Download FAQs ABOUT HEAVEN (Pt. 3)

FAQs ABOUT HEAVEN (Pt. 3)
4-13-08
Some friends were having lunch together and waxing philosophical
and the conversation turned to the subject of death
One of the friends asked: “What would you like for people to say about you at your funeral?”
At first there was silence but then one of them said: “I’d like for people to say that I was somebody
who cared about other people.”
Then one of them half joked: “I’d like for them to say: ‘He knew how to have a good time.’’”
That inspired another one and with a wry grin he said: “Do you know what I want them to say
at my funeral? Look he’s moving!”
Thus far in our miniseries on heaven we have considered half a dozen of the most frequently
asked questions about heaven
We’ve asked: What is heaven?
Where is heaven?
How do heaven and earth compare?
Will there be time in heaven?
What will our bodies be like?
And are we looking forward to heaven?
Today I want to attempt to answer three more of the most common questions about heaven
so first
1) Will we remember or see things on earth?
Now again before I attempt to answer this question I should say that it’s hard to be dogmatic about
heaven
since none of us have been there
I can tell you a lot more about Texas since I’ve spent more than 35 years of my life there
But I haven’t been to heaven yet
And while the Bible gives us incredible hints about what it will be like
It does not spell out anything like as much as we’d like to know
But when everything God says tells us that heaven will be more wonderful
than we can begin to fathom that should be more than enough for us
But again question: Will be remember things from this life?
And will we be able to see things in this life?
Well there are several good arguments for and a couple of passages suggesting
that we will be able to remember things from this life
Let’s look at the passages first
As we’ve said before Revelation 6 gives us a glimpse of the life of believers in heaven
Vss. 9-11 say: 9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had
been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10They called out in a
loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and
avenge our blood?" 11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little
longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was
completed.
In context these martyrs in heaven remember that they had been unjustly killed
They call on the Lord to avenge their martyrdom
But the point to note is that they maintain their identity
and they remember what happened to them on earth
In Luke 16 Jesus tells the story of the rich man in hell who in v. 24 sees and
remembers the beggar Lazarus whom he used to pass by every day at the city gate
So he too has a memory of his life on earth
In every appearance of anyone from the afterlife: Jesus, Elijah, Moses, they are recognizeable
These men, the martyrs in Rev. 6, the rich man, Lazarus and Abraham in Lk. 16,
all clearly maintain their original identity
But how is it possible to retain your identity and not your memory?
If we did not remember things from this life we would not be ourselves
Furthermore we will be judged or rewarded for what we did in this life
But how could we be judged or rewarded for things we have no memory of?
Since we will infact be much greater versions of ourselves in heaven
we will actually remember things much better there than we do here
In all probability when we are judged or rewarded God will make crystal clear to us the reasons
For example Jesus says in Matt. 12:36: “Every careless word that men shall speak,
they shall render an account for in the day of judgment.”
(cf. also Matt. 25:44)
So all the evidence is that we will remember things from this life
But will we be able to observe things as they continue on earth?
Well the evidence is not as strong
However the passage in Revelation 6 suggests that we may be able to
If the martyrs in heaven know that God has not yet brought judgment on their persecutors
then that suggests that they have some knowledge of things on earth
Rev. 18 says that when Babylon is brought down there is rejoicing in heaven
Rev. 19 also says that there is rejoicing in heaven when judgment takes place on earth
So again there is at least to some degree knowledge of things on earth
Heb. 12:1 says that we are surrounded by a great clowd of witnesses as we run the race of faith
and many believe the reference there is to believers and angels watching from heaven
Furthermore there are several passages which speak of angels knowing about things on earth
(e.g, 1 Cor. 4:9; 1 Tim. 5:21), and if they do then might not belivers as well?
Now it may not be that they’re watching everything we do and we’re providing entertainment
such as in movies like The Truman Show or EdTV
But it may be that there is at least some knowledge of things on earth
You may remember that I said two weeks ago that many believe that heaven will be an eternal realm,
an eternal present, in which we may be able to somehow observe events
that are both past and future to us in this life
We could also make a case that our friends and loved ones in heaven may be praying on our behalf
Again in Revelation 6 we see those heavenly believers entreating God to bring justice
then as Randy Alcorn suggests:
“If we believe that people in Heaven are aware of events on Earth, and that they talk to God
about His plan, His purpose, and His people, we will naturally assume that they do pray for people on
Earth
(p. 71)
The evidence is strong that we will remember everything from this life
and it also suggests that we will be aware of things that continue to happen on earth
But next question
2. What will our relationships be like in heaven?
Our first question is will we recognize our loved ones?
