Between Heaven and Hell--Part I

Between Heaven and Hell

Part I

Dr. Hal Harless

Foundation Fellowship of Greenville, TX

July 18, 2010

I. Introduction

A. Is heaven pie in the sky, bye-and-bye when we die? Is it a sort of celestial bribe?

1. C. S. Lewis observed that

We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven.... We are afraid that Heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.... A man's love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her.... Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object.[1]

2. In 1991, a Gallup poll showed that 78 percent of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die. However, many of them hardly ever pray, read the Bible, or attend church. They admit that they live to please themselves instead of God. I wonder why these people would want to go to heaven.[2]

B. Yet, there is a longing within each of us. We have a hunger for more than this life provides. This life alone does not give us ultimate fulfillment and meaning.

1. C. S. Lewis observed, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."[3]

2. In this life, we all are poised between heaven and hell.

a. It is unavoidable that one or the other is our ultimate destination.

b. Therefore, we should pay attention to what the Bible says about these ultimate destinations.

c. This week we will look at heaven, and next week we will examine hell.

II. Heaven

A. Heavenly terminology

1. OT: The Heb. word šāmayim has the basic meaning of "visible heavens, sky, where stars, etc., are" and is also used "as [the] abode of God ... where he sits enthroned."[4]

a. God's dwelling place

i. Moses prayed, "Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers" (Deut 26:15).

ii. David said, "The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven" (Ps 11:4).

iii. Solomon prayed, "Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive" (1 Kgs 8:30).

b. However, heaven is too small to contain the omnipresent God.

i. Solomon said, "But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?" (2 Chr 2:6).

ii. God told Isaiah, "Thus says the LORD, 'Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?'" (Isa 66:1).

iii. Similarly, God told Jeremiah, "'Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the LORD" (Jer 23:24).

2. NT

a. The Gk. word ouranos has a basic meaning of "the portion or portions of the universe gener[ally] distinguished from planet earth," but also means the "transcendent abode.... of God.... Christ.... of angels.... [and] Christians who have died."[5]

i. Jesus taught, "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING" (Matt 5:34-35).

ii. Paul taught, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:20).

iii. Jesus taught that believers should "rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

b. The Gk. word paradeisos ("paradise") was borrowed from the Persian pairidaêza, which meant an enclosed garden or a park.[6]

i. Paul says:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows--was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak (2 Cor 12:2-4).

ii. Jesus told the thief on the cross, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).

iii. Jesus told John, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God" (Rev 2:7).

c. Heaven is the throne of God, the dwelling place of angels, a place of beauty comparable to a lush park or garden, and our home, if we are believers.

B. Four phases of eternal life

1. Life before death

a. Is heaven pie in the sky, bye-and-bye when we die?

b. The Bible teaches that believers in Jesus Christ presently possess eternal life.

i. Jesus Christ promises, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has [present tense] eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24).

ii. John the apostle, in explaining the purpose of his gospel, wrote that "these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have [present tense] life in His name" (John 20:31).

c. On the other hand, those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are walking around, but the Bible teaches that they are spiritually dead.

i. Jesus Christ said, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).

ii. John states matters plainly, "And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:11-12).

d. The primary question is not, "Is there life after death?" but "Is there life after birth?"

2. Death

a. The author of Hebrews wrote:

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself [Jesus] likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives (Heb 2:14-15).

b. Reasons for the fear of death

i. Fear of pain

ii. Fear of the unknown

iii. Fear of judgment

c. Trading faith for fear

i. Pain is something that you experience in life, but, as God told Paul, His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor 12:9).

ii. Death is a non-event for the believer in Jesus; one moment you are in this life, the next you are in heaven.

1) Jesus Christ told the grieving Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die" (John 11:25-26).

2) Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death" (John 8:51).

iii. The believer in Jesus will never be judged as to his or her salvation.

1) Jesus said, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

2) Paul wrote, "Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us" (Rom 8:31).

3) That is the reason that Paul could write, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1).

d. The believer in Jesus Christ need have no fear of death.

3. Life after death

a. Although some teach what is called "soul sleep," the Bible teaches that we are conscious after death.

i. In Jesus' story, the beggar is conscious and fellowshipping with Abraham (Luke 16:22-24).

ii. Jesus Christ told the thief on the cross "today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).

b. At death, believers leave their sinful nature behind, and are perfect.

i. The author of Hebrews writes:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect" (Heb 12:22-23).

ii. This means that believing loved ones that you may have had issues with will no longer have those flaws. The believer's flaws that irritated others will likewise be gone.

c. Believers are with the Lord.

i. Paul wrote to the Philippians:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake" (Phil 1:21-24).

ii. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8).

d. It is a place of joy, as the Psalmist wrote, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever" (Ps 16:11).

4. Life after life after death

a. Our ultimate destination is not to be disembodied spirits; the Scriptures teach the resurrection of the body.

i. Isaiah prophesied, "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits" (Isa 26:19).

ii. Daniel prophesied, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan 12:2 NIV).

b. Jesus Christ is the agent of the resurrection.

i. Jesus Christ taught:

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.... Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth (John 5:25, 28-29).

ii. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).

c. Believers will have glorious bodies like Jesus' resurrection body.

i. The Apostle John wrote:

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3).

ii. Paul, after explaining that the resurrection body is like a grain that is sown, writes:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.... Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1 Cor 15:42-44, 49-50).

d. The resurrection of Christians takes place at the rapture.

i. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor 15:51-53).

ii. Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess 4:13-18).

