LOOKING TOWARDS HEAVEN

I have been thinking more about heaven lately. With the aging of my body and the decay of the surrounding world and with the resulting heartaches, heaven the return of my Savior have become more attractive.

Jesus also thought more about heaven with His approaching ordeal. It was by placing His eyes on heaven that He was able to endure:

• Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3) 

It is too easy to “lose heart.” If Jesus was able to endure by fixing His eyes on “the joy set before him,” we should do no less. However, it is rare to hear a sermon or a teaching on hell, let alone heaven. Yet these teachings are desperately needed.

A dear friend is facing immanent death. However, her joy is infectious. How can this be? Well, she is looking steadily towards her final heavenly reward! We too must, even if death isn’t immanent.

How do we do this? By meditating on the Word of God and His blessed assurances! Paul was assured that when he’d leave this body, we will be with Him:

• If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians 1:22-24)

Paul was convinced that he would go to be with his Savior:

• We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Would being at home with the Lord be conscious and joyous? Evidently! Why else would Paul prefer to be with the Lord? In fact, in the Book of Revelation, we are given many portraits of Jesus’ saints worshipping Him (Rev. 7:14; 14:3).

But will some of us have to endure a painful purgatory? If anyone would have to endure such purging, it was the thief crucified alongside of Jesus. However, Jesus assured him:

• "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)

No room for a purgatory there! Jesus told a parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man. The later went to a place of torment prior to the final judgment. We call this the “intermediate state,” because it follows death but precedes the final judgment. However, Lazarus was escorted to “Abraham’s bosom” by angels, where he was “comforted” (Luke 16:25)

Will we too be escorted by angels to this place of comfort? I love this idea. I am the nervous, worrying, and anxious type. I don’t like the idea of heading down some dark and foreboding tunnel upon death. However, it is not advisable to base our hope on a peripheral detail of a parable. This detail might not correspond to reality. Instead it might just serve the final point(s) of the parable. For example, in this parable, the rich man in hell is conversing across an impassible chasm with Abraham. Few would take this as the actual experience of this “place of torment.”

However, there are other verses that do provide a little support for the belief in an angelic escort. For example, Jesus indicated that children, at least, have guardian angels:

• "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)

The Apostles also believed that we adults have guardian angels (Acts 12:15). If we do, then it would seem odd for God to remove them from us at the point of death.

And Heaven?

In heaven, our deepest longings will be realized. The Psalmist couldn’t envision this on earth. With his eyes, he saw evil rewarded, while the faithful were tormented. He couldn’t contain his anger and disappointment until he entered the Temple where God gave him a revelation of the big picture of heaven. He then praised his God:

• I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:22-26)

We too need to focus on the grand panorama of history and where it is going. In this life, we are promised suffering and persecution (2 Cor. 4:10-11; John 15:18-20; 16:1-2). How then can we endure without this grand picture? It was a picture of which Jesus would remind His unsteady Apostles:

• "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

God revealed this to Daniel:

• “He [the Beast] will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.” (Daniel 7:25-27)

In this everlasting kingdom, suffering will be no more than a memory:

• He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces (Rev. 21:4); he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25:8)

Psalm 23 gives us a picture of how He will “remove the disgrace”:

• You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:5-6) 

Nevertheless, our Lord has carefully concealed the details of these overflowing blessings:

• However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Paul indicated that earthly marriage represents the intimacy of our heavenly one:

• For we are members of his [Christ’s] body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." [quoting Genesis 2:24] This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:30-32)

Of course, Paul wasn’t eluding to a physical intimacy (Matthew 22:28-30). Hosea also gives us a hint that our closeness with our Savior will be like a marriage:

• I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. (Hosea 2:19-20)

This marriage will be forever, and it will be characterized by “righteousness…justice…love and compassion.” We will also be transformed to become like Him:

• But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21; Jude 24))

This transformation will be accompanied by seeing Him as He really is:

• Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will 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 John 3:2)

We will enjoy true fellowship, because we will understand Him. Now, we only see in part and, therefore, only adore Him in part:

• Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) 

We shall be glorified as He had revealed Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 13:43). We shall also be made immortal:

• For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:53-54)

Consequently, death and disease will be no more, but our roles will also be glorified. We will be “judging angels” (1 Cor. 6:2-3) and ministering God’s love to the nations:

• Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5; Isaiah 2:2-4; 66; Zechariah 14)

And the nations that remain after the final war will be providing for us:

• "Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations-- their kings led in triumphal procession.” (Isaiah 60:10-11)

• The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Revelation 21:24-26)

Meanwhile, we suffer. Why? To prepare us for Christ’s return:

• Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12-13) 

I trust that I will be overjoyed when He is revealed. Why? The sufferings of the life have given me a longing for Him, as they should.

God's Judgments: A Source of Embarrassment or a Cultural Response

We are embarrassed by God’s harsh judgments – for example, the destruction of the Canaanites, the Amalekites, and others.

