The Dream Fulfilled
03/25/2007 - Is Heaven Beyond Our Imagination?
What do you think about when you think about heaven? What comes to mind? For a long time I thought about clouds and sky, halos and harps, angels with wings and a never ending church service, which I wouldn't mind as much now, but when I was a squirmy little kid, sitting in church forever didn't sound much like heaven to me. It certainly didn't get me excited to go there.
I think for a long time I had a cartoon version of heaven not unlike the old Far Side comic by Gary Larson. Remember him? Well he had a cartoon that showed a man with angel wings and a halo sitting on a cloud, doing absolutely nothing, with no one else in sight. He looked like a person marooned on a desert island, bored out of his mind. And the caption below read, "I wish I'd brought a magazine."
I've been in conversations or over heard conversations where people say, "I'm not sure I want to go to heaven. Heaven's going to be boring. Why would I want to go there? It's not going to be any fun. There's not going to be anything to do. Now hell, that's a different story. That's where the action is. That's where the party's going to be. That sounds like a lot more fun to me!" Ever have conversations like that? Ever think that?
Kind of like the lyrics of the Billy Joel song Only the Good Die Young where he writes, "They say there's a heaven for those who will wait. Some say its better but I say it ain't. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun. Only the good die young."
In his book called Heaven, Randy Alcorn describes a conversation he had with pastor about heaven. And the pastor got real honest with him and said, "Whenever I think about heaven it makes me depressed. I'd rather just cease to exist when I die. I can't stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp … it's all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn't sound much better than hell. I'd rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that." Ouch!
Another woman he spoke with confessed, "I've been a Christian since I was five and I'm married to a youth pastor. When I was seven, a teacher at my Christian school told me that when I got to heaven, I wouldn't know anyone or anything from earth. I was terrified of dying. I was never told any different by anyone …. It's been really hard for me to advance in my faith because of this fear of heaven and eternal life."
In his book The Journey of Desire John Eldredge writes, "Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service … We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? That's it? That's the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more 'spiritual.' We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can."
Is that the image that God wants us to have of heaven and his coming kingdom? Is that what we're looking forward to? I don't think so. At least that's not the image that Jesus painted about the future. Will worship be a part of it? Absolutely. And it will be glorious. But there will be plenty of other things to explore that will occupy our eternity as well.
This morning we continue the series that we began last week called The Dream Fulfilled: Glimpses of the Kingdom. And the question I want to address today is the title of this teaching, "Is Heaven Beyond Our Imagination?"
And I think the honest answer to that question is both "yes and no." There are certainly aspects of the next life that "we can only imagine" like the song says. There is a great mystery to it and God has lots of surprise in store I'm sure.
During his lifetime, the apostle Paul had a very unique experience. In his second letter to the Corinthian church he describes a visit to heaven. He's not sure if he actually went there physically or only through a vision. He says, "God only knows." But what he saw and heard and experienced was inexpressible he says.
In The Message version of 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 sounds like this, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it. Only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise - again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard.
Paul is that man he describes here and what he encountered was unspeakable, he says. Ecstasy. Paradise. Heaven. Certainly not boring. So, of course, there are aspects of heaven and the future kingdom of God that words cannot describe.
But that same apostle Paul also says there are images of the future that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us because God wants to excite us about the future. He puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, "No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it, what God has arranged for those who love him." But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
So is heaven beyond our imagination? Certainly some of it is, perhaps much of it is, but not all of it. God has chosen to reveal to us, by his Holy Spirit, images of heaven that are intended to bring joy and comfort, hope and courage, focus and meaning to our lives. The 19th century British theologian J. D. Ryle once said, "I pity the person who never thinks about heaven."
But the evil one doesn't want us to think about things to come. He wants us to believe that this life is all there is. And I believe that he's behind much of the confusion that people have when it comes to the next life. He would love us to think that if there is a heaven at all it's a boring place where no one wants to be. Hell on the other hand is where the action is. That's where the good times roll. But don't believe it. Jesus exposed him for what he is, a liar. In John 8:44 he says of the devil, When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
You see in God's grand story the evil one was once a privileged member of the heavenly realm. Before he was Satan, which means Adversary, he was Lucifer, the morning star, the son of the dawn, the highest created being. Next to God, he was number two. But number two wasn't good enough for Lucifer and so he rebelled against God and was cast out of the heavenly realm. And ever since he's been God's arch enemy and an adversary of all God's people. If you want to get angry with the way the world is today, he's the one to blame. He's behind the curse.
This week we were praying in the office and at one point I just felt overcome by the effects of the curse in our world. We were praying about the endless war in Iraq and the horrible genocide in Darfur and the suffering that goes on around the world. We were praying for people that we knew who are going through difficult health struggles and marital problems and for some who are facing the tragedy of the unexpected death of loved ones.
I had been with my mother the night before and was reminded of the loneliness she feels since my dad died two years ago and some of the health problems she's facing as she grows older and it all made me long for the kingdom and for God to put an end to the curse once and for all. This world is broken and needs to be fixed. And God is going to fix it, but the evil one doesn't want us to believe that.
In Revelation 13:6 we read that, He (that is Satan) opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. The evil one hates God and God's people and God's place. He would love to rob us of the hope of heaven. He hates the idea that he didn't win and that God didn't give up his dream to one day live among his people. Like a deposed dictator hates the new nation and new government that replaces his, so Satan hates the new heaven and the new earth that God has in store for those who love him.
