
who give the matter any thought feel it would be a shame to waste one of God's
best ideas‑the sense of taste. This is the sense that gives us, here in
time, a great deal of pleasure. The average person eats about one ton of food a
year, and this means taste is a ton of pleasure a year. If the other senses
will be a part or our resurrection bodies, then why not this one? We will
certainly be able to see and enjoy the jewel‑splendored New Jerusalem,
and hear the joyous praise of the angelic choir. We will be able to touch the
golden streets of gold as we walk with our Lord, and smell the perfume of
heaven, referred to in Rev.8. Why should it be doubted that we will enjoy the
sense of taste?
The reason for doubt is the
powerful anti‑body influence that began in the 4th century. The heroes of
the Christian faith were, at that time, those who were ascetics. They denied
the body the pleasures of life, and devoted themselves to a focus on the soul.
They renounced sex and stayed celibate. They wore drab clothes, and ate only
basic foods, avoiding anything fancy or too tasty. The better saints lived on
bread and water. The body was the enemy, and the source of all our sins. To
deny it was the highest virtue. This movement within the church got it's
greatest spokesman with the conversion of St. Augustine. He was a wild liver,
satisfying his lust with every woman he could. He lived with a woman who bore
him a son, and he wrote in his confessions, that he had descended to the dark
hell of lust.
When he was converted, he
discovered that segment of the church that stressed the evil of matter, and
especially the body. The flesh was carnal, and the goal of the Christian was to
escape all it's carnal desires. This led to his thinking about the joy of
heaven as being anti‑sensual. The joys of heaven were to be pleasures of
the soul, and not of the body. The mystical was the essence of heaven. It was
eternal meditation and spiritual ecstasy, with the body ignored.
It makes sense why this
happened, for if the physical pleasures of the body were seen as evil, how
could they preach that they would all become good in heaven? Christianity had
taken a radical turn toward rejecting the body and it's senses, as having an
eternal place in God's plan. Christians were to focus on spiritual beauty. The
goal was to set the soul free from the body and it's senses. St. Augustine said
the mental and the spiritual is all that matters for eternity. This had a
powerful impact on the history of Christian thinking about heaven. The ideal
life was an escape to the monastery, where you denied your body to develop your
soul. For centuries, through the dark ages, Christianity became an anti body
religion, totally contrary to the revelation of God's Word. The very idea of
physical pleasure in our resurrected bodies was a scandal. This has influenced
Christians to this very day.
St. Augustine was a slave to
his lust, and it was God's will that he be saved from his body‑centered
life style. The body is the tool Satan uses to lead us into temptation. The
flesh does war against the spirit. The body does need to be controlled, or it
will lead us astray. But to throw out the baby with the bath water is folly.
The goal of salvation is not just to save the soul, but the body as well. The
body is to be delivered, sanctified, and glorified.
The resurrection of the body
is what sets Christianity apart, as unique, in the religions of the world.
Christianity says that the body is good. It is made by God, and He said it is
very good. His Son took on a literal body in the Incarnation. He raised up His
body and took it to heaven in the Ascension. His plan is to raise up all the
redeemed in their bodies. The body is a key part of God's plan for man. God
intends to save the bodies of men forever.
The value of looking at a
subject like eating in heaven, is that it helps us get back to a balance view
of the role of the body in God's plan. All through history Christians are
influenced by the times, culture, the circumstances, and their own personality,
to teach things that are not Biblical. That is why the Bible has to be our soul
authority for faith and practice. Even the best of godly men can be led astray
if the Bible is not the foundation for their views. So let's look at the Biblical
evidence to support the idea that the resurrected bodies will enjoy the
pleasure of eating.
The most conspicuous
evidence is the tree of life. Verse 2 says it bears 12 crops of fruit, a new
crop every month. The implications are numerous. We will stay on the yearly
cycle in heaven, with 12 months in a year, and we will all belong to the fruit
of the month club. Will we get to eat this fruit? That is what it says in
verse14 where we read, "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they
may have the right to the tree of life..." It is not much of a right if
you don't get to eat this heavenly fruit. Even if we did not have this verse,
it would be a logical conclusion that we would enjoy this fruit, for it keeps
growing a new crop every month, and, therefore, it must be harvested and eaten.
If this was not the case, the new Jerusalem would be a heaven for fruit flies
only, for it would become a garbage pit.
The tree of life grows on
both sides of the river, which flows down the middle of the great golden
street. That is 1,400 miles on each side, which means an orchard 2,800 miles
long, producing a new crop of fruit every month. This is a flow of fruit that
would feed multiplied billions every month. This whole picture is meaningless
if this fruit is not enjoyed by the saints in glory. The picture conveyed here
is that we will enjoy the best of both worlds‑the city life developed by
centuries of civilization, and the ideal environment of the original paradise
in Eden. The city and the country lovers will all be satisfied.
To add to this picture, we
have the wedding supper of the Lamb in Rev. 19, which is the way heaven will
begin. A wedding feast with all the color, music, and luxury that is worthy of
the Son of God being united with His Bride‑the Church. It is hard to get
excited about a wedding supper if there is nothing to eat. We have no reason to
reject the idea of literal feasting, for the Bible clearly reveals that the
resurrection body can enjoy the consumption of food. Jesus ate in His
resurrection body on at least two occasions. He even made His disciples a fish
breakfast one morning on the beach. He not only ate in His resurrection body,
He taught that eating and drinking would be a part of the eternal kingdom. In
Matt. 26:29 Jesus said, after instituting the Lord's Supper, "I tell you,
I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I
drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." Beyond the cross and the
grave, Jesus said I will again enjoy with you the pleasures of the table.
Will the apostles go on
eating and drinking in their resurrected bodies? It is a matter of clear
revelation. Jesus said to them in Luke 22:28‑30, "You are those who
have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father
conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom
and sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel." It is a rejection of
Christ's promise to deny the reality of eating in heaven. Jesus enjoyed eating
in time, and He will go on eating with his own for all eternity. He was not
embarrassed about the image of heaven as a feast. He said in Luke 13:29,
"People will come from the East and the West and North and South, and will
take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus told parables
depicting the Kingdom of God a a great banquet. Jesus was not anti‑body
at all. He had no place for a heaven without the body.
On the first Easter evening,
when He appeared to the disciples, they were fearful and thought they had seen
a ghost. Jesus cleared this us immediately and said in Luke 24:39‑43,
"Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost
does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he
showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because
of joy and amazement, he asked them, do you have anything her to eat? They gave
him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence."
Eating was the final proof
that Jesus was no ghost, but a real live body. By His Easter eating, Jesus
proved the resurrection is not just a spiritual event of the soul, as heretics
all through history have tried to teach. It is a physical event of the body,
and thus, the body will be a part of the eternal kingdom of God. The disciples
could accept that Jesus returned as a ghost, that is, a disembodied spirit.
This has been a universal belief. But the message of the resurrection is not
about the immortality of the soul, but it is about the immortality of the body.
No man is fully Christian in his thinking until he believes in the resurrection
of the body. It sounds spiritual to be concerned only about the soul, but that
is being more spiritual than Jesus was, and this means it is really being
unspiritual, for anything that is not Christlike, is unspiritual.
When Peter shared his
testimony of experiencing the reality of the resurrection to the Gentiles, he
made a point of telling of the food they enjoyed with Jesus after His return
from the grave. In Acts10:39‑41, we read, "We are witnesses of
everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him
by hanging him on a tree. But God raised him from the dead on the third day and
caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people. But by witnesses whom
God had clearly chosen‑by us who ate and drank with him after he rose
from the dead."
What was the key evidence of
the reality of the physical resurrection of Christ's body? It was the fact that
after He died He came back to eat and to drink again‑the main acts of a
living body. The resurrection body is a body that eats and drinks. We do not
know how many meals the disciples shared with Jesus, but in 40 days we can
assume it was quite a number. It is folly to spiritualize the resurrection, as
many have done. It is a flat rejection of God's Word to do so. The resurrection
body is physical, and it enjoys the physical pleasures of eating and drinking.
Since every picture we have of heaven includes feasting, there is no logical
reason to deny that we will enjoy the pleasure of eating forever.
In the first letter of the
seven letters to the churches, Jesus gives the first of His promises to the
church of Ephesus. We read in Rev.2:7, "To him who overcomes, I will give
the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
This is not a very enticing offer if it is only symbolic, but there is no
reason to doubt it is literal.
In Rev. 7:16 we are told
that those who suffered great tribulation will never again be hungry, and never
again suffer thirst. The spiritualizers say it is because they no longer have
taste buds, and no longer a need for water. The literalists, who take the Bible
at face value, say it is because there will be abundant provisions to meet
their needs forever. The Shepherd will lead them to springs of living water and
they will feast at His table forever.
Jesus portrayed the rich man
in hell, as having the capacity to enjoy a drop of water on his tongue. What a
paradox that would be if He gives those in hell bodies with taste buds, but
denies them to the saints at the wedding feast in heaven. One of the great
values of the heavenly hope of enjoying food forever, is that it makes it
easier to face our limitations in time. We all know we have not tasted all of
the delights God has created in this world. There are thousands of dishes we
have never had a chance to try. There is every reason to believe that in heaven
we will be able to taste everything God has created, not only on this planet,
but everywhere else in the universe.
Are there foods in the
universe, which are not on this planet? The Bible reveals there is at least
one. Psalms 78:23‑25 has this fascinating account, "Yet He gave a
command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; He reigned down
manna for the people to eat, He gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the
bread of angels;..." The grain of heaven, and the bread of angels, could
just be poetic language, but it also could point to the reality of foods in
heaven. Maybe we will enjoy a real angels food cake in heaven. It is likely
that we only know a faction of the foods that God has made possible in this
universe. For all we know, none of the 12 fruits on the tree of life will be
fruits that we have tasted. They could all be new ones, just made special, for
the Bride of Christ. Would anyone dare to say that God exhausted His creative
ability, when He made this universe. The Bible tells us it is but the work of
His fingers. What might God be able to make with both hands? The point is, it
is a foolish limiting of God to think that eternity will lack abundance and
variety beyond our imagination. The Bible says we only have a taste now of the
things to come. The best is yet to be.
The disciples did not fast
when Jesus was with them, but Jesus said they would when He, the Bridegroom,
left them. Fasting is not appropriate for a time of joy, which is to be a time
of feasting. Those who portray heaven as an eternal fast have missed the whole
point. It is an eternal feast, for we will be with the Bridegroom forever.
