[Many people, when considering the reality of heaven are drawn
to books written by people who claim to have been there; life after death
experiences and testimonies. In
reading such accounts we hear about the tunnel leading to a light and then a
sense of bliss. Some of these accounts
quote the Bible and seem to support those things written in the Bible.
Many of these accounts seem to contradict the Bible.
But how do we know for sure that these people, regardless of who they
are, really had an out of body experience?
When people read these accounts they are often enamored by testimony of
the account, but how do we really know if what they experienced was truly real?
Could it be that they, in the lack of oxygen to their brain, just
imagined the whole thing?]
[Actually there is no real way to test and trust the accounts
of these people. Are they sincere
in their witness? Surly they are.
But sincerity can often be misunderstood and misinterpreted.
What people need is a witness that is trustworthy and substantiated.
They need a witnessed that they know they can trust.]
[The only such witness
available to mankind is that of the Bible.
Why is the Bible a witness that can be trusted?
Because the Bible has proven itself trustworthy in its content and record
through time and events. The things
that the Bible records have been substantiated by multitudes of extra biblical
witnesses. For instance,]
-
[There is eyewitness Support for the
Bible. The things recorded in
the Bible are not the testimony of one or two men who had some kind of
vision. The biblical record is the
compilation of the testimony of eyewitnesses in the presence of other
eyewitnesses. The Bible reads,]
[1 John 1:1-3
1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the Word of life; 2 (For the life
was manifested, and we have seen it,
and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the
Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3
That which we have seen
and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us: and truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. ]
[2 Peter 1:16
16
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses of
his majesty.]
[Hence, the biblical penmen, in many cases, wrote those things
that they had heard and seen in the presence of other eyewitnesses.
These multitudes of other eyewitnesses substantiated the testimony they
declared. But there are some who
still question the reliability of these eyewitnesses, especially after the
expanse of time that has passed since their death.
But their witness, while powerful, is not the only substantive support
for the Bible.]
-
[There is Archeological Support for
the Bible. The existence of Kind David had been denied by many
historical authorities for many generations, because no archeological
evidence supported the existence of King David until a few decades ago.
Not too long ago a stella was found that irrefutably established the
historical reality of King David. A
stella is an inscribed stone found in an archeological dig.[1]
Hence, this discovery irrefutably supports the historical facts
contained in the Bible. There are
multitudes of such archeological and historical support for the Bible and
those things it records.]
[In comparison,
not too long ago I read an article that examined whether or not there was any
Archaeological support for the events recorded in the
Book of Mormon.
In this article
Mike Licona
addressed professors in the Archeology department at
Brigham
Young
University
(A Mormon Owned University) and they testified that there is no archeological
evidence to support the claims of the
Book of Mormon.[2]]
[But the eyewitness accounts and archeological record are not
the only supports available for the Bible.]
-
[There is Historical Support for the
Bible. The empirical historical
record, or the history books of ages gone by, substantiates the historical
record recorded in the text of the Bible.
It seems with each passing day, as ancient historical records are
discovered and evaluated that there is an amazing correlation between the
Biblical record and other historical records.
Even the supernatural events of the Bible, the most well known being
that of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, finds mention and some
form of support in multiple extra biblical historical records.]
[All of this is pointed out in order to reveal that there is a
Historically Supported, Archeologically Strengthened written record that flows
from multiple Eyewitnesses who were supported by other eyewitnesses that reveals
much about heaven and eternity to come.
This record and its support are only found in the Bible.]
[We can trust the testimony of the Bible because its testimony
concerning other things has proven trustworthy and substantiated.]
[Your Choices About
Eternity To Come – You can listen to, and place your trust in,
someone one who has no better chance of being right about their spiritual
insights and thoughts concerning eternity than any other human being.
Or, you can place your trust
in the testimony of a supernatural revelation that is supported by multiple
eyewitness accounts, numerous ancient historical records, and multitudes of
archeological evidence. The fact of
the proven reliability of the Biblical record concerning those things that can
be measured lends strength and support to those things it records that we cannot
measure.]
[As for me, and many of my Christian friends we choose the
Bible. How about you?]
So
what does the Bible teach about Heaven?
A.
The Fact
Of Heaven (vs 26-27; 2 Pet 3.9)
[– And as touching the dead,
that they rise:
have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him,
saying,
I
am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
27
He is not the God of the
dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. –
Is heaven real? In our text the
Sadducees have approached Jesus with a question about the resurrection of the
dead. The Sadducees were like many
in our day, they did not believe in spiritual beings like Angels and Demons,
they did not believe in life after death, they did not believe in a heaven or
hell, they believed that when you die that your life is just over.
