0:00

We hold on so tenaciously to

0:02

life in this world because we haven't

0:04

really been convinced of the glory that the

0:07

Father has established in heaven for

0:09

his people. Our greatest moment

0:12

will be the moment that we walk through the door

0:14

and leave this world of tears

0:17

and of sorrow, this valley of

0:19

death, and enter into the presence

0:21

of the Lamb.

0:28

Do you spend much time thinking about the

0:30

reality of eternity? The

0:32

world can tempt us and distract us with

0:35

a new this and a new that, when

0:37

what is really significant is for the Christian,

0:40

one day we'll enjoy seeing God as he is, and

0:42

there will be a new heaven

0:44

and a new earth, and we'll dwell with God

0:47

eternally. You're listening to

0:49

Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham.

0:52

So what will heaven be like? The biblical

0:54

description on many parts is very

0:57

different than what is often

0:58

portrayed in culture, and sadly

1:00

some Christians have been influenced more by

1:03

that than the truth. So

1:05

to conclude this week's study, here's R.C. Sproul

1:07

to explore what the Bible says about eternity

1:10

for the Christian.

1:14

Every Sunday we

1:16

see God's sign of the

1:19

promise of rest that is before

1:21

every believer. As

1:23

the Sabbath day

1:25

is God's established

1:28

sign of his promise that we will enter

1:30

into our rest in

1:32

the future. But there are

1:35

those in our day who doubt

1:37

that there's life after death, and

1:40

who say to us that

1:42

our hope of heaven

1:44

is just so much pie in

1:46

the sky, it's a direct result

1:49

of our ability to project

1:51

our wishes and our desires

1:54

into the future.

1:56

And they will ask on what basis

1:58

do we have any real hope? confidence

2:01

that the next world will be better than

2:03

this one. And of course,

2:05

our answer to that as Christians is from

2:07

the testimony of Christ, not

2:10

only

2:11

by virtue of the proof of

2:13

his own conquest over death

2:16

by the resurrection from the grave,

2:18

but also from his teaching.

2:21

We remember his words at the home

2:24

of Mary and Martha at the

2:26

time that he visited Bethany

2:29

when their brother had

2:31

died before Jesus could get there, before

2:34

Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead.

2:36

And we remember Jesus saying,

2:40

I am the resurrection and

2:42

the life.

2:43

And though a man dies, yet

2:46

shall he live. Now

2:49

in the upper room discourse on

2:51

the night of his own betrayal

2:54

in John chapter 14, Jesus makes

2:57

this observation.

2:59

Let not your heart

3:01

be troubled. You

3:04

believe in God, believe also

3:07

in me. Now when

3:09

Jesus begins this discourse

3:12

that is so popular among Christians, he begins

3:14

with a commandment. He begins

3:16

with an imperative. When he says,

3:19

let not, he is using

3:21

the form of the language that implies

3:24

an obligation. We are

3:26

commanded not to

3:28

have our hearts troubled about

3:31

these matters, about our

3:34

future

3:35

in heaven. You believe in

3:37

God, believe also in

3:39

me. In my father's house are

3:42

many mansions. If

3:45

it were not so, I would have told you, and

3:48

I go to prepare a place for

3:50

you. And if I go and

3:52

prepare a place for you, I will come

3:54

again and receive you to

3:56

myself that where I am,

3:58

there you may be also.

4:00

and where I go you know and the

4:03

way you know." Now here's Jesus, the

4:06

Last Supper, sitting there with

4:08

his disciples, that they

4:11

know that the crisis is upon

4:13

them, that he is about

4:15

to be removed from their midst,

4:18

and they're concerned, they're anxious,

4:22

and Jesus said, calm down, don't

4:24

let your hearts be troubled. You believe

4:26

in God, don't you? Well believe also

4:29

in me, because in my

4:31

father's house are many mansions.

4:34

Now here's what he says,

4:37

if it were not so,

4:41

I would have told you.

4:43

Now this is the rabbi teaching

4:46

the disciples, the master

4:48

teaching his students, and he's saying

4:50

before he leaves, I would

4:52

not let you

4:54

continue on in false

4:56

hope, pie in the sky,

4:59

wish fulfillment and psychological

5:03

cripples in this regard.