The communion table is
symbolic of the hope of believer's to one day be with Jesus, at His table in
the Father's house. This symbolic meal shows forth His death till He comes. It
is but a taste of the good things to come. It is of interest that Jesus wanted
us to remember Him always, by means of this symbolic meal. Eating with Jesus in
heaven will be the fulfillment of all that He did for us on the cross.
Charles Spurgeon preached,
"Heaven is a place where they shall eat and drink and rejoice together.
Heaven is the meeting place of those that triumph, and the state room of them
that feast. All the enjoyments that can be imagined, and more, belong to the
beatific state of the glorified." Horatius Bonar put it in poetry‑
Feast after feast thus comes
and passes by
Yet, passing, points to the
glad feasts above,
Giving sweet foretaste of
the festal joy
The Lamb's great Bridal
feast of bliss and love.
If God surprises us with
something we cannot now conceive, that is all the better, but until then, the
literal hope of the enjoyment of eternal eating is, not only legitimate, it is
demanded by the revelation of God's Word. Until someone can explain just what
that greater pleasure would be, that is symbolized by eating, we have an
obligation to thank God and rejoice in the hope of eating in heaven.
5. THE GLORY OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:22-27
Try to picture in your mind
a cake of ice one and a half mile square.
Just imagine a total square mile of ice, and half of the next mile, and
then imagine that enormous block rising into the sky, not just to the height of
an ice cube, not even to the height of the Empire State Building, but rather,
to the height of 93 million miles. In
other words, from the earth to the sun.
Scientists have calculated that this gigantic cake of ice could be
completely melted in just 30 seconds, if the full power of the sun could be
focused on it.
This is power so staggering that almost anything you can say
about the sun is an understatement.
It's like the guy who watched the first atomic bomb test, and said after
the explosion, that stuff is dynamite.
The sun is so powerful we do not have terms to describe it's
energy. At it's core, where the
temperature is 13 million degrees centigrade, 4 million tons of hydrogen
explode every second. Man has not,
since the dawn of civilization, used that much energy. The sun does this every second of every day,
and has done so since God created it.
Believe it or not, the children of God will go on shining and
radiating with even greater energy than the sun, even after the sun has passed
away. John says in verse 23, that this
great light will not be needed in the new Jerusalem‑the heavenly
city. The glory of God is so great that
no created source of light is necessary.
Neither sun nor moon are needed, for there will never be a night. There can be no darkness in the presence of
God.
Here we see an example of how the final paradise is not a
replica of the first paradise. We are
not just getting back to Adam and Eve in Christ. Salvation is much more than mere restoration. The first paradise was far from perfect, for
it had in it the potential for the fall.
In Christ we go forward to perfection, and to the fulfillment of God's
ideal plan. The first paradise did need
the sun and moon, for God had not revealed His full glory, as He will in the
final paradise. The poet has said,
No need for the sun in that glory‑filled land,
The sun would itself there be dim!
That land where the shadows or twilight ne'r come,
Where the light and the glory are "Him."
This was the glory the prophet Isaiah promised to Israel in
Isa. 60:19, "The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for
brightness shall the moon give light to you by night, But the Lord will be your
everlasting light, and your God will be your glory." There will be no dark ages in the New
Jerusalem, as there was in the old Jerusalem.
Many of God's people have had to endure seasons of darkness, but never
again in that city, for as verse 25 says, there shall be no night there.
He who is the Light of this world, and the Creator of all
light, will be the lamp of the city. He
is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and thus, He becomes
the Lamp of God that takes away the darkness forever. There can be no night in His presence.
There is no night of things unknown, uncertain,
Things which now try the heart to make it strong.
There is no night‑there is no veiling curtain,
Just light, and bliss, and joy, and endless song.
Take away the sun from our solar system, and we are plunged
into endless night. So will it be, for
those who are not in the holy city.
Hell is always pictured as a place of darkness, in contrast to heaven
where there is only light. There are
only two destinies‑light and night.
The persecuted Christians, who first read this book, and who lived in
the darkness of Catacombs of Rome, would be so encouraged to know that their
future would be one of never ending light and glory.
John lists all kinds of things that will not be heaven, for
there is no way to describe the positives, except by the absence of their
opposites. What will not be there is
enough to boggle the mind, and give us endless motivation to speculate on what
it must be like to be where no evil can ever be.
Not all that is absent from heaven is evil. There is nothing evil about the sun or the
moon, and even night is a blessing in this world where we need sleep. It is not just the bad that is gone, but
even the good, when it is not the best.
Many good things will be absent just because the good is not necessary
in the presence of the best. If you are
in a dark room, because the storm has knocked out the lights, you are grateful
for the candle. But when the lights
come on again, you do not continue to burn the candle. It was good, but it was not the best. It goes back into the drawer, for when you
have the best the good is not needed.
This is illustrated by John telling us in verse 22, that there
will be no temple there. What a vacuum
this would have created in the old Jerusalem.
It was the most dramatic tragedy in Judaism when the temple was
destroyed. Christians did not need to
get bent out of shape over it, however, for John makes it clear, the temple is
not eternal, but only temporal anyway.
It was only a means to an end, and when the end is achieved, the means
are no longer necessary. When the
building is completed the scaffolding is removed, and nobody misses it, for it
is no longer needed. The phone is an
excellent means of communicating with someone, but if that person is present,
the phone is no longer a help, but a hindrance. The phone is good, but the presence is best, and when the best is
here the good is gone.
In heaven there is no need for a place to go to worship
God. He is everywhere present to all
His people. God and His Son are the
temple, and they are everywhere. There
is no need for a special place to go to be in their presence. We will dwell in that presence, and there
will no longer be a distinction between secular and sacred. The temple, therefore, becomes totally
obsolete in heaven. Here is a great
city that needs no church. In heaven we
never have to go to church, for there is no church to go to. This may be a real appeal to many‑no
more church forever. But keep in mind,
the reason you never have to go to church is because you are always in church‑that
is, you are always in the presence of God.
The temple was the center of worship in Israel, but in
Christianity the center is a person, and not a place. Jesus Christ becomes our center of worship, and so the church
becomes a transition between Judaism and the eternal kingdom. The church never completely gets away from
the idea of place, however. The building,
the church worships in, becomes known also as the church, and so the place still
is a vital part of the concept of church.
In heaven, the place will fade completely, and the person will be all in
all, for there will be no place‑no temple, in which worship takes
place. Heaven is Christianity finalized
and fulfilled.
This has a powerful lesson for time. The goal of history in God's plan, is to eliminate the
distinction between the sacred and the secular. In heaven we do all for the glory of God. If it be eating at the marriage banquet of
the Lamb, or enjoying the fruit from the Tree of Life, or admiring the jewels
sparkling in the city walls, or serving God in manifold ways, all is
sacred. The more we can bring the two
together now, the more we will enjoy a truly spiritual life. To be able to enjoy the secular life as a part
of the sacred, is the ideal. We need to
learn to do all that we do for the glory of God. Our secular tasks will then be a part of our spiritual life.
When we get to heaven, all that was symbolic of the best to
come, will be gone. You do not cling to
the picture of a loved one, when the loved one walks into your presence. Symbols will no longer be needed, and that
is why the temple will be no more. On
the cross, Jesus removed the veil in the temple. When He comes again, and receives us to Himself, He will remove
the temple itself. No one will ever
have to come to God again, for God has come to all. Christians argue a lot about whether or not the temple will be
rebuilt, but there is no doubt, the temple will not be a part of the eternal Jerusalem. It will be
a templeless eternity, because it will be a Christ‑centered
eternity. Spurgeon wrote, "What a glorious hour when God and not
His creatures, God and not His works, but God Himself, Christ Himself, shall be
our daily joy! Plunged in the Godhead's
deepest sea, and lost in His immensity."
Such will be the glory of heaven.
6. THE GOLD OF HEAVEN based on Rev. 21:9-21
On our vacation in South Dakota, we stopped in the small town of
Keystone. Almost every store in town
had a variety of Black Hills Gold on display.
Seeing all this gold made me want to study gold in the Bible. The streets of the New Jerusalem are to be
made of pure gold, and that means gold will be a part of the eternal
environment.
There are at least 367 references to gold in God's Word. The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia states, "No metal has been more frequently mentioned in Old
Testament writings than gold, and none with more terms applied to
it." There are about a dozen
different words for gold in the Bible.
In the New Testament gold is mentioned 41 times, with 21 of them in the
book of Revelation. 16 of the 21 are
very positive, with only 2 negative, and 3 are neutral.
The first reference to gold is in Gen. 2:11‑12. The first river that flowed from Eden wound
it's way through the land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that
land is good. The first reference to
gold in the Bible, and the last, refer to it as a good thing. It is the first and last precious metal
mentioned in the Bible, and all through the Bible gold is a symbol of glory and
wealth.
Every major kingdom in history, in an out of the Bible, was
noted for it's abundance of gold. This
is why the final kingdom of God's people is pictured as one of pure gold, for
that has been the test of the glory of all the kingdoms in history. If God's people are to have the best in the
end, then gold streets are a necessity to make their city the greatest ever.
In Athens, the most renowned sculptor of Greece, Pheidias,
made a 38 foot ivory and gold statue of Athene, the patron goddess. It was completed in 438 B. C., and looked
out over the city from the Parthenon, high on the Acropolis. More than a ton of gold was in robes
alone. Next, he made a 60 foot statue
of Zeus, which sat on a throne of gold, and wore a golden crown, held a golden
sceptre, and wore golden sandals.
Alexander the Great conquered the world in search of gold.
He first conquered Egypt, with it's vast wealth of gold. Then he marched to Babylon, where gold was
so abundant their chariots were trimmed with gold. The Bible always pictured Babylon as a city full of gold, but
where it was greatly abused, and worshiped as an idol. Gold was the god of Babylon. The great image that Nebuchadnezzar sit up
was a gold image 90 foot high and 9 foot wide, according to Dan. 3:1. The only negative references to gold in the
book of Revelation are those dealing
with the idolatry of Babylon.
Alexander captured all this gold, and most of the gold of the rest of
the world, but he died at 33 in Babylon, and was buried in a gold coffin.
Rome was the next gold hungry empire, and Caesar soon had the
gold of the world flowing into Rome.