All that I’ve already said suggests we will
But George MacDonald answered the question bluntly:
“Shall we be greater fools in Paradise than we are here?”
(cited by Herbert Lockyear, Death & The Life Hereafter p. 65)
Why do we sometimes think somehow that we’re going to know less,
that we’re going to as it were lose in heaven? That is exactly the wrong assumption!
That assumes this life is the best life
But everything about heaven will be infinitely better than the best things here
The best things here are just appetizers of the banquet, the feast to come
I thought about showing several different movie clips at this point about joyous reunions
Several very moving scenes come to my mind but all of them again would only give us
a tiny taste of the kind of joyous reunions that await us in heaven
I think of for example the last scene of “Field of Dreams” when Kevin Costner is reunited
with his father
If you remember the story as a young man Costner angrily left home and for years afterward
he had no relationship with his father
But at the end of the movie his dad comes from heaven to play catch with him
His Dad appears as a young man in the prime of his life and the scene unfolds like this
(PLAY CLIP HERE)
There will be more wonderful reunions in heaven than we can begin to fathom
But for those of us in good marriages, there is one nagging question which we struggle with,
That is, will we be married and have sexual relationships in heaven?
The majority opinion has always been no based upon Jesus comments in Matt. 22 and Luke 20
In Matt. 22:30 Jesus says: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage;
they will be like the angels in heaven.”
Let me quickly survey the parallel account of this verse in Luke 20
The passage begins in v. 27:
“That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.
The Sadducees were the liberals of the day
As has often been said, they were sad you see, because they did not believe in an afterlife
And so they came to Jesus with a trick question:
28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no
children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29Now there were seven
brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31and then the third married
her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33Now
then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
In other words they try to trap Jesus into agreeing that an afterlife is absurd because of the Law’s
prescriptions about marrying your husband’s brothers if he should die and leave no male heirs (Dt.
25:5-6)
If there is a such thing as an afterlife then this woman would have seven husbands in the afterlife
34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are
considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be
given in marriage, 36and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. ...
Jesus does not say that there will be no afterlife
Jesus does not say that there will be no memory of loved ones in the afterlife
Jesus does not say that we will not have bodies in the afterlife
or that we will no longer be male or female in the afterlife
Jesus says they, the Sadducees, are wrong
There is an afterlife
Believers will be like the angels in that they will not die but will live forever
And they will be like the angels in that marriage will no longer be necessary
Marriage is for procreation, for partnership and a picture of intimate union with God
Now presumably there will be procreation in heaven
We will in all probability continue to have an intimate relationship with our mate
but we will in effect be married to Jesus
We will be His bride
Randy Alcorn writes: “The one-flesh marital union we know on Earth is a signpost pointing
to our relationship with Christ as our bridgegroom.
Once we reach the destination, the signpost becomes unnecessary.
That one marriage - our marriage to Christ - will be so completely satisfying that even
the most wonderful earthly marriage couldn’t be as fulfilling.
Earthly marriage is a shadow, a copy, an echo of the true and ultimate marriage. ...
At the Lamb’s wedding feast, all the human marriages that pointed to it will have served
their noble purpose and will be assimilated into the one great marriage they
foreshadowed.
‘The purpose of marriage is not to replace Heaven, but prepare us for it.’
Here on earth we long for a perfect marriage.
That’s exactly what we’ll have - a perfect marriage with Christ.
My wife, Nanci, is my best friend and my closest sister in Christ.
Will we become more distant in the new world?
Of course not - we’ll become closer ...
Nothing will take away from the fact that Nanci and I are marriage partners here ...
I fully expect that no one besides God will understand me better on the New Earth,
and there’s nobody whose company I’ll seek and enjoy more than Nanci’s.
The joys of marriage will be far greater because of the character and love of our bridgegroom.”
