A
little girl was talking to her teacher about whales and saying that she hoped
she would never be swallowed by one. The teacher said it was OK because it is
physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it is
a very large mammal its throat is very small. The little girl said “Yes, but
Jonah was swallowed by a whale.” A little irritated now, the teacher insisted
that it is just physically impossible for a whale to do that. The little girl
said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.” The teacher asked, “What if
Jonah went to hell?” The little girl replied, “Then you ask
him.”
We’ll
come to hell next week. Perhaps I should rephrase that. We’ll cover the subject
of hell next Sunday. But today our theme is heaven.
Some
people might object to a sermon series on the last things. Never mind all this
pie in the sky when you die. What about changing the world now? But Jesus said
quite a bit about heaven and quite a bit about hell too and no one has been
more feet-on-the-ground than him in world history.
I’m
sure CS Lewis had it right when he said this: “If you read history you find
that the Christians who did most for the present world were
precisely those who thought most of the next.” I agree with that.
Revelation
21 is a magnificent visual description of the age to come, in eternity, when we
will be with the Lord forever.
It’s
a vision of heaven coming down to touch earth; God and his creation at one with
each other again, like in Eden.
It’s
a vision full of light; it is bright with glory, for heaven is where Jesus is
and Jesus is the Light of the World.
It’s
a vision pulsating with purity; everything is crystal clear, for heaven is
where Jesus is and Jesus is the Source of Living Water.
It’s
a vision replete with splendour and finery, all that gold and precious stones,
for heaven is where Jesus is and Jesus is the King of kings, crowned with glory
and arrayed in majesty.
It’s
a vision bursting with joy; the joy and excitement of a wedding for heaven is
where Jesus is and Jesus is the bridegroom and we are the bride and the feast
goes on forever.
The
groom and his bride; what an image of Christ and his church. Not an
uncommunicative or henpecked husband, nor or a nagging or unfulfilled wife.
Not
a tired old relationship, going through the motions, with all the excitement
and emotion long gone. Throughout Scripture, the love between Christ and his
people is portrayed in terms of the exhilaration of the wedding and the passion
of youth. It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s wonderful and it endures forever!
What
is heaven? Is it a real place? Jesus said (in our first reading): “I am going
to prepare a place for you.” So in some sense
it is a place. Where is it? Nobody knows. Billy Graham said,
“It doesn’t matter where it is. It is where Jesus is.” That’s good enough for
me.
The
Bible teaches that heaven is a kind of temporary home we live in when our souls
are separated from our bodies at death. Our bodies are just the outer shell
that wears out and decays. When believers die, our personality, our soul,
doesn’t perish with our decaying body but lives on in heaven. Jesus said to the
thief on the cross, “Today [the day you die] you will be with me in paradise.”
Have
you ever wondered what is heaven like? 2 Corinthians 12 talks about a man who
was “caught up to the third heaven.” He didn’t know if it happened physically
or if it was an out of the body experience. But it says this; “he was caught up
to paradise and heard inexpressible things.”
Inexpressible.
We are unable to depict heaven in meaningful terms. It is for us indefinable.
We might as well ask a chimp to give us a lecture on quantum physics. Even if
the monkey understood it, he couldn’t explain it to us. Heaven is indescribable
for us.
There
have been many people who have had near death experiences who claim to have
caught just a glimpse of heaven before returning to full consciousness. They
are incredibly similar to one another. I think it’s interesting that they say
things like, “It was stunning beyond description.” “There was beautiful music
unlike any other I have heard.”
The
evangelist Billy Graham had a grandfather called Ben, who had lost an eye and a
leg in war before he died. His wife outlived him. This is what Billy Graham
says about it: “Just before dying, my grandmother sat up in bed, smiled, saying
‘I see Jesus and he has his hand outstretched to me. And there is Ben and he
has both of his eyes and both of his legs.’”
But
this is just a glimpse - at best. In 1 Corinthians 2 it says, “No eye has seen,
no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who
love him.”
The
surprising truth for many is this; it isn’t so much that we are going up there
to eternally be with God; that’s just a temporary arrangement. The full story,
and what the Revelation reading describes, is that heaven is coming down here
to be with us.
When
Christ comes again, God will fit our souls with new resurrection bodies and we
will physically inhabit a new creation. The Bible speaks of a new city with
streets, rivers, trees, eating and drinking, music... a real physical world.
Some
people laugh at this vision of heaven saying it will be monotonous and boring.
All that joyless playing of harps and endless prayer meetings... no thanks!
But
in The Last Battle from the Chronicles of Narnia there is a
fantastic paragraph which shows how amazing and wonderful heaven will be:
“The
term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the
morning... all their life in this world... had only been the cover
and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great
Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: and in which every
chapter is better than the one before.”
Finally,
how do you get there? The Bible says we can’t get there. We are separated from
God because of our sins, and we have no hope at all of heaven or eternal life.
Imagine
breaking down at night, in the middle of nowhere. You have no idea how to fix
your car. And you have no breakdown cover. How hopeless do you feel?
But
the Bible also says this: God loves us, and he sent Jesus into the world to
save us by dying for us and rising again. And it says “everyone who calls on
the Lord will be saved.”
Did
you now that anyone can join the AA or the RAC any time over
the phone and get immediate breakdown cover? They’ll come and fix the problem
and get you on the road again. You just need to call.
Are
you confident in your heart that if you were to die tonight you would go to be
with God in heaven? You can be sure, by calling out to God in repentance and
faith, trusting him alone to save you. You just need to call.
Open
your heart and call out to him, trusting him alone to save you today – and
every day.
Sermon
preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 8th December 2013
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