Augustus Caesar had so much gold he decided to sit up a mint, and make
coins of it. The mint was set up in the
temple erected to Juno Moneta, and the coins made there became known as
"money." When Nero came
to power, he was a gold fanatic, and
built himself a palace called The Golden House. At the entrance he had a statue
of himself complete with golden curls 120 ft. high. It was so heavy that it took 24 elephants to drag it away,
when a later emperor wanted it removed. The Golden House had over 100 rooms and
gardens, and a pool so large it was more like a sea. Guests washed heir hands
in water that flowed from golden taps.
The point of all this is to show that the world of the early
Christians was full of public gold. If
John would have had a vision of the eternal city that was less impressive then
that created by scoundrels like Nero.
The Christian message would have lost it's credibility. If God can not create a richer, more
beautiful environment than the emperor, why should people give up emperor
worship to follow Jesus?
We need to see the golden city of Revelation as a legitimate
appeal to the materialistic heart of man.
Man is a gold hungry creature.
He desires wealth and luxury, and all the beauty and glory that comes
with gold. This is not a bad thing, for
if it was, God would not appeal to this desire by giving us this description of
beauty beyond our imagination. The
gold, the jewels, the beautiful garden fruit trees, and the clear flowing
stream from the throne of God, are all a part of the final paradise. Peace and prosperity forever is just what
man most craves. That is what the
search for gold has always meant to people.
To get enough gold, so as to have complete security in a fallen world,
is the hunger of every human being.
That is why the lottery is so popular.
The Gospel is the good news that this hunger can be satisfied
through Jesus Christ. He is God's gold
that will make you rich forever, and guarantee you a place in the eternal city
of gold. This Gospel in gold is not my
idea, but comes from the very lips of the Lord to the church in Laodicea. In Revelation 3:17 Jesus rebukes these
Christians by saying, "You say, I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do
not need a thing. But you do not
realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." Jesus is
saying even good Christians can be blinded by the wrong kind of wealth. My
godly grandmother had a plaque on her wall for years that impressed me as a
child. It said, "all is not gold that glitters." She was never wealthy
in this world's gold, but grandma had the riches of Christ.
Bob Ricker, the president of the Baptist General Conference,
spoke at an annual meeting, and he said his father made a statement that he
never forgot. He said, "I'm so glad I didn't waste my life making
money." He did, as we all do, spend a lot of his life making money, but
that was not the primary value for which he lived. There is greater treasure in
life and the Laodaceans were missing it. Listen to what Jesus says to them in
verse 18, "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you
can become rich." Gold refined in the fire is pure gold. All the
impurities are removed by the fire. Jesus is the greatest gold dealer in the
world, and he has a monopoly on this absolutely pure gold that makes you rich
forever.
The point of Jesus is that these Christians has riches, but
they were not the real thing. They had fools gold. We saw all kinds of this is
the Black Hills. You could buy chunks of it for 30 cents. It glittered and was
shining and attractive, but it was of no value. Early gold miners were fooled
into filling ships with this stuff, and sailing back to Europe only to be told
they were not rich, but poorer than ever, for all they had to pay to transport
this worthless rock. Jesus is saying, all the wealth of the world is fools
gold. It is not the way to true riches. Only the gold He can give will make you
rich forever.
This text should create a Christian gold rush, for Jesus is
telling His church the way to get gold that will provide for eternal luxury. We
need to get as excited about this gold as men get about the gold of earth. The
gold rushes of history have made people willing to risk everything for what
gold could provide. When the great 1849 gold rush to California started, the
laborer in the East was making about a dollar a day. No wonder they left by the
thousands. 35,000 choose to sail around South America to get there. This 18,000
mile journey took 5 months. Others crossed the Isthmus of Panama and risked tropical
fevers and poisonous snakes. 50,000 chose the overland route, and faced the mud
of the prairies, and waterless deserts, steep mountains, and Indians. The
routes were littered with abandoned wagons, the carcasses of animals, and rough
crosses, marking the graves of those who did not make it. They were often the
fortunate ones, for those who made it did not find paradise, but a purgatory.
The towns were crowded, and the prices were sky high. The average family could only afford to eat
flapjacks. One egg cost a dollar, and a candle for light at night sold for 3
dollars. A comb to comb your hair would set you back 6 dollars. The 49'ers were
a very unhealthy lot, and most of them died poor. If they worked from sunup to
sundown, they could average 12 to 16 dollars worth of gold a day. It was just
enough to survive. The stories of the few who made it big, spread, and kept the
myth alive that brought a steady stream of people from all over the world to
California.
In 1897, when the rush
to the Klondike in Alaska began, men faced temperatures so cold that many died.
Others lost limbs, and others went blind, but gold motivated them to take any
risk. 3000 horses and mules died trying to get men to the Klondike. Still, 33,000
people made it because of the powerful lust for gold. The stories of suffering
and sacrifice to get gold are almost endless. Then, of course, there are others
that are remarkable for the ease with which some got rich.
On Feb.15, 1869, John Deason and Richard Oats were returning
to their cabin with a cart load of provisions.
They got stuck in a mud hole, and cursed their rotten luck. In digging out they hit a rock that
glittered like gold, and to their amazement, it was the largest nugget ever discovered‑200
lbs. It was so heavy it broke down
their cart. This happened in the gold
rush in Australia. But this was a rare
story. Many paid with their lives and
their health to find this precious ore.
By 1939, the U. S. had more than half of the world's gold
stock‑‑17 billion dollars worth.
That is why they had decided to build Fort Knox 30 miles south of
Louisville, Kentucky to house and
protect all this gold. It was completed
in 1936. The vault door weighs over 20
tons, and to open it takes several people with combinations known only to
them. If there is any tampering the
door releases poisonous gas.
The largest storage of gold, however, is five stories beneath
the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Here, the gold of other nations is stored. It is protected by a 90 ton revolving steel door. By 1949 the U. S. had three quarters of all
the world's gold stock. The hoarding of
gold is not just the practice of governments, however, for in much of the
world, gold is the only security for the individual.
Women are loaded with gold jewelry, because if their husband
dies they have no social security, no medical coverage, and no savings
account. She has only a legal right to
her own jewelry, and this is what she will need to save her and her children
from starvation. It is a paradox, but
the poor of the world are the great hoarder of gold. Their stock pile of just a few hundred dollars each accounts for
over 13 billion dollars of the world's gold.
The more we understand the history of gold, the more we will
impressed by the New Jerusalem being a city of gold, with streets of solid
gold. God is saying, the best of this
world's values will be commonplace for God's people. They will be rich with values that go beyond literal gold, for
gold will be to them as abundant as dirt is in time.
It is of interest that Jesus says I command you to buy gold
from me. His salvation is free, but for
his gold their is a fee. Jesus not only
wants you saved, He wants you rich. But
there is a price to pay to be rich. He
paid it all for you to be saved, but you have to pay to be rich. The cost is obviously not money, or only
those already rich could afford it.
This text is like Is. 55:1‑2, which says, "Come, all you who
are thirsty, come to the waters: And
you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and
your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight
in the richest of fare." This is a
parallel to our text. Buy the best and
be rich. The best is to listen to God,
and eat His Word. That is just what
Jesus is saying. In verse 20 He says,
"Here I am! I stand at the door
and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me." That is the way we buy His gold‑not
with money, but with a willingness to listen to His voice and let Him into our
lives. The richest people in the world
are not those who eat in swanky restaurants, but those who eat with Jesus, the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The gold of Jesus is communion with Jesus. It is sharing with Him in consuming the Word
of Life. Everywhere, God's Word is considered
to be better than gold. It is God's
gold that will last forever, when heaven and earth have passed away. Ps.19:7‑11 says,
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statues of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple,
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure
and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
then much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
By then is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Love for the Word of God does not just happen. It costs time, effort, and commitment. There is a price to pay to buy this gold,
but the payoff is you build what will be lasting riches. Ps.119:72 says, "The law from your
mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold." The real gold with eternal and infinite
value is found in the wisdom of God's Word.
In Prov. 8:10‑11 wisdom says, "Choose my instruction instead
of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than
rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." Then, in verses 17 and 18 she says, "I
love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring
wealth and prosperity."
This is what Jesus is urging us to do‑get rich forever
by paying the price to enrich your life by consuming the wisdom of God. Every Christian who wants to be rich needs
to be in some kind of Bible study. This
is the essence of what it is to be buying gold from Jesus. All the wisdom you gather from the Word will
be the gold you take into eternity, and this will determine the role you play
in God's eternal kingdom. This gold
will be your reward. May God motivate
us to get involved in the gold rush to obtain the gold of heaven.
7. HUMOR IN HEAVEN based on Rev.
21:4
W. Douglas Roe pastored a
large Baptist church in Philadelphia, where he had a weekly radio
broadcast. He was also going to
seminary, and the load became to heavy, and he had a breakdown. He was out of the pulpit for many
months. He had to learn to relax, and
so he became a sort of comedian. He
discovered his sense of humor, not only saved him, by bringing healing, but it
was a useful tool for saving others for eternity.
He was asked to speak at a noon service in a large industrial
plant. He was told about a certain
worker who was a ardent atheist. He
would never attend the service. Roe
deliberately walked up to this man's bench, just before the meeting, and said
to him, "Did you ever think how much
we have to thank God for?"
Before he could respond, Roe continued, "Take your nose for
example. If anyone else but God had
given it to you, it might have been turned
upside down. Then if it rained,
you would drown, and if you sneezed, you would blow your hat off." Roe just walked on up to the pulpit. The man was so intrigued by his humor, that
he stayed to listen. He heard the
Gospel, and made a decision for Christ.
Humor became his first step on the way to heaven. Humor never saves, only Christ does, but
humor may bring one to Christ.
A study of the great preachers of history, and the most
popular in our contemporary world, will reveal that humor is a powerful tool in
bringing people to Christ, and thus to heaven.
Spurgeon used a lot of humor, and he wrote, "It always makes me
laugh when I am called a sour Puritan, because you know there is nobody with a
quicker eye for fun, or with a deeper vein of mirth, than I have." D.L. Moody loved to get together after an
evangelistic service, and relax by telling jokes. A lady once asked him how he could laugh so soon after the
serious labor of dealing with souls. He
said, "If I didn't, I'd have a nervous break down at the pace at which I
live."
Calvin and Luther, and even Jonathan Edwards, the hell‑fire
preacher, had a keen sense of humor.