5:05

If this were a false hope,

5:08

if this were simply a projected

5:11

paradise, I would have corrected

5:13

your error. If it were not so,

5:15

I would have told you, but not only

5:17

is it so, but that's exactly

5:20

where I'm going right now. I'm going

5:22

to my father's house, and I'm

5:25

going there with one of the purposes I'm

5:27

going for, is to prepare

5:30

a place for you. I'm

5:33

going ahead into heaven

5:36

and make sure that when I get there, there

5:38

will be a place for you

5:41

when you die. That's

5:44

the promise of Christ to his people. That

5:47

everyone who puts his trust in him, Christ

5:50

has prepared a place in his father's

5:53

house for us, and

5:55

God doesn't make idle

5:58

preparations. And

6:00

I think we've all had the experience of preparing

6:02

dinner for guests, and then at the last minute

6:05

we get the phone call that's saying that

6:07

they've been sidetracked and they're

6:09

not able to make the appointment.

6:11

Well, that doesn't happen when Christ

6:14

prepares a place for His people. His

6:17

people will make use of that

6:19

place. And so the first thing we want to say about

6:21

heaven is that we have every

6:23

reason to be confident of

6:26

its reality.

6:28

But usually where our concern is about

6:30

heaven is what's it going to be like?

6:33

And the Scriptures have much to say about

6:35

heaven, but John also

6:38

in his first epistle gives

6:40

some insight into our

6:43

future state, which I think

6:45

is extremely important to us. In

6:48

chapter 3 of 1 John

6:50

we read these words, Behold

6:53

what manner of love the Father has

6:55

bestowed upon us that we should

6:57

be called the children of God. Now we've

6:59

looked at this from another perspective elsewhere.

7:02

Therefore, the world doesn't

7:04

know us

7:06

because it did not know Him.

7:08

Beloved, now we are the children

7:10

of God and it has not yet been

7:13

revealed what we shall

7:15

be. But

7:17

we know that when He is revealed,

7:21

we shall be like Him,

7:23

for we shall see Him as

7:25

He is. And

7:27

everyone who has this hope in Him

7:29

purifies Himself just

7:32

as He is pure. This

7:34

text I think is one of the most important

7:36

eschatological texts, if not the most

7:38

important eschatological text in

7:41

all of the New Testament, because

7:43

what it promises the believer

7:45

is the zenith

7:48

of the felicity that we will

7:50

enjoy in heaven, which is found

7:53

in what is called technically in theology

7:56

the visio dei,

7:58

or... The

8:01

Beatific vision.

8:08

The first phrase, Visio Dei, simply means

8:10

the vision of God. Which

8:13

vision is called the beatific

8:15

vision? Why? Well, you

8:17

may not be familiar with the term beatific,

8:21

but you are familiar with the term beatitude. The

8:23

beatitudes are those sayings

8:26

that are recorded in the Sermon on the Mount when

8:29

Jesus begins each of the beatitudes

8:32

with the prophetic oracle of blessing. Blessed

8:35

are the poor.

8:37

Blessed are the peacemakers

8:40

and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness

8:43

and so on. That is a

8:45

promise of blessedness,

8:49

a degree of happiness that

8:51

transcends any pleasure or any

8:53

kind of earthly happiness when

8:55

God gives blessedness

8:58

to the soul of a person. That

9:01

is the supreme level of joy and

9:03

fulfillment and of happiness that any creature

9:06

can ever

9:07

receive. And that is

9:09

called, this blessedness is what

9:12

is in view here when we talk about

9:14

the beatific vision. A vision

9:18

that is so wonderful, a

9:20

vision that is so fulfilling

9:23

that the vision itself brings

9:26

with it the fullness

9:29

of the blessing.

9:31

And what is that vision? It's

9:33

the vision of God. For

9:35

what John says here in this chapter is,

9:37

we don't know yet what we're going to be. He says,

9:40

I don't know all the details of what heaven is going

9:42

to be like.

9:44

But one thing we know is

9:47

that we will be like Him, for

9:49

we shall see Him in, say,

9:57

est in the Vulgate, in

9:59

the Latin.

9:59

conversion,

10:00

we will see Him as

10:02

He is in Himself. We're

10:07

going to be able to see and

10:09

to behold not a

10:11

theophany, not an indirect

10:14

manifestation of God, not

10:16

a burning bush, not a pillar

10:18

of cloud or a pillar of smoke, but

10:21

we're going to see Him as He is. We're

10:23

going to see Him in His

10:26

unveiled being.

