Part 2 - HEAVEN
What is IN Heaven?
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
What is in Heaven?
Streets of gold? Pearly gates? Dead loved ones?
What do you expect to see when you get to heaven?
SCRIPTURE READING
John 14:1-3
“1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”
That “way” Jesus tells us is in verse 6...
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus, after His sacrificial death, went to Heaven, and is preparing a place for us.
This is foreshadowed in the traditional Jewish wedding.
After the marriage contract was made (Last Supper where Jesus shared the New Covenant through His sacrifice, and sealed in wine)
The groom (Jesus) would go and prepare a place for the bride (Body of Christ).
The bride would not know when the groom would return, but after the father (God) approved the place the groom (Jesus) had made for his bride (Body of Christ), he would return for her.
Traditionally, the groom (Jesus) would arrive at night on an unannounced day to surprise the bride (Body of Christ). (The Rapture)
Not knowing when the groom would come for her, she was always ready to leave with him.
Then for 7 days, they would feast...this represents the seven years of tribulation on earth while we are in heaven feasting with the Lord after the rapture.
After the seven days of feasting, the groom would bring his bride out, fully adorned with jewels and fine linens.
This represents Jesus at His second coming, returning to earth with His bride, the Body of Christ, fully adorned in our new fine linens (New everlasting bodies, which are perfect) and adorned with our crowns which we received from the Lord.
The question today, what is in Heaven right now?
I. THE THRONE OF GOD - SLIDE
a. The Lord is on His throne
Although there are many things we do not know about heaven, many things we cannot understand in this life, some things are revealed to us, and these we learn from the scripture alone.
Psalm 11:4
4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
Isaiah 66:1
1 This is what the LORD says:
"Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
b. He sits at the right hand of God
Hebrews 1
1In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
5For to which of the angels did God ever say,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father[a]"[b]? Or again,
"I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son"[c]? 6And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God's angels worship him."[d] 7In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds,
his servants flames of fire."[e] 8But about the Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy."[f] 10He also says,
"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
11They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
12You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end."[g] 13To which of the angels did God ever say,
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet"[h]? 14Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
c. His throne is in Heaven
Revelation 4 - A picture of the Throne of God
1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven (Third Heaven beyond Space). And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, (Third Heaven is for Spiritual Beings, God is a Spirit and therefore must be worshipped in the Spirit John 4:24) and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian (Red / orange quartz). A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders (12 represent the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament, and 12 represent the Apostles from the New testament). They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God (The first is that the seven spirits of God are symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The Bible, and especially the Book of Revelation, uses the number seven to refer to perfection and completion. If that is the meaning of the seven in the "seven spirits" then it is not referring to seven different spirits of God, but rather the perfect and complete Holy Spirit.). 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion (Represents Christ as a king), the second was like an ox (Represents Christ as a servant), the third had a face like a man (Represents Christ as a man), the fourth was like a flying eagle (Represents Christ as the Spirit of God). 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around (Sees all things and can go anywhere), even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."
This is the Throne of God!
This throne is located in the Temple in heaven.
II. THE TEMPLE
a. Gods throne is in His Temple
Revelation 11:19 - SLIDE
19Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.
If anyone ever asks you where the Ark of the Covenant is, it’s in heaven...Revelation says so.
b. His Temple is in Heaven and in His temple the Throne of God
Next week we will look at “who” is in heaven.