While we were in Africa we spent a week in Liberia as you know. Liberia is a country that has been ravaged by war. In 1989, a civil war broke out that lasted until 1994. And after a brief period of peace a second civil war erupted in 1997 and lasted until 2003. Over 200,000 people died and more than a million were forced to flee from their homes. Liberia was devastated and is still a mess today with no electricity or running water. The infrastructure is gone. The economy is in shambles. And education is just for the privileged few.
The war ended when the dictator who was responsible for the carnage was forced into exile and fled to the country of Nigeria with the parting words, "I will be back!" He was given asylum there until he was captured last year trying to flee to Cameron another West African nation. He was arrested and handed over to the UN where he's now awaiting an international trial for crimes against humanity at The Hague in the Netherlands. He hates what's going on in Liberia now.
In 2005, for the first time in almost twenty years free elections were held and a brilliant woman named Ellen-Johnson Sirleaf was elected president, the first woman to be named president of any African nation. And the people like her. She's a good woman and a good leader, a Liberian who graduated from Harvard University as an economist and hopes to stabilize the country. She's cleaning up the government, rebuilding the infrastructure, and working hard to convince the World Bank to cancel Liberia's $3.5 billion debt For the first time in two decades Liberians have hope. And the deposed dictator hates it.
Satan, the evil one, is like that deposed dictator. He's been defeated, his trial occurred at the cross, and now he's awaiting sentencing. But until that time comes he is out to slander God's name and God's people and God's dwelling place. He wants to rob us of our joy and of the hope of heaven.
Jesus used wonderful images to describe heaven. He talked about a garden, a place called paradise, he talked about cities and kingdoms, buildings and homes, banquets and feasts. He talked about things that are familiar to us, which makes sense especially when we understand that one day heaven is coming to this earth. It will be a physical, tangible place for us to enjoy, a resurrected universe inhabited by resurrected people.
One of Jesus' favorite images for heaven was the image of a wedding. We talked about it last week. It was the analogy he used in John 14 to comfort his dazed disciples. Jesus loved weddings. To this day Jewish weddings are often extravagant affairs. In Jesus' day couples didn't go away on honeymoons. Instead, their families hosted non-stop parties that often lasted for as long as a week. Friends and relatives would come to see the new room that was built on the father's house and spend lots of time singing and dancing, feasting and laughing together. It was the best week of a couple's life. They were treated like kings and queens.
Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding, a miracle that kept the party going even longer. He turned water into wine, not a little bit of wine, but a lot of wine, the Bible says as much as 180 gallons of wine. As someone said, "That's more than cake and punch on a Saturday afternoon." Folks, the real party is not in hell. The real party is in heaven. It's in the kingdom that God is preparing for his people. So make your reservations now. We've all been invited. We just need to rsvp.
Jesus uses the analogy of a Jewish wedding to create an urgency in us to be ready for his coming kingdom. It's found in Matthew 25 and I'd like to read it to you and make a few observations before we close.
Turn to Matthew 25:1-13 , At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6At midnight the cry rang out: "Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" 7Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out." 9"No," they replied, "there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves" 10But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11Later the others also came. "Sir! Sir!" they said. "Open the door for us!" 12But he replied, "I tell you the truth, I don't know you." 13Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
I guess you can tell this is not a parable on sharing! "Give me some of that oil. No, go get your own!" This is a parable on urgency. Last week, I mentioned that in the Jewish culture of Jesus' day after a man was betrothed or engaged to a woman the man would return to his father's house and build a room onto that house where he would one day live with his future bride. Often that period lasted as much as a year, by the time they got township approval and building permits! And while the man worked on the place they would one day call home, his future bride was learning how to run a household, gathering her bridesmaids, and preparing herself for the wedding. But, here's the kicker, neither of them knew the wedding date. They didn't know when the wedding would be held because that decision was not up to them.
The groom's father made that decision and it was based on the condition of the room. So he would inspect his son's work and when he was satisfied that the room was ready then he would tell his son, "Now you can go get your bride." So the groom would assemble his friends and together they would go to his fiancé's house to get his bride. They would go at night and someone would go ahead of the groom to signal his coming with a shout. And when the bride and her bridesmaids heard the shout they woke up, got their lamps, and followed the groom back to his father's house in a torch light procession. It was beautiful.
Now in the story Jesus says there were wise and foolish bridesmaids. The wise ones were ready and prepared for the arrival of the groom. They had oil for their lamps. But the foolish ones didn't. They were running on empty. They weren't ready. And apparently in that culture you were not allowed to join the night time processional without a lamp that was lit.
And so while the foolish virgins hustled off to get oil they missed everything. The bridegroom arrived, the procession took place, the wedding happened, and the festivities began. And when they finally arrived at the father's house the door was shut and they were refused entry. And so Jesus says, "Watch out! Be ready, because you don't know the day or the hour when you will meet the groom."
I don't understand all the symbolism that's going on here. But I do know that you don't want miss the wedding. The kingdom of heaven will be a time of unspeakable joy and laughter, dancing and feasting. And it would be a tragedy to miss it. The proposal is on the table. The groom is preparing a place and could return at anytime. But as Jesus said, "I don't even know when that day will be. Only my father in heaven knows and when he says the word I'll be back to get you." And that promise is still on the table. His return could come at anytime. Are you ready? Have you said yes to the proposal from the lover of your soul?
In Colossians 3:1-4 the apostle Paul says something very interesting, mysterious even. He says, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
We've all probably heard the phrase that someone is "so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good." And usually we know what that means when we hear that. And that may be true for some people, but I don't think that's the real danger. I think the real danger is to be so earthly minded that we're no heavenly good. Yet these glimpses of the kingdom can keep that from happening to us.
I love what C. S. Lewis wrote in his classic book Mere Christianity when he said, "If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men and women who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in.' Aim at earth and you will get neither."