Rev. 21:1-22:5
Unfortunately, heaven has met with some bad press so to speak. For there are many who do not understand and who have - over the years - created their own version or picture of what God has prepared. Some see heaven as “sitting on a cloud with a halo over our heads; playing a harp as we float around heaven all day”…
Others have this picture of a never ending church service, where we just stand around the Throne and sing and worship God for eternity. Still others see heaven as some sort of celestial retirement city. We all have our little mansion in a sub-division of the “New Jerusalem” that John talks about in our scripture…My point is this; no matter what our view of what heaven is like, it really all seems so unreal.
I do not claim to know any more than anyone else about what heaven is like, nor can I fully and adequately explain it, because it says “NO mind can conceive what God has prepared!” Even John, as he wrote this scripture for today, struggled to find words that could somehow describe what he was seeing…it was “like a precious jewel”…“the street was like transparent glass” and so on. However, I want to be very clear on this one thing; I do know Heaven is real!
This heaven we will live in for eternity is a real; material; physical world. It’s not a place where we float around like spiritual ghosts without bodies. Heaven is a real place, where we have perfect bodies, in an existence not to unlike the one in which we now live…with some exceptions. Those exceptions are given to us in this scripture;
(1.) There is no more sea. Why do you suppose there will be no more sea? I would hope because there will be need for more land for all the people who will be there! But, there is something else to consider; In the Book of Micah 7:19 it says “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins under foot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea”…to be remembered no more”.
(2.) No more death, crying, or pain. This New heaven is a place where there will be an absence of pain and suffering and sorrow. It is a place of true joy. In this world we come to know some joy in our lives, but it seems always clouded by sickness, pain and death. There we shall know eternal joy.
(3.) This corresponds with the fact that it says “No more curse.” The curse of mankind of course, is death. The earth was also cursed in the fall of Adam in Genesis 3:17 - “Cursed is the ground because of you…through painful toil you will eat from it. It will produce thorns and thistles for you”… So, no death…a perfect Eden once again.
(4.) It also says there will be “No more sun, moon, and no more night.” The sun and the moon are how we relate time. So many hours of sunlight we call “day” and so many hours of darkness we call “night”. The total rotation of the earth we call 24 hours…and so on. In the new heaven there is no time! There is no day or night.
(5.) Along with the “no more’s” it also gives us some “will be’s”…God will be with man…There will be a tree of life…(taken away at the Garden of Eden) There will be a river of life giving water…and there will be a world capital city, the New Jerusalem (which by the way is almost 2/3ds the size of the U.S. (according to the measurements by the angel) And that’s just one city! Is your picture of heaven changing at all? It is a real place.
Well, we’re up to number two – Heaven is right. By that I mean it will be a place of true righteousness. Verse 27 says “Nothing impure will ever enter it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life.” You cannot have the assurance of heaven unless your name is there! No depression; no disappointment; no violence; no crime; everything we detest in this world will be absent in the new heaven. Everything wrong in this world will be made right. Even the animals - Yes, there will be animals - Even the animals will live in peace; “The wolf and the lamb” it says, “will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 65:25) Everything in Heaven will be right.
Number three is that the new heaven will be rewarding. Justice does not always happen in this world. We are not always rewarded for the good we do, nor are the wicked always punished for the bad they do. But, Jesus says; “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done”… Every sacrifice will be remembered. Every good and unselfish deed honored and rewarded.
However, in my mind, all this falls short of the greatest reward of all which is to be in the presence of God. Nothing – and I mean nothing - we see or experience will be more special than to see Jesus face to face! Let me repeat Rev. 21:3 again; “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God”…”He who was seated on the throne said; “I am making everything new!” Then he said; “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true!”
At last, we will be able to say with Peter; “Praise be to God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth…into a living hope…the hope of a new heaven and a new earth… that can never perish, spoil, or fade!” That’s the Christian hope! “And the Spirit and the Bride say “come” Let him who hears say “come” Whoever is thirsty let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life!”
What is your vision of heaven? Do you have the assurance of heaven? You can, if your name is in the Book! If you are not sure , you can get your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life right now! There is no more important decision you will ever make in your life!
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