OUR ULTIMATE HOPE: HEAVEN!
WHERE IS HEAVEN?
Where is Heaven? Obviously, no one on earth can answer that question but the future dwelling place of God’s people is already known.
There is a great deal of confusion about just WHAT heaven is and WHO will be there in the eternal future. It might surprise you, but it would appear that genuine believers who have been redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ will NOT dwell in Heaven.
The eternal dwelling place for God’s people is not heaven but a splendid city that Jesus left earth to prepare for His children . . . it is called the New Jerusalem. (John 14:2-3) Heaven is reserved for the Father and a myriad of angelic beings.
The Lord revealed this truth to the Apostle John — “And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2)
THE DESCRIPTION OF HEAVEN:
Relatively little is presented in the Scriptures about Heaven, the dwelling place of God the Father. Isaiah was given a glimpse of its glory as we read is Isaiah chapter 6 — “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and his train filled the temple. About it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”
That smoke is described in Revelation 5:8 as the “incense which are the prayers of the saints.”
John went on to describe this scene in Heaven where Jesus and His redeemed were and are yet abiding and waiting for the future day when Jesus will return to earth and be revealed to the entire world — “And they sang and new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for Thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And has made us unto our God a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10
When Jesus left earth after His resurrection, He ascended to His Father in Heaven and sat down on the throne next to the Father . . . but some day in the future, He will once again descend upon planet earth along with the glorious city that He has prepared. (See John 14:1-3)
THE NEW JERUSALEM:
The beauty and glory of the New Jerusalem is beyond our human comprehension. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
God has given us a number of incredible descriptions of that place prepared for His people, but mere words are not adequate to really grasp its glory. Artists have done their best to display the beauty and glory of the New Jerusalem . . . but none of us can fathom its
grandeur. Revelation chapter 21 is the best description we have and it is far beyond our ability to picture:
NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH:
Revelation 21:1 tells us that God will prepare a “new heaven and new earth” . . . that is, He is going to cleanse our earth and atmosphere by fire in order to rid the world of all the terrible results of sin. There will be no more death nor sickness . . . can you imagine a world without the common cold . . . and cancer?
It is also interesting that the Lord tells us that there will be “no more sea” . . . the world will apparently return to its pre-flood days . . . the ocean waters of earth will once again be in great underground chambers and the livable land space on earth will be greatly
increased.
NEW JERUSALEM WILL DESCEND UPON EARTH:
Like a huge satellite, the heavenly city will “come down from God out of heaven.” Its beauty is described as that of a “bride adorned for her husband.”
All of us get choked up when the bride makes her appearance . . . imagine the beauty of Jesus’ city coming down upon earth! I can hardly wait to see it! Maybe God, in His wisdom, hasn’t revealed everything to us because He knows that we would all want to go now instead of fulfilling His purpose for our lives on earth!
The most wonderful things about the New Jerusalem is found in verse 3 of Revelation chapter 21 — “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” The Lord Jesus Christ will dwell among His people for all eternity!
The last verse in the Book of Ezekiel tells us that ” . . . the Name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.” (Jehovah Shama) The beauty of the New Jerusalem is the presence of God Himself. That should be the demonstrated beauty of all of us that are born-again
followers of Christ because the presence of God the Holy Spirit is dwelling within each one of us. (See John 14:16-18)
NO MORE TEARS!
I hope you had a childhood where one of your parents wiped tears from your eyes. Or perhaps you have wiped the tears from the eyes of one that you love . . . there is no more touching scene! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes . . . ” Revelation 21:4 It is hard to imagine an eternity with no more tears “and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Jesus has proclaimed — “Behold, I make all things new!”
BEAUTY BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION!
“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God and her light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
Revelation 21:10-11
A city displaying the glory of God . . . the light of the city is the Shekinah glory of the One Who is Himself the Light of the world!
A CITY FOURSQUARE!
The dimensions of the city of our King is given to us in Revelation 21:16 and 17. It is hard to imagine, but the city is as high as it is wide and long . . . approximately 1,400 miles in each direction. That is nearly the distance from Denver to the east coast . . . half the width of the United States!
That does not mean that is is necessarily a big golden box . . . it may have glorious towers but the height of the city will extend as high as the city is long and wide.
Neither do I believe the city is a big empty golden box . . . not at all. As a city, it will apparently have multiple levels . . . that is the difference in a city and a village! Multiple levels.
Let me express my imagination for a moment:
Suppose there was a level each mile from bottom to top. That would be 1400 levels with each level containing approximately 2 million square miles in size. That would be an incredible 2.8 BILLION square miles.
To comprehend this, let’s consider this: Planet earth contains about 57 million square miles of land . . . 33% of that is desert and another 24% is mountains. Earth contains approximately 25 million square miles of habitable land area.
The potential space within the heavenly city would be over 112 times the size of the land area of earth.
A little more of my imagination: I personally think the levels will be spaced about three miles instead of one so we can have
beautiful mountains like Pikes Peak on each level . . . with rivers and lots of animal life. We do know there are horses in heaven, right? (Revelation 19:11 and 14)
The point is . . . the New Jerusalem will have plenty of space for everybody that has trusted Christ as Savior.
It is also possible that the people remaining on the earth after the Millennial Kingdom will be taken aboard the heavenly city and lifted up above the world temporarily while the Lord renews everything with His cleansing fire (2 Peter 3:10-14).
TRANSPARENT GOLD!
We are told that the heavenly city will be “pure gold, like clear glass.” (Revelation 21:18) Furthermore the streets of the city will be “pure gold, as it were, transparent glass.” (vs. 21)
There will be no need of the sun ” . . . for the glory of God will light it, and the Lamb is the light of it.” (Revelation 21:23) And the future people that will live on earth “shall walk in the light of it . . . “
We are told that the sun will apparently flare up like a nova during the time of Great Tribulation (Revelation 16:8-11) . . . like other stars in the universe, the sun will thereafter lose its intensity . . . but this will not be a problem because Jesus Himself will truly be the light and glory both of earth and the New Jerusalem.
A PURE RIVER OF LIFE!
The Apostle John even described a “pure river of water of life clear as crystal” that will “proceed out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Ezekiel chapter 47 describes this river of the water of life as being two miles wide . . . and these waters will turn the desert into a garden (Isaiah 35:1) . . . they will even heal the waters of the Dead Sea and fishermen will once again throw their nets near Engedi which is today nothing but parched desert near the Dead Sea east of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 47:10).
The New Jerusalem shall come down upon the earth at the present location of the City of Jerusalem . . . “And it shall be, in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea (to the east), and half of them toward the hinder sea (the Mediterranean to the west); in summer and in winter shall it be. and the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one LORD, and His Name One.” Zechariah 14:8-9
NOT A FULLY DEVELOPED PICTURE OF THE GLORY TO COME!
This short essay about the New Jerusalem is far from complete. I would encourage you to begin with Revelation chapters 21 and 22 and study the subject for yourself. You will want to also turn to Ezekiel chapter 47 and Isaiah chapter 14.
The most important thing is to be ready to make the New Jerusalem YOUR heavenly home in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have heard the formula for true saving faith: FAITH ALONE in CHRIST ALONE by GRACE ALONE.
Take a few minutes and look over the following illustrated presentation of the Gospel. I hope to see you one day in Glory . . . in the heavenly city New Jerusalem!
CLICK HERE to see "Good News For A Bad News World"!