The Beauty of God’s Eternal Plan

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Good morning. As Jonathan just prayed, my name is Rich Gopany, and I'm the community life pastor here at Promontory, and today it's my privilege to do something I've never done before — I get to be a tour guide as you and I take a glimpse of heaven.

That's the topic today, heaven, and ever since time began, humanity has thought about it. It's been described in many different ways — greener pastures, the great beyond, the hereafter, paradise. It's a topic of many books and songs and even more sermons. But what do we really know about what happens on the other side of the grave? Where do we find honest answers about that? And here's a big question: what difference does heaven make for us today in our lives?

This morning those are the questions we're going to focus on as we wrap up our summer series, a series entitled Ancient Beauty in a Modern World — a series discovering God's beautiful answers to some of humanity's greatest questions. And the beautiful answer that we're going to discover this morning is that in Christ we have a great future. As Christian believers we have a hope that is not going to disappoint us.

Now to discover that, we're going to look at what happens when our lives end, and we're going to try to catch a glimpse of what the other side looks like. And what we're going to find, honestly, is an answer that we will not be able to totally wrap our minds around.

But before we do all that, I need to clear something up. How many of you are really excited about going to heaven? Don't worry, I'm not talking about right now. I know most of you are not in a hurry to go to heaven right this moment — God still has a purpose for you, that's why you're on this earth still. But the idea of spending all of eternity in heaven, does it excite you?

I have to tell you, it didn't really excite me all that much for a long time. To quote one pastor:

Whenever I think about heaven, it makes me depressed. I can't stand the thought of that endless tedium — to float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp. It's also terribly boring.

One English vicar was asked what he expected after death, and he said:

Well, if it comes to that, I suppose I shall enter into eternal bliss. But I really wish you wouldn't bring up such depressing subjects.

Years ago, a Fireside cartoon captured what many people think about heaven with the statement: Wish I had brought a magazine. As one author puts it:

Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service. We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after the other, forever and ever. Amen. And our hearts sink.

Have you ever had thoughts like that? If you have, please don't be shocked and don't think you're terrible. It's not really all that surprising that you would think that way. Because Satan, the enemy of our soul, works hard to give people a false view of heaven. He knows that the less excited we are about eternity, the more we're going to focus our time and our energy and our passion on ourselves right now in this earth. That stands to reason — if what comes next is going to be at best tolerable and most probably boring, then why would we devote our lives and our resources investing in the future or, as Jesus puts it, laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven? We may as well party, we may as well live for the moment, because this is as good as it's going to get.

Now I realize we're never going to be able to completely wrap our minds around what awaits God's kids on the other side. The Apostle Paul admits that in 1 Corinthians:

No eye has seen, no ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

And yet God does give us some idea of what lies on the other side, and let me tell you, it's a whole lot more than clouds and harps and songs and, if you believe the TV commercials, Philadelphia cream cheese.

In studying this topic, I found one particular book to be of real help to me. It was titled, appropriately, Heaven by Randy Alcorn, and if you ever get a hold of that book, I encourage you to read it. It does help you think a little bit more about what we have to look forward to.

So again, what do we have to look forward to on the other side? As we catch a glimpse of heaven in the various sections of scripture we're going to look at this morning, will what we see cause our hearts to race and our spirits to yearn for eternity? Will what we see that's coming for us in the future make living for Jesus — with all the sacrifices which that sometimes entails — make that worthwhile? Well, let's find out.

Let's start our exploration by turning to Revelation 21 and reading one of the most beautiful descriptions of what God's kids have to look forward to. Please stand if you're able, as we honor God's word and read Revelation 21 verses 1 to 5. As we do that, I'm going to ask you to find which one of these descriptions of various aspects of heaven inspires you the most — which one catches your heart and makes it race.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Please be seated.

The first thing I want to do this morning is dispel the idea that in heaven we're going to be floating around on clouds forever and ever. The Apostle Peter speaks about this — he talks about the end of this world as we know it, and he says in 2 Peter 3:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Simply put, we're starting here with God wiping the slate clean. The Greek here actually emphasizes the idea of purging this earth more so than utterly annihilating it. But it's not all fire and destruction. We continue in 2 Peter 3 and we read about God's building plans in verse 13:

But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Peter and the Apostle John in Revelation 21 are both talking about the same thing — new heaven, new earth. And I believe what they're talking about is what we had right at the start in Genesis, minus Satan. A physical place where God will walk with you and me. A place where, as we read in Revelation 21:4, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and because there will be no more sin in this place, this new heaven and new earth, death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

If you want to try to imagine heaven, think about the very beginning of our world — Genesis 1 and 2. A world without sin, death, suffering, corruption. Your mental picture won't be perfect or complete, and I'm sure there will be differences between the beginning of time and what we look forward to. But at least it might give you a hint, a starting point to picture heaven. We're talking about something that is tangible and physical.

