Church at Wieuca

Guest (Male): Amen, Landon, what a blessing. Thank you so much for being here and singing today, to our musicians, just wonderful. What a blessing as we worship together today. And Robert and Laura, thank you so much for reminding us what the church is and why the church is so important and why we give, again a tremendous blessing.

I was watching earlier as Rick and Landon read together and it was so great at what they shared was really nice. But I thought, what a great father and son together leading in worship. I thought, my daughter is here today, maybe I’ll just invite her up to come and preach with me. Then I thought, no, I want her to come back at some point. I’m not going to do that. But what a blessing, we’re so grateful.

Dr. Kevin Head: We are continuing our sermon series. We’re talking about an important word. We started last week and the word for last week was "heaven." I shared with you last week that it is such an important word, we’re going to do two weeks on this word. So last week we started talking about heaven and what we will be like in heaven. Today we want to think a little bit more about what heaven will be like.

I invite you to hear our passage of scripture today. It’s from Revelation chapter 7, verses 9 through 17. It’s a long passage, but it’s a great depiction of heaven. I invite you to hear this passage and think as we read: what is the Bible saying to us about what heaven will be like?

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them."

"Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." May God bless the reading and the hearing of this word this morning.

About eight years ago, almost exactly eight years ago, two ironic things happened almost at the exact same time, both of them related to this important word, heaven. The first was the well-known physicist Stephen Hawking died. Now you may think, what does that have to do with heaven? Well, Hawking was well-known not only for his work as a physicist, but also because of his outspoken religious beliefs—or actually the lack thereof.

In an interview, he was outspoken about his religious beliefs. He stated that the concept of heaven to him was a myth, believing the idea or the concept of heaven was nothing more than a "fairy tale for people who are afraid of the dark." Later, Hawking narrated a series for the Discovery Channel. In that series, here is what he said: "We are each free to believe what we want and it is my view that the simplest explanation is there is no God."

"No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. There is probably no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe," Stephen Hawking said. He represents one perspective of heaven: essentially, it doesn't exist. It is a myth. And he is not alone. There are people in our world today that accept this perspective.

But another thing happened the exact same week that Stephen Hawking died. It was the release of the film "I Can Only Imagine." It happened the same week that Stephen Hawking died. You probably know the song, maybe you saw the movie, but it is a song and a movie that has brought hope to literally millions and millions of people—hope for the reality of heaven.

I won't read all the words, but you know some of the words: "I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk by your side, God. I can only imagine what my eyes will see when your face, God, is before me. I can only imagine. I can only imagine." It is so similar to the beautiful song that Landon just sang for us. As he was singing, you heard the words that he sang: "There will be a day when death will be no more, standing face to face with he who died and rose again. Holy, holy is the Lord."

These are two very different public perspectives about heaven. One, heaven is imaginary; it is something that does not exist. The other perspective: heaven is a beautiful reality that can exceed anything we could possibly imagine. Of course, as believers, we believe in the reality of heaven. We said last week that when we die, when our earthly body stops working, our essence, our spirit, our soul—the part of us created in the image of God—goes immediately to be in God's presence.

And there we wait for a physical resurrection, a physical resurrection that will come at the Second Coming. That's what we will be like when we die. So, what will heaven be like? In our text for today in Revelation, John shares part of his vision of heaven, rich in detail and loaded with symbolism. John's vision is one of the most vivid descriptions of heaven in all of scripture.

What does John want us to know? First, he describes an incredible gathering, a great multitude of people, too many to count. Second, the members of this group, John says, have come from every nation and they speak every language—a diverse quilt of God's people gathered together in heaven. He goes on, what are the members of this group doing? They are worshiping God.

The people wearing white robes are waving palm branches with the angels and with the four living creatures, which were a special category of angelic beings. They are all gathered together and they are worshiping God. This is an incredible worship service. Those who suffered for the cause of Christ, the martyrs, they have been cleansed. They are wearing their white robes now for all eternity.

The text says very clearly in verse 15, they are before the throne of God and they serve God day and night in his temple. As they worship God day and night, we are told that the many things of this world that they experienced in their earthly life are no longer part of their experience in heaven. In heaven, John says clearly, there's no more hunger, no more thirst, there is no more scorching heat, no more pain, no more tears.

This is one of the most descriptive pictures of heaven in the Bible. There are others, but John gives us a glimpse here of what heaven will be like. No more hunger, no more want, no more thirst, no more pain, no more tears—just worship, worship, worship. It's a beautiful picture. But let me ask you: is it appealing? How excited are you about going to have this experience?

Anthony DeStefano, in his book entitled "A Travel Guide to Heaven," says, "When we allow ourselves to describe heaven in a material way, we usually think of angels or saints walking around wearing long white robes with choirs singing in the background. The only activity we imagine are these strange beings being engaged in a never-ending worship service of an invisible God who is cloudy, nebulous, and undefined as heaven is itself."

And he says, "Then we wonder why no one is excited about traveling to this place." Let's take this idea a step further. As we said, the scene today in Revelation is a worship service. It is an unending, eternal worship service. Now listen, I know some of my sermons seem to last for an eternity. I get that. But our services in total are one hour. I know that when it gets to 11:55, we start to get a little anxious, right? I know that because I get anxious.

I say, "Kevin, wrap this up. It's time to get finished." I've been told at noon this drops out and I fall away if I'm still preaching. A worship service that lasts forever? Does that sound like paradise? Randy Alcorn wrote a book about heaven. He talks about a conversation he had with a pastor. The pastor confessed to him, "Whenever I think about heaven, it makes me depressed. I'd rather just cease to exist when I die."