You are done. So they had
developed this seemly simple and real life situation and presented as a question
to any one who claimed to believe in an after life.
They supposed that their question was the trump card for any kind of
resurrection or after life. They
did not think that their was any reasonable answer for their question.
But Jesus simply and plainly put their presumption to rest.
Jesus clearly declared that there is an after life and that there is a
place called heaven.]
In the Bible, Jesus
said,
1.
Heaven is a Spiritual Place (John 14.1-3; 2 Cor
5.8) [- John 14:1-3
1
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not
so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you. 3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there
ye may be also. - Heaven is a real physical place.
According to our Lord Jesus Christ He has gone to prepare a place for us.
A place he will take all who are His to at some time in the future.
In the Bible we clearly discover that God refers to heaven as a real
physical place.
Just as:]
·
[Your home is a place.]
·
[A jail is a place.]
·
[Your
city is a place.]
·
[Mount
Moriah is a place]
[Heaven brings a number of scriptural references to
mind. In these references we
discover a spiritual sense for heaven and a physical sense for heaven.
Without a doubt the Bible neatly brings these two senses together to form
our biblical understanding of the eternal place called heaven.]
[While the Bible speaks of the spiritual sense of
Heaven we clearly understand that scripture speaks of this place as a real
place. In our text Jesus spoke of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as being alive and present; but their bodies are dead
and long ago decayed. So how does
this work out in the Bible?]
[There
is the presence of the Lord, yet this is a place]
[2
Corinthians 5:8
.
. . to
be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. ]
[We know that when a person dies their physical body is
left here to corrupt and decay.
Someone might ask, “If their physical body is here on earth then how can they be
physically with the Lord? The Bible
reveals that,]
[1
Corinthians 15:39-44
39
All flesh
is not the same flesh:
but there is one
kind of flesh of men, another
flesh of beasts, another of fishes,
and another of birds. 40
There are also
celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial
is another.
41
There is one glory of the sun,
and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for
one star differeth from
another star in glory.
42 So also
is the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised
in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44
It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there
is a spiritual body. ]
[The Bible often speaks of people in their trichotic
being (trichotomy); having a body, soul,
and spirit. When we die our
life does not just end, we go on into eternity as our soul and spirit is
separated for our body. If you are
a born again Christian then your eternal being goes into the presence of the
Lord, or what we like to refer to as heaven.
If you are lost, not born again, then the Bible reveals that your eternal
being goes immediately into hell or torments.]
[Your transition to heaven or hell is immediate.
There is no delay or comatose state.
When you close your eyes in this mortal life, you open your immortal eyes
in eternity to come.]
[Jesus, when he told the story of Lazarus and the Rich
Man said,]
[Luke
16:22-23
22 And it came to pass,
that the beggar died,
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died,
and was buried; 23 And in hell he
lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom.]
[Your eternal
home, whether heaven or hell, will be yours immediately upon your transition
into your immortal state. When your
mortal body dies, your immortal soul and spirit steps through the door to
eternity and you will step instantaneously into your eternal abode.
For God’s children their abode is the comfort and glory of heaven,
referred to as everlasting life (John 3.16).
For the rebellious their eternal abode will be the torments of Hell,
referred to as the second death (Rev 20.11-15).]
2.
Heaven will be Physical Place (Rev
21.1-7; 20.11-15) - [There
is the Resurrection to come – The Bible reveals that one day there will be a
physical resurrection. The saved or
just will be physically resurrected, for these saints the Bible reveals,]
[Revelation
21:1-7
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea. 2 And I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. 3
And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God. 4 And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former
things are passed away. 5 And
he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said
unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst
of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son. ]
[Glory To God,
Heaven, which is a real spiritual place will one day be a real physical and
immortal place, according to God’s Word.
The saints of all time will one day be given their bodies back, only now
they will be immortal and perfect and they will dwell on the New Heaven and New
Earth in the very presence of God for all eternity to come.]
[For the lost
and undone, there will be a physical resurrection to come as well.
The Bible states,
[Revelation
20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and
there was found no place for them. 12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened, which is
the book of life: and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works. 13 And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death. 15
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire].
[The real
conscious spiritual Heaven will become a real conscious physical Heaven, which
will be a place of eternal contentment and joy.
The real conscious spiritual Hell will become a real conscious physical
Hell, which will be a place of eternal torment, suffering, and shame.]
[Some might
say, “I don’t believe
that preacher, therefore it cannot be!”
I tell you on the authority of the historically, and archeologically, and
supernaturally substantiated Word of God that it is so and your belief or
disbelief changes nothing. Heaven
and Hell are physical real places.
