A man dies and goes to heaven. After walking on the street of gold, he now stands in front of the Pearly Gates where St. Peter is waiting.
St. Peter says, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it to heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I´ll give you a equivalent number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."
"Okay, that sounds fair" the man says, "How about this, I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth 1 point!"
"One point? Are you serious?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life, been part of home groups and I supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth another point."
"One point again? Oh my! How about this: I started a mission project in the mountains and also worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
"Fantastic, that's good for one more point," he says.
"One more point?" the man cries, "I´m running out of good works. At this rate, I won´t make it. The only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"
St. Peter said "You got it, come on in!"
I´m sure you’ve heard of lots of stories about the Pearly Gates. A person dies, he goes to heaven. He meets St. Peter, so he either lets the person through the gates and into heaven, or he sends the person to hell. I think we have covered several topics about eschatology and I am sure a lot of you now understand that the popular understanding about heaven is not exactly how the Bible describes it.
After Final Battle, the next major event is the Great White Throne (GWT) Judgement. All those in hell will be brought forth to face final judgement. All the wicked from all eras of history will be resurrected and stand before God. The Bible tells us that the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Those whose name was not found written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire and they will be tormented there for eternity.
The Great White Throne judgement is something that we cannot even imagine or think of happening. But this is a real event. Since the history of man, we´ve seen how corrupt, how disobedient and how man has rejected God. It´s just unimaginable to even think of any person we know who can be judged at the Great White Throne. I thank God, the Revelation to the Apostle John did not end in a negative note. He saw the final scene of God´s revelation which is something so beautiful for those who have surrendered their lives to Christ.
The Bible is God´s Word. Isaiah 40:8 says “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
After the completion of all these end-time events, the heavens and the earth as we know it, will pass away and will be changed by the Lord with something new. How blessed we are that God is already showing us what´s going to happen in the future. The Bible has mentioned so many times that this world is not our home. This body we live in is not a permanent body. This world, this body is like a tent. We are just using it on a temporary basis. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God does not want us to feel at home in this world because he is going to change this world anyway. If we become so attached in this world, we may not enjoy the new one that He is preparing for us. We cannot put our trust on something that is temporary or something that will not last long, Amen? Psalm 20:7 tells us that “some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Who do you put your trust into? Is it in your own abilities? Your savings account? Who do you put your trust into? Is it in your own strength?
1. It is wiser to trust Jesus because everything else in this world is temporary.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Matthew 24:35
This is the first point that I would like for everyone here in this room to understand. Everything around us will disappear. Everything around us will be destroyed. Our mindset should be like that of a tourist or a stranger or a camper here on Earth. We´re not citizens here. We´re not even permanent residents because our citizenship is somewhere else. This is not our permanent home. We are here in the meantime. We are here for the time being. We are here as ambassadors representing Christ, and we are supposed to tell people about who we are representing. One day, God will call us home. He does not expect us to eventually change our citizenship and stay here forever.
It read a story about a missionary named Henry Morrison. After forty years of being a missionary to Africa, Henry and his wife returns to New York for retirement because of old age.
As their ship neared the dock, Henry saw the crowd waving to them and he said to his wife, “Look at that crowd. They haven't forgotten about us”. Unknown to Henry, the ship also carried President Teddy Roosevelt, returning from a big hunting trip in Africa. As the president stepped from the boat, with great fanfare, as people were cheering, flags were waving, bands were playing, and reporters waiting for his comment, Henry and his wife slowly walked away unnoticed. They hailed a cab, which took them to the one-bedroom apartment which had been provided by the mission board.
Over the next few weeks, Henry tried, to put the incident behind him. One evening, Henry said to his wife, “This is all wrong. The president comes back from a hunting trip and everybody throws a big party. We give our lives in faithful service to God for all these many years, but no one seems to care.” His wife cautioned him that he should not feel this way. Henry replied “I know you're right, but I just can't help it. It isn't right.”
