April 25, 1999

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Sermon: Views of Heaven

By

Eldridge E. Fleming, Ph.D.

New Hope Presbyterian Church

Biggersville (Rienzi, Mississippi)

Scriptures

Our reading today from the Book of Acts 2:42ff is a continuation from where we were last week.

Our next reading comes from 1 Peter 2:19-25.

The gospel reading for the morning comes from John 10:1-10 -- and if you are able and would like, would you please stand with me as we hear the gospel. Jesus is speaking.

The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Sermon

Now lest you think that the typist of today=s bulletin has made a mistake, I want to explain that is not the case. What happened is the minister decided to change sermon titles and topics and scripture, and that which is in your bulletin we will save for another time. The Anatomy of a Spirit Filled Church based on Acts 4:2-47, a sermon based on writings of Joseph Byrd of Jackson Road Church of God in Monroe, Michigan, and if you will be patient with me, we will get around to it one of these days. But this morning I am going to deal with another issue.

One of our fine teenagers asked a question that I want to answer. She asked me to talk on the subject of heaven. This morning I will be speaking about "Views of Heaven." I want to do so in a scholarly fashion, and I think it makes it so when we have points and questions and we answer them. I have four questions and one statement;

First of all, I want to deal with AWhat is heaven?@ In essence, we'll look at some definitions of heaven, and this is necessary for us if we are to know what we=re really talking about. You can=t talk about something you don=t know about any more than you can come back from where you haven=t been.

The second question is, AWhere is heaven?@ The answer to this may depend on our definition of heaven, but we need to visit this so as to clarify and better understand our subject.

The third question is, AHow do we get to heaven?@ and this is based, then, on the assumption that you want to go to heaven. Like the little boy who was sitting in church and the minister, in a fiery sermon, was saying, AHow many of you want to go to heaven?@ Everyone raised his hand except the little boy and the guy next to him poked him and asked, ADon=t you want to go to heaven?@ And the little boy said, AYes, but I don=t want to go today.@

The fourth question, AWhen do we go to heaven?@ is probably the promoter of more discussion than anything else.

And then in the fifth place, I want to state some things we know about heaven and what things we do know about heaven that are scriptural and for sure.

If we=re going to talk about heaven we=re going to have to begin where the references begin, and the first reference to heaven or the heavens in the scripture is in the very first verse of the bible: in Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now that description is going to fill out as we go along. But look down in the next part of that verse: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

Look at the words that are included in that. God created the heavens and the earth, but then he talks about this creation, he talks about the earth being without form and void, as though it was nothingness. Can you think for a moment about all that we see -- all the molecules and everything about us -- disconnected? The molecules are still there, they=re just disconnected, they=re not together, we=re not together, we=re disconnected, without form and void. Think about that. Hold that image. Everything is there. The molecules -- everything -- is there to put it together, but there is no form and there is darkness. There is no sun, no moon, no stars. It=s dark! But the Spirit of God is moving over that mass, and God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

Do you know what foxfire is? You may be walking through the woods at night and all of a sudden, there=s light? You don=t know where it=s coming from, but there it is. If you take a flashlight and shine it on that light, it looks like a piece of wood; but without that flashlight, it gives off light. God says, Let there be light, so there was diffused light all over the place, though it was still dark all over the place as well. God saw that light is good, so he separated the light from the darkness and the light he called the day and the darkness, he called night. It took God a day to get that done.

Then He said, Let there a firmament in the midst of the waters. There were all these molecules, all of them out into the void of space, all of this darkness, now light was penetrating the darkness, and God saw that it looked like a watery mass, and wanted to separate the waters from the waters. Is this a riddle? It=s all water. So God said, ALet=s separate it and we=re going to stick this in between it and separate the waters.@ And God called the firmament heaven. Heaven. And that took him two days.

Then He said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And then there was all of this water, all-over water, firmament in between, separation in between, water still. He separated the water, let it go off one way, let the dry land come up, and that which drained off as water would be called sea. So the rivers and the oceans and the seas and the dry land separate.

You have this picture? There=s water up above, there=s water underneath, here=s the earth in between, and now we=ve got the water separated off the earth so that the dry land is showing, and we have the sea. God=s plan was to have the land produce vegetation, let the plants yield fruit, and so on and so forth -- and that was good. And this was the third day.

God keeps on doing things. Let there be light in the firmament of the heavens. Water=s up there, earth=s down here, now we want light under here, so the stars and things that light were placed there. So there was light from stars, the night separated from the day, and they were for signs and seasons and for days and years and so on, and they were lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. And God made two great lights -- a big one and one that wasn=t so big. And that big one would come every day, it would light up every day; the little one would come at different seasons, so we had the sun and the moon and the stars, and it took Him four days.

And then He talked about creating others things.

What if, in that creation, we have God working with this image? Waters above, earth flat, level, sitting on pillars that are down in the water below -- that=s the vision of the earth. That=s how God created it, and all of this that was up above, these are the heavens.

