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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.