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Grace Notes Sermon Ministry:
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Heaven
I Kings
“Behold, the heaven and
heaven of heavens cannot contain thee...”
—I Kings
“…And hear thou in heaven
thy dwelling place...”-I Kings
There are
three
different heavens
discussed in the Bible, First, there is
the atmosphere
just above the earth…air, clouds, etc.
Second, there is
the stellar
heaven containing the stars and planets.
Finally, we have what the Bible calls “the
third heaven.”
The third Heaven is where God’s throne is located.
It is the place called
Where is Heaven?
How do you get there?
What is it like?
Well, we don’t know all the answers, but we know that Heaven is
always referred to as “up.” We
know there’s no stairway leading there.
We can only imagine some of the answers…we should take some time and
just imagine…but the Bible tells us quite a bit as well:
There are
windows in
Heaven. The windows are always
spoken of as being open to pour out things from God.
Sometimes blessings are poured out (see Mal.
Concerning the door in
Heaven, John tells of his experience in Revelation.
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must
be hereafter” (Rev. 4:1).
The first thing he saw was
a throne.
This is God’s throne. He
was sitting on His throne. It
looked like a jasper, sardine
stone, or an emerald. It is
hard for the finite mind to grasp infinite things.
We cannot imagine the beauty and radiance of God.
A diamond is like dirt compared to God.
The psalmist cried out,
“The Lord is in his holy temple, the
Lord’s throne is in
heaven...” (Ps. 11:4). Behind
the throne was a
sparkling rainbow.
The twenty-four elders, clothed with glistening, white garments and
pure gold crowns on their heads, were seated upon the twenty-four seats.
Thunder and lightnings were proceeding out from the throne and voices
could be heard. There were
seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne.
The Tree of Life was there.
This same tree was in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve.
After the fall of man, an angel was posted at the gate with a
revolving sword, to keep them away from this tree lest they should eat of it
and live forever in their fallen state.
On this tree grew twelve different kinds of fruit each month.
The leaves were for the healing of the nations.
The beautiful
As John continued to look,
he saw twelve gates
of pearl; three on the north, three on the south, three on the east
and three on the west. Twelve
angels stood at these twelve gates.
But Jesus
will be what makes it heaven for me!
Part of what will make it heaven is what won’t be there…
There will be no tears, no
death, [death is a comma to the Christian, not a period.] no sorrow, no
crying, no pain, no night, no more curse, no hunger, no thirst, no bills, or
hundreds of other things that have plagued us here.
The great host of angels, or messengers, will be busy serving God and
carrying out every desire. When
Jesus was born in
Stephen had been
privileged to look on this scene, too.
As he was dying, after being stoned, he spoke of seeing Jesus
standing on the right hand of God.
Before he could tell much of what he saw, God called him Home.
Paul the apostle got a
glimpse of this on the
Enoch and Elijah were
taken up into Heaven. They saw
the scene, but never returned to explain about it.
Moses got a little glimpse of God, and his face shone with
brilliance.
It is certainly going to
be an amazing thing to go there and see for ourselves.
We are told, “For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Cor. 5:1).
God looks down from Heaven
and sees. He also hears, as do
others there. “The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand, and seek God” (Ps. 14:2).
We are reminded, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and
will heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14).
IN Hebrews 12:1, we are
cautioned, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight . . . .”
The writer could be indicating that there are great multitudes of
spectators in Heaven watching us in this life.
They are called a “great cloud of witnesses.”
We can try to imagine
these things, and artists can attempt to do justice, but…
I 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.
We can only imagine!
Heaven will involve:
The first thing on the
schedule, after getting there, is the judgment seat.
Paul explains in II Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of
Heaven is a place of
records. The Lamb’s Book of
Life is there, and other record books at the judgment seat and at the great
white throne judgment. God has
a great recording system to preserve every idle word, thought
or deed.
The sounds of earth broadcasts can be heard in space, and scientists
are working on a machine now that will use radioactive material to bring
voices out of rocks and trees, that were recorded there hundreds of years
ago by sound wave impressions.
And we can be sure that God has things recorded.
We are told to rejoice
because of this. “But rather
rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke
You can die in cancer and
go to heaven...you can die in liver trouble and go to heaven, or die from or
die in pancreas trouble as my g’father did...you can die in kidney trouble
like some have and go to heaven..you can die in sugar diabetes, poverty,
loneliness, rags, poor house…you can die in a car accident and still go to
heaven. But you can’t die in sin and go to heaven.
John tells us in Rev.
20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire”.
There's 2 places with no
hope. One is hell, all hope is
lost there. The other is
heaven...there's no need for hope there!
Christ is my inheritance,
and heaven is the safe deposit box where all my inheritance is kept!
Heaven is a place of
rewards. Jesus, speaking in the
Sermon on the Mount, said in Matt.
The devil is the opposite
of God in every way. Satan
gives us the best first and saves the worst for last.
God saves the best for last!
There will be much eternal
joy in Heaven. The greatest joy
that comes to Heaven is because of souls coming to
David remarked when his
baby died, “ . . .I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Sam.
But let everyone remember.
. .the prepared place is for a prepared people.
A man may go to Heaven . .
.
. . .without health. .
.without wealth
. . .without fame. .
.without name
. . .without learning. .
.without earnings
. . .without culture
. . .without beauty
. . .without friends
. . .without a thousand
other things;
but he cannot go to Heaven
without
Why not make sure right
now?
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