Heaven: Too Often Forgotten

This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.

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Dr. Howard Hendricks said of the true followers of Christ – “We are not those who are in the land of the living headed to the land of the dead, we are those who are in the land of the dead headed for the land of the living!” Of course, he was talking about heaven.

That said, why is it that the one thing next to hell most Pastors and Bible teachers DON’T talk about and teach from the word of God is heaven?

I know the pastors that are more concerned with pleasing people than they are with pleasing God, don’t want to teach about hell, because that would offend their crowd. But WHY is it that they also don’t talk much about heaven?

I think it’s because in our contemporary world in America, professing believers - just like the unsaved in society are all caught up in the here and now.

Statements like "Don’t give me that pie in the sky when I die stuff, I need REAL answers to help me make it through today!" and "Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good." are submitted to. Accordingly, heaven is sometimes also put in the "DON’T TALK ABOUT IT" category.

Since ministry to jails, prisons and rescue missions are heavily influenced by what is happening in churches all over our country, I assume visiting ministers follow the trends set by their local church agendas. Rather, the word of God should set all agenda for Christian ministry anywhere, especially in your facility.

I believe any jail or prison or rescue mission teaching should give light from God’s word on BOTH subjects. If you haven’t heard the following remark or something like it from an inmate, trust me - you will. They often say "heaven and hell are right here on earth and this place (the facility) is hell." That is categorically, WRONG.

When the Bible speaks of heaven or hell in the ultimate sense, God is talking to us about an everlasting place He has created, where human beings in the final state will consciously exist forever and ever.

So to begin, I want to remind you about some of what the Bible teaches about heaven and urge you to teach the same thing to your inmates or residents. I am going to briefly mention four things about heaven, and then make the main biblical application to every true believer in Jesus Christ.

First, heaven is presented as the eternal abode of God in all His manifested glory. It is the place of His throne. God reigns from heaven over His entire creation!

Isaiah 6:1-4

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2 Above it stood seraphim (bright burning holy angels); each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. (they are using 2/3 of their wings to hide from God’s holiness)
3 And one cried to another and said: “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

Revelation 4:8-11 (the context from verses 1-2 is a vision of heaven)

8 The four living creatures (holy angels, probably real Cherubim), each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “ You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created."

The SECOND IMPORTANT FEATURE of heaven is HOLINESS, which means among other things that there is NO SIN in heaven. Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” and Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” stress that fact.

Then, Revelation 21:24-27, speaks of heaven as the city called the New Jerusalem (compare 21:1,2).

24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.
25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).
26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie (no sin!), but only those who are written in the Lamb’s (Christ’s) Book of Life.

Those who are by God’s grace in Christ are made worthy to be in heaven, will not sin there. Those who are there, will not sin but enjoy everlasting holiness with God.

THIS IS IMPORTANT TO STRESS FOR TWO REASONS.

1. The most common thoughts of heaven, sadly even among some professing Christians, is that it is THEIR worldly DREAMS COME TRUE. In other words, it is a place where the things they appreciated most doing and seeing on earth are forever granted to them. Whether described as the “happy hunting grounds” or “a place of carnal delights” (as is taught by Islam - to young men willing to be suicide bombers, where hundreds of virgins will be there for their carnal pleasure), or any other dreamed up thing.

Here is another example of the same kind of thing. I remember when I served as Chaplain a group that was known as a Christian Motorcycle Fellowship wanted to come to our facility and do a service and show off their “bikes.”

They had a tract with Harley-Davidson eagle wings that had circling the wings the words “Born Again” … “Ride Forever.” After their presentation of what they though was the gospel, their tract ended with these words “That’s why we’re born again, SO WE CAN RIDE FOREVER.” As if the streets of gold were some sort of motorcycle drag strip. This is both unbiblical and man-centered.

2. Those who love their self-centered sinful life-style wouldn’t be happy in the real heaven. They can’t party hearty there. Those who love sin do not want to worship God, they want to worship self and the things that self enjoys. As we’ve already seen from Revelation 4:10-11, the saved in heaven represented by the 24 elders, only WORSHIP GOD.

The saved in heaven will be made completely holy. God will do this to them and for them. Note Jude 24,25 –

24 Now to Him who is able (He has the power) to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Also teach this from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24,

23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

The truth of ongoing holy worship is connected to the THIRD important thing about heaven. Namely that Jesus Christ is the main feature there. The FOCAL POINT OF HEAVEN is the LORD JESUS CHRIST in all His glory

Revelation 21:22,23 say -
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (In an ancient world whether a pagan city or Jerusalem, the focal point of the city was it’s temple or temples)
23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Revelation 15:2-4 again speaks of heaven and the everlasting activity of worship that will go on there. Worship is the constant activity in heaven.

1 Then I saw … in heaven …
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “ Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”

FOURTH we should stress that heaven is the everlasting abode of those whom God through Jesus Christ has saved. Note it in Revelation 21:1-5.

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

So, having been told by God’s word that heaven is:
1. The place of His throne
2. A holy place where there is no sin
3. The focal point there is the Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory
And -
4. It is the everlasting abode of those He has saved.

What must believers be told to do? They are to be more heavenly minded. After all, as we think so we act. For application of the four heavenly truths we looked at see Colossians 3:1-4. In this passage, the words "above" refer to heaven.

1 If then (or ‘since’) you were raised with Christ, SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 SET YOUR MIND on things above, not on things on the earth.

The context of this passage going back to Chapter 2 is what being united to Christ includes. In 2:11-13 God through the Apostle tells true believers: “… you were ... buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,”

So God now says since the believer was “raised with Christ” they must do two things. They MUST SEEK the things of heaven and they MUST SET THEIR MIND ON the things of heaven. Both verbs “seek” in verse 1, and “Set your mind on” in verse 2 are in the imperative mood. That means they are commands from God. They are also both present tense verbs which means they are to be ongoing activities.

“Seek” means to seek in order to find something and also includes the idea of CRAVING something! “Set your mind on” means to think on the things of the object the verb points to, in this sentence, HEAVEN!

In his excellent commentary, John MacArthur says seeking the things of heaven involves being preoccupied with them. “To be preoccupied with heaven is to be preoccupied with the One who reigns there and His purposes, plans, provision and power. It is also to view the things, people, and events of this world through His eyes and with an eternal perspective.”

The second command here goes a bit further. One paraphrase reads “You must not only seek heaven, you must also think heaven.” MacArthur says: “The believers whole disposition should orient itself toward heaven, where Christ is, just as a compass needle orients itself toward the north.”

The conclusion of this short paragraph in Colossians stresses why believers are to seek and think heaven -

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

This echoes Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

When a believer was united to Christ (which happened when God converted their soul and made them a believer), they died to sin. When Christ appears FOR THEM to take them to heaven, they will never ever sin again. That is what it means to have a glorified body fit for a sinless holy heaven.

In the time between the start of our salvation granted through God’s grace through believing in Christ and our final completely sinless union with Him in heaven, we should strive to be as sinless as possible. We should strive to live here and now just like we are going to live in heaven forever, worshiping God in perfect sinlessness.

Teach this heaven, and this application of it, to those He has sent you to - for the proclamation of His gospel truth.

Rich Hines
Aurora Ministries, Minister To Chaplains