His wife then said, “Henry, you know God doesn't mind if we honestly question Him. You need to tell this to the Lord in prayer. Henry then went to his bedroom, got down on his knees and, began pouring out his heart to the Lord. “Lord, you know our situation and what's troubling me. We gladly served you faithfully for years without complaining. But now God, I just can't get this incident out of my mind...” When he was about to finish prayer, he felt something like a hand on his shoulder and a still small voice from the Lord saying, 'But Henry, you are not home yet!'”
God knows that whatever we do here on Earth, we´ll never be completely happy or satisfied because we´re not supposed to, because we are not home yet. The last two chapters of the Book of Revelation gives us a clear and vivid picture of what this new home looks like.
2. This world is not our home. God will do an “extreme make-over” and we must look forward to the new heavens and new earth.
“… for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea” Revelation 21:1
At this point, the recorded history of man as we know it is at its end. Christ has gathered His saints during the Rapture. (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17). The Tribulation has passed (Revelation 6—18). The battle of Armageddon has been fought and won by our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:17–21).
Satan has been chained for the 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth (Revelation 20:1–3).
The Final Battle has happened and everyone who turned against God has been defeated, and Satan has received his just punishment, an eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7–10.)
The Great White Throne Judgment has taken place, and mankind has been judged (Revelation 20:11–15).
In Revelation 21:1 God does a complete make-over of heaven and earth.
3. The New Earth will be heaven. This is where God and His people will dwell for eternity.
“God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3
The new heaven and new earth are what some people call the “eternal state” which we will be discussing later. So just to be a bit technical about it, the new heaven and the new earth refers to a new earth with heaven meaning the new atmosphere and most likely a new universe or space around it. We also defined heaven as the abode of God Almighty and since God will reside on this New Earth with His people for eternity, the new Earth is therefore heaven in the sense that God will dwell on it. There is a specific place or city in this New Earth where God and His people will live. It´s called the New Jerusalem.
God shows a glimpse of the New Jerusalem to John in his vision. In verse two, “The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” It´s funny because the Bible did not say God has just created the New Jerusalem. It was described as just coming down which could mean that it has already been prepared even before that time.
Well, Jesus said something about this in John 14:3. He said He will go and prepare a place for us. Isn´t it a great comfort knowing that He could be preparing this place at this very moment? The New Jerusalem is a city located in this new earth.
The New Jerusalem
This is where God will dwell with His people forever.
The New Jerusalem is also called the Tabernacle of God, the Holy City, the City of God, the Celestial City or the Foursquare. This is where God will dwell with His people forever.
It´s a place of TWELVES as we have read in Revelation 21.
There will be twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. The twelve gates are actually twelve pearls and on these gates were written the twelve tribes of Israel.
It has twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve apostles.
The New Jerusalem will be huge. John records that the city is twelve thousand furlongs or stadia which is nearly 1,400 miles long, and it is as wide and as high as it is long—it is a perfect cube.
You know, I can probably imagine a city 1,400 miles long but it blows my mind to know that the New Jerusalem is also 1,400 miles high.
The city will be dazzling in every way.
It has twelve pearly gates and a great street of gold as pure as transparent glass.
It is lighted by the glory of God and the New Jerusalem will be a place of unimaginable blessing.
There is one other thing that catches my attention about the New Jerusalem. We will get to see the Tree of Life again, for it stands in the middle of the New Jerusalem, where it bears “twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. Access to the tree of life will be reinstated, and darkness will be forever banished (verse 5). Eden will be restored.
Before I conclude, let me discuss something very important with you. I would like to explain:
The “intermediate state” is a theological concept that speculates regarding the kind body that believers have in heaven, if any, while they await for their physical bodies to be resurrected.
The Bible is clear that when a believer dies, his is with the Lord. The Bible also makes it clear that the resurrection of believers has not yet occurred, meaning that the bodies of deceased believers are still in the grave. The first batch of believers receiving their glorified bodies will be during the Rapture. So, the question of the intermediate state is whether believers in heaven are given temporary physical bodies while in heaven, or whether believers in heaven exist in a spiritual or non-corporeal form until the resurrection.