Now you and I would not hold to that theory of the earth today, for that view of heaven and earth has changed. When we walk outside, we still talk about the heavens. Look at the heavens. The heavens are declaring the handiwork of God. That=s the purpose of the heavens. We see it and we give praise to God for having done all of that, but our understanding of how far it is to Aup there@ is quite different today. We don=t think of the earth as flat any more. It is not sitting on pillars that go down into the deep waters beneath, even though the plates of the earth may be analogous in some sense and the hotness of the middle of the earth may be analogous to the images that some of us still have of hell. But our vision of out and up is different than it used to be.

However, when we look at the understanding of the bible, we see what I=ve described to you before; and heaven is up there. But God is not limited with His heaven, God is not limited with earth at all, for God=s throne is in the heavens above and sometimes there are references to the heavens above the heaven, and God is out there somewhere, way above it all.

Now as we go looking through the scripture for references for heaven, we find a lot of references. There are over five hundred references to heaven in the bible. And you can look at all of those references, but the large majority of the references to heaven or to the heavens is just what I=ve just described: the looking at that which is up above us, that=s heaven.

Over in the New Testament, we begin to see something different. We have reference here to the heavens that is like you and I refer to it sometimes.

We all remember what Matthew 16 is about: it=s about Jesus and his disciples going up to Caesurae Philipi. And in that chapter, the verses that really stick in your mind include 15, 16, and 17. When Jesus asked of them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Thou are the Christ, the son of the Living God. It=s Peter=s confession. When Jesus was doing a check on the publicity, that=s what Peter had to say. Read on down in that discussion, in the nineteenth verse, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Jesus uses references to heaven. He speaks of heaven in that way.

He also speaks about a judgment that is to come. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, he talks about: When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And so on. The image Jesus is using here is that the Son of man is going to come in the heavens.

In other references, look at Luke 12:33 and you=ll see that he talks about the Son of man coming on the clouds, a reference that Jesus himself is using to show how he is going to return. Now the purpose of the return is for the bringing in of the kingdom of God totally and completely and the end of the present age. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. Jesus wanted his disciples to be understanding that they could lay up for themselves treasures in heaven, and when he comes in that great judgment, what is going to happen? Well, hopefully they will all have laid up those many treasures in heaven, as Jesus wanted them to do, as he wanted them to think about.

Then when we look in Romans, we begin to get a little different point of view. In Luke Jesus refers to heaven and he talks about his Father in heaven, talks about going up to heaven. No one has gone up to heaven, except, he said, the one who came from heaven. You can ascend only if you=d descended already before. So consequently Jesus is making clear to his disciples that the only one who would go to the Father is the one who came from the Father -- referring to himself.

Then in Romans, in chapter one and verse eighteen, we begin to see what Paul has to say. Paul=s interpretations are worked out theologically and a little bit differently from what Jesus does with his, but Paul is trying to get what Jesus said and what his disciples have reported to fit with what the Jewish theology was in the day. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. Paul is talking about the wrath of God that is coming from heaven. There is the image of the Son of man coming on the clouds, coming to receive and to judge, and the image of God=s sending wrath upon the earth for those who are ungodly.

Now move a little farther with me, move over to 2 Corinthians, the fifth chapter beginning at the top. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Did you get that? For we know that if the earthly tent we live in, (this is the tent that I=m living in on earth and if this tent is going to be destroyed -- this house that=s my dwelling -- is destroyed) we have a building from God, a house that=s not made by hands, it is eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan and long to put on our heavenly dwelling.

Old Man River! Remember that song? Tired of working, struggling, scared of dying? Kind of how we are. We long for the day of rest, we long to put on our heavenly dwelling so that by putting it on we may not be found naked; for while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety and that anxiety is provoked by fear. We are fearful, we are uncertain, we don=t know what=s going to happen next. Not that we would be unclothed, we don=t want to be unclothed, that=s not our desire, that=s not our anxiety, but that we would be further clothed -- even clothed better than we are now -- so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. This mortality, Paul says, is another place for us to put on immortality and this which is perishable to put on the imperishable. He who is preparing us for this very thing, who has prepared us for this thing of putting on that immortal body, is God. He has given us the Spirit as a guarantee -- think about it, He has prepared us for this very thing -- and the one who has prepared us is God. He has given us the spirit as a guarantee. We=ll come back to that in a moment, but I want you to latch on to the idea that the spirit of God is working in you as your guarantee of that tent immortal, of that life beyond this life.

Then in the twelfth chapter of 2 Corinthians, the first and second verses, Paul is writing and he=s been holding things in. He=s gotten to the point where he just can=t hold it any longer, he=s just bursting open with it. I must boast, he said, there is nothing to be gained by it and I know I=m going to lose ground by boasting, but I must. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. (Paul is on a roll and he is not going to stop, he has to keep it going.) I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up by the Lord, or caught up to the third heaven. Now whether this is in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up in this paradise. Two things are synonymously applied: caught up to the third heaven and caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told which man may not utter, and on behalf of this man he will boast, but on his own behalf he will not boast, except of his weaknesses. He talked about heaven as paradise.

