Revelation 21:1-4 * May 2, 2010 * Easter 5 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

The 20^th Century Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Homes, evidently with Christians in mind, is attributed with saying that “some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”

Related to this and regardless of what it is or is not theologically (and it’s not much), in the early 1970’s the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” hit the stage and remains a part of our pop culture today. In one of the scenes the disciple Judas is clearly frustrated with the rest of the disciples for what he considers their mindless devotion to Jesus’ teachings. He accuses them of having “too much heaven on their minds.”

Both raise an interesting question. Can we as Christians have too much heaven on our minds?

If we follow the counsel of the Apostle Paul who, by divine inspiration, tells us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2), and if we take seriously the words of the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation we have before us – a text devoted entirely to the subject of heaven – the answer is: no.

In fact it would seem pretty obvious that for our comfort, strength and joy God wants us to live with

HEAVEN ON OUR MINDS

So on the basis of these words from Revelation and other portions of Scripture let’s do that. For the next several minutes we’re going to talk about heaven and

1. How it is supplied

2. How it is described

3. How it is applied

People talk about it all the time and everybody is familiar with the term, but it doesn’t mean the same thing to every person. So the first matter to be taken up: what exactly is heaven? You’ll hear some say it’s a state of mind or a higher level of consciousness or something vague along those lines.

Well, the Bible defines heaven as a place. Specifically, a place God has prepared for His children to live with Him in glory and grace for all eternity. Recall how Jesus comforted His disciples shortly before His crucifixion. He said He was going to prepare a place for them so they may be with Him forever. So we can correctly think of heaven in terms of space and place and location.

The more pressing question is how do we get there? The Bible tells us heaven cannot be earned or attained by us. This is what many – most – people think, and this is what all world religions outside of Christianity teach. Work hard, follow the rules, do good things, keep your nose clean and God will reward you by taking you to heaven.

God says just the opposite. He says if we want to get to heaven on our own it takes more than a good effort or comparing ourselves to those we think we’re better than. It takes perfect righteousness. Moral perfection in thought, word and deed. And that’s bad news, because the Bible also tells us – and experience teaches us – that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10) and “that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

If we’re going to make it to heaven, then, it will not be through our performance, regardless of how hard we try. Heaven must be supplied to us. And it has, through God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He took on our flesh and blood and lived that perfectly righteous life as our substitute; then He took upon Himself the punishment our imperfection deserved by dying on the cross. Three days later He rose from the grave as proof positive that His mission had been accomplished.

The best news yet: everything Jesus did is credited to the account of those who believe Him to be their Savior. Through faith in Jesus Christ eternal life in heaven is supplied. That’s why we love Jesus and willingly and voluntarily wish to align our lives with His teachings. Through His life, death and resurrection He has opened the door to heaven for us, and the moment we close our eyes in death is the moment we’ll take up our eternal residency there.

And what a place it will be. The Apostle John was given a glimpse of heaven in our text and describes it in a number of different ways. Let’s work our way through them.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. What this verse tells us is simply that heaven is entirely different than what we are used to.

Our present world is affected and ravaged by mankind’s individual and corporate sin. The Apostle Paul in Romans talks about how God’s perfectly created world “was subjected to frustration” and under “bondage.” That’s what we have now. But heaven will be different. All things will be new and perfect.

Furthermore, John says there was no longer any sea, which we can take to mean in heaven there will be no more separation. This was probably very significant for him personally when we remember that John was given and then wrote the Book of Revelation on Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea. He’d been banished there because of his allegiance to Jesus Christ. The sea separated him from those he loved on the mainland. Undoubtedly he longed for them and his heart ached for them. Contrasted to his present situation, in heaven there will be no more separation.

That’s a pretty wonderful thought for us as well, especially those of us who experience separation from our loved ones either by location or by death. In heaven there will be a grand and glorious and personal fellowship with all who know Jesus; separation will no longer exist. In the words of the hymn “I’m But a Stranger Here,” we will be in the company of and surrounded by “the good and blest, those I love most and best.”

²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The loveliness of a bride needs no explanation. Here heaven is also described as the New Jerusalem, a place of infinite beauty and grandeur. Maybe a word or two on that would be in order.

Why Jerusalem? Among Old Testament and early New Testament believers Jerusalem was indeed the “holy city.” Their entire spiritual life revolved around the temple there.

However, Jerusalem had been defiled many times and for the people who first heard these words it was a mere shell of what it once was; the glorious temple had been destroyed by Roman conquerors and lay in ruins. Heaven, the “new” Jerusalem would be its perfect counterpart.

Later on in this chapter this heavenly Jerusalem is further described in terms of beauty and wealth and splendor and purity and as a place where there will never be any darkness. These words preview, but cannot adequately capture, what is in store for us. The reality is what we sang just minutes ago: “I know not, oh I know not what joys await us there, what radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.”

³And 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. Here heaven is described as a place where God will dwell with man in a new and intimate relationship.

In the original Greek language the word “dwelling of God” literally means the “tent of God.” This recalls Old Testament history and takes us back to when the People of God had left Egypt and were making their way to the Promised Land. Whenever and wherever they stopped they set up a specially designed tent called the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the visible sign of God’s presence among them. The same thing will happen in heaven but in a newer and richer way: God will dwell with His People.

Note the further descriptions: “He will live with them;” “They will be his people;” “God himself will be with them.” These are all variations on the same theme just to make sure we get the picture: God will dwell with His People. Certainly all this is true now, but it will become abundantly clear in heaven.

This is a joyful thought both then and now. Believers back then felt the sting of persecution for being Christians and may have been tempted to believe God had abandoned them. When we go through our trials today we face the same temptation.

But this world is not all there is. And it is our great comfort to know that one day, some day, could be any day, we will actually dwell in the presence of the Lord.

The final description is perhaps the most all encompassing. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

This verse is sometimes referred to as the “heavenly negatives” because it speaks of heaven not in terms of what is there, but what is not there: the complete absence of that which brings sorrow. In the here and now we deal with death and mourning and crying and pain; they are part of the old order of things we routinely contend with as we make our way through life. In heaven all of those things will not exist, “for the old order of things has passed away.”

Thus far we have seen how heaven is supplied and how it is described. But how is it applied to us today? What impact does it have on our everyday life?

The English poet Robert Browning wrote a poem with the lengthy title "An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician." Despite the title the poem is actually about Lazarus, the man Jesus raised from the dead.

It is written in the form of a letter from the Arab physician, Karshish, who is reporting to another man about his travels and discoveries. When Karshish visits Jerusalem he hears about Lazarus and is interested in learning more about him. According to the poem, it had been 40 years since Jesus called him back from the grave.

What is most interesting is the way Lazarus is described by this doctor. He observes that Lazarus has this weird sort of calmness about him and that he seemed to be unaffected by the changes going on around him. For example, Jerusalem was under siege by the Romans at that time, but it didn’t really seem to bother Lazarus. He was unmoved and unflappable in the face of some pretty distressing circumstances.

Why? The assumption is because Lazarus for a brief time had been in heaven; and the conclusion to be drawn is that once a person has seen firsthand the power of God in their life as well as what awaits us, the daily struggles and uncertainties of life which may once have consumed our time and energy, just don’t anymore. Because we know who we are and whose we are and where we’re going and who is in control in the meanwhile.

We know we’re but pilgrims here – loved and cared for pilgrims, but pilgrims nonetheless – and that heaven is our home. And today we had a chance to glimpse at our final destination, Jerusalem the Golden, and at least for the last twenty minutes or so live with heaven on our minds.

Which, considering the joy, strength and comfort it provides, is something we really can’t do too much. Amen.