(pp.336-37)
As great as a great marriage is, no marriage in this life will begin to compare to the relationships
we will have with everyone in heaven and especially our mate and the Lord
Now there are other minority views of marriage and sex that we can consider in Sunday School
but the best evidence is that our relationships will be so much greater in heaven
that marriage as we know it will be obselete
For many of us it’s hard to imagine heaven being heaven without our marriages
but God will apparently replace marriage and sex with even better relationships
[cf. Other perspectives:
Randy Alcorn: “We’ll maintain distinct genders in our resurrection bodies. We’ll be male and
female. But will there be sex in the sense of sexual relationships? If human marriages existed before
the
Fall and were not the product of sin and the Curse; they were perfect in God’s design. ... Given what we
know about the continuity between this life and the next, marriage and sex seem natural carryovers.
However, as we’ve seen Christ made it clear that people in heaven wouldn’t be married to each
other. ...
Because sex was designed to be part of a marriage relationship, marriage and sex logically belong
together. Because we’re told that humans won’t be married to each other, and sex is intended for
marriage, then logically we won’t be engaging in sex.
This appears to be, then, an exception to the principle of continuity. However, since there’s a
different sort of continuity between earthly marriage and the marriage of Christ to his church, there may
also be some way in which the intimacy and pleasure we now know as sex will also be fulfilled in some
higher form. I don’t know what that would be, but I do know that sex was designed by God, and I don’t
expect him to discard it without replacing it with something better. There’s a unique metaphysical power
to sexual union. It’s no coincidence that pagan worship often involved sexual acts. As immoral as they
acts were, they recognized a transcendent spiritual nature to sex. This otherworldliness is again a
signpost - and it suggests that sexual relations in this world foreshadow something greater in the next
world.
Certainly we should reject all christoplatonic assumptions that sex, which God called ‘very good,’
would be unworthy of Heaven. Rather than viewing marriage and sex as bad things somehow to be
replaced by good ones, we should view them as good things somehow transformed or resurrected into
better ones.
If we won’t have sex in Heaven and if in Heaven there’s no frustration of desire, then it appears
we won’t desire sex. This isn’t because we won’t have physical desires, of course - we’ll desire food and
water. But what we will desire - and always enjoy - is the relational intimacy that was the best part of
sex.
We may discover, as we look back, that sex prefigured what it means to be lost in intimacy with Christ. ...
Our romance with Christ will far exceed any earthly romance. ...
We’ll have greater intimacy with Jesus than we ever had in the best earthly marriages.” (338-39)
Sam Storms: “Remember that sexual passion per se is not sinful or evil. Before the Fall Adam
and Eve experienced sexual passion in its highest and purest form.
If there will be sexual passion in heaven it will be pure and free of any illicit desires.
Many assume there won’t be sexual relationships in heaven (since there will be no more
procreation), but we don’t really know. The Bible simply doesn’t say.
If our sexual identity continues and God created us with sexual identity, it’s hard to imagine
it’s ceasing to function.” (“Will There Be Sex in Heaven?”)
Peter Kreeft (130-32): “Since there are bodies in Heaven, able to eat and be touched, like
Christ’s resurrection body, there is the possibility of physical intercourse. ...
Animal reasons for intercourse include (1) the conscious drive for pleasure and (2) the unconscious
drive to perpetuate the species. Both would be absent in Heaven. For although there
are unimaginably great pleasures in Heaven, we are not driven by them. And the species is complete
in eternity ...
Transhuman reasons for intercouse include (1) idolatrous love of the beloved as a substitute for
God and (2) the Dante-Beatrice love of the beloved as an image of God. As to the first, there is, of
course, no idolatry in Heaven. ... As to the second, the earthly beloved was a window to God, a mirror
reflecting the divine beauty. ...
Specifically human reasons for intercourse include (1) consummating a monogamous marriage and
(2) the desire to express personal love. As to the first, there is no marriage in Heaven. But what of the
second?
I think there will probably be millions of more adequate ways to express love than the clumsy
ecstasy of fitting two bodies together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Even the most satisfying earhtly
intercourse between spouses cannot perfectly express all their love. If the possibility of intercourse in
Heaven is not actualized, it is only for the same reason earthly lovers do not eat candy during intercourse:
there is something much better to do. The question of intercourse in Heaven is like the child’s question
whether you can eat candy during intercourse: a funny question only from the adult’s point of view.