I had long been troubled about the account of Ananias and Sapphira. As had many of the brethren, they sold their property and gave the proceeds to the Apostles for the church. However, this couple only gave half of the proceeds – no sin in itself – but they lied that they had given the church everything.  Peter’s response was absolutely chilling:

• “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, did it not remain thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou has not lied unto men, but unto God.” And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost: and great fear came upon all that heard it. (Acts 5:3-5) 

I was troubled by this. Such a harsh judgment from God and absolutely no expression of remorse by Peter! After all, Ananias did donate half of the proceeds, and his was just a little white lie, wasn’t it?

Not only that, but Peter then spoke to Ananias’ wife Sapphira in a seemingly callous manner, especially in view of her great loss:

• “Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yea, for so much.” But Peter said unto her, “How is it that ye have agreed together to try the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.” And she fell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost. (Acts 5:8-10) 

Peter gave her only the briefest opportunity to repent and then pronounced judgment on this unfortunate woman.

After each of these “exterminations,” Scripture records:

• And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things. (Acts 5:11) 

Well, no wonder! No one was above sin. If it happened to Ananias and Sapphira, perhaps it could happen to anyone! Who then could serve such a wrathful God? Who could continue to rejoice in Him and regard Him as their Savior, if He might snuff them out at any moment? Well, it seems that some distanced themselves from the church because of this (Acts 5:13). Who could blame them, right?

Is it any surprise then that we, as members of Western culture, should not be embarrassed by such a God? Didn’t these two judgments sour people to the Gospel message? Consequently, when we evangelize, we tend to soften these harsh aspects of our God, but should we? Perhaps not! Right afterwards:

• The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them.  Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.  As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought… and they were all healed. (Acts 5:12-16; NLT)

Oddly, rather than discrediting the church, God’s judgments built the church!

We often wonder, “To what extent has the church been taken captive by the culture and the ideas of the culture?” Has judgment and justice gone out of style in Western culture? Atheist Richard Dawkins, speaking for many of the educated in the West, famously claimed:

• The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. 

Although church-goers wouldn’t go so far, we still find Dawkins’ words stinging and embarrassing. We therefore tend to want to make excuses for His judgments, even to the point of proclaiming that God will save everyone, or that He has repented of His harsh ways. We would also like to be able to say that Ananias and Sapphira died because of a stricken conscience and not the judgments of God, but this would misrepresent God.

Understandably, we want others to be attracted to our God, and so we give Him a face-life. However, what represents an improved image in our eyes, is unacceptable to Him. Instead, His blessings accompany our faithful disclosure of who He really is.

Universalism: Its Popularity and Biblical Implausibility

Universalism – the belief that God will save everyone – is humanly appealing, but is it biblical? In If Grace is True, Gulley and Mulholland argue that grace is synonymous with universalism:

·       The triumph of grace is not complete. It cannot be complete until every last person has been redeemed. Some are experiencing redemption in this life. Some will experience it after their death. But grace will triumph. (196)

Does God’s grace guarantee the salvation/redemption of all? Even though the authors do not believe that the Bible is God-given, they offer a number of universalistic-sounding verses in support of their claims. For example:

·       “Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3:9)

Does this mean that everyone from every age will be saved? Clearly not! Two verses later, Zephaniah discounts universalism:

·       On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from you your arrogant boasters. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. (Zeph. 3:11)

Instead, God will only save those who remain after He weeds out the oppressors:

·       At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you. I will rescue the lame; I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they have suffered shame. (Zeph. 3:19)

Instead of universalism, our Lord gives us an unmistakable portrait of two groups of people – those who receive His mercy and those who will not.

This is not to deny that there will be a great salvation in the end among a special group of the elect. Many verses speak about this grace:

1.     Rev. 1:7  Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.

2.     Romans 11:15  For if their [Israel’s] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

3.     Isaiah 66:22-23 "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the Lord, "so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the Lord.

However, as Zechariah indicates, this group is limited to the end-time survivors.

·       Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech. 14:16-18)  

The authors also cite Joel in support of universalism:

·       “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28)

However, this verse also must be qualified. It cannot pertain “all” the people who ever lived. God is talking about a particular group of people:

·       “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” (Joel 2:32)

God speaks of three qualifications. These people who receive God’s Spirit must:

1.     Cry out to the Lord

2.     Be among the end-time “survivors”

3.     Be among those whom the Lord calls to Himself.

In light of this, Joel 2:28 does not provide support for universalism. Oddly, the authors also cite Exodus 33:19:

·       “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

God merely affirms here that His mercy and compassion are not given as an entitlement. Instead, He can be selective regarding those He determines to rescue from their sins – the very opposite of universalism!

Since the authors reject the authority of Scripture, from where do they derive their faith? Perhaps from wishful thinking?

Admittedly, the judgments of God are humanly troubling. However, the Apostle Peter warns us that if God has judged in the past, there is no reason to scoff at the many prophesies claiming that He will judge in the end:

·       For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;  if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly… if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (2 Peter 2:4-9)

To deny this impending judgment guarantees that we will be judged.