Look over at the Book of Revelation, if you would, the fourth chapter, first verse. Now this one who is writing the revelation was caught up into heaven. After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door. Remember the image I gave you of their understanding in that day and age: the flatness of the earth, the heaven above, and the windows of heaven open to let rain fall from the waters above and the stars were underneath? He looked in heaven and there was a door open, and there was someone who said, Come on up. I heard one saying to me like a trumpet, >Come up hither and I will show you what must take place after this.=

What happened at the baptism of Jesus? Those who watched said, The heavens were opened and the spirit descended in the form of a dove and it descended upon him. So in Revelation there is the image of heaven opening and this is the open door into heaven. The revealer was caught up into the heavens, and then he wrote what he did for our edification.

If you would, look for a last reference in Revelation, the twenty-first chapter. Here we find that famous, famous passage, the one that we all enjoy so much: 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 on and on he goes.

Earlier I raised some questions:

What is heaven?

In the Old Testament, we see heaven as a place above the earth. That is one definition. But there is another definition: Heaven is a place where people go, where God is. That is another definition. The definition that seems to stick in my mind more than any other, and fits with more things than any other, is the definition that heaven is where God is. Heaven is where God is.

Is it a place or is it a condition?

Now I know that boys who are dating and so forth think that heaven would be to have the best looking girl in the class in his arms at night; but that=s a different kind of thought. I=m talking just about heaven. What is heaven? That would be a place, definitely. But there is a condition. Is it physical or spiritual? God is spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. So God is spirit. God does not need the molecules to be formed into objects. God is everywhere, we said. So God is spirit, and if heaven is where God is, heaven is a spiritual place it seems to me.

So where is heaven?

Heaven is where God is. In our knowledge of the universe we know a lot of things about what is going on around us in the physical forms. Someone reminded us the other day that if we could move at the speed of light -- which I understand we can not do -- but if we could move at the speed of light, time would stand still. God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever; and heaven is with God and it is endless. With God is seems things move at the speed of light or faster.

If heaven is where God is, how do you get there?

Jesus said, in the passage that we read from John, I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out to find pasture. Metaphorical? Perhaps. But it gives us the picture, doesn=t it? If we are to be with God, we are to be one who has gone in by the door, for Jesus said that thieves and robbers try to go in otherwise. But they can=t. And in John 14:6, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.

So what do you need to get in?

It seems to me that you have to have faith, but that faith is because you=ve decided to search for something. You have responded to something. Faith is that which we do on trust. So if you decide you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and you follow through by trusting in God, then some things happen to you. You take action, but God does something in response. God sends His Spirit. That part of God, that Holy Spirit invades you and changes you and lights you up and makes you alive; and then you react to that by saying, AYes, Lord, where do you want me to be? And what do you want me to be?@ Jesus said, Only those who come by me are the ones who can get in, and I know there are a lot of other things that we need to deal with later, like the people who never hear.

When do we go to heaven?

The scriptures help us some because they point us in the right direction. Jesus talked about it. But in 1 Thessalonians, we have a different passage. It is the passage we use so much at funerals, where the apostle Paul is trying to get all of the information out -- he did not want us to be ignorant about this -- he said, But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep. Paul was having to deal with the Thessalonian church who had believed that Christ was coming back, coming on those clouds -- he was coming back before they died -- they had believed and now some of their elderly members, even some of the younger members, were dying and they were concerned. Paul said, I do not want to have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Who were asleep in Jesus. Which means that He cradled them in His arms. Jesus, who said on the cross, Today you will be with me in paradise. Paradise is a lively place, it is the place where Jesus is with God today.

There are other things that we will be able to talk about later on -- about the judgment which plugs into this -- there are so many issues here that I need to deal with, but the time is all gone. But let me suffice it to say that there is to be a resurrection of the dead and that raises issues about cremation, and how you bury people, and where, and all of those things. I would just hold you with this idea to remember that God is the one who puts the molecules together to make form and it does not matter where the molecules are, either, when the resurrection comes. He puts them together.

In the meanwhile, let us be happy in the Lord knowing that with the Spirit in our hearts, we shall be with Him in paradise. Heaven is a spiritual place, it is the place where God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit reside and work out of, it is prepared for those who depend on God for life, who are followers of Jesus, those whose names are written in the Book of Life. The old portrait of streets of gold and all that is an image, and we cannot say what heaven is exactly like. We cannot detail its features.

Who has a chance to go to Heaven?

But the fifth thing is very, very important and it is this: Everyone has a chance to go to heaven. Amen.

(Scripture References are to the RSV unless otherwise indicated.)