Some of the great Christians of history had to learn to control their
sense of humor. David Livingston, who
opened up Africa to missions, and who suffered enormous hardships, said to his wife, more than once, as they
would recover from their fits of laughter, "Really, my dear, we ought not
to indulge in so many jokes. We are
getting to old. It is not
becoming. We must be more staid." It is almost universally accepted as a fact
of life, that it is a great virtue to have a sense of humor. The question is, will we go on in enjoying a
sense of humor in heaven? Will we laugh
forever, or will laughter be to earthly to be a part of the perfection of the
holy city?
The Bible is our only source for reliable information on
heaven. Let me share with you those texts
which convince me that humor is not merely temporal, but eternal. I am convinced that humor is a part of the
image of God, and that it is not the result of the fall. Here in Revelation 21:4, John tells us
plenty about what will not be heaven.
There will be no tears, no mourning, no crying, no pain, and death will
also be no more. The whole point of
these negatives, is for the purpose of
magnifying the positives. If death is
gone forever, then it follows, life is present forever, for there can be no end
to it with death gone. If tears and
mourning and crying are gone forever, it follows that there opposites, joy and
laughing, are free to be experienced forever.
There need be no fear that some sudden tragedy will turn our laughter to
sorrow, as is the case in time.
If it can be established that laughter and a sense of humor is
good, then it follows, naturally, that they will be a part of eternal life, for
nothing that it good will be eliminated from heaven. Jesus settles this issue for us in Luke 6:21 where he says,
"Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh." Jesus could not have called laughing a
blessing if it were part of the kingdom of evil. It is, therefore, a part of the goal of Jesus, for the redeemed
to cease all weeping, and to enter into laughter. The weeping prophet Jeremiah will weep no more, but enjoy the
laughter of heaven's final victory over all evil. Weeping and gnashing of teeth is reserved for those in hell. It is over forever, in heaven. This promise of Christ can only be perfectly
fulfilled in heaven. Many who weep do
so in time of persecution, and they are killed as they weep. There's no way this promise can be kept
unless there will be laughter in heaven.
Deny it, and you empty the words of Christ, of all meaning, to those who
die in sorrow.
Laughter must be a part of heaven, just as weeping will be a
part of hell. They are opposites, and
what is absent from one is present in the other. Rob heaven of laughter, and you drag it nearer the abode of the
lost. If God laughs, why should His
children be deprived of laughter in His presence. Luther said he would not wish to go to heaven if God did not understand a joke. The Bible reveals that God does laugh, and
laughter is already a part of heaven.
Look at the three references to God's laughter in the Psalms.
1. Psalm 2:4 "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has
them in derision."
2. Psalm 37:13 "The Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that
his day is coming."
3. Psalm 59:8 "But
Thou, O Lord, dost laugh at them...."
God laughs in scorn at the pathetic folly of puny men trying
to outwit Him, and challenge His authority.
It is the laughter of great superiority. Men trying to plot against God are as silly as nats plotting to
attack a tank. It is a joke. It is funny when the weak do not recognize
their weakness, and try to use it, as if it were a strength. We have here the humor that makes the
husband laugh when his wife tries to overpower him. I have exploded in laughter, as Lavonne, in grim determination,
has tired to push me onto the bed, or into a pool. It is the laughter of a parent, when a small child tries to, by
sheer force, get it's will done in defiance of theirs. It tickles the funny bone, and you cannot
help but laugh.
God cannot help but laugh at the folly of men trying to
defy His power. This kind of laughter
will cease, for men will no longer be trying such folly in eternity. But the point is, it reveals God's nature,
and a sense of humor is a part of it.
God is not a machine or a stone.
He is a person, and is affected by the reality of humor. God never changes in His nature, and thus we
know, He will have a sense of humor forever.
In Eccles. 3:4, it says there is a time to weep and a time to
laugh. In this life the times vary and
alternate. But John says there will be
no more weeping in heaven. Therefore,
it will be a time for laughter. This
does not mean we will spend eternity in laughter, but it does mean, we will
spend it in a state of joy, where laughter is always potential.
Humor has been abused and vulgarized by the sinful nature of
man. But the abuse of anything is not
to be allowed to rob us of it's proper use.
Sam Shoemaker in his book, Under New Management, writes, "How many
of you still have a sneaking suspicion that religion and humor don't mix‑that
you can be humorous until you mention God, but then you must be solemn? This is heresy‑but there are thousands
who believe it, and by their solemn piety drive people away from the stream of
life!"
We need to think more seriously about the nature of humor to
grasp it's importance in the nature of God.
If I can laugh at the monkey's, little children, and other funny things
of life, but God cannot, then it would mean, I have a positive quality of
character that God does not have. This,
of course, can never be, for I am made in His image. Laughter must either be a part of that image, or be a result of
the breaking of that image in the fall.
Since all agree that a sense of humor is a positive quality in man, we
have to conclude, it is a quality of God's nature, and will be eternal.
If the angels rejoice over every sinner who repents, I am sure
that God the Father and the Son do not sit in solemn silence, but join the
celebration. The father of the Prodigal
Son called for a celebration when his son returned, and they began to make
merry. If that father could go out and
sulk with the elder son, and not enter into the joy and laughter of the party,
then we would have a picture opposite of what Jesus gives us. He portrays this father, who represents God,
as entering fully into the joy and laughter of the celebration. It can be assumed that God will do so in the
eternal celebration of heaven.
I link laughter to joy, because it is almost impossible to
conceive of a joyous banquet, where there is no laughter. Laughter is a part of a joyous time. It is not likely you would call any occasion
joyous, if there was no laughter. If
you could sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and never laugh, you would be
able to say, this is great, but I remember a time on earth that was even
greater. You can count on it, there
will be no memories in heaven, that recall times on earth of greater joy and
laughter. If laughter is not a part of
heaven, it will lack a value we all treasure in time. This can never be.
Jim Elliot, the missionary martyr, wrote in his diary, when he
was a senior at Wheaton, "God has blessed me with a queer twist that makes
me laugh at almost anything." Dr.
Donald Gray Barnhouse, the great preacher and author, wrote, "There is no
objection to laughing at something funny.
I read some magazines just to laugh at the cartoons, and then throw them
down without reading any of their articles or stories." One of Wesley's favorite sayings was,
"Sour godliness is the devil's religion." Proverbs 15:15 says, all the days of the afflicted are evil, but
a cheerful heart has a continual feast."
Because this is so, we should be a people who long to develop our sense
of humor, and pray with the poet‑
Give me the gift of
laughter, oh, I pray
Though tears should hover
near;
Give me the gift of laughter
for each day‑
Laughter to cast out fear.
This is a worthy prayer, and the good news is, it will one day
be fully answered, and all God's people will laugh and enjoy forever the humor
of heaven.
8. THE JEWELS OF HEAVEN based on
Rev. 21:9-21
Henry Schober of Edmonton,
Canada, was cutting a loaf of bread to make a sandwich, when he his amazement
he found a diamond engagement ring. It
was later appraised at $700. As a
result of a lot of publicity, the owner of the ring was found. It is not likely that gem favored bread will
ever catch on, but the fact is, there are many gems in the Bread of life‑‑the
Word of God. Not just gems of truth,
but actual literal gems. There are
hundreds of verses in the Bible dealing with over 50 jewels and precious
stones. It would take hours just to
read all that the Bible has to say about gems.
The KJV has an astonishing total of 1,704 references to gemstones and
minerals under 124 Greek and Hebrew names.
You could devote a life time to the study of this subject.
There are three main lists of gems in the Bible, and one of
them takes us back to Eden where we thought the only clothes worn were drab
animal skins. But there is a lot we do
not know about what was going on in the heavenly realm at that time. It seems that the archangel Lucifer was
rebelling against God in pride, and was cast out of heaven before he came to
deceive Eve through the serpent. What
is amazing is the beauty of this servant of God. Satan is the first being that we have any record of who was
clothed with precious stones. In Ezek.
28, he is described as the model of perfection in beauty. Then in 28:13 we read, "You were in
Eden the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and
emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of
gold; on the day you were created they were prepared."
This verse makes it clear that jewelry was not man's invention
at all. God was making jewelry of great
beauty, with gold and precious stones, before man was ever created. He made Satan a fabulous garment of jewelry
when he was created, which was long before man was created. So the study of
jewelry is not only prehistoric, but preexistence of the universe. In other
words, jewels existed in God's realm of existence in eternity before God created what we know as the universe. Jewels are heavenly elements that existed
before the universe, and will be a part of heaven when the universe, as we know
it, is no more. There are fascinating
histories of great jewels, and how they have been passed down from one royal
family to another for centuries. All of
them will end up in the royal family of God, who will, in eternity, possess all
the jewels God has ever made.
God was a jeweler before He created our world, and thus we see
from the start, God is a great lover of jewels. This explains why He is so extravagant with them in the walls of
the New Jerusalem. If artists and
architects got together to plan the New Jerusalem, they may have thought that a
crown of diamonds and rubies over each of the twelve gates would give an
elaborate and luxurious look to it. Who
would ever dream of twelve strings of precious stones circling the entire 5,600
miles of the city walls. I have
calculated that this is equivalent to a necklace which is 67,200 miles
long. You don't have to get out your
Guinness Book of Records‑‑I can assure you that this is the longest
piece of jewelry ever created. It would
stretch over two and one half times around the world.
So let's face this fact‑‑God is fanatical about
jewels. If you think it is a waste of
time to study jewels, you are mistaken.
God loves us to study them, just like anyone enjoys people who learn to
love their hobby.
God made jewels play a major role in the life of His Old
Testament people, in the second great list we see this. The high priest was to wear a special breast
piece when he came into the presence of God.
It was to be a marvelous work of art made of gold and fine linen. Then we read this in Ex. 28:17‑21,
"Then mount four row of precious stones on it. In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a beryl; in
the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; in the third row a
jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and
a jasper. Mount them in gold filigree
settings. There are to be 12 stones,
one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with
the name of one of the 12 tribes."
God's people had to know their gems in order to obey God, and
make this very unusual garment. The
high priest would go into God's presence with these 12 shining jewels, and by
means of them, God would reveal His will to the high priest. I visualize it as a sort of code. The
high priest would ask God questions and God would light up the jewels in a
pattern to give him the answer. It was
like a computer that God spoke through.
God used jewels as a practical tool for communication to lead His
people. This was probably the most
practical piece of jewelry ever created.
