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God Wants Us To
Know About Heaven!
Heaven is a wonderful place to look forward to and God wants us to know
about it! It’s no secret! He tries to tell us about it in many ways and
through many people.
God tells us about heaven in the Bible.
The Bible gives us a lot
of images about heaven. We just have to put them together through the help
of the Holy Spirit!
Do you know that the word “Heaven” itself is mentioned 583 times in the King James
Version of the Bible! It is referred to 256 times in the New Testament
alone.
God
wants us to know about heaven! He even sent Someone to tell us about it!
One, Who lived there for a long, long time! The One is Jesus – God’s One
and only Son. Jesus knew about heaven because He came from there and He
told us all about it while He was on earth!
Two
apostles in the Bible told us about it, too. Both the Apostle Paul and
the Apostle John had actual glimpses of life in heaven. The Apostle Paul
wrote briefly about his experience in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. Paul was sure
of the remarkable experience, but unsure whether it was one that included
his body or one that took place in separation from his body. The Lord
allowed Paul to see a glimpse of the wonderful life that awaited him.
The
Bible also records the visions of heaven the Apostle John had during his
banishment on the Isle of Patmos in the
Mediterranean. The Lord gave him a vision of what was to come and
told him to tell the seven churches in
Asia at the time. His
experience is recorded in the Book of Revelation.
Here
we have evidence that two well-respected men of God, the Apostles Paul and
John, were given glimpses of the wonderful life that awaits us in heaven.
They were not crazy men. They were shown that heaven is a real place and
that it was something to look forward to. They didn’t make it up.
These experiences gave them the strength and determination to continue on
despite all of the hardships that they still had to endure while on the
earth. Why? They knew Jesus and they knew where they were ultimately
going. In the same way, knowing about the wonderful place we will be
going will give us strength, hope, and determination when things get tough
too!
Even
before the apostles, God gave Ezekiel and Isaiah and other prophets
visions of heaven as well as the millennial rule and beyond very similar
to the one He gave John in Revelation.
Others in more recent times have had glimpses of life on the other side,
too. They’ve told others about their experience. Today there are many
books about heaven that speak about visions and experiences people have
had.
Should we believe them all? We need to ask God to give us discernment
when we read any type of book, including books about the afterlife. But
the books that have Jesus as the focus of their experience will tell us a
lot about heaven, just like the Apostle’s Paul and John did.
If
we die before the Lord comes again, we will physically go to this distant
heaven. This is where our departed loved ones in the Lord are now.
Although heaven is a physical place with a location with a great future
for believers, here is something exciting! Heaven is also here on earth!
Heaven is also NOW! The Kingdom of Heaven is available now!
How
can that be? Who is it for? When we do enter it?
Both
John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near.” Matthew
3:2 and 4:17
Jesus told Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of
God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
We
enter the Kingdom of
Heaven,
the Kingdom of God when we are born again; when we accept Jesus Christ as
our Savior. Then the Holy Spirit comes into us and connects us to the
heaven above. It connects us to the kingdom of heaven. Believers at that
point pass from death to life, John 5:24. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.”
Jesus tells us in Luke 17:20-21, “The Kingdom of God does not come with
your careful observation nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘there is
it,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
We
become citizens of heaven when we are born again! When we accept the Lord
as our Savior, we receive the power and authority. We are seated in
heavenly places with Jesus, above all principalities, powers, rules, and
dominion. Eph 1:17-23
Isn’t that exciting? We are already citizens of heaven! Being citizens
of heaven, we would have the right to know about it! So if we want to
know more about it, we ask God to show us, and he will open our eyes of
understanding.
And
that is what we are doing in these heaven studies. We are asking for our
eyes of understanding to be opened so we can learn more about heaven.
But
there is even more!
If
we are still alive when the Lord comes again, we will be, along with the
rest of the saints, back here on earth! We will come back here to rule
and reign with Jesus during the millennial reign.
Yes!
And after that 1000 year reign the Word tells us there will be a new
heaven and new earth. Our Bibles show us what will happen until the new
heaven and earth. After that only God knows! Our next adventure will
begin, with all sin having been destroyed forever and with the Lord, who
is now among us. How exciting!
Yeshua is there now preparing a place for us!
In
John 4, Yeshua said we will see Him again and that He is there now
preparing a place for us and that He will be back for us.
So, what is the place Jesus is preparing for us like?
Between what the Bible tells us, what Jesus told us, what the Apostles
told us, what the prophets told us, what others who have had glimpses have
told us, we’ll piece it together and get a picture of what heaven is like
each week. Look for our newsletter again next week as we continue our
exploration of life in heaven! |