Candy is one of children’s greatest pleasures; how can they conceive a pleasure so intense that it
renders candy
irrelevant? Only if you know both can you compare two things, and all those who have tasted both the
delights of physical intercourse with the earthly beloved and the delights of spiritual intercourse with God
testify that there is simply no comparison.
This spiritual intercourse with God is the ecstasy hinted at in all earthly intercourse, physical or
spiritual. It is the ultimate reason why sexual passion is so strong, so different from other passions. so
heavy with suggestions of profound meanings that just elude our grasp. No mere practical needs
account for it. No mere animal drive explains it. No animal falls in love, writes profound romantic
poetry, or sees sex as a symbol of the ultimate meaning of life because no animal is made in the image of
God. Human sexuality is that image, and human sexuality is a foretaste of that self-giving, that losing
and finding the self, that oneness-in-manyness that is the heart of the life and joy of the Trinity. That is
what we long for,
that is why we tremble to stand outside ourselves in the other , to give our whole selves, body and soul:
because we are images of God the sexual being. We love the other sex because God loves God.
And this earthly love is so passionate because Heaven is full of passion, of energy and dynamism.
... to think of the love that made the worlds, the love that became human, suffered alienation from itself
and died to save us rebels, the love that gleams through the fanatic joy of Jesus’ obedience to the will of
His Father and that shines in the eyes and lives of the saints - to think of this love as any less passionate
than our temporary and conditioned passions ‘is a most disastrous fantasy.’ And that consuming fire of
love is our destined Husband, according to His own promise. Sex in Heaven? Indeed, and no pale,
abstract, merely mental shadow of it either. Earthly sex is the shadow, and our lives are a process of
thickening so that we can share in the substance, becoming Heavenly fire so that we can endure and
rejoice in the Heavenly fire.”]
In heaven our relationships will no longer be burdened by sin
In heaven our relationships will be perfect
The most loving things we have ever done for anyone
The most loving things anyone has ever done for us will pale in comparison to everyday life in heaven
To be reunited with all of the wonderful loved ones and friends whom have gone before us to heaven
will be one of the greatest things imagineable
But as great as such thoughts are they will be nothing compared to the ultimate reunion we will
experience
... which begs the question
3. What will we do in heaven?
We’re going to consider this question more next week and focus today on the primary thing
we will do in heaven
It won’t be sitting on clouds playing harps but our foremost activity and desire will be to worship
____ read to us Rev. 4 and Rev. 4-5 picture believers in heaven focused on worship
Have you ever had a close encounter with a celebrity?
A close encounter with someone who was almost a hero to you?
I’ve told you two or three times before about the lady in the ice cream parlor in Kansas City
who turned around and found herself eyeball to eyeball with Paul Newman
She was so flustered she put her ice cream cone in her purse
Now I don’t know about you but I’ve had some encounters where I felt as awed & awkward
I’ve had brief encounters with at least half a dozen world known people in the course of my life
but the biggest challenge for me was the faculty at Dallas Seminary
I had so much respect and appreciation for them that I had hard time being a normal human being
around them
They intimidated my socks off
Actually the problem was not them but me
But if you could sit down and spend an evening over dinner with anyone in the world who would it be?
Who would you like to interact with more than anybody else on the planet?
Keep that person in your mind but now I want you to think of something different as well
I want you to think of the most beautiful, the most awe inspiring places you have ever been
The grand canyon is certainly one of mine
But I think I could spend the rest of my days sitting on top of just about any mountain
Mountains just take me to another plane of existence
Some of you might think of beaches or gardens or whatever
But think for a moment of the most beautiful, awe inspiring place you’ve ever been
Now think of dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of places like these
Think of views you’ve seen of earth from space
Think of Northern Lights or even blizzards
Think of all of the incredible diversity and design of our planet
Think of all the wonderfully diverse, colorful people you’ve met in your life
Think of all the colors and cultures around the world
Now think of the Person Who thought it all up
Think of the Person Who spoke it all into existence
Think of the Person Who holds it all together and controls it and makes it all work to His glory
And think of having dinner with that Person
Think of being invited to His house for a banquet
Try to begin to get a tiny clue of what it will mean to see God, to interact with Jesus
The One Who healed the sick and walked on water
The One Who told the sea what to do
The One Who turned water to wine
The One Who turned a picnic basket into food for five thousand
The One Who loved us so much that He laid down His life for us
The One Who conquered sin and death
Imagine seeing God the Father and His Son Jesus face to face
The Bible says that we will (cf. Matt. 5:8; 1 Cor. 13:12; Heb. 12:14; I Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:3-4)
Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:18)
Paul says: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; the we shall see face to face.” (1 Cor. 13:12)
The author of Hebrews says: “... we will see God.” (12:14)
And John says: “...what we be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 Jn. 3:2)
Christians for centuries have called this the Beatific Vision
The greatest, most beautiful sight ever beheld by human eyes
A vision that words cannot convey
A vision that is hard for us to imagine
A vision that is impossible for us to fully appreciate
But one day we will have an audience with God
One day we will see Jesus face to face
And such a vision will be transcendent
It will surpass our wildest dreams
The Puritan Thomas Watson put it like this:
“This sight of God will be a transcendent sight. It will surpass in glory.