Jewels are universal symbols of beauty and wealth. God considers His people His jewels, and His
goal is to beautify them that they might shine as jewels, and be as durable as
jewels. The prophet Zechariah describes
the day of God's coming to rescue His people in Zech. 9:16‑17, "The
Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of His people. They will sparkle in His land like jewels in
a crown. How attractive and beautiful
they will be!" I don't know how
beautiful the crowns of kings were in Bible times, but the crowns of royalty in
modern times are awesome in their beauty.
Imagine the glory of God's people, when they are finally saved from all
that hinders them from being fully the reflections of God's image. They will be the crown jewels of the King of
Kings.
When God wants to describe how precious His people are to Him,
He uses jewel imagery. We read in Is.
62:3‑4, "You will be a crown of spendor in the Lord's hand, a royal
diadem in the hand of your God..... The
Lord will take delight in you."
God delights in His people, as men do in their most precious jewels,
because they are beautiful and valuable.
Jewels are more beautiful when they reflect light. The more light a gem will disperse, the more
color it conveys to the eye, and thus the greater it's beauty. God's people are to be lights in the world
conveying the beauty of God's love for a lost world. Christians who will shine as God's jewels forever, are to shine
in time reflecting the light of His love in a dark world.
Ernestine Ramaboa, in May of 1967, was panning gravel in South
Africa. For five years she and her
husband had been working there 30 foot square diamond claim. They averaged 25 to 30 cents a day finding
rice size diamonds. But this day was
different‑‑as different as rice is from eggs, for on this day she
unearthed an egg size diamond. They
only had $4.00 between them, so they could not afford the $19.50 air fare to
the city of Moseru. So Petrus, her
husband, put the egg in his pocket, and they walked for 4 days over the dirt
roads. It was well worth their effort,
for it was the world's 8th largest diamond.
They received $302,400 for it.
It was sent to New York City where it was sold for $649,000. That was quite a nest egg for an egg size
jewel, but that is how precious a stone the diamond is. Many feel the jasper in the walls of the New
Jerusalem is the diamond. If so, the
city is primarily a city of diamonds and gold.
What is fascinating is the fact that jewels are glorified
commonplace matter. They represent what
God can do with just plain stuff. They
are symbolic of the redemption of sinners‑‑the lowly fallen man
made into a gem of infinite worth. The
diamond is merely glorified carbon. The
ruby, topaz, and sapphire are glorified aluminum. The opal is glorified sand, and so on. C. J. Baldwin says, "Indeed, the jewels that glitter in the
regalia of a Queen, have the same ultimate origin with the stones that lie
beneath her feet in the road."
Jewels are the flowers of the mineral world. They rise out of the soil of the commonplace with a superior
beauty, because of the chemistry of God's creativity.
All of this is introduction to our look at the jewels of
heaven. In the light of what we have
seen, it ought not to be a surprise that God would lavish the Bride of His
beloved Son with more jewelry than all mankind combined has ever
processed. I always thought heaven was
depicted with gold and jewels, because these are great values to man, but the
more I study, the more I see it is full of gold and jewels, because these are
of great value to God. Man came to
value these things, because God valued them first, and made them scarce. The beauty of heaven is not just for us, it
is for the aesthetic pleasure of God and the Lord Jesus, and as we have seen,
their taste for jewels was established before man was ever created. The jewels
of heaven are for God's pleasure, as much as for ours. God loves jewelry and He
uses it to glorify all that He exalts and honors.
God made man in His image, and one of the ways this is
manifested is in the desire of man to create the same things God loves to
create. In the area of precious stones, man has come a long way. He can now
make many fine and flawless jewels synthetically. Man can make a beautiful ruby made of the same material as a
natural ruby, and make it flawless 500 times less expensive than mining,
polishing, and cutting the natural ruby.
Today, man can make many of the jewels that God has enjoyed making, even
before time began. This is an area of
aesthetics which God and man have in common, and will have in common for all eternity.
Jewel making will likely be one of the jobs that some of the redeemed
will enjoy doing forever.
Chemistry will also be an eternal subject. The jewels of heaven tell us that the same
laws of chemistry that are in time will go on in eternity. Every one of these jewels is a result of a
chemical formula. The more complex the
formula the less hard the jewel. The reason
the diamond is the hardest jewel is because it consists of just one element‑‑carbon. The ruby and sapphire are the next hardest,
with two elements‑‑aluminum and oxygen. The beryl's with four elements are softer yet. The study of jewels tells us a lot about
God, for they are a study in order.
The book of Revelation revolves around 7's, and all jewels do,
as well. Everyone of them falls into
one of 7 categories.
The diamond is cubic.
The emerald is hexagonal.
The ruby is trigonal.
And so on for 7 different
types. 7 is God's perfect number, and
He created all jewels to fall into 7 categories, which reveals His love for
order, which is part of the beauty of
His creation. Beauty and order will
characterize the eternal environment of the New Jerusalem.
Jewels have always been a sign of favor, and therefore, it
makes sense why the Bride of Christ would receive the most elaborate jewels the
universe has ever seen. This royal
rainbow of 12 colors encircling the Bride is a fitting symbol of the King's
love for this one He has chosen to be His eternal Queen. In England, when the Queen is crowned at her
coronation, the ArchBishop of Canterbury pronounces these words, "O God,
the Crown of the faithful, who on the heads of Thy saints placed crowns of
glory, bless and sanctify this crown, that as the same is adorned with divers
precious stones, so this Thy servant wearing it, may be replenished of Thy
grace, with the manifold gifts of all precious virtues, through the King
Eternal, Thy Son and our Lord,
amen."
If the precious stones are symbolic of the precious grace of
God, that bestows on the wearer, His virtues, then the Bride of Christ is
endowed with infinite grace and virtue, making her worthy to be the everlasting
Queen of the new heaven and earth. When
God wanted to convey to His people Israel that His love, as her husband, would
never cease, He used jewelry to convey this idea of permanence. In Is. 54:11‑12 God says, "I will
build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your
gates of sparkling jewels and all your walls of precious stones."
The Old Testament imagery of jewels makes it clear what the
jewels of heaven mean. They are symbolic
of the fact that the Bride of the Lamb need never fear divorce or
separation. God is committed to eternal
love. He will not tire of this Bride
anymore than He will tire of His eternal love for precious stones. I would love to see the model that has been
made of this jewel‑ringed Bride.
And eminent English jeweler displayed it in London. One who saw it wrote, "Though, to some
minds, the Johannine description seems grotesque and incoherent, the remarkable
thing was, that when the various elements of the description were gathered
together into a unity, a singularly beautiful and charming model was the
result,‑‑a model which gathered round it's thousands of
distinguished critics, who pronounced it about as perfect a reproduction in
precious stones, pearls, gold, and crystal as it was possible for human hands
to frame."
If man can make a model so beautiful, what will the reality be
like, made by the Master Jeweler Himself.
Some of these jewels could very well be the very ones that beautified Lucifer
before he fell. The church will be
victor over all the powers of Satan, and she will possess the very beauty and
power that he lost.
But again, the question comes, is there any practical value in
all of this? God says we are to live by
every word that proceeds out of His mouth.
If He has given us hundreds of words dealing with jewels, we can count
on it, there is practical value in the study of jewels. Paul urges us in Phil 4:8, to think on
things that are pure, lovely, and admirable.
Why? Because the Christian who
has a focus on the beautiful will be a better reflection of the beauty of
heaven, on earth. Show me the happiest
Christians, and I'll show you people who think about lovely things. So, the first practical value of jewels is their
psychological effect. They are examples
of order and beauty that motivate us to lives of greater order and beauty. The more you look at the things God loves
and appreciates, the more you adore the God who loves such loveliness.
Horace Mann, who is known as the Father of American Public
School, and who was elected to the American Hall of Fame, had a love for
education, like few people in the history
of our nation. He said something
that illustrates why Christians should be students of all forms of beauty.
"Surely He who created the fragrance
and flowers
and music of paradise;...... Surely He who created
all colors, and has mingled them together in the petals
of flowers, in the armatuare of insects, and the plumage
of birds, and has blended lily and rose in the cheek
of youth; He who has strewed the bottom of the ocean
with pearls, and sowed jasper and amethyst and
chrysolite among the rocks,‑‑was no contemner
of adornment."
This revelation of the jewel bedecked Bride of Christ makes it
clear God is, was, and ever will be a God of perfection, who loves the good,
the true, and the beautiful. His goal
is a universe where these things are permanent. This means the goal of the Christian in time is to be every
striving to add to a world in chaos, order, quality, and beauty. If it disappoints me when I see Christians
being sloppy, careless, and indifferent to a life of order and beauty, how much
more does it disappoint God?
God's purpose in giving us this revelation of the New
Jerusalem is to captivate our imagination.
If your imagination is filled with
the glorious destiny God has prepared for you, and you visualize yourself as a
part of the Bride of the Lamb‑‑beautified with the jewels of heaven‑‑this
will be a powerful tool in making you discontent with what is mediocre and
superficial. Christians who have their
imagination impacted by this revelation of God, will see themselves and other
Christians as jewels and not as junk.
This will affect their language, behavior, and attitudes, so that they
will have a higher sense of self‑esteem, and they will value others as
God's jewels.
The practical value of the study of the jewels of heaven is
that the more we grasp their beauty, the more we will be gems ourselves in
time, adding to the beauty of the Bride of the Lamb, even before she is robed in
this eternal necklace. May God help us
reflect in time the beauty of the jewels of heaven.
9. OCCUPATIONS IN HEAVEN bases on Rev. 22:1-5
The story is told of a man
who died and found himself in a region of fabulous abundance. His slightest
wish was instantly granted. At last, however, the novelty wore off and he
became bored. He told his host he would love to do something. Was there any
work he could perform, or any problem he could help solve? His host said,
"I am sorry, but there is no work to be done here." "No
work!" cried the man in frustration. "Nothing to do!" he
shouted. "I would rather be in hell than have nothing to do forever."
His host replied, "Just where do you think you are?"
The hell of hell will be nothing to do. There will be no labor
of love, no purpose to being, no goals to achieve, and no expressions of
creativity. Hell will be a state of perpetual unemployment. Dorothy Sayers, the
great female apologist for Christianity, said, "Damnation is without
direction or purpose. It has nothing to do and all eternity to do it in."
In contrast, heaven will be a place, not only of eternal
enjoyment, but of eternal employment. When God made Adam, He made him a
creature of creativity, with a desire to work. He gave him a job, to keep the
garden of Eden, and to study the animal kingdom, so he could give all the
animals names. Adam was made a botanist and zoologist the day he was created.
God made man to study and to have dominion over his environment. He gave him
both physical and mental work, for both are vital to the joy of living.