Here's why scripture makes such a big deal about the bodily resurrection of the dead. We are physical beings as well as spiritual. God never intended for us to be wispy ghosts floating around for all of eternity in a ghostly world. When Christ returns, we're told we will be resurrected from the dead, but it won't just be our souls that go with Jesus. Scripture is clear — our bodies will be raised not just spiritually but physically, and our souls will be reunited with our transformed physical bodies. Look at Philippians 3:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Our resurrected body will be different than what we have now, but it will still be physical, even as Jesus' resurrected body was physical, allowing him to eat, to be touched, to be seen and recognized after Easter.

The first thing I want us to know is that heaven — our eternal home — will one day be on the new earth. That's been God's plan since the beginning. Earth is more than just a stopover on the way to heaven. Sin and its countless generations of grief and suffering and corruption — the result of Adam and Eve's reaching for the forbidden fruit — that's what we've known. And every one of us has followed in Adam and Eve's example as we have shaken our tiny fists in God's face and refused to go his way. Adam's sin damaged not just himself but also hurt the rest of creation, as the corrosive curse of sin rippled out in destruction. Life on this earth degenerated so badly that God finally ordered a great flood to wipe out everything except pairs of every animal and a handful of people.

What was torn apart by sin was not broken beyond repair. Evil was not able to overpower God's plan and purpose. The story of this book is the story of God's plan for redemption — not just a plan to snatch a couple of souls from the brink of hell and leave everything else in Satan's grasp, but rather a story of a God who would not rest until he redeemed every last corner of his good creation from evil's grasp. The Apostle Peter speaks of God's plan in Acts 3:

Heaven must receive him — he's talking about Jesus — until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

And even the cross fits into this plan. In Colossians 1:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

It has been God's purpose all along to unite all things in Christ — things in heaven and things on earth in him. Bottom line: God hasn't given up. He has not abandoned what he has created, and that includes you and me. Just as sin rippled out from one man and woman and contaminated an entire world, so grace pours out from the cross, and it will redeem creation.

This has been God's plan, first revealed in the first book of the Bible. After the awesomeness of creation and God's blessings that we read about in Genesis 1 and 2, and then the horror of man's sin and the corruption of creation which fills the pages from Genesis 3 to 11, Genesis 12 opens up with a renewed emphasis on blessing as God begins a lineage which ultimately would lead to the birth of Christ himself. Speaking to Abraham, the father of the Israelites, in Genesis 12, we read:

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

That blessing came to humanity in the form of a baby in a manger — God himself in human flesh, who took our sins upon himself on the cross that we might be saved.

A tremendous tragedy occurred in the garden at the beginning of human history, and humanity and all of creation has paid the price ever since. But there is coming a day when all of that will be forgotten history. God's original plan — paradise — has not been thwarted. God has never abandoned his creation. He has never surrendered his title deed to this earth. He has never tossed this planet in the trash heap. At the end of time he will restore what he has made to its perfect design.

What do we have to look forward to? Is it worth it? Does it give us the rationale to even sacrifice things now as we serve God, because of what awaits us on the other side? You need to decide that yourself, and as you do, I encourage you to read through Genesis 1 and 2, where God created and declared it was good. Begin to imagine what it will be like when all of God's creation is restored and we will be with God on this new earth. Is it worth it? You bet. In Christ we have a great future. Heaven, our eternal home, will one day be on the new earth.

Now let me tell you, that's great, and I get excited talking about it. And yet something inside tells me there has to be something more than that. I mean, I love what God has created — the flowers, the animals, the scenery. I've spent years traveling throughout North America, visiting and hiking in the national parks and monuments, photographing in Yellowstone and Yosemite and Banff and Jasper. What God created is awesome — for me, it's honestly a little bit of heaven on earth to be in those places. In heaven, I look forward to a time when I'll be able to see all of nature the way God intended, without corruption and global warming and all that other stuff. But I know even that is going to get boring in a couple million years.

