A Place Called Heaven
A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN
I was thinking this week about heaven and how wonderful it is going to be. The older we get, the more people that we know, go there. Now I am talking of course to the born again Christian, not to the church goers, or those that do good works, or give a lot of money. But for the redeemed of God, there is a very literal place called heaven. I have read in books where “theologians” believe that heaven is a very real place, but hell is a place in someone’s mind where people will just be lonely for all eternity; creating their own hell. Can I say that is wishful thinking from someone who is going there when they die, unless they receive Christ as their Savior? There is a song that kids and adults alike love to sing that goes like this:
Heaven is a wonderful place
Filled with glory and grace
I want to see my Savior’s face
Heaven is a wonderful place
What a wonderful song. But the problem is, for many, it is merely a song. It either doesn’t apply to them or it is only empty words. If you and I really believed it, we wouldn’t be able to help but smile. I have seen Christians with such scowls on their faces that God is going to have to do surgery before they can enter heaven’s gate. Can I tell you on the authority of God’s word (KJV) that heaven is a beautiful, happy, and exciting place?
There’s another song that I love that goes like this:
I have heard and read about heaven
It’s the place I long to see
In the Bible we’re told of its beauty
My Lord’s preparing a place for me
Heaven, can you imagine
All the peace and tranquility
No more heartache, nor care,
No more burdens to bear
It will last through all eternity
So today I want to make a feeble attempt to talk about heaven. And no matter what you or I can say, it won’t be enough. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
God said that if you create the most beautiful place in your mind. If you had the money of all the world to design it with, it would be like a pallet city compared to what heaven will be like.
Heaven will be a place of great scenery. It tells us in John 14:Let not your heart be troubled. ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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.
If you go to Hollywood, they have tours that you have to pay for, and they bring you to see all these beautiful mansions owned by millionaires and billionaires. At Christmas these places are lit up, with all kinds of decorations. We enjoy going through the neighborhoods to see all the lights Many magazines picturize and publicize lands with beautiful landscape; and there is nothing wrong with that. They are literal places with beautiful scenery. And heaven is a literal place, with beautiful scenery built by God. God tells us that He built every one of us a mansion. He even describes this 1500 Square mile city in Revelations 21.
Now God created the earth and its beauty, the stars and planets, and galaxies, in just six short days. What do you think our mansion looks like after 2000 years of building? I can imagine if He had a room that needed to be redesigned He would just add another room instead of remodeling. Just like people drive to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or even Prairieville, one day every born again believer will go to a place called heaven.
How beautiful heaven must be
Sweet home of the happy and free
Fair haven of rest for the weary
How beautiful heaven must be
I said that heaven is a place of scenery, next heaven is a place of new change.
Many beautiful things will be present in heaven, but many things will be absent. There will be no cemeteries, cancer wards, funeral homes, deafness, persecution, beer, adultery, taxes, crime, recession, poverty, ghettos, sin, deformities, cigarettes, hospitals, wheelchairs, nursing home, retirement homes, pornography, blindness, locks, abortions, drugs, sickness, death, insects,(we gonna look at the mosquitoes and say, see you around sucker) immodesty, discos, rock music, bars, country music or rap, movie houses, rock concerts, graffiti, error, fighting, war, communism, homosexuality, inflation, calories, (you know what a calorie is don’t you? That is a bug that lives in your closet and makes all your clothes shrink) guilt, snakes, and praise the Lord, there won’t be any wasps there either. There won’t be any fast food restaurants, or Walmart. Most of you just decided that you don’t want to go; didn’t you?
It will be a place of new bodies. In order for us to enjoy heaven, which is new; God is providing us with new bodies, that He calls glorified bodies. These new bodies will be without baldness, (the older I get the more my hair recedes. One day, if God puts off His return, my hairline will be in the back of my head.) tears, weariness, fake teeth, (I won’t have to worry about that, I just have no teeth) There will be no deformities. Each will surely be in the prime of life (probably 33 years of age). That is how old Jesus was when He was murdered. Our new body will be a spiritual, powerful, Christ-like body of glory that resembles our present body (except for the flaws). 1 John 3:2 says: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
There will be many people in Heaven. In addition to God's created beings (cherubim, angels, seraphim) all the saints through the ages will be there! Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Joshua, Noah, John the Baptist, Peter, Phillip, Paul, Charles Spurgeon, David Livingstone, D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and I will be there too - but most importantly of all, Jesus will be there!