It is a logical conclusion that God will give even more
exciting and satisfying jobs to His children in the eternal paradise.
Certainly, his perfected saints will be ready for greater labors than even Adam ever dreamed about. This has been the universal hope of believers down through
the centuries. They expect to serve God in a way that satisfies the built in
desires God has given them to be creative. Robert J. Burdette, expressed the
faith of many when he wrote, " My work is about ended. I think the best of
it I have done poorly; any of it I might have done better; but I have done it.
And in a fairer land, with finer material and a better working light, I shall
so a better work." The poet adds these words,
I cannot think of Paradise a place
Where men go idly to and fro,
With harps of gold and robes that shame the snow;
With great wide wings that brightly interlace
Whenever they sing before the Master's face‑‑‑
Within a realm where neither pain nor woe,
Nor care is found; where tempests never blow
Where souls with hopes and dreams may run no race.
Such paradise were but a hell to me;
Devoid of all progression, I should rot,
Or shout for revolution, wide and far.
Better some simple task, a spirit free
To act along the line of self forgot‑‑
Or help God make a blossom or a star.
It is intolerable for Christians to believe, that rest from
the battle with evil, means an everlasting idleness. Can that be the goal of all God's work, and all the cooperative
labors of man? To be saved to spend
eternity in idleness, just when we finally gain what we need to be most
effective, is inconsistent with the nature of God's wisdom. Better that we be left sinful and imperfect
beings, who love serving our Lord, than to be perfected for the sake of
inactivity and unproductive idleness.
We can understand the hope for rest from life's battles, and that is a
legitimate concept of heaven, but in our new bodies we will not need rest. We only need rest for what we endure
now, and that is why the poet has
written,
There once was a woman who always was tired
She lived in a house where no help was hired.
On her death bed she said, dear friends I am goin
Where washing aint done nor cookin nor sewin,
And everything there will be just to my wishes,
For where they don't eat there's no washin of dishes.
Don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me ever,
For I'm goin to do nothin, forever and ever.
We can understand her desire to escape from the burdens of
life, and that is a part of our heavenly hope.
But to do nothing for ever and ever, is certainly not a worthy ambition
for a child of God. Our ultimate hope
ought to be, to do more for the glory of God in our perfected bodies, than we
ever could in the weakness of our earthly bodies.
The question is, what will we do in heaven? What kinds of jobs will be available? What sort of service will be needed? In order to get the best possible answers to
these questions, we need to look at heaven from two perspectives. We need to
look at Revelation and it's implications.
First lets look at‑
I. REVELATION.
We need to listen to what God tells us in His Word, about the
activities of heaven. Here in Rev.
22:3, the redeemed in heaven are called servants, and in Rev. 7:15, they are
also called servants. It says there, "Therefore, they are before the
throne of God and serve Him day and night within His temple." These two verses have had a profound impact on
Christian thinking about heaven. If the redeemed are called servants, and they
worship and serve God, and they reign for ever and ever, as verse 5 says, then
we get a picture of heaven as a place of perpetual motion and never ceasing
activity.
Billy Graham, commenting on the significance of the title of servant,
attached to the saints in heaven, said, "I believe that means we are going
to work." We need to see this, not as a threat, but as a promise. It is
said that Thomas A'Kempis when a youth, studied the book of Revelation with a
group of other young men. At the end of the course the teacher asked each
member of the class to quote his favorite promise of no night, no pain, no
death, and others. But when A'Kempis came to answer he said that his favorite
promise was "His servants shall serve him."
Charles Spurgeon, who gave much thought to being servants in
heaven, wrote, "What engagements we may have throughout eternity we are
not told, because we have enough to do to fulfill out engagements now; but
assuredly we shall be honored with errands of mercy and tasks of love fitted
for our heavenly being; and I doubt not it shall be one of our greatest
delights while seeing the Lord's face to serve him with all our perfected
powers. He will use us in the grand
economy of future manifestations of his divine glory. Possibly we may be to other dispensations what the angels have
been to this. Be that as it may, we
shall find a part of our bliss and joy in constantly serving him who has raised
us from the dead."
There shall we see, and hear, and know,
All you desired or wished below,
And every power find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy.
The phrase in the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven, is another clear light of revelation that tells us heaven is a
place where God's will is being done perfectly. With countless numbers of angels, plus the saints of the ages,
there is always plenty to do, for God has a need for infinite service. Moses and Elijah, you recall, were assigned
the task of breaking back into history to comfort Christ on the Mount of
Transfiguration. What they did for many
centuries before this, and the many since, we do not know, but the point is,
they had a job to do for God, and it is not likely this was the only job God
had for them for all the centuries they have been in heaven.
We are not trying to say that the saints in heaven are being
driven from one task to another like slaves, but that there is never one moment
of boredom in heaven. There is always
something to do that is filled with meaning.
Heb. 12:1, says we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, as we
run the Christian race. It is almost
universally agreed upon that this represents the redeemed in heaven who know
what is happening here on earth, and are cheering us on as we run the race for
the glory of Christ. Wide World Of
Saints is on 24 hours a day for those in heaven.
Jesus in the Parable of the Nobleman tells of how he went on a
long journey, and left ten servants with ten pounds to trade with while he was
gone. When he returned, the one servant
had made ten pounds from his one, and Jesus said the nobleman responded,
"Well done good servant, you have been faithful in a very little, you
shall have authority over ten cities."
The one who made five pounds was made ruler over five cities, and the
one who buried his money, lost it all.
The parable is about the gifts Jesus gives to His followers, and the
rewards they will receive when He returns.
Jesus seems to be saying that those who are faithful will receive jobs
of leadership over others in the eternal kingdom.
Here in Revelation 22:5, it says the servants will reign, and
how can you reign if you do not have some authority over other beings, or over some
territory? Clearly one of the jobs of
eternity will be the job of leadership, involving administration, and decision
making.
This is not a lot of revelation, and what there is, is
general, and that is why Paul says, "We see through a glass darkly, or in
a mirror dimly." But what we see
is enough to fill the heart and mind with all kinds of implications. We want to look at heaven, now, from the
perspective of‑
II. IMPLICATION.
By revelation we know God is not a God of idleness. He is a creator who loves to use His
creative energy. He created the
universe out of nothing but His own creative thought. He is a working God. He
is not a workaholic, however, or even He took a Sabbath rest. He made the angels to labor with Him, and He
made man to labor in cooperation with Him.
This is a matter of clear revelation.
By implication, we can conclude, that unless God's nature changes, He
will go on creating new worlds with endless projects, in which He will use both
angels and men. God's creative capacity
is beyond our wildest imagination, and we can be assured He will never become
lazy or indifferent. By implication,
therefore, we can see eternity opening up an absolute infinite possibility of
new jobs for Jesus.
The question is, just how specific can we get concerning the
occupations of heaven. There is always
the risk of misunderstanding. Like the
little girl who was happily humming a hymn as she dusted the furniture to help
her mother. "Mommy", she
asked, "Will I be dusting God's chair when I get to heaven the way the
hymn says?" The mother looked up
surprised, and asked, "Which hymn says that honey?" The girl responded, "and dust around
the throne, and dust around the throne."
It took the mother a while to figure out she was quoting a line from the
hymn, Marching To Zion, which says, "and thus surround the throne, and
thus surround the throne."
It is not likely that
dusting is one of the tasks awaiting the redeemed in heaven. But not all occupations are based on
misunderstanding. The Bible says God
will grant us the desires of our hearts, and that there will be eternal
pleasures at His right hand. This
implies that the interest, skills, and gifts that are developed in this life,
will continue to be a part of life
in heaven. This means that heaven will be filled with
infinite variety, even as this life is.
It is always a danger to try to picture heaven in a limited
way, that appeals to some, but leaves others disappointed. Frank Gaebelein, for many years co‑editor
of Christianity Today, says he can't wait to hear what composers like
Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart can do with a chorus of ten thousand times ten
thousand and thousands of thousands.
There is a good basis for his hope to be fulfilled, but there are many
who do not find this a great attraction, for they never even listen to the
works of these men on earth. We dare
not limit our concept heaven to our own interest. God has made man with an infinite variety of interest and gifts,
and all of them will be satisfied in heaven.
Several years ago I read two books about Peg and Joy
Woodson. Both of these young children
died from an incurable disease. This was
right at the time when many people were testifying that they had died, and had
gotten a glimpse into the next life.
Peg was asked what she thought about it, and she said, "People are
talking about running around barefoot in heaven, but I don't like to run around
barefoot. Have you ever seen one
picture of a kid reading in heaven? If
you don't read in heaven, I don't think I want to go." "Yeah," echoed her brother Joey, "If you don't read in heaven, I don't wanna go."
The health of these two had limited their activity, and their
whole life revolved around reading. It
became their primary interest. With new
bodies in heaven they may really enjoy running barefoot, but the point is, if
reading is still their primary interest in heaven, you can be assured there
will be plenty to read, for God promises to grant us the desires of our
hearts.
Peter Marshall, the famous preacher and chaplain of Congress
wrote, "I love music and have always wanted to study it. But I've never had the opportunity....In
heaven I look forward to the study of music as one of the satisfactions I'm
going to have." This is the
conviction of the saints through the ages.
God has given us more dreams and aspirations than we can fill in one
small lifetime. We are made for
eternity. Many Bible scholars long for
the chance to discover the fullness of truth in God's Word, and they expect to
get this chance in heaven. Those with a
scientific mind expect to probe deeply into the mysteries of the universe in
heaven. Poets, artists, and musicians
expect to express truth with a beauty and freedom never known on earth. Every aspiration that God has planted in
hearts of men, will motivate them though out eternity. The greatest one's love for anything in this
life, the greater is one's anticipation of fulfillment in heaven. Listen to Grace N. Crowell, one of the great
Christian poets of our time,
When the curtains of the Blessed Country part
Some evening in the West to let me through,
A keen delight will quicken in my heart,
My faltering, slow tongue will speak with new
Articulation, and the words I seek
And long for now will sparkle up in me
Like clear, cold water, and my lips will speak
A language fraught with strange intensity
I shall have words for April sunsets then,
For the look of autumn sunlight on a wall
For a thousand things the earth‑bound tongues of
men
Have tried to voice but never said at all.
And in some corner of heaven, mad with delight
I shall sit down
and write, and write and write!