C. Three phases of paradise

1. Heaven (Rev 4-5)

a. The main point is the presence of God (Rev 4:2-3, 11; 5:1, 7, 13).

b. Heaven is awesome and beautiful. Describing it stretches John's vocabulary; notice the use of "like."

i. "And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance" (Rev 4:3).

ii. "And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal" (Rev 4:6).

c. Heaven is noisy.

i. "Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder" (Rev 4:5).

ii. John wrote:

Then I looked and heard the voice 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!" (Rev 5:11-12 NIV).

d. Heaven will be the home of resurrected Christians from the rapture to the Second Coming.

2. Heaven on earth--the millennial kingdom

a. Heaven will invade earth--Jesus Christ will return after the tribulation to rule the earth from Jerusalem for a thousand years.

i. John wrote:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (Rev 19:11-16).

ii. John explained that the martyrs of the tribulation "came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (Rev 20:4).

b. Entering the kingdom

i. It is said that "John Newton said that when we get to heaven, there will be three wonders: 1. Who is there, 2. Who is not there, and 3. The fact that I’m there!"[7]

ii. We must be born spiritually to enter the kingdom of God.

1) Jesus had a conversation with a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court:

Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [physical birth] and the Spirit [spiritual birth] he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:3-7).

2) Peter writes that believers "have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Pet 1:23).

3) Paul writes, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

iii. The new birth is a product of faith alone in Christ alone.

1) John wrote, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).

2) In Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, He went on to explain that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

iv. Entrance into the kingdom is secured by faith alone in Christ alone; it is not for the self-righteous and self-sufficient.

1) Jesus said, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in" (Matt 23:13).

2) Jesus said to His disciples:

"How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:23-27).

c. Inheriting the kingdom

i. The difference between entering and inheriting a kingdom--all believers enter, but not all rule.

ii. Paul pointedly asked the Corinthians:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10).

iii. Paul reminded the Galatians:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21).

iv. Our behavior as Christians effects whether we will rule with Jesus Christ during the millennial kingdom.

v. Only resurrected believers will rule with Christ in the kingdom, as Paul said, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 15:50). However, "flesh and blood" in the person of tribulation believers will definitely "enter the kingdom" and repopulate the earth.

3. New heavens and earth--the forever kingdom

a. A rebellion against God is put down at the end of the millennium (Rev 20:7-10).

b. This is followed by the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

c. Then God will create a new heavens and a new earth.

i. John describes, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea" (Rev 21:1).

ii. Peter writes, "But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet 3:13).

iii. Nobody will inhabit this world but glorious sinless beings (Rev 22:15).

iv. Even the laws of physics must have changed:

1) The New Jerusalem is so massive that gravity would crush it into a sphere in our universe. Ross observes that "if the familiar force of gravity were in operation, this cube would collapse into a spherical shape, for in our universe, any material object with dimensions exceeding about 300 miles across would be pulled by gravity into a more or less spherical shape."[8]

2) Gold is "like transparent glass" (Rev 21:21).

3) There will be changes in stars and orbital mechanics, "And there will no longer be any night" (Rev 22:5).

4) There will be no heat death of the universe due to entropy, but things will go on forever.

d. The New Jerusalem

i. It is huge!

1) "The city is laid out as a square ... its length and width and height are equal."--The New Jerusalem is shaped like a cube.

2) "Fifteen hundred miles"--For perspective, the diameter of the earth is 7,909 miles and the diameter of the moon is 2,155 miles.[9] The distance from San Francisco to Washington, DC is 2,450 miles. If one side of the cube were from Dallas, TX to Boston, MA, the other would stretch to Calgary, AL, Canada. The corner opposite Dallas, TX would be in the Northern part of Hudson Bay.

3) The area of such a cube would be 3,375,000,000 cubic miles or 496,793,088,000,000,000,000 (497 quintillion) cubic feet.

4) Dr. Hugh Ross calculates that "if its population exceeds ten billion, the New Jerusalem alone would give each of us about forty billion cubic feet of living space (equivalent to a fourteen square mile home with a hundred foot high ceiling)."[10]

ii. It is fancy!

1) The gates are gigantic pearls (Rev 21:21).

2) "The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone." (Rev 21:19).

3) The New Jerusalem's "brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper" (Rev 21:11).

4) The point is that, in the New Jerusalem, gold is so common that we walk on it!

iii. Most important, God is there!

1) John wrote, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev 21:22-23).

2) John wrote that God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain" (Rev 21:4).

D. Professions in paradise

1. Will heaven be boring?

2. We will not be married in heaven, except to Jesus Christ.

a. Jesus taught, "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven" (Matt 22:30).

b. Paul wrote that

Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Eph 5:25-27).

3. Praising God

4. Meaningful work designed by the all-knowing, all-loving, all-wise Creator of the universe just for you!

E. Eye has not seen

1. What we know of heaven sounds wonderful.

2. However, as Paul wrote, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM" (1 Cor 2:9).

III. Application:

A. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior...

1. Heaven is a wonderful place. Don't you want to go there?

2. You can settle the issue right now by placing your trust in Jesus Christ.

B. If you are a believer ...

1. Lay up treasures in heaven.

2. Live so that you will reign with Jesus Christ as one of His servant kings.