I've heard of a land that is wondrously fair;
They say that its splendor is far beyond compare.
In that place that's called "heaven," my soul longs to be;
For where Jesus is, it will be heaven for me.
Heaven for me, heaven for me
Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me.
All its beauty and wonders I'm longing to see:
But Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me.
We will get to see Him face to face. There will be Christians from all around the world. Aborted and miscarried babies will be there. Children who died before the age of knowing right and wrong, as well as others without the capacity to understand will be there. If you don’t like crowds, then you are going to hate heaven. Not really, that will be changed.
Heaven will be a place of activity. Will Heaven be a quiet, reverent place? No! When we get to heaven we are not going to hear “God is in His holy temple. AMEN!!” It will be a noisy place.
The angel choir will be singing, (but they will have to get quiet when we sing redemption's story, for they don’t understand that.) There will be preaching, Bible classes. The talking and shouting will cause great excitement. You ever been somewhere when it was supposed to be quiet? Come to our singing sometimes. People are suppose to be quiet during our prayer request and prayer time. One couple whispers to each other, then another, so the first couple has to talk louder to be heard. Suddenly it is so loud, you can’t hear yourself think. The four creatures will stand around the throne for eternity saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. It will take all eternity for God to teach us what it took for Him to send His Son to earth. He will teach us His Word. It is an eternal book, and it will take all eternity to learn its truth. And the shame of that is, for some it will be the first time they ever read it. The Bible says in Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. There are literally millions of people around the world that would “die” for a page of the Bible and you have several of them and won’t read them, or listen to them on CD. Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us. Maybe the saints are helping in the construction of the New Jerusalem right now. Because when we get there, we will have work to do.
Now I know I didn’t do heaven justice today but just maybe it will encourage each one of us as we live our lives until Jesus comes again.
I was thinking this week about heaven and how wonderful it is going to be. The older we get, the more people that we know, go there. Now I am talking of course to the born again Christian, not to the church goers, or those that do good works, or give a lot of money. But for the redeemed of God, there is a very literal place called heaven. I have read in books where “theologians” believe that heaven is a very real place, but hell is a place in someone’s mind where people will just be lonely for all eternity; creating their own hell. Can I say that is wishful thinking from someone who is going there when they die, unless they receive Christ as their Savior? There is a song that kids and adults alike love to sing that goes like this:
Heaven is a wonderful place
Filled with glory and grace
I want to see my Savior’s face
Heaven is a wonderful place
What a wonderful song. But the problem is, for many, it is merely a song. It either doesn’t apply to them or it is only empty words. If you and I really believed it, we wouldn’t be able to help but smile. I have seen Christians with such scowls on their faces that God is going to have to do surgery before they can enter heaven’s gate. Can I tell you on the authority of God’s word (KJV) that heaven is a beautiful, happy, and exciting place?
There’s another song that I love that goes like this:
I have heard and read about heaven
It’s the place I long to see
In the Bible we’re told of its beauty
My Lord’s preparing a place for me
Heaven, can you imagine
All the peace and tranquility
No more heartache, nor care,
No more burdens to bear
It will last through all eternity
So today I want to make a feeble attempt to talk about heaven. And no matter what you or I can say, it won’t be enough. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
God said that if you create the most beautiful place in your mind. If you had the money of all the world to design it with, it would be like a pallet city compared to what heaven will be like.
Heaven will be a place of great scenery. It tells us in John 14:Let not your heart be troubled. ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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.
If you go to Hollywood, they have tours that you have to pay for, and they bring you to see all these beautiful mansions owned by millionaires and billionaires. At Christmas these places are lit up, with all kinds of decorations. We enjoy going through the neighborhoods to see all the lights Many magazines picturize and publicize lands with beautiful landscape; and there is nothing wrong with that. They are literal places with beautiful scenery. And heaven is a literal place, with beautiful scenery built by God. God tells us that He built every one of us a mansion. He even describes this 1500 Square mile city in Revelations 21.