G.M. Day, also a Christian writer, had a mother who loved
gardening, and she writes in her book, Joy Beyond,
Those who loved flowers and trees and gardens here
assuredly have them in their fade less glory in the
better world. I
am confident that my garden‑engrossed
mother, who spent so much time among her flowers
in her latter years is delighting now in the wonders of
a heavenly garden.
Thy gardens and thy goodly walks
Continuously are green,
Where grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.
The more you study heaven and how God's people think of it,
the more the implication is strengthened, that your occupation in heaven will
be directly related to the interests and aspirations you have developed in this
life. In other words, heaven will give
you the chance to be and do what you have always wanted to be and do, or to do
it on a level beyond what the limits of this life allow.
W.A. Criswell was for many years pastor of the largest Baptist
church in the world. He administered this vast organization of world wide
influence‑the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. He writes of how this influenced his view of
heaven.
In our work we shall administer, according to the
Word of God, the entire universe and everything
that is in it.
That includes God's solar system and
the infinitude of the world about us. The government
of the universe will be given into our hands and
the administration of God's creation will be
turned over to us.
God has gifted this man with
the ability and love for administration, and thus he longs to do it even on a
greater scale in heaven.
The Old Testament Temple was a hive of activity. It took a whole tribe of Israel to keep the
functions of the temple going. The
choir alone was 3,000 trained singers.
Imagine what God has awaiting for us who will be servants in His eternal
temple. It will be place of endless
enterprise. Boredom will not be in the
dictionary of heaven, nor will idleness, laziness, or unemployment. Heaven will be filled with glorious tasks of
infinite variety.
When asked what we will do in heaven, Harold Lindsell, editor
of Christianity Today, replied, "We will work forever and enjoy
it." George W. Truett, that great preacher
and author of a previous generation, wrote, "Yonder in the immeasurable
and infinite immensities of the eternal spaces of God are worlds and worlds and
worlds‑worlds by the millions....and it may be that one of the services
on which God will send us....is to go here and there not limited as we are now
and declare the riches and wonders and glories of God as we can never declare
them while we are fettered in the flesh."
Here was a man who spent his life declaring the glory of God, and he
hoped to go on doing it forever.
One of the major purposes of this life is to discover what you
would love to do forever. The loves,
the interests, the gifts, and the aspirations we develop in this life will
greatly affect our service and occupation in heaven. This makes the discovery, development, and dedication of our
gifts all the more important, for the more we do this now the more we
experience a foretaste of our heavenly occupation.
10. THE LOCATION OF HEAVEN
based on Rev. 21:1-8
The City Bank of Binghamton,
New York, sent flowers to the management of their new branch, on the opening of
their new facility. Unfortunately, the
card accompanying the flowers read, "Deepest Sympathy." The florist who made the mistake, called
later to apologize for the mixup. What
really worried him, he said, is the message meant for the bank was sent to a
funeral, and it read, "Congratulations on your new location."
This message would really be quite fitting, for the fact is,
death does change our location. The
question is, where is the new location?
Where is heaven and hell? Many
feel they are right here on earth, and not somewhere above and below. This conviction is not totally without
merit, for the future does begin with the now and the here. Jesus is the door to heaven, but unless we
have walked through that door in time, we will not be able to enter it after
death. So, it is true, heaven begins
now in time, and not after we die. The
essence of heaven is the presence of God, and that begins as a present
experience. Likewise, those who are
without hope and without God in the world are already bearing some of the
burdens of hell. Heaven on earth, and
hell on earth, are real experiences, but the fact is, when the body dies the
soul departs and returns to God. The
question is, just where is God and His dwelling place located?
The question gets complicated because of the nature of
God. He is omnipresent, and if heaven
is where God is, and God is everywhere, then heaven is everywhere, and we are
right back where we started. But it is
not Biblically accurate to say heaven is everywhere, for the Bible refers to
heaven as a distinct place. In the
Lord's prayer heaven is used twice. Our
Father who art in heaven‑‑that is in distinction from our father on
earth. God is everywhere, and
everywhere is heaven if you are God, but we are not, and so we need to
distinguish between our realm and God's realm.
Everywhere can become a heavenly place, for God's presence can fill it,
as He did in the Old Testament temple.
You can be in a prison, and be in a heavenly place, as you sense the
presence of God, like Peter did.
There is no escaping, however, the clear distinction between
the earthly and the heavenly. Jesus
said, I go to prepare a place for you, and He ascended to the right hand of the
Father. And the second reference in the
Lord's Prayer says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven is where God is uniquely present;
where His will is done perfectly; where Jesus Christ reigns, and prepares to
receive all who die in faith. When we
die we can't go everywhere, for that would be to become equal with God. We have to go somewhere, and that somewhere
is what we are trying to pinpoint.
The first thing we need to do is recognize that the Bible
refers to three heavens, each of which is clearly distinct from the
others. Paul was caught up into the
third heaven. This implies there are at
least two others. First, there is the
atmospheric heaven. This is the realm
in which the senses reign. You can see
this heaven. It is the clouds and
sky. It is that heaven in which the
birds fly, and where the weather is produced.
It is that heaven closest to the earth.
The second is the astronomical heaven. This is the realm in which the stars
reign. The eye of man can still
penetrate this realm, and with the aid of the telescope, see that it is
enormous beyond comprehension. It is a
vast heaven, but it is not the dwelling place of God. There is a popular theory that heaven can be located in this
sphere of the universe. It is the
theory that heaven is in the North. The
Bible basis for this is in Is. 14:12‑13.
"How are you fallen from heaven, O Day Star, Son of Dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who
laid the nations low! You said in your
heart, I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will set my throne on
high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far North." In Ezekiel chapter one, the vision of the
heavenly creatures come out of the North.
Job 26:7 says, "He stretches out the North over the empty place and
hangs the earth upon nothing."
Jack MacArthur, who promotes this theory points out that
North is the same direction from every point on the earth's surface. Up is North from everywhere on the
planet. It is also the magnetic pole
toward which all compasses point. Why? Many believe it is because the North, of the
astronomical heaven, is the actual location of God and His dwelling place. In the empty place in the North, is a huge
black hole where the gravity is so great, even the light of stars cannot escape
it. Could this be heaven? It is not impossible, but as we move on to
the third heaven, we will see why this theory is not likely. The third view will show how this, and all
other views, will be encompassed within it.
The third heaven is the ascension heaven. This is the realm in which the Son
reigns. This is where the saints go
when they leave the body. The other two
heavens can be studied by science, but this one can be known only by
revelation. Some feel you just keep
going past the second heaven millions of light years out, and you run into the
third heaven. The theory of heaven in
the North is part of this idea. The
weakness of this view is that it does not fit the revelation we have in the New
Testament. For example, in Acts 7:56
Stephen, as he is about to be stoned, gazes into heaven and says, "Behold,
I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." The most powerful telescope cannot see to
the furthest galaxy, let alone, beyond the second heaven into the third. If Stephen could, with the naked eye, see
the glory of God, and the Son at His side, then we are forced to think of
heaven in other than spacial terms. In
other words, we need to see heaven as being in a different dimension, and not
far out beyond astronomical space.
Jesus said He would never leave us, but be with us
always. If heaven is in another
dimension, then it is easy to see how this can be, for heaven then, is really
no distance away at all, for it is not in space. It is in a dimension that exists right along side our dimension
of time and space, and, therefore, always near. If man invented a space ship to go to the stars, those who went
would be no nearer heaven than those on earth, but they would be no further,
either, for the dimension of God's presence is everywhere.
This is not the same as saying everywhere is heaven. This earth is not heaven, nor is anywhere
else in the universe of space, heaven.
Yet everywhere one is, he is near heaven, for the dimension of heaven is
only a revelation away. That is, God
can do for anyone what He did for Stephen.
He may be at the North pole, or on the moon, or some far off galaxy, and
God could open His eyes to see Jesus standing by His side in heavenly
glory. Heaven is everywhere, and yet it
is nowhere. It is nowhere, in the sense that you can locate it in space, and
draw a map to get to it. Yet, it is everywhere, in that it is in a dimension
that encompasses all of space, and, therefore, it is present wherever you are.
When the Bible refers to the third heaven being above all
heavens, it is not referring to it as being spatially above them, but rather as
being superior to them, and encompassing them. Paul in Eph.4:10 says, "He
who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might
fill all things." You would think that rising above all the heavens would
take you so far out that you would no longer be in touch with the rest of the
universe. Paul says just the opposite is the case. By ascending to the highest
heaven, Jesus really came into touch with all of time and space, and is now
everywhere present. He is in a dimension where he escapes all the limitations
of time and space.
He could not be everywhere in the flesh, even after the
resurrection. Only when he ascended to the third heaven could he be an
omnipresent Savior. When you call on Christ to forgive, or to guide, your
prayers do not have to travel for light years to get to Him. He hears you as
you speak, for He is present at all times, even though He is at the right hand
of the Father in heaven. Heaven is never more than a thought away. The distance
to heaven is not measured in miles or light years, but in degrees of awareness.
Stephen was filled with the Spirit, and granted the ability to be aware of
heavens nearness. Many saints, on their death beds, have this same awareness.
They see Jesus, or some loved one who has gone on before them. They hear
heavenly music and see light that is unearthly. All of this is easy to
understand when we see that heaven is near in another dimension. God can pull
the curtain open at any time and let us see that dimension.
This explains how we can be surrounded with a great cloud of
witnesses, and how the saints in heaven can know what is happening on earth. If
God grants them the awareness, they can see anything in time, just as those in
time can see anything in heaven. Jesus said the rich man in hell could see
Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. A great gulf was fixed so there was no
crossing, but he could see heaven from hell, because God opened the curtain.
Stephen saw heaven from earth, and so no matter where you are in the universe,
you can see heaven if God opens up that dimension, which is everywhere.
A place in space is either near or far to any other place in
space, but a place in non‑space is capable of being both near or far,
depending upon the state of mind of the one relating to that place. The saved
are ever near heaven, but the lost are ever far from it. But, if they repent
and trust in Jesus as Savior, they can be near heaven without having traveled
an inch. Heaven is as near as our relationship to the King of heaven.
When Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus on the Mt. of
Transfiguration, they did no have to travel through billions of miles of space
to get there. They were watching the life of Jesus as it transpired, from their
place in heaven. They knew what was going on in his life, and that he was
heading for the cross, because they were in the presence of God, which is the
perfect place to see all that is going on in the dimension of time. The
disciples did not understand what Jesus was facing, but they did, and they were
able to comfort Jesus. Jesus knew he was being watched from another dimension
and this was a positive motivation to keep on the track he knew was the will of
his Father.