10:30

Now wait a minute. In

10:32

the Old Testament, all of the joys and

10:35

blessings that people experience

10:37

by the nearness of God have a limit,

10:40

and the limit is this. No man

10:42

shall see God. No

10:45

man is allowed to see the face of God

10:47

or they will perish. Even Moses, who

10:50

begged with the Lord that the Lord would

10:52

let him see His face, God

10:55

said, no Moses, I'll let you get a backward

10:57

glimpse of my passing glory, but

11:00

my face shall not be

11:02

seen.

11:04

That kind of intimate vision,

11:08

face to face, looking directly

11:10

at God is what is

11:13

absolutely forbidden every

11:15

mortal in this world.

11:17

And it's what makes the living of the Christian

11:20

life so difficult because you are

11:22

called to pursue a life

11:25

of obedience and holiness

11:27

and devotion and dedication to

11:29

a God you've never seen. That's

11:32

the hardest thing of the Christian life is

11:34

that we serve a Master who is invisible

11:38

to us. Never

11:40

heard His voice, never seen Him, and

11:44

yet the promise is

11:45

that someday we will see Him.

11:48

Well, the immediate question that comes up

11:51

at this point theologically is, now

11:53

wait a minute, how are we going

11:56

to see God as He is when

11:58

God is invisible?

12:00

And yet we go back to the Sermon

12:03

on the Mount.

12:04

Who is it that is promised

12:07

that they would see God? It's

12:10

not the peacemakers. It's

12:13

not the poor. It's

12:16

not the merciful. Blessed

12:19

are the pure in

12:22

heart,

12:23

for they shall see God.

12:27

And you see, the reason why we can't

12:30

see God is not because there's something wrong

12:32

with our eyes.

12:33

The reason why we can't see God

12:36

is there's something wrong with our hearts.

12:38

But when we enter into glory

12:40

and receive the fullness of our

12:43

sanctification, that present

12:45

barrier that makes us impossible

12:48

to have a direct and immediate perception

12:50

of God will be removed. But

12:53

again, you say, but it's still, even

12:55

in heaven, God will not have a body,

12:58

He will be a spirit. How can

13:00

you see a spirit? Well, I don't know the answer

13:03

to that. This is one of those

13:05

things where God has not

13:07

told us, although some of the best

13:09

minds in theology have speculated on

13:12

it a little bit.

13:13

Just yesterday I was writing, working

13:16

on a book on philosophy, and was dealing

13:19

with one of the philosophers and explaining

13:22

the whole business of mediated

13:24

knowledge. And in my illustration,

13:27

I talked about watching basketball

13:30

games

13:31

on television.

13:34

And we say that when I watch the basketball

13:36

game on television,

13:38

am I really watching the basketball

13:40

game? Obviously, I'm not

13:43

live and present at

13:45

the event. The basketball game

13:47

is taking place miles away from

13:50

where I am. What I am

13:52

watching is an electronic

13:54

broadcast and reproduction

13:57

of what is taking place miles and miles

13:59

and miles.

13:59

miles away. There is a

14:02

medium between the game and

14:04

me. And

14:07

so I am made aware of what's going on

14:09

to the basketball game through the media.

14:12

What is a media, but an intermediary

14:15

that communicates something that's going on

14:18

over here to someone who is

14:20

over here. Now, why do I say

14:22

that? I said, well, I didn't see the game.

14:24

I was only looking at pictures

14:27

of the game.

14:29

Well, if I were at the game,

14:32

what would I be looking at?

14:34

Images that

14:36

are reflected

14:38

in front of my eyes

14:40

and light then illumines

14:42

that image so that light sources

14:45

hit my eyes and the

14:47

lens of my eyes, my optic nerve,

14:49

and through this whole process of

14:52

sight, I say, ah, I

14:54

see it.

14:55

But all kinds of things are

14:58

taking place here in the transmission

15:01

of the sensory

15:03

activity that I am perceiving with my

15:05

eyes. And I couldn't see anything.

15:07

If I had the best vision in the world and you locked

15:10

me in a room without any light, I

15:12

wouldn't see anything. I still need light and

15:15

I need those images to be able to see

15:17

them.

15:17

So even our present sight

15:22

is mediated. And

15:26

what Edward said was this, that

15:28

we are going to be in such a state where

15:31

our souls without

15:33

the advantage of our eyes will

15:36

be able to have a direct and immediate

15:39

apprehension of the invisible

15:42

God. Now, again, soul,

15:44

spirit to spirit

15:47

communication, I don't know how that works.

