The Bible Stutters

The Bible Stutters

Heaven: The Future Looks Great, part 2

Jim Brandaw, stuttering Bible salesman. Went door to door, massive sales. How? He would ask, “Would you like to bbbuy a Bible, or would you lllllike me to read it to you?” I said, “Jim, that’s the oldest preacher story in the world.” Jim said, “Yeah, but sometimes you guys need to listen to your own stuff.”

When the Bible describes heaven, it almost stutters. It describes it with one image after another, seeking to lay hold of realities that are greater than our vocabulary. It’s like… a temple… a garden… a throne room… pearls… gold… a home… rivers…

• I am not suggesting insufficiency in the Scriptures; but instead the insufficiency of any language to contain the grandness of God. God is bigger than our imagination or our vocabulary.
• 1 Cor 2:9: 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. (Better than be described)
• God exhausted the lexicons of earth to give us a taste heaven.
• The Old preacher R.G. Lee was dying. He awoke for a moment, and his son in the ministry, Adrian Rogers, said he looked intently beyond the room itself and said, “I can see heaven! And I never did it justice!” In all our preaching, we only stutter.

Text: Revelation 21:1-4

I. Way earth was:

II. Way it is:

III. God going do?

• 2 Peter 3:10-12

IV. He will raise up the New Earth:

• 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1
• Is the “New Earth” a wholly new earth, or is it this earth resurrected?
• I think it is this earth resurrected. The nature of redemption is to destroy and then raise back up. Romans 8:19-21 describe the creation itself longing for a kind of resurrection. Paul says the creation will be “liberated” from the bondage of the curse. That could only happen at the end of time. But just destroying the earth by fire does not liberate it. It would also need to be raised back up new.
• The old Christian motto is, “As goes man, so goes creation.” When man fell, the creation fell with us. And when man is redeemed, the creation is redeemed with us.
• John Piper writes, “I would say that when Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:10 say that the present earth and heavens will “pass away,” it does not have to mean that they go out of existence, but may mean that there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes away. We might say, “The caterpillar will pass away and the butterfly emerges.” There is a real passing away and there is a real continuity, a real connection. Or we might say, “The tadpole passes away and the frog appears.”
• This is not a return to Eden. Adam was supposed to rule the original earth. That is, he was supposed to bring peace and order to the wild planet by moving out into it, and carrying the presence of God with him. He and his children would extend the boundaries of the Garden of Eden until all the earth was Eden and the planet swarmed with the children of Adam worshipping and working and serving God.
• The New Earth starts with the city. I imagine (this is just me thinking) of all mankind gathered in that great city before the throne. And outside is the new earth, waiting to be tamed and built on. And God throws open the gates of heaven and invites us to join him in going out to rule this new earth.

V. For this new earth, you will have a new:

We have three bodies:

1. Our (Psalm 139:13-16)

2. Our . (2 Cor. 5:1-10)

The heavenly body has heightened capacity.

• Heightened senses.
• Eyes that can see God. (Exodus 33:20, Revelation 22:4)
• To look upon God is called: “The Beatific Vision.”
• Experience more deeply. Right now we cannot contain weight of God. When our emotions are set free and our mind unlocked from the curse, we will have the capacity to begin to take in God’s glory and love.

3. Our (1 Cor. 15:35-44)

• I think that when Christ comes again, your original body is raised up from the dust (or ocean or wherever it has decayed.) It is raised a new body. (New out of old.) And your spirit body is joined to your physically resurrected body. That is only my opinion.
• The Resurrected body is a physical body for a physical new earth.

A Short Tour of the Capitol City: (Rev. 21:9-27) … if we have time:

• Wall is 210 feet. Compared Great wall of China (15ft) or the Berlin Wall (12ft.)
• Streets of Gold.
• 12 gates of pearls. Each gate representing one of the tribes.
• The great river, lined with he tree of life.
• Beautiful colors. (Revelation 21:9)
• The glory of the Lord fills the city. (Revelation 21:11, Revelation 21:23)
• The city measures out as a massive cube. I think that is a picture of the Holy of Holies. But not room for one man to come near God, but all humanity.