A lot of things make
sense when we see heaven is another dimension. For example, the new heaven and
the new earth. The new heaven does not mean God is going to scrap His perfect
dwelling. This is a reference to the atmospheric and astronomical heaven. The
whole material universe is stained by sin and is incompatible with God's
perfection. It has to be made new so that it can be incorporated into the third
heaven of God's presence.
The ultimate goal of Christ is to redeem the entire creation
of God, which means the earth, and the other two heavens. Paul says in Eph.1:9, "For He has made
known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His
purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to
unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth." Jesus is, Himself, the perfect uniting of
the earthly and heavenly. He is flesh
and spirit‑‑God and man.
Heaven in it's final state will literally be everywhere, for everywhere
will be incorporated into heaven. The
solar system, the milky way, and all the astronomical heaven will be a part of
the eternal home of the saints. That black hole in the North, and every other
part of God's creation will be a part of the eternal heaven.
It makes a difference how you phrase your question. If you
ask, where is heaven? The answer is, in another dimension. But if you ask,
where will heaven be? The answer is everywhere, for all that is will be a part
of heaven, with Jesus as the Lord of all. The only part of reality that will be
left out will be hell. That will be in another dimension separated from heaven.
The value of seeing that heaven is in another dimension that
is even near, is that it helps us set our affections on things above. They are
not light years away, but as near as breathing. Heaven is not long distance,
but only a prayer away. Flying in a space ship for years will not get you any
closer to heaven, but doing God's will on earth as it is in heaven will get you
closer by the minute. There is heaven on earth to some degree, as we live in
fellowship with the Lord of heaven. One day, this earth will be a part of
heaven.Anthony Hoekema, from the reformed tradition writes, "From Rev.21:3
we learn that the dwelling place of God will no longer be away from the earth
but on the earth. Since where God dwells, there heaven is, we conclude that in
the life to come heaven and earth will no longer be separated, as they are now,
but will be merged. Believers will therefore continue to be in heaven as they
continue to live on the new earth." Some see the earth as the wedding
present of Christ to His Bride, the Church. He won it back from the control of
Satan, and He gives it to those who lost it. The meek will inherit the earth,
and they will reign on earth with Christ. Heaven will be right here.
Since, however, it is just in another dimension, it is already
right here. Imagine a totally deaf person who has been deaf from birth. They do not comprehend sound. It is all around them, but they never
experience it. It is foreign to their
experience and senses. If everyone they
knew was also deaf they would have every reason to doubt that sound
existed. It would be real and ever
present but in a dimension for which they had no sense to detect it. So, we live with heaven all about us, but we
have no sense to detect it, and so we are unaware of it's presence. God gives some a peek into that dimension,
but most must wait until they receive their new bodies, which will have the
senses needed to see the glory of heaven everywhere.
It is considered a self‑evident truth that you can't be
in two places at the same time. But the
Bible says this is not so. The
Christian, by being in Christ, is both in time and in the heavenly realm of
eternity. Paul in Eph.2:6 says,
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly
realm in Christ Jesus." We go to
heaven when we die, because heaven has come to us before we die, in
Christ. Our Head is already in heaven,
and so, in one sense so are we. Jesus
is the essence of heaven. The poet put
it‑‑
Christ is the heart of heaven
It's fullness and it's bliss;
The center of the heavenly throng.
The object of the ransomed's song,
Is Jesus in the midst.
If Christ is in you, and you are in Christ, you have a dual
address, and one of them is heaven.
Where is heaven? It is
everywhere where Christ is, and if He is in your heart, heaven is also
there. Thus, there is more than one
answer to the question, where is heaven?
The primary answer, however, is, it is in another dimension where God
dwells, which is right next to the dimension where we live. Heaven is our
neighbor, and thus, God is ever near. We need to call on Him more often to
sense that we are never far from heaven.
11. THE MUSIC OF HEAVEN based on
Rev 15:1-8
Most of us are not gifted in the realm of music. Many of us feel pathetic in our ability to
sing, and even more so with our ability to produce music. We can easily envy those to whom it comes
easy. Elizabeth Resen, at four could
listen to music in a play at school, and then go home and play it on the
piano. A classmate asked her how she
did it, and she said , "I hear it in my ear then I hum it in my
mouth. And then I play it with my
fingers." If only it were that
easy for all of us.
The good news is, we
have every reason to believe that all of God's people will be so gifted
in their new bodies in the eternal kingdom.
God is a great lover of music, and He will want nothing but the best for
all eternity. Everyone is expected to
sing His praises, and so we can expect to be given unique abilities to do
so. The fact that the Bible reveals there
is so much singing in heaven implies that all who are there will be able to sing
well. The book of Revelation has a host
of happy hymns of harmony as part of the heavenly scene. Poems of praise are part of paradise. Joyful songs of jubilation to Jesus, and
songs of salvation to the Savior are a major part of this book. It tells us about the adoration that is
always an activity around the presence of the Almighty.
It makes sense that there will be a lot of singing in
heaven. If there is plenty on earth, how
much greater will be our desire to praise God, when all His promises are
fulfilled, and we are enjoying the fullness of our salvation? It is also logical, because song is the best
way known to unite a large number of people in a common activity. Hundreds and even thousands can join in one
accord, as they sing the praises of the Lord.
Singing is something a number of people can do together, and produce
what is beautiful sound to the glory of God.
The interesting thing about the particular song in heaven, we
are focusing on in Rev.15 is, it is both old and new. It is both the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. The song of the Lamb was fairly new, but the
song of Moses was well over 1200 years old when John wrote. We see ads all the time for records and
tapes of songs that were popular in the 50's and 60's. They bring back memories, and people buy
them by the thousands to relive the good old days.
Now we see John is telling us, they do the same thing in
heaven. The great victory of the Exodus
was the birth of Israel as a nation, and that event produced the first great
song of Israel. It became like a
national anthem. John said the dead in
Christ go on singing that song of Moses, for it is a song of celebration, just
like the song of the Lamb, which is the celebration of the ultimate Exodus‑‑the
Exodus of Jesus, as the Lamb of God, out of bondage to the flesh, out of
bondage to matter, out of bondage to sin, death, and hell‑‑into the
liberty of the Kingdom of God. Jesus
was our Moses, and He led the way, and was the pioneer of our faith, and
enabled us to pass out of the Egypt of our bondage into the promised land of
liberty.
What Moses did for the Old Testament people of God, Jesus has
done for the New Testament people of God.
The result is their songs are the top two on the charts of heaven, and
they always will be, for all other songs are based on these two. The Old Testament saints sing the song of
the Lamb too, for their exodus out of Egypt would have meant nothing if Jesus
had not led the way out of death. On
the other hand, the New Testament saints sing the song of Moses, for if he
would not have led God's people out of Egypt to become a unique people, the
plan for a Savior never could have been fulfilled.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament plan of God are
vital parts of the whole, and the songs of heaven prove it. The new will be with us forever. We will sing endless new and enjoyable
tunes, and music will be an endless progression of new songs. But the fact is, the old will never be
obsolete, for the old will always be the foundation for all the new. The old songs of Moses and the Lamb will be
enjoyed one hundred billion years from now, and we will appreciate them all the
more, because we will have enjoyed so much more of what their salvation
means. Don't waste your time trying to
figure out which is best‑‑the old or the new. They are both best, for they are both vital
to the whole. The song of Moses and the
song of the Lamb‑‑cease to sing either and you rob the other of
it's fullness of joy.
There is a major lesson for life here on the music of
heaven. There is no conflict between
the classical and the contemporary. There
is wisdom in heaven, for they see the validity and the value of both. Christians should appreciate the heritage of
their old hymns, and yet enjoy the endless possibilities of new songs, by which
to praise their Lord. God is always the
same, and so whatever was valid once, will always be valid. But God is also infinite, and so there is no
end to what can be discovered, and so the new is always valid also. The wise Christian will learn from the
heavenly singers to preserve the old, and pursue the new.
C. S. Lewis says this is the only way to grow. It is not growth to abandon the old for the
new. That is merely change, not
growth. Growth is like a tree adding
rings. It is not growth for a train to
leave one station behind and puff on to the next. That is change but not growth.
Growth is when you add the new to the old. He loved fairy tales as a youth, and later in life he learned to
love novels. But he still loved fairy
tales, and so that was growth. Had he
lost his love for fairy tales, that would have been change only, and not growth. Growth is a process of loving the old and
the new. Growth is what we see in the
music of heaven. They sing the song of
Moses, and the song of the Lamb.
A music program that is Biblical, will be just what Paul urges
that it be, in Eph.5:19, where he writes, "Speak to one another with
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing
and make music in your heart to the Lord." Again, he writes in Col.3:16, " Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you
sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to
God." The three Greek words Paul
uses for singing are salmos, hymnos, and ode.
Ode is a word we do not use much, and it is used only 7 times in the New
Testament. Two of them we just read by
Paul, and the other 5 are in the book of Revelation. Two of these we have right here in our text‑‑the ode
of Moses and ode of the Lamb. How an
ode differs from a psalm, or a hymn, is not easy to say, but what it seems to
mean is this‑‑the ode appears to be more like what we call a
chorus. The odes of Revelation are all
very short, simple, and not repetitious like a hymn. The ode is newer music, like the hymn, which are in contrast to
the age old psalms, but the ode is less formal than the hymn, and thus, more
like a chorus. The point is, singing
that is Biblically balanced will be a combination of all three. This gives us the old and the new, the formal
and informal, the solemn and the joyful.
All the emotions are to be touched by songs.
The one area where churches have been weak, is in the area of
the ode, or chorus. They have become
popular in recent years, and this is more in conformity to the music of
heaven. None of the songs in the book
of Revelation are called psalms or hymns.
They are all called odes. If
these short little enthusiastic praises are good enough for heaven, then we are
being spiritually snobbish if we feel they are not good enough for our
worship. I have to admit, psalms and
hymns seem more dignified for a worship service, but this is because I have
been conditioned by tradition. The
music of heaven, however, has made me realize worship has other perspectives. It can be worshipful to laugh and clap, and
be informal in our praise. Mac Davis
sang, I Believe In Music, years ago, and the second stanza says,
Music is love, love is music if
you know what I mean.
People who believe in music are
the happiest people I ever seen.
So clap your hands, stomp your
feet, shake your tambourine,
Lift your
voices to the sky. God