Now God created the earth and its beauty, the stars and planets, and galaxies, in just six short days. What do you think our mansion looks like after 2000 years of building? I can imagine if He had a room that needed to be redesigned He would just add another room instead of remodeling. Just like people drive to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or even Prairieville, one day every born again believer will go to a place called heaven.
How beautiful heaven must be
Sweet home of the happy and free
Fair haven of rest for the weary
How beautiful heaven must be
I said that heaven is a place of scenery, next heaven is a place of new change.
Many beautiful things will be present in heaven, but many things will be absent. There will be no cemeteries, cancer wards, funeral homes, deafness, persecution, beer, adultery, taxes, crime, recession, poverty, ghettos, sin, deformities, cigarettes, hospitals, wheelchairs, nursing home, retirement homes, pornography, blindness, locks, abortions, drugs, sickness, death, insects,(we gonna look at the mosquitoes and say, see you around sucker) immodesty, discos, rock music, bars, country music or rap, movie houses, rock concerts, graffiti, error, fighting, war, communism, homosexuality, inflation, calories, (you know what a calorie is don’t you? That is a bug that lives in your closet and makes all your clothes shrink) guilt, snakes, and praise the Lord, there won’t be any wasps there either. There won’t be any fast food restaurants, or Walmart. Most of you just decided that you don’t want to go; didn’t you?
It will be a place of new bodies. In order for us to enjoy heaven, which is new; God is providing us with new bodies, that He calls glorified bodies. These new bodies will be without baldness, (the older I get the more my hair recedes. One day, if God puts off His return, my hairline will be in the back of my head.) tears, weariness, fake teeth, (I won’t have to worry about that, I just have no teeth) There will be no deformities. Each will surely be in the prime of life (probably 33 years of age). That is how old Jesus was when He was murdered. Our new body will be a spiritual, powerful, Christ-like body of glory that resembles our present body (except for the flaws). 1 John 3:2 says: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
There will be many people in Heaven. In addition to God's created beings (cherubim, angels, seraphim) all the saints through the ages will be there! Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Joshua, Noah, John the Baptist, Peter, Phillip, Paul, Charles Spurgeon, David Livingstone, D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and I will be there too - but most importantly of all, Jesus will be there!
I've heard of a land that is wondrously fair;
They say that its splendor is far beyond compare.
In that place that's called "heaven," my soul longs to be;
For where Jesus is, it will be heaven for me.
Heaven for me, heaven for me
Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me.
All its beauty and wonders I'm longing to see:
But Jesus will be what makes it heaven for me.
We will get to see Him face to face. There will be Christians from all around the world. Aborted and miscarried babies will be there. Children who died before the age of knowing right and wrong, as well as others without the capacity to understand will be there. If you don’t like crowds, then you are going to hate heaven. Not really, that will be changed.
Heaven will be a place of activity. Will Heaven be a quiet, reverent place? No! When we get to heaven we are not going to hear “God is in His holy temple. AMEN!!” It will be a noisy place.
The angel choir will be singing, (but they will have to get quiet when we sing redemption's story, for they don’t understand that.) There will be preaching, Bible classes. The talking and shouting will cause great excitement. You ever been somewhere when it was supposed to be quiet? Come to our singing sometimes. People are suppose to be quiet during our prayer request and prayer time. One couple whispers to each other, then another, so the first couple has to talk louder to be heard. Suddenly it is so loud, you can’t hear yourself think. The four creatures will stand around the throne for eternity saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. It will take all eternity for God to teach us what it took for Him to send His Son to earth. He will teach us His Word. It is an eternal book, and it will take all eternity to learn its truth. And the shame of that is, for some it will be the first time they ever read it. The Bible says in Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. There are literally millions of people around the world that would “die” for a page of the Bible and you have several of them and won’t read them, or listen to them on CD. Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us. Maybe the saints are helping in the construction of the New Jerusalem right now. Because when we get there, we will have work to do.
Now I know I didn’t do heaven justice today but just maybe it will encourage each one of us as we live our lives until Jesus comes again.