Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his
peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear
from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning
and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne
said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are
trustworthy and true.” Then he said to
me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end. To the
thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Revelation 21:1-6 (NRSVA)
It is common to talk about the things that we will see
and enjoy in heaven – gold streets, gates of pearl, a river of life, and
so-on. I would like for us to
concentrate on some of the things we will NOT see in heaven…some
noticeably-absent human conditions in heaven:
1. DISTRACTION
Quite a few Bible passages[1]
give us the plain picture that heaven is a place of worship. It is something that we are going to do
eternally. On earth our worship is often
distracted by things and people around us who don’t care to worship.
Frankly, the fact that heaven will be filled with
worship is going to upset some folks who don’t think too much of worship here
on earth!
We should do our best to avoid the distractions of
this life as we prepare to do worship in heaven.
2. DEPRESSION
Heaven is not going to be a place filled with gloom.
You show me
the path of life. In your presence there
is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Ps 16:11 (NRSVA)
I
have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete. John 15:11 (NRSVA)
Our heavenly home is going to be a place filled with
life – alive with beauty and splendor provided by God, himself. Even the walls of heaven, constructed of
precious stones, gates of pearl, with gold-gilded streets and gloried light
sparkling everywhere will make it an impossible place to be gloomy.
An earthly comparison – when we moved to New Orleans
to attend seminary we lived in a mobile home.
It was a good one, but it wasn’t Heaven.
What made me think of Heaven while we were there, far from home, was
Norwood and Barbara Hingle. They were a
Methodist couple that “adopted” this lonely bunch of Brownworth Baptists from
Florida. We were strangers and the
Hingle family loved us, fed us, and played with our children. It was the feeling of being accepted that took
away our depression.
And so it will be in Heaven to a far greater degree; we
are people of joy.
You won’t see Distraction, Depression or…
3. DARKNESS
Heaven is a place of light. A number of passages in Revelation
describe the throne as a place from which the light brightly shines.
Elizabeth and I like our surroundings to be cheerfully
bright. We have it that way at our house
in Thomasville. But not every abode is
cheerful. When I came back from Vietnam
in 1968 we were stationed in Ft. Knox, near Louisville. As a married man I was entitled to live
off-base. As a low-ranking enlisted man
I couldn’t afford much.
We checked out one apartment that two elderly sisters
wanted to rent. It was really one room
in an old rickety house. You shared the
only bath with the sisters. Lighting was
a light bulb that hung by a single wire from the middle of the ceiling. It was held together by masking tape! The floor sloped towards the river. As we looked at that lonely room I saw a
mosquito fly by – he looked like a B-29 looking for a bombing target! The sisters kept their ad in the papers for
the whole time we were stationed there!
It may still be running!
That place was not Kansas, Dorothy…neither was it a
good advertisement for Heaven. The fact
is that God prefers light.
Everything that describes anything apart or different
from God is couched in terms of darkness.
The place outside of heaven is described as the outer darkness. The abyss is a place of darkness. Darkness is the place of stumbling and
falling.
Practice being people of light!
No Distraction, Depression, Darkness, or…
4. DECEPTION
Heaven is a place of truth.
But nothing
unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but
only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:27 (NRSVA)
Outside are
the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and
everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Revelation 22:15 (NRSVA)
Lying is nearly a universally-accepted practice today;
unfortunately this is true even in Christian circles. A little boy in Sunday School was asked to
define lying for the class. He said, “A
lie is an abomination before the Lord…and a very present help in time of
trouble.”
Deception is going to be noticeably-absent in
heaven. For now, it is a strange thing
that the One who called himself the Way, the TRUTH
and the Life, has plenty of followers who think telling the truth, or standing
for truth, no matter how costly, is optional!
Deception is going to be missing in heaven…we ought to
practice the way of truth here!
Finally, besides the absence of Distraction,
Depression, Darkness and Deception, you won’t see any…
5. DEATH
Above all things Heaven is a place of life, because it
is the place of God. According to Paul’s
protégé, Timothy, Jesus Christ abolished death (2 Ti 1:10). The Bible is all about life from Genesis to
Revelation:
Then the angel
showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of
life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the
leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2
(NRSVA)
When this
perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on
immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1
Corinthians 15:54 (NRSVA)
You won’t see death in the eternity of God’s new
heaven and earth. Perhaps my favorite
piece of poetry is from the 16th century by John Donne. The poet personifies death; he speaks to it
as if it had a face – calls it by name:
Death be not proud,
tho’ some have called thee
Mighty
and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou
think’st thou dost overthrow
Die
not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
For one short sleepe
past, and we wake eternally;
And
Death, thou shalt be no more,
Death, thou shalt
die.[2]
Death…you’re gonna die! That’s bold!
We are used to saying things like,
·
Well…we all
die sooner or later
·
All good
things come to an end…
·
You don’t get
out of this world alive…
What can we say about the end of death? Consider the Alpha and Omega. You have probably heard a preacher say those
are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Jesus said that’s his identity. He is the beginning and the ending, first and
last. He also said he gives from the
fountain eternal life.
For the believer in Jesus Christ, the beginning of
life with him is the same as the ending…and the middle. It is life, life, life – all the way!
Now, the other part hardly needs to be said; but here
it is:
For the unbeliever, the one who has never trusted in
Christ, the stairway stops at the foot of the cross. In order to enter into God’s forgiveness, you
must come via that cross. It is only the
blood of Christ that cleanses us from sin.
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