The eternal souls of all mankind from the beginning of time who have died and
left this mortal plane are either in heaven or hell right now as I preach]
[D.L. Moody
said, “My heaven is a solid heaven.
After the resurrection has come, you will have a resurrection foot and
something to tread on; a resurrection eye and colors and substances to see with
it, a resurrection ear and voices and music to regale it, a resurrection heart
and to satisfy it. I have no patience with your transcendental, gelatinous,
gaseous heaven.”]
[Where does God
want you to be? ]
[2 Peter 3:9
9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.]
[How do you step out of Hell and into Heaven?]
[Romans 10:13
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.]
B.
The
Fellowship Of Heaven (vs 26-27) [– Who will be there? –
And as touching the dead, that they rise:
have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him,
saying,
I
am the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living:
ye therefore do greatly err. – I believe it was DL Moody who wrote in his
book on Heaven that the older he got the more his thoughts about Heaven changed
for him. When he was younger his
thoughts about heaven focused on the streets of gold and the jeweled walls.
But now, as he grows older, his thoughts about heaven focus more on those
who have preceded him into that glorious place.]
[In the real physical place called heaven there are hosts of
redeemed individuals. The Bible
reveals,]
1.
The
Multitudes in Heaven (vs 26-27;
Heb 12.1-2, 22-24; Rev 19.1,6) [– There will be multitudes in that glorious
city of Gold.
In the Bible we discover,]
[Hebrews
12:1-2
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with
so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us, 2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of
our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God.]
[The Cloud
of Witnesses - These verses point to the masses who have endured the
Christian life and struggle before us.
We have seen them run the race before for us, they have been our example
for how we ought live out our Christian lives.
These heroes of the faith are already there in that place we call Heaven.
I think of Adrian Rogers, RG Lee, Curtis Hudson, Billy Sunday, and DL
Moody to name just a few. But I
also think of those who were less known by our world but whom I knew Pastor
Thomas Ewing, and Pastor Sutton who personal touched my Christian life.
These and many untold multitudes are already there in that place.
Then there is,]
[Hebrews
12:22-24
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of
angels, 23
To the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than
that of Abel.]
[The General Assembly of the Church –
All who have ever called out to the
Lord Jesus Christ to be their personal Lord and Savior will be in that place
called Heaven. My Grandfather’s and
Grandmother’s are in that glorious place.
I think of a mother and father who stood tragically by the bed side of
their son as he died from a hideous and painful disease, who after their son
exhaled his last mortal breath were assured that their son was immediately in
the presence of our Lord. Why?
Because just weeks earlier they were present when their son accepted the
Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.]
[I am reminded
on the one hand that, ]
[ Matthew 7:14
.
. . narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it. ]
[ But on the
other hand I am reminded of the Apostle John’s words when he wrote,]
[Revelation
19:1
1 And after these things I heard a great
voice
of much people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our
God: ]
[Revelation 19:6 6 And I
heard as it were the voice
of a great multitude,
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying,
Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.]
[In our text Jesus made specific reference to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Men, who in
Jesus’ culture, had been dead for an incredibly long period of time.
Yet, the Lord Jesus Christ, who left His throne in a physical Heaven to
come as our incarnate Savior, openly declared that they were very much alive in
that incredible place.]
[They are there
already and there will be multitudes in that place we call heaven!
What about you, are you one of those who will be there?]
2.
The
Membership of Heaven (Heb 12.23)
[– The next critical question now arises before us.
What must one do to find an entrance into this real place we call Heaven?
How does one get on heaven’s rolls?
Is your name written on heavens rolls?
We earlier read,]
[Hebrews
12:23
23 To the
general assembly and
church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, ]
[The same God
who, in his sovereignty, created all things, and then authoritatively provided a
supported written Word that reveals the truths we need to know about Heaven and
Hell. This same God has also
provided the truth’s you and I need to know for us to find an entrance into this
place called heaven.]
[You must,]
[Admit that you
are a sinner (Rom 3.23)]
[Acknowledge
that you have earned you way to hell (Rom 6.23) – God does not throw anyone
into hell we earn our way into the hell.
God does not want anyone to go to hell.]
[Believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s Cross
for your sins, was dead and buried and the third day physically rose form the
grave (Rom 10.9-10)]
[Accept the
Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior (Rom 10.9-10,13; Rev 3.20)]
[If you will call out to the Lord Jesus Christ, then
the prepared place called Heaven can become your eternal home.]
C.
The Folly
Of Heaven (vs 24,27)
[– What do you think about heaven?]
