Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: Today, if I can accomplish one thing, I pray that I can help clear away some misconceptions about heaven from the word of God. These misconceptions are planted by Satan, the enemy of your soul. He planted those misconceptions. No wonder Jesus called Satan "liar" and the "father of lies." And the one thing Satan constantly lies about is heaven. Why does Satan lie about heaven? Because we're going there and he's not.

Guest (Male): In the pages of Revelation, the apostle John offers a personal look into heaven, and that is the subject of this Leading The Way audio. Do remember that Leading The Way is a listener-supported media ministry. That means that we rely on God's provision through God's people who are blessed by the teaching and ministry accomplished through Dr. Youssef and through the Leading The Way teams.

You can learn ways to make a generational impact with Dr. Youssef at LTW.org or give us a call. Speak with a call center representative at 866-626-4356. Here now is Dr. Michael Youssef.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Please turn with me as we look at heaven in the book of Revelation. These are chapters 4 and 5, and chapters 21 and 22. Because these images are repeated and that's why I'm summarizing it today in this one message: four chapters. Look with me at the first two verses of chapter 4. John said, "I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it."

Beloved, let me tell you at the outset, this is not a throne like a piece of furniture that you see the monarchs of the earth sitting on. That is not what it is. This throne is a symbol of the power and the strength and the authority and God being in control of everything. The good news is when you decide to take yourself off the throne of your heart and put the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne of your heart, He comes in with power. He comes in with strength. He comes in with might. He comes in to take over and give you joy in the midst of difficulties.

And the book of Revelation shows us that the throne of God is that fixed center of the universe. The throne of God is that immovable point of reference for all times and space. The throne of God is that place of authority and power and strength. It's the centrality of all that is. It is the center of His rule of the universe. The Bible talks about three heavens, three heavens.

The first heaven the Bible talks about is the domain of Satan, where Satan dwells. In the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12, Paul said, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against what? Spiritual forces of evil." Where? In the heavenly. That is the first heaven. That's the domain of Satan. And praise God, when Jesus returns, that is the first thing He's going to destroy.

The second heaven is the stellar heaven, which we call the universe. You see those pictures and photographs that come taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. That's the second heaven. But the third heaven sometimes is referred to as paradise. In 2 Corinthians 12:2, Paul was privileged to be taken into that third heaven. He saw things he can't even describe, he couldn't verbalize, but to make it worse, God said to him, "You're not allowed to talk about this." And he said, "I was not permitted to even talk about it."

But the third heaven is not the future heaven. It's not the eternal heaven. You see, the moment a believer dies, the moment we die, we go to the third heaven where Jesus is now. In 2 Corinthians 5:8, it says, "Absence from the body is presence with the Lord." The third heaven is not the eternal heaven. The third heaven is not the new heaven that John was privileged to see in the book of Revelation. God took him and let him see the eternal heaven, the ultimate heaven, the new heaven.

And in Revelation chapter 4, John sees Jesus, our great High Priest, having the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian. What is that? Well, the Jasper is a diamond-like white stone, and it symbolizes the glory of Jesus. The Carnelian is a blood-red stone, symbolizing the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice that He made on the cross. And these two stones were worn by the high priest in the Old Testament. These stones symbolize the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

And surrounding the throne is a rainbow, which is a reminder of God's faithfulness. You remember back in Genesis chapter 9, after the flood, God saved Noah and the ark, and then He said, "This rainbow is a sign of my faithfulness, that I will not destroy the earth by flood again." But when you and I see a rainbow, we see half a circle. But what John sees in that eternal heaven is he sees a full circle rainbow, and it is encircling the throne of God. Why? Because it tells us that God is eternal and He has no beginning and He has no end.

When we get to heaven, we're going to see Jesus, our great High Priest. The High Priest does two things: He offers intercessions on behalf of the people and He offers sacrifices on behalf of the people. And Jesus did both in His own body. Think about this. Even at this moment, Jesus is interceding on your behalf with the Father. And if you really want to get a glimpse of what Jesus is doing as our High Priest interceding with the Father, read chapter 17 of the Gospel of John.

It gives you a glimpse of that high priestly prayer when He prayed on behalf of the disciples. He even prayed on our behalf back then. He said, "I don't pray only for them, but for those who also will come and believe in me." That is how our High Priest is interceding. But the Bible also said that we are priests. We are priests. And what do we offer God? Romans 12 tells us that we offer God our bodies for the Holy Spirit to indwell in our bodies.

Surrender to Him our natural desires and our sins, that we die daily to sin. We offer our bodies to be used for the glory of Jesus. Amen belongs here. In Hebrews 13:15, it said we are to continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise. What does that mean? Singing a couple of songs on Sunday morning? Is that it? No. That we live 24/7 reflecting the praise and the honor and the glory that is due to God.

