It is the confession of every Christian that one day we will dwell in the presence
of God. Forgiveness granted through Jesus Christ, heaven is now our homeland.
The Author to the Hebrews makes this confession in 4:9; "So there remains a
Sabbath rest for the people of God."
The hymn writer set this confession to song;
I'm but a stranger here, Heaven is my home;
Earth is a desert drear, Heaven is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand Round me on every hand;
Heaven is my fatherland, Heaven is my home.
The Early Church has given us this confession in the Creeds of the Church.
Apostles Creed ". . . And the life everlasting. Amen.
Nicene Creed ". . . And in the life of the world to come. Amen.
Athanasian Creed " . . . And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting;"
Question: "What will heaven be like? What kind of relationships will we have in heaven?"
I. What does the Bible say about Heaven?
Isaiah 65:17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
Isaiah 66:22 "For just as the new heavens and the new earth Which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure.
2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. {2}And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. {3}And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, {4}and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
Hebrews 1:10-12 And, "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; {11}THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT, {12}AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END."
The eternal resting place for believers is called Paradise. The picture in Scripture is a return to the Garden of Eden where God and all creation dwell in harmony.
Isaiah 11:6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.
Isaiah 65:25 "The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the LORD.
Ezekiel 34:25-26 "I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. {26}"I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing.
Hosea 2:18 "In that day I will also make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, The birds of the sky And the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, And will make them lie down in safety.
II. What type of relationships will we have in Heaven?
A. We will have a perfect relationship with God! -- We will see God!
Galatians 3:26- 4:7 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. {27}For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. {28}There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. {29}And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. 4:1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, {2}but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. {3}So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. {4}But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, {5}so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. {6}Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" {7}Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Revelation 19:7-9 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." {8}It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. {9}Then he said^ to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' " And he said^ to me, "These are true words of God."
Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
Job 19:26-27 "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!
Psalms 17:15 As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.
Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
Revelation 22:4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
B. We will know former relationships from our life on this earth.
Matthew 22:30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Mark 12:25 "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Luke 20:35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
These passages speak of the same event.
Please note;
A) Jesus is questioned concerning the resurrection in order to trick Him.
B) Jesus says we will be like angels not that we will be angels.
What are the qualities of angels?
1) They cannot die. Thus, we are freed from death forever.
2) They are not bound by time and space as we are now. Thus, like Jesus following His resurrection, we will not be bound by physical limitations.
C) Jesus does not say we will not know each other, but that there is not marriage in heaven. Just as the angels know one another and all of us, so also we will know each other.
Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-8; The transfiguration of Jesus is a good example. Moses and Elijah died 1000 year before Jesus came to earth as a man yet Peter, James, and John knew who they were.
III. We will have the Divine Image Restored to us.
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
IV. We are delivered from Evil.
2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
Romans 7:20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. . . . Romans 7:24-8:1 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? {25}Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
Luke 22:30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
1 Corinthians 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Revelation 2:7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'
V. We will have joy and pleasure beyond measure.
Psalms 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psalms 126:5-6 Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. {6}He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalms 36:8 They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.
Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Matthew 25:23 "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
Revelation 3:12 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
Worship will be one aspect of the joy present among God's people.
Revelation 5:8-9 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. {9}And they sang^ a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Revelation 15:2-3 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. {3}And they sang^ the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
VI. God's people will be at Rest.
Job 17:1-3 "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. {2}"Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation. {3}"Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor?
Isaiah 32:18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;
Acts 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
Hebrews 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Revelation 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.
Rest does not mean Idleness.
God "rested" on the seventh day but He was not Idle.
Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Psalms 121:4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.
John 5:17 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."
God's people have work to do while in this world.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God's people will not be idle in eternity.
Revelation 5:12-13 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." {13}And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."
Revelation 7:9-12 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; {10}and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." {11}And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, {12}saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Revelation 7:15 "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
Revelation 22:3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
VII. In eternity God's people will be glorified.
Matthew 13:43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
1 Corinthians 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
2 Timothy 4:8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Revelation 2:10 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Conclusion
Heaven described as a wonderful place created by God as the eternal dwelling place of His people.
Heaven is a place where all sin and its consequences are absent.
Heaven is a place where God and His people dwell in harmony together.
Heaven is a place where God's glory is bestowed upon His people.