Worship Programs

Theme:

"Hope of Earth, Joy of Heaven

Second Sunday in Advent

Sermon

H e a v e n  o n  E a r t h!

HEAVEN - OUR HOME!

Revelation 21:1-4

At Christmas time we think of loved ones who have gone to be with the Lord.  Their familiar voices no longer blend with ours in the singing of Christmas carols.  At times like this our human hearts become homesick for Heaven.  We look to the word of God and are reminded that the Son of God left His home in Heaven to show us how to make Heaven our home.

There are those who say, “I’m not afraid to die, but I am anxious about the way in which I will die.”  We probably have known those who have endured a long and painful passage from this life.  I suspect all of us wonder if our demise will be painful, lingering death.  We wonder if we will be a burden to our loved ones.  These are legitimate concerns. 

But whatever the circumstances of our dying, the Lord will be with us to the end of this life and will escort us into the place of everlasting delight.  The word of God gives reassurance: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4).

The final words of Jesus to His disciples on earth are recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  For the Christ-follower death has but one purpose, and that is to usher us into the presence of our heavenly Father and our permanent place in the great company of the redeemed.  The outlook of the cynic is “here today; gone tomorrow.”  But the prospect of the Christian is “here today; Heaven tomorrow!”

The early, persecuted Christians carved on the walls of their prisons the words “Vita! Vita! Vita!”  which mean “Life!” Life! Life!”  Prison walls could not extinguish the life that was in them because it was eternal life.  Jesus prayed on our behalf, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3).  Have you noticed that Jesus never used the word “immortality” when speaking of the future life?  He preferred the phrase “eternal life” because it conveys not just duration but a quality of life so rich, so abundant, so much more than this present existence.

1.  PLACE OF PERFECTION

When we shop for Christmas gifts we look for the perfect presents for our loved ones.  The perfect love of God prompted Him to send His perfect Son as His perfect gift so that His children might worship Him with perfect love and receive His perfect reward.

Wrote Paul to the church of God in Corinth, "but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears" (1 Corinthians 13:10).  Heaven is a place of absolute perfection.  The final chapters of Revelation include a list of negatives which help us to develop a concept of Heaven: no more death, no more crying, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more night.  One preacher amused his congregation with an unintentional pun while listing the negatives in Revelation 21 and 22.  He said, “What a wonderful picture John paints with his No’s!”

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20).  The Living Bible reads, “But our homeland is in heaven.”  Philippi was a Roman colony which provided privileges to its citizens.  But Paul wanted his readers to understand that they had a higher allegiance as citizens of heaven.  Here on earth we obey the laws of government, pay our taxes and behave as honorable citizens.  But our supreme loyalty lies elsewhere. 

This “alien” world in which we live influences the way we live.  Its atmosphere is not conducive to our spiritual development, and we need always to guard against becoming conformed to the world (see Romans 12:2).  First and foremost, we are citizens of Heaven.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” we read in  Revelation 2:17.  “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."

Names which appear in the scriptures are not so much designations as descriptions.  Jacob stood for supplanter; the name Jesus means Savior.  Most folk prefer to be called by their proper name rather than an anonymous, “Hi there!”

We’ll each have a new, individual name when we get to Heaven.  Our new name will be a secret between God and each one of us.  “I will give him . . . a new name . . . known only to him who receives it.”  What does that tell us about Heaven?  Every one of us will relate to God in a way that is personal.  Being part of that high-rise community does not mean we will lose our personal relationship to the members of the Godhead.  We’ll not be just another face in the celestial crowd.  Our relationship with God will be as personal - if not more so - as it is here. 

2.  PLACE OF PRAISE

What is Heaven like?  Although there are no guide books or maps of the celestial city, the book of Revelation gives us some idea.  In Revelation 4 John shows us that Heaven is a place of perpetual praise.  All eyes in Heaven seem to be directed toward the throne and every creature is involved in the worship of God.  One of the great delights of our present life is to be caught up in praise of God.  But in Heaven we’ll not just be caught up, we shall be lost in it.  Wrote Charles Wesley,

Changed from glory into glory,

Till in Heaven we take our place,

Till we cast our crowns before thee,

Lost in wonder, love and praise.

(SASB 438)

"In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’" (Revelation 5:12).  Notice that the praise described in Chapter 5 exceeds by far that described in chapter 4 in terms of volume.

The 24 elders and four living creatures engaged in worship in chapter 4 are joined in chapter 5 by the voices “of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.  They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’”

Not all the music of Advent sung by all the choirs on earth, from “Joy to the world” to Handel’s “Messiah,” will hold a Christmas candle to that perpetual paean of praise!

3.  PLACE OF PARTICIPATION

Heaven will be more than an unending praise meeting!  There will be participation.  The redeemed will serve God day and night. There will be nothing stagnant or static about the bliss of Heaven.  We serve a God whose creative ability is endless.  “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working,” Jesus said in John 5:17.  God will never enter retirement.  He will be gainfully employed in creative and endless efforts, and we, the Church, will be at his side, working with Him.

"The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him" (Revelation 22:3).  If Heaven is a place of endless activity, won’t we grow weary?  Wrote F. M. Knollis, “In that blessed world above, work will not bring weariness, for work itself is love.”

Thomas Carlyle pictured God as sitting on a throne “doing nothing.”  How dissimilar are the words of Henry Ward Beecher who, while walking with his father Lyman Beecher in Greenwood Cemetery, remarked, “I suppose one day they will bring me out here and leave me, but I won’t stay here.”  “Where will you be?” asked his father.  “I don’t know exactly,” he replied, “but somewhere right in the thick of things, working for God.”  And that too is where you and I will be - right in the thick of things, working for God.

Upon receiving an honorary knighthood at the British Embassy in Washington, D. C., Billy Graham said, “I want to give God all the glory and all the praise for what has been accomplished in my life.”  Quoting Queen Victoria’s comment that she hoped Jesus would return in her lifetime so that she could lay her crown at His feet, Dr. Graham added, “I too look forward to the day when I can see Jesus face to face and lay at His feet any honor I’ve received, because He deserves it all.” 

The Son of God left His home in Heaven to show us how to make Heaven our home.  An angel of the Lord announced His birth and a star guided worshipers to the City of David that first Christmas.  In the final chapter of the  Revelation of Jesus Christ He says, “Behold, I am coming soon! . . . I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.  I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” 

On that great day when time shall be no more, do you suppose that Jesus will be standing off at a distance, casually observing your entrance into Heaven?  I don’t think so!  We may not find this in the scriptures, but wouldn’t it be just like Jesus to be watching for you - you whom He had rescued from a life of sin; you whom He had saved from an eternity of hell; you for whom He had sacrificed his mortality; you of whom He had said good things to the Father.

At His first glimpse of you He’d cry out with joy, “Welcome Home!”  It would be just like Jesus to do that.  And then He would approach you with outstretched arms and welcome you Home.. 

Oh, what a moment that will be, when we look into the eyes of Jesus!  Jesus: Creator, Savior, Friend, Counselor, Sovereign Lord!  Nothing can compare with that moment when, face to face, we shall look into the eyes of Jesus!

O how I’d like to see his face,

My Lord beholding!

O how I’d like to take my place,

His arms enfolding!

Someday I’ll cross old Jordan’s tide,

Someday the gates will open wide,

Then I shall at his feet abide,

My Lord beholding.

- Arthur S. Arnott, SASB 884

And I shall see him face to face,

And tell the story saved by grace.

- SASB chorus 245

By the grace of God, the rest of our lives will be the best of our lives!  Heaven en route to heaven!  Here we sojourn.  There we belong!