There's another picture of this eternal heaven I don't want you to miss. It's a magnificent picture. It says around the throne, around that throne of the power and the authority of our God, there are 24 elders. Now you have to understand, the whole book of Revelation, I've told you this before and I'll say it again, there's a lot of symbolism and you've got to understand those symbolisms in the context of the scripture. Here the number 24 is symbolic. Symbolic of what? It represents the 12 tribes of Israel, that's the Old Testament, and the 12 disciples of Jesus, that's the New Testament.

What's that mean? It means that in heaven, the heavenly church when we all get to heaven, it's going to be made up of saints from the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament believers looked forward by faith just like Abraham, who anticipated the day of the coming of Christ by faith. Not all of the Jews are going to be saved, but those who looked forward by faith to the cross of Jesus Christ, they were saved and they are in heaven.

Just like not everybody who goes to church is going to be saved. And so in the New Testament, we look back by faith at the cross and we are saved. And the saints from the Old and the New Testament together make up the church of Jesus Christ in heaven. And we're all going to bow to Him, represented in those 24 elders. Listen, in the midst of this awesome scene, yes awesome, you can say awesome with me. It's a visible demonstration of the power of God. How? From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder.

But we also see the seven torches of fire. What are they? They represent the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit. You say, "Michael, how do you know that?" Because way back in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah chapter 11, verse 2, the Bible lists all the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit. What are they? His comforting presence, His wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. And when you and I yield to the Holy Spirit and surrender to the Holy Spirit to reign and rule in our lives, He produces these characteristics in us.

And the next image that John gives us is that of the sea of crystal, verse 6 of chapter 4. The sea of crystal symbolizes the truth of the word of God. God's truth is so vast and so pure like the great sea of crystal. That's what John is saying here. But you know Satan is a counterfeiter. Satan takes the truth from the word of God and he twists it. He gives it a twist and he turns it into a lie.

Satan takes the truth about the crystal in heaven, symbolizing the purity of the truth of the word of God, and he turns it into a deceptive pseudoscience called crystal power. Have you heard that? Crystal healing? But look at the worship in heaven. John describes the four angelic creatures who have many eyes. That is symbolizing their involvement in the judgment of God. Remember how many times when Jesus said, "I will send the angels, they're going to get the wheat and they're going to get the chaff and they're going to separate them"? The angels are going to be involved in the judgment.

The cherubim and the seraphim are constantly proclaiming, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Now please hear me right on this one. That does not mean that in heaven we'll be singing "How Great Thou Art" 20,000 times a day as some people like to think. And they say, "Man, heaven will be boring." No, no, no, that's not what it means. And today, if I can accomplish one thing, listen to me, if I accomplish one thing, I pray that I can help clear away some misconceptions about heaven from the word of God.

These misconceptions are planted by Satan, the enemy of your soul. He planted those misconceptions. No wonder Jesus called Satan "liar" and the "father of lies." And the one thing Satan constantly lies about is heaven. Later in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, we're going to meet the beast, the Antichrist, the one who is actually the human embodiment of Satan himself. Why does Satan lie about heaven? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why does he lie about it? Why does he actually bring dread in the life of some saved people about heaven?

I'm going to tell you why. It's very important. Because Satan was thrown out of heaven. And when he was thrown out of heaven, he will never, never, never, never, never get back again. He will never be allowed in there. And that is why he hates God and he hates us. Why? Because we're going there and he's not. He lies about it and makes believers afraid of death and afraid of this and afraid of this, and live in fear and constantly worried.

The Bible said in Colossians 3:2, "Set your minds on things where?" Above. What do you spend most of your day doing? Setting your mind on what? Naval gazing. He said, "Look up." But you look down. Think about this. Think about some of the most wonderful creation of God that you've ever seen in your life, anywhere in the world, whether it be Yosemite Park or Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, any of those awesome sites that God created. I want you to imagine with me that the God who created these wonderful things is going to make heaven to be boring? No!

In fact, these breathtaking sites don't hold a candle to what God prepared in heaven. Have you ever wondered why we live in this universe surrounded by billions and billions and billions of galaxies and stars? How would you like to be able to explore the whole universe without any physical limitation? Not only that, but in the new heaven and the new earth, the God of power and might will be there all the time, personally, physically, literally. And that's what it means by being continuously worshipping Him, praising Him, adoring Him, praising, thanking Him, delighting ourselves in Him. Because He is literally there with us.

And Paul said, "No eye has seen and no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." When Jesus hung on that cross, when He died on that cross, He did not die for angels. He died for you and me, the daughters and the sons of Adam and Eve. That's who He died for. And if the angels, for whom Jesus did not die, are praising Him day and night, can you imagine what we're going to do? Just think how much more we're constantly going to bless and honor, praise the Lord who died for us, who redeemed us, who saved us, who forgave us our sins, who gave us everything we have.