Well, the Bible does not give a great amount of detail regarding the intermediate state. The only Scripture that specifically, but indirectly, speaks about this issue is, you may want to take note or turn your Bibles to, Revelation 6:9 which says “… I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.”
The word “soul” in this verse comes from the Greek word “pseuche” (pronounced PSOOKHAY) which means “the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death.”
In this specific verse, God gave the Apostle John a vision of those who will be killed because of their faith during the end times. In this vision those believers who had been killed are under God’s altar in heaven and are described as “souls.” So, from this one verse, the biblical answer for the intermediate state is that it would seem that believers in heaven NOW are in spiritual/non-corporeal form until the resurrection.
But even if deceased believers are in spiritual form, I believe they can feel “comfort” from the Lord because of His presence and this was explained by Jesus´ story about the Rich Man and Lazarus. When a believer dies, we are not like Casper the Friendly Ghost who are just in limbo who looks like a marshmallow.
Listen to this. This is very important. Currently, heaven is a spiritual place. Therefore, it seems that there is no need for temporary physical body if we die today because we will go to a spiritual heaven. Whatever the intermediate state is, we can rest assured that believers in heaven are perfectly content, enjoying the glories of heaven and worshipping the majesty of the Lord.
The new heaven that ultimately awaits believers is the New Heavens and New Earth in Revelation 21, specifically the New Jerusalem. This time, heaven will indeed be a physical place. Our physical bodies will be resurrected and glorified, God will make it perfectly fit for eternity on the New Earth. It is called our ETERNAL STATE.
The eternal dwelling place of believers will be the new earth. The new earth is the “heaven” on which we will spend eternity. It is on the new earth where the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, will be located. Heaven—which is the new earth—is a physical place where we will dwell with glorified physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). The heaven that believers will experience will be a new and perfect planet on which we will dwell. It will likely be similar to our current earth, or perhaps even a re-creation of our current earth, but without the curse of sin.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the new earth, there will be no more sin, no more evil, no more sickness, no more suffering, and no more death.
If we say the Heaven is the New Earth because this is where God will dwell along with His people, what about the New Heavens because the Bible says “new heaven and new earth.” It is important to remember that in the ancient mind, “heavens” also referred to the skies and outer space.
So, when Revelation 21:1 refers to the new heavens, it is likely indicating that the entire universe will be recreated—a new earth, new skies, a new outer space.
So the idea of “pearly gates” in heaven is based on a reference in the book of Revelation describing the twelve gates of New Jerusalem. It is yet to come. In popular culture, the “pearly gates” are thought of as the entrance to heaven, but Revelation shows the gates as belonging to the New Jerusalem. This city is not exactly synonymous with what we know as “heaven” at this very moment. The Bible says the pearly gates will always be open: they “will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there” (Revelation 21:22–25).
There is only one passage of Scripture that mentions a great street of gold and it is as pure as transparent glass, in Revelation 21:21. So does this verse tell us that there will literally be streets of gold in heaven? And, if so, what is the importance or significance of a literal street of gold? The Greek word translated “gold” is chrusion, which can mean “gold, gold jewelry, or overlay” so it´s literal. There will be a street of gold in the New Jerusalem. But why does God want us to know something so detailed like a street of gold?
In eternity, we will not be focused on earthly treasures anymore. While man pursues treasures like gold on earth, one day it will simply be no more than a pavement for the believer in heaven. No matter how many precious jewels or materials make up the physical construction of heaven, nothing will ever be of greater value than the God who loves us and died to save us and we shall be with Him forevermore.
Christmas is coming. If you have not yet fully trusted Christ as your Savior, then I urge you think about it and receive Him in your life. The pearly gates will be entered by God´s people ONLY and “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Maple Ridge during its Sunday service on November 26, 2017
References:
1. Revelation of Jesus Christ by John F. Walvoord
2. Bible Study Tools.com
3. Gotquestions.org
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
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