Such glittering beams shall sparkle forth from the Lord Jesus as shall infinitely amaze
and delight the eyes of the beholders.
Imagine what a blessed sight it will be to see Christ wearing the robe of our human nature
and to see that nature sitting in glory above the angels.
If God be so beautiful here in his ordinances, Word, prayer, sacraments; if there be such
excellency in him when we see him by the eye of faith through the prospective glass of a promise,
O what will it be when we shall see him face to face! ...
There will be glory beyond hyperbole.
If the sun were ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not so much as shadow out this glory.
In the heavenly horizon we behold beauty in its first magnitude and highest elevation.
Then we shall see the king in his glory.
All lights are but eclipses compared with that glorious vision.” (Sermon on the Mount, pp. 197-98)
To see God will be a transcendent vision and it will be a tireless vision
If it sounds boring to gaze on God and worship Him endlessly the problem
is that we don’t begin to have a clue Who He is
Do you remember your first love?
Do you remember when you were head over heels in love with your mate?
Most of us have been there and we’ve certainly observed it in others
Lovers who totally absorbed with one another
Lovers who can sit for hours looking into each other’s eyes and constantly growing
in their knowledge of and love for one another
Now we might not think the one they’re enamored with is such a big deal
but to them there’s no other person anywhere they’d rather be with
I remember when both of our boys were born
Sherry was wasted but for me it was an incredible adrenalin rush
When William was born I’d been up all night and I was pumped
When Jonathan was born it was late at night but again I was anything but tired
I studied my boys for hours
I was enamoured with them but if you had seen them you might have said:
“Yeah they look like babies to me.”
You see the most important people on the planet to me are Sherry and my boys
And when we get to heaven we will finally see that the most important Person in the universe
to each of us is God
I said before that I think I could spend the rest of my life sitting on top of a mountain
I’ve never gotten tired of mountains or caves or castles or cathedrals
I guess eventually I would
I don’t study the boys much any more
And I only occasionally stare into Sherry’s eyes these days
BUT we will never get tired of seeing the Father or Jesus
Again Thomas Watson says: “We shall never be weary of seeing God, for the divine essence
being infinite, there shall be at every moment new and fresh delights springing from God.
So sweet will God be that the more the saints behold God the more they will be ravished
with desire and delight.” (p. 200)
We’ve talked a lot about all the wonders of heaven but Thomas Aquinas was absolutely right
when he said that if there was nothing in heaven but God we would still be perfectly happy
As wonderful as it will be to be reunited with our loved ones and to sinless relationships
Despite having glorified bodies and perhaps a timeless existence and on and on
Enjoying God will eclipse everything else in heaven!
Heaven will be first and foremost most about Him
Seeing God the Father and God the Son will be a transcendent vision
it will be a tireless vision and it will be a transforming vision
The poet Lucie Campbell put it like this:
“Not just to kneel with the angels
Nor to see loved one’s who’ve gone,
Not just to drink at the fountain
Under the great white throne;
Not for the crown that He giveth,
That I’m trying to run this race;
All I’ll want up in heaven
Is just to behold His face.
Not just to join in the chorus,
And sing with those that are blest,
And bathe my soul that is weary,
In the sea of heavenly rest.
But I’ll look for the One Who saved me,
From a death of sin and disgrace;
Twill be my joy when I get up in heaven,
Just to behold His face.
Just to behold His face,
Yes, just to behold His face;
All I want up in heaven
Is just to behold His face.”