"Why?" asked Alcorn. "Because I can't stand the thought of that endless tedium—to float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp. It sounds so terribly boring. Heaven doesn't sound much better than hell," he said. "I'd rather be anticipating spending time in a place like that." When I read these words that Alcorn shared from a conversation with a pastor, I began to think about an experience in my own life.

Many of you know at least once a year I go to a monastery in southern Indiana. It's a wonderful week for me. It's a time where I rest, I read, I walk through the woods, I pray, I plan. There's no TV. I rarely check my phone. I truly try to unplug and disengage. It is a wonderful week. I look forward to it all year long. But honestly, by the end of the week, I'm ready to get back to my normal life.

I'm ready to get back to all the things that take up my time and energy and effort. If I were to think about staying there for all eternity, I'm not so sure about that. DeStefano makes a great point. He says what we desperately want to know about heaven is: how are we going to be happy there? We have so many questions about what heaven will be like. Will I know my loved ones when I am in heaven?

Will marriage still exist? Will I still be married to my spouse in heaven? Will we know what's happening here on earth when we are in heaven? On and on the questions go. All these questions are important, but underneath all of them, he says if we're brutally honest, what we want to know is: how will we be happy in heaven? I think maybe part of the problem for us for now is our imaginations are so limited.

What we can imagine is so limited compared to who God is and what God has planned for us. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 reminds us, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." In other words, nobody who has ever existed can imagine the glories of heaven. We try to describe it, but in our limited imaginations and minds, we can't comprehend it.

We can't describe it. We are not able to fully understand in this world what the glories of heaven will be like. I think that's why that song "I Can Only Imagine" resonates with people, because that is all we can do. We can only imagine. We are given glimpses in scripture, especially in Revelation, but still our minds cannot comprehend how incredible heaven will be for us. When we try to describe it, we get frustrated because it's not what we anticipate and it's not what God has planned.

Since we really cannot comprehend how incredible heaven is, I come back to our passage from last week, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. In verse 5 of that passage, here's what we read last week: "Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose." In other words, God created us for heaven. God created us for eternal relationship with God. Heaven is what we were made for. Have you ever been away from home for an extended period of time and then you come back and walk in the door and everything hits you: this is home.

This is where I'm meant to be. This is my place. Maybe you've tried on clothes before and it just so happens the clothes you're trying on fit you perfectly. It's like they were made specifically for you and you think: this was made just for me. Those experiences pale in comparison to what heaven will be like for us. Remember, heaven has been prepared for us by Jesus. He said, "I go there to prepare a place for you." And it is exactly what we were made for.

It is what our soul, our spirit, our essence longs and yearns for. It fulfills our purpose for being created. Everything we lack in this world will be overflowing for us in heaven. Joni Eareckson Tada, many of you know her, wrote a book. The title of the book is "Heaven: Your Real Home." What an incredible title. She writes that the first thing she's going to do when she gets to heaven is to kneel at the feet of Jesus.

Why would that be so important? Well, since breaking her neck several decades ago, she has been unable to walk. She's been unable to kneel. She writes in her book that once at a convention, the speaker closed the message by asking everyone in the large room to push their chairs away from the tables and to kneel on the carpeted floor for prayer. She said, "I watched as everyone in the room—500 to 600 people—hiked up their cuffs and got down on their knees. With everyone kneeling, I certainly stood out and I couldn't stop the tears."

I wonder: what is it that you've always wanted to do but you can't? What is it that you've always desired but you're unable? You're not capable? You're limited? Not in heaven. The doors of possibility are open to you. Ray Summers, in his book "The Life Beyond," writes that Jesus told the Sadducees the resurrection will not be a restoration to the type of life and experience that all of us know here on earth. No, it will be a life which will transcend this life.

It will be a life that can more properly be described by the type of life and experience known by the angels. That state of being is in Matthew chapter 25 verse 34. It's described as "blessed." Blessed is the word that speaks to this higher, greater experience of life. It is the most desirable state that one can be in. Whatever the ultimate experience of righteousness shall be, it will be one in which we are lacking at no point and blessedness overflows in our life.

Billy Graham wrote a book entitled "Where I Am." It is his thoughts on heaven. In that book, Billy Graham says, "Heaven seems a mystery to many people. They wonder if heaven is above the lofty clouds or if heaven will come down to earth. When I am asked, 'Where is heaven?' I simply answer, 'heaven is where Jesus is.'" He told his disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also. Where I am, there you may be also."

Heaven is simply where Jesus is. For the believer, there is a yearning, a desire that we almost can't even put into words, that we want to spend eternity with Jesus where he is. As we said last week, what must it be like to step out on a shore and find it heaven? To take hold of a hand and find it God's hand? To breathe new air and find it celestial? To feel invigorated and find it immortality? To rise from the cares and concerns and difficulties of this world into an unbroken calm and find it glory?

Of waking up and finding yourself truly at home. For now, the truth is we can listen to the words of scripture and we can only imagine. But unlike Stephen Hawking, we believe in the reality of heaven. Though many questions remain, one thing is certain: heaven is where Jesus is. "I go there to prepare a place for you," Jesus said, "so that where I am, you too may be also." If heaven is where Jesus is, then for all eternity, that's where we want to be too. For heaven is exactly what we were created for. Let us pray.

Good and gracious God, we thank you for the promises that you give to us. On this day, there is no greater promise, there is no greater word of our faith, than the promise and the word of heaven. Thank you for this assurance. Thank you for preparing a place for us and thank you for promising that we will always be with you. Lead us and guide us in these ways, Lord, for we pray in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Our song of commitment today is "Rock of Ages," a wonderful way for us to conclude our time of worship. We invite you as we stand to sing to listen to God, to know as God prompts your heart that this is your opportunity to respond. As God speaks, may each of us respond. Let's stand together as we sing.