Grace For Your Day January 1

What is Heaven like? That is a question that people have wrestled with all throughout history. Books have been written about it. Conferences have been held. An endless amount of sermons have been preached on the subject. So what is the correct answer?

The Bible uses the term “heaven” 3 different ways:

1). The Atmospheric Heaven.
James 5:18 says, “Then Elijah prayed again, and the sky [or heaven] poured rain.”

2). The Celestial Heaven.
Matthew 24:29 says, “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened…and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

3). The Dwelling Place of God.
Acts 7:55 says, “But being full of the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”

I mention that because the last category is the one that interests us the most because it is where God’s throne is. Of all the ways the term “heaven” is used in Scripture, this is the one that captures our attention because it is where He rules and reigns over everything. However, it is a mysterious place because we cannot see it. It is concealed from the naked eye but the Book of Revelation tells us what it looks like. Revelation 21:1-4 says:

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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 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, 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.

A key word here is the word “dwell” because John says that he saw a state of heaven where God will dwell among His people. He will be one with them in a “new heaven and a new earth.” In other words, the Lord will not leave heaven and earth as it currently is but He will recreate them in the future so we can fellowship with Him forever.

In order to do that, He will destroy the present universe because He will destroy the mountains and the rivers. He will destroy the plains and the valleys. He will destroy the oceans and the desert. He will destroy the planets and the sun so that He can give us a home that is untouched by evil. He will provide for us a place to live that is unstained by any form of sin whatsoever which is what we are going to talk about this week at Grace Fellowship Church.

This Sunday, we are going to finish our series on the Book of Revelation by talking about “The New Heavens and The New Earth.” So far, we have talked about John’s first vision of Heaven (Revelation 4), the future revival of Israel (Revelation 7), the marriage of the lamb (Revelation 19), the return of Christ (Revelation 19), and the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20) but now we are going to bring it to a close by looking at what will happen in the final pages of the Bible. God will obliterate everything so He can start over again with a planet that is perfect the way He originally intended.

The Book of Genesis says that, after He created everything, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31) which means that this planet was originally good. Everything was the way God wanted it to be but sin destroyed it all. As soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed, it ruined everything but Revelation 21-22 tells us that the Lord will not leave it that way. He will bring everything back to its original glory and more.

Please join us as we talk about that together over the weekend. The service will begin at 9:30 on Sunday morning and the sermon will be recorded and placed on our You Tube Channel afterwards for all those who cannot make it in person.

- Jeremy Cagle