15:49

That's pure speculation. But

15:52

one thing we know for certain through the

15:54

revealed word of God

15:56

is that the delight

15:58

of our souls in heaven.

16:00

will be that

16:01

we will see Him, and

16:05

we will see Him as He

16:07

is. Now in

16:09

our series on the overview of the Bible,

16:12

Dust to Glory, where we

16:14

went through from the beginnings

16:16

of Genesis and gave an overview of the

16:18

whole scope of biblical history

16:20

and Revelation, ending up in the book of Revelation,

16:23

we titled that series, Dust to

16:25

Glory.

16:27

Obviously, the glory

16:30

was found in the zenith

16:32

of Revelation that comes to us in

16:35

the last couple of chapters of the New Testament

16:37

in the book of Revelation, where John

16:39

records the vision

16:41

that he received on the island of Patmos,

16:44

in which Christ Himself showed Him

16:47

things, including a vision

16:49

at the end of the apocalypse

16:52

of the new heaven and of the

16:54

new earth

16:55

that come down from

16:58

God. And let's just take a

17:00

moment to look at some of these elements.

17:03

Chapter 21 of the book of Revelation, Now

17:07

I saw a new heaven and

17:10

a new earth, for the first heaven and

17:12

the first earth had passed away, and

17:15

there was no more sea. And

17:18

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,

17:21

coming down of heaven from God, prepared as

17:23

a bride adorned for her husband.

17:25

And I heard a loud voice saying,

17:29

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with

17:31

men, and He will dwell with them,

17:33

and they shall be His people. God

17:36

will be with them, and He will be their God.

17:39

And God will wipe away every tear

17:41

from their eyes, there shall be no more

17:43

death, nor sorrow, nor crying,

17:46

no more pain, for the former

17:48

things will have

17:51

passed away. Now, notice

17:55

that when the Bible gives us a description

17:58

of the coming

17:59

of heaven. It focuses

18:02

on some startling dimensions

18:04

of what heaven will be like and

18:07

what it will not be like. It

18:09

tells us what will be there, what

18:11

will not be there. If you go on and read this

18:13

text, it does talk about streets

18:16

of gold,

18:17

gold so fine and so

18:19

pure that it is translucent.

18:22

It talks about gates

18:24

constructed with magnificent pearls,

18:27

and the foundation established

18:30

and adorned with precious jewels.

18:33

Now, knowing the nature of apocalyptic

18:35

literature, what is so imaginative,

18:38

we assume that these are symbolic

18:41

representations about what heaven will

18:43

be like. But let me just say,

18:46

I wouldn't put it past him.

18:49

I would not put it past God

18:51

to have a city that

18:54

is paved with streets of gold and

18:57

to have it look just exactly as

18:59

it is described right here. I wouldn't

19:02

put it past him at all, but he

19:04

said there's no sea there. I saw,

19:06

oh, wait a minute. And that's where we live for

19:08

every year is to go on vacation, go to the beach. We love the sea.

19:12

No, no, no. For the Hebrew,

19:13

the sea is the symbol of

19:15

violence. They

19:18

didn't have sandy

19:20

beaches in Israel. Their

19:23

seacoast was the source of

19:25

marauders coming who attacked

19:28

them and violent weather that came

19:30

off the Mediterranean. In all of Hebrew

19:33

poetry, the sea is a negative

19:35

symbol.

19:36

It's the river, it's the fountain,

19:39

it's the well that serves

19:41

as the positive image

19:43

in the Hebrew poetry, not

19:45

the sea.

19:47

And so he says the first thing, folks, there

19:49

won't be any violent,

19:51

natural catastrophes that you have

19:53

to worry about in heaven

19:55

because the sea won't be there. And

19:57

he said,

19:58

here's what else won't be there.

19:59

be. There

20:02

won't be any tears. There's

20:07

no room for tears unless

20:09

they're tears of joy. But

20:11

we associate tears in

20:14

our language with sorrow, with

20:16

sadness, with grief. And

20:19

every child remembers what it was like to

20:21

be overwhelmed with being

20:23

upset and having a fit

20:26

of crying and having your mother come

20:28

with her apron and wiping

20:30

away the tears. And what a comforting thing

20:32

that is. However,

20:35

you cry again tomorrow.

20:38

But when God

20:39

wipes away your tears, they

20:42

never come back. They

20:44

will be no more. Why?

20:47

Because the things that make us cry will

20:50

be removed. There will

20:52

be no more death.