"You are worthy, oh Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things and by Your will they were created and have their being." Amen. In chapter 21, John said, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there was no longer any sea." This will be a startling change for us from this earthly life, from the current life. You see, on the earth, and it's the only planet really that has three-quarters water and one-quarter land, the sea is emblematic of the presence of water-based environment.

All of life on earth is dependent on water for surviving. The earth is the only known place in the universe where there was sufficient water to sustain life. And you notice sometime when they send these robots to Mars and other places and the first thing they're looking for is what? Water. Because they want to know if there was life there or not, but they're always looking for water. Why? Because water would tell them if there was life at some point or not. Without water, any planet cannot be inhabited.

But believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we receive the glorified body, we will not need water to survive. Unlike our current bodies that are made 60% water, in the new heaven and the new earth, life will be based on completely different life principle than the present universe. I mean, just like astronauts when they went to the moon, they had to wear a different suit. When we go there, we will have a suit, but it's not a suit. It's going to be us, a glorified body.

And then he says six things that are also will be no more in heaven: death, mourning, weeping, pain, curse, and dark nights. None of these things will be in the new heaven and the new earth. Please listen to this because John also said, "I did not see a temple in that new capital city, Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, the capital city of the new heaven and the new earth. There was no temple. No temple." You say, "Why? Why there was no temple?" Listen carefully.

God asked the people of Israel to build the temple for a reason. It is a symbol of His presence among His people. It's only symbolic, it's a symbol. And when the real thing is there, why do you want a symbol? Why do we need the symbol? Why do we need the representation? Because God is going to be in our midst. That holy city John saw, the new Jerusalem, the capital city of the new heaven and the new earth, and the dimension of it actually is described in chapter 21, verse 16.

When John was writing these words, that was in the early 90s AD. Where was the earthly Jerusalem at that time? What kind of condition was it in? It was destroyed. 25 years earlier, just as Jesus predicted in year 70 AD, the Romans came and they did not leave a stone on top of the other. And God said, "Don't worry about the earthly Jerusalem, John, because the new Jerusalem is going to be absolutely fantastic. Awesome." Can you say "awesome"? All right.

The new Jerusalem will descend to the earth from heaven. Heaven's capital city. He said it will come down adorned like a bride for the bridegroom. Why? Because it will house the bride of Christ. All of us who love the Lord Jesus Christ, all of us who have received Him as Savior and Lord, we are the bride of Christ. And we will be in that new Jerusalem. Now, this is a picture of a Jewish wedding. You know, a Jewish wedding has three stages. The first stage is the betrothal.

And the betrothal is like our engagement, but it's binding. It's like a contract. You know Mary and Joseph were betrothed to each other. God the Father betrothed us to His Son. That's what you call a pre-arranged marriage. Do you know when He arranged that marriage? Before the foundation of the earth. You've been spoken for. The second stage is the presentation. It's a time of celebration and feasting leading up to an actual wedding ceremony.

And it will take place during our rapture when we are raptured from this earth. And then comes the third stage, and that's the ceremony itself, which is described as the great supper of the lamb and will be stretched, beloved, for eternity. You know in the Middle East, depending on the financial ability of the father of the groom, oh yes, the father of the groom pays for the wedding in the Middle East. That's why the father of the groom cries at weddings, not the father of the bride. The father of the groom cries because he pays for it.

Well, if he is well-to-do, reasonably well-to-do, he will have a three-day celebration. If he's really, really wealthy, it could go on for seven days, sometimes even 14 days. If he is a king, that celebration would go on for weeks and weeks. So think about our rich king, Heavenly Father. This celebration is going to go on for eternity. Amen. Amen. Give God praise.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God." But here's the best part. Here's the best part about heaven. Chapter 21, verse 4: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain or the old order of things has passed away." The first thing a believer is going to experience is Jesus wiping the tears off our faces.

What does that mean? Are we going to be arriving heaven sad and crying our eyes out and Jesus is going to pat us on the back and say, "There, there, there"? No, no, that's not what it means when it talks about wiping the tears of our eyes. God wants us to know that in heaven, there will be absence of sorrow in heaven. That there will be no sadness and grief in heaven. There will be no disappointment and hurt in heaven. That there will be no tears of misfortune in heaven. There will be no tears of loss of loved ones in heaven. There will be no tears of regret anymore and remorse in heaven. There will be no sin or temptation in heaven. There will be no Satan to harass us in heaven. There will be no betrayal of friends in heaven. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining listeners across six different continents for Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Now you heard Dr. Youssef speak longingly of heaven. Did you think about questions about your eternal home? If so, I want to encourage you to speak with one of our Leading The Way pastors or counselors. And you can start that conversation by filling out a contact form at LTW.org/Jesus.

Hey, while you're there, also visit the ministry homepage. That's LTW.org. That's where you can learn more about the global reach of Leading The Way and ways that you can join with Dr. Youssef to impact the world for Christ. That's LTW.org. This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.