"Heaven, Or?"

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"Heaven, Or?"

Tuesday, 30 November 2010 13:27

November 28, 2010

“HEAVEN, OR?”

John 14:1-3

by Pastor Ole Lillestolen

Of all of the things I am thankful for these days, one serves as a foundational source of peace and happiness, no matter what the circumstances, and this that I’m thankful for is this promise from our Lord Jesus Christ that He is right now preparing a place for me, and for every one of us who believe in Him; a place where we can spend eternity in His presence. I’m not in a rush to get there because God has given me many things to do or to enjoy here too. But, it makes me feel a definite sense of peace and calm knowing that there is something really worth looking forward to ahead!

The tendrils of death were lurking in the room as Jesus and His disciples shared in the last supper. Jesus was talking about His coming death and the talk was unsettling for the disciples, just as the thought of death is naturally unsettling for us. Because the topic of death is unsettling for us we don’t spend too much time thinking about it, especially when things are going well for us. Yet the reality of death lurks around us and every time it’s tendrils come close Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled!” Why? Because, He said, “I’m preparing a place for you beyond death!”

Do you ever wonder what that place is going to be like? You know, Jesus didn’t exactly do a slouch job on preparing this world for us today! Especially when we listen to Scripture and turn our lives over to Jesus Christ, this is an awesome place to be and to enjoy! There’s a lot to look forward to in this amazing world during this life. But the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that, “eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that god has prepared for those who love him.” This life will end, and it has for many whom we have loved. But, Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled, . . . I go to prepare a place for you!”

Notice, however, what Jesus says between these two phrases, and what He does not say between them. Jesus tells us that when we struggle in our hearts over the questions about eternity, the way to peace and calmness in our hearts is, as He says, “Believe in God, believe also in Me.” What He does not say is: “Believe in yourself!”

We have been studying different world religions in our Sunday School class and there are many different concepts of what eternity is like out there. Some religions tend to think of eternity as a time to somehow pay for your sins until you can be absorbed into a form of oblivion. The Judeo/Christian tradition, which includes Islam, looks forward to a place of eternal paradise, heaven. But what I want to look at right now is the question of what it takes to get there. Do I achieve heaven, or do I receive heaven as a gift?

Do you ever go window shopping where you kind of drool over things that you will never be able to buy? Can you imagine what those kids who live down in the garbage dumps of places like Guatemala think as they scavenge for food and other necessities in the garbage? They see boxes with beautiful pictures of what came inside of them. They see fancy, but broken toys and electronic gizmos, as well as torn and tattered once fancy clothes? It isn’t much fun to just window shop if you can’t afford to buy! For a lot of people, looking at heaven is kind of like that because they never feel like they will ever be good enough to be let in!

Oh, that may not be a problem for most Americans who figure that they are so good that God will have to let them into heaven when they die. But, most people in the world recognize that if they have to be good enough, heaven becomes pretty ‘iffy’!

Here’s what one Muslim wrote on a blog when asked about heaven. He wrote: “Nobody can actually say wether they are going to "Heaven" or "hell" for sure, because it all depends on the deeds that we have accomplished in this life. When we die we will all be weighed by our deeds. In our grave there will be 2 books held by two angels. Firstly, the one on the right side will be holding the book of "the good deeds" the angel on the left will be holding the book of "the bad deeds". Just like in this life as we speak, right now, there are two angels recording every single little thing that we do. If it's good or bad the angels will record it. Hence, on judgement day, your fate and your deeds in this life decides wether you are to go to Heaven or Hell. If the book on your right side is heavy, than there is a good chance that Heaven is on the way.”

Now, let’s be honest, at least with ourselves. How many of you here can answer that you have tried your very best to follow God’s commandments and teaching? You talk about being troubled! I can’t tell you how grateful I am that Jesus doesn’t tell me, “Try hard and maybe I’ll let you in!” He tells me that when I am troubled, “Believe in God, believe also in Me!”

Listen again to Jesus’ invitation to us in Matthew 11:28,29. Jesus said: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.” And, of course, Ephesians 2:8,9 tell us that it is, “by grace” that we are saved and not by our own efforts or works to please God or to earn His favor. Jesus is like a coach who invites people who can never make the grade to be on his team. He’s a coach who is willing to work with them and even accomplish great things through them, no matter how bad they mess up, so long as they are willing to play on His team!

The issue is not whether Jesus will kick us off His team, or out of His family. The issue is what does it mean to play on the devil’s team, for time and for eternity. Jesus says in Matthew 25:41 that He will tell those who have played with the Devil, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” The trouble is, while you pretty well have to make a choice to play on Christ’s team, you don’t have to make any choice, to play on Satan’s team. That’s the default team! That’s the team we are on if we don’t choose to leave it and play on Christ’s team! If you can’t honestly say to yourself that you are taking your “play” orders from Jesus, you are most likely getting them from Satan, even if you don’t realize it!

But, when we believe in Christ, team up with Him in what He is doing in this world, make it our commitment to learn about Him, Jesus says to us, “In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Here’s a wonderful thought. Jesus came into our world to die on a cross to atone for our sins. He also comes to us in the Holy Spirit to help us to understand what He has done for us so that we can accept this wonderful gift of eternal salvation. And, He is also in heaven preparing a special place just for each one of us!

Have you kept up with all of the to do about Kate Middleton’s wedding dress for her wedding with British prince William? The buzz on every morning show seems to be on who is going to design this dress and what it will look like. The names of these designers don’t mean anything to me, but they are a big deal to many, and so the to do about who is going to design this dress is big news! But, do you find it awesome that the designer and builder of your place for eternity is Jesus Christ? “I go to prepare a place for you!” I don’t get the sense that He is preparing a generic sort of a place. He says, “A place for you!” I don’t want to get carried away with this, but I am bowled over by the attention Jesus is paying to you and to me!

The place He has prepared for the Devil and those who follow him is simply described as a lake, albeit one that is burning with some kind of fire for eternity. It is a place of nondescript suffering. Revelation 21 describes heaven, on the other hand, as a physical place which is roughly 1500 miles cubed, floating someplace in the vicinity of, but above the earth, so that the earth will actually receive its light from Christ from within this new place, the New Jerusalem.

It would have been fantastic to see the vision John had of this city. There is a lot in the word picture of this vision that I can’t put together, and I don’t imagine that John’s vision literally pictured what the New Jerusalem is going to actually be like, physically. The book of the Revelation is full of vision scenes which are highly symbolic, even as they do convey specific facts for us to know. When it says that the streets will be of pure gold and there are walls of pure Jasper my mind sort of runs into neutral trying to process this information, but I realize that everything in this description is designed to say, this is going to blow your mind! “I go to prepare a place for you!”

In the last verse of our text Jesus tells us, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” What a day that will be!

When my grandpa died, which happened to be on the day I was born, he said that he saw Jesus coming for him. Just before Evie Bjorbekk, a former member of our congregation here, died she saw friends and family and the Lord waiting for her to receive her into eternity. This certainly doesn’t happen for everyone and we don’t know for sure what these experiences are, but the promise of Jesus is true and wonderful. “I will come for you!” He tells us, “Where I am, you may be also!”

How can we be sure this is for us? Jesus says, “Believe in Me!” Are you trusting Jesus today? He doesn’t just say, “Believe that I can save you.” He says, “Believe in Me!” Are you grappling with believing something He is talking to you about in His Word, in the Bible? Let Him be your guide and coach in this life and He will bring you safely with Himself to an eternity in an awesome place which He, the creator of this marvelous universe, is now preparing for us!