20:54

There will be no more sorrow. There

20:57

will be no more pain. These

20:59

former things will have passed

21:02

away. Well,

21:04

we jump down to verse 22 and we find

21:06

out what else won't be in heaven.

21:10

There'll be no temple there. And

21:14

we go on and we'll say, oops, there'll be no

21:16

sun there. There'll

21:18

be no moon there. No temple? You mean there'll be no church? And

21:22

there'll be no sun, no moon? What is

21:24

this place of desolation? Thought it was going to

21:27

be heaven. Why won't there be a temple

21:28

there? Because

21:33

the temple is the visible symbol

21:37

of the presence of God. And

21:39

when the reality is there, you

21:41

don't need the physical temple

21:44

there. And why will there not be

21:46

any sun or moon or stars?

21:49

These are artificial sources of

21:51

light. And what we're told about that

21:53

in heaven,

21:54

the radiance, the refauldgence

21:57

of the glory of God and of the land.

22:00

will illumine the whole

22:02

city. There will never be night

22:05

because the glowing, brilliant,

22:08

radiant glory of God

22:11

never stops. It's not on a 24-hour cycle.

22:13

I mean, the

22:15

Son of Righteousness does

22:18

not set

22:19

ever.

22:22

And so heaven will be a place

22:24

that will be a glow

22:26

with the unvarnished,

22:30

unveiled radiance

22:32

of God. And

22:35

there are other beautiful things that are said here about

22:37

heaven, but think of it, friends. What

22:40

are you living for?

22:41

Jonathan Edwards said, you know, can

22:44

you imagine somebody saving to go

22:46

on a journey on a vacation for 10

22:49

years, and in order to get

22:51

to their destination, they had

22:53

to travel and that the first night they

22:55

stopped at a wayside inn.

22:58

And

23:00

the next day, instead of continuing

23:02

their travel to get to their desired destination

23:05

that they had hoped and saved for for

23:07

all this time, they decided

23:09

to forego it all and to stay in the inn.

23:12

That's the way we are.

23:14

We hold on so tenaciously

23:16

to life in this world because

23:19

we haven't really been convinced of the glory

23:21

that the Father has established in heaven

23:23

for His people.

23:25

But for all eternity, God

23:28

has established this place which is

23:30

the end and the destiny of

23:33

all of His people.

23:36

It doesn't get any better than that. And

23:39

again, every aspiration, every

23:41

hope, every joy that

23:43

we look forward to will be there and

23:46

then some in this wonderful

23:48

place. Our greatest

23:50

moment

23:52

will be the moment that we walk through the

23:54

door and leave

23:56

this world of tears

23:58

and sorrow as a valley.

23:59

valley of death and

24:02

enter into the presence of

24:04

the lame.

24:12

That will be a glorious moment. And

24:15

I find it so comforting and significant that

24:17

not only will there be no tears in heaven,

24:20

but also that it's God Himself who

24:22

will wipe them away. You're

24:25

listening to Renewing Your Mind, and that was

24:27

R.C. Wrobel, discussing the Believer's

24:29

Final Rest. This message

24:31

comes from his Foundation series, which

24:34

consists of 60 messages, and

24:36

it walks us through what we believe and why

24:38

we believe it as Christians. For your donation

24:41

of any amount, at renewingyourmind.org,

24:43

we'll give you lifetime streaming access

24:45

to the series. We'll also give you access

24:48

to the digital study guide and send

24:50

you the newly released hardcover book, Facing

24:52

the Last Enemy, by Guy Waters. This

24:55

book from Dr. Waters was written to help

24:57

you prepare for death, but also

24:59

to help you practically care for those

25:02

who are grieving or are going through suffering.

25:05

This book is a helpful resource regardless of

25:07

your current circumstances, but perhaps

25:09

there is someone who comes to mind who would benefit

25:11

from receiving this as a gift. So I

25:13

encourage you to visit renewingyourmind.org

25:16

or call us at 800-435-4343 to request digital access

25:21

to R.C. Sproul's Foundation series and

25:24

the new hardcover book by Guy Waters,

25:27

Facing the Last Enemy. This is also

25:29

the final day for this offer, so respond

25:31

now while there's still time at renewingyourmind.org.

25:37

We've spent the last couple of days considering

25:40

heaven, but between now and

25:42

when we pass into eternity, we live

25:44

in this world. So how are we to

25:46

relate to the world and please God

25:49

while we're here? Be sure to join us

25:51

next week as we'll explore those questions

25:53

here on Renewing Your Mind.