What else can we know about what lies on the other side of the grave? When we dig into God's word, we discover something else — heaven will be a place of meaningful activity. It's not going to be an eternal nap time or a never-ending vacation. At least for me, I thank God for that. I love vacation, I love getting away, but normally by the end I'm ready to come back. I remember one time we were traveling and camping for a three-month sabbatical, and in the midst of that, a family invited us to their big motor home for breakfast. As we were talking, he was telling us how they'd been on the road for five years, and I thought, I don't think I'd want to do that.

There's joy in having meaning and purpose in life, in doing something that really matters. I believe God wired us for that. As much as I enjoy the scenery and the beauty, I want to be involved in doing something that matters for eternity. And here's the good news — heaven is a place where that will happen.

Now I know Revelation 14 tells us:

I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them."

I've repeated those lines many times during a committal service at a graveside. But I also know heaven's inhabitants are described as serving God. Listen to Revelation 22:3:

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.

We're going to be doing meaningful things, not just strumming our harps and floating around on clouds eating Philadelphia cream cheese. The service is not passive — it's active. It's fulfilling responsibilities and carrying out duties. It's using our energy and creativity to do our work well.

In heaven we're told that we'll exercise leadership and authority. Christ promises in Revelation 3:

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne — that's a symbol of authority — as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

And then in heaven, we're going to eat, drink, and celebrate at the table with Christ and the rest of God's kids. In Revelation 19:

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

If you are a child of God, then you've got your invitation — you'll be there. I'm just wondering who's going to cook the meal.

And of course we'll take time to celebrate and worship God. Look at this awesome scene in Revelation 5:

Then I looked — this is John speaking, his vision that God gives him of what's coming — and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"

I love what we do here on Sunday mornings as we worship God, but can you imagine being part of that worship service we just read about? That's our future. Heaven is not going to be boring — rather, it will be a place of meaningful activity.

And then we dig deeper and we find out that heaven will be a place of community. We are not going to be spending eternity sitting around on our own individual celestial clouds singing solos of praise to God. Heaven is repeatedly referred to as a city. Hebrews 11:

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

By definition, a city is a place of many residences — people living near to each other. In John 14, as Jesus prepares his followers for what's going to happen at the cross, he talks to them about the other side and says:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

I want you to notice the word you in verse 3 — "I go to prepare a place for you." In the Greek, that's a collective term, something like the southern drawl "y'all." Much of what's going to happen in heaven will be done together with other people — people that we've known, people that we've loved here on earth.

And then in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul encourages the early believers with what's coming for them:

The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Do you realize what we're talking about here? We're talking about a homecoming of God's kids — a reunion. In heaven we'll worship God, we'll serve him, we'll explore the awesomeness of a new earth, and we'll do it together with others. No more loneliness, no more isolation — rather, eternity spent with our friends and loved ones, both new and old.

This truth is a particular comfort as the years roll by. We start watching loved ones pass away from this earth, and even as we rejoice in their promotion to glory, we still sorrow at the loss that we feel on this side of the grave. They'll be deeply missed. And yet death is not the final farewell. If we and they are followers of Christ, then we will meet again, nevermore to be separated. Heaven is a place of community — God's kids getting together for a reunion that's going to last forever.

And then there's one more thing I want you to see. Heaven is where God is. We're going to be with God. We're going to see him face to face. John speaks about this again in his vision:

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God."

I want you to notice the emphasis placed on "God himself will be with them." He's not going to send a representative like he did in the Old Testament, where he would speak to the prophets and the prophets would then go and meet with the people and tell them what God was saying. No — God himself will be with us.

Of all the things we've talked about this morning, this is one that most people assume — yeah, God, heaven, of course God's going to be in heaven, what else? But I want you to think about the incredibleness of that. Friends, ever since the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden, humanity has been separated from God. Sin has driven a deep wedge between ourselves and our heavenly Father. Now when we come to God in repentance and faith, our sin problem is dealt with — we're forgiven, the slate is wiped clean. And yet, as long as we're in this present body living in a corrupt world, we will never completely know the intimate fellowship that we so desire with God. There will be this ache, this longing in the core of our soul, and that's just one of the results of living in a fallen world.

But in heaven there is no more separation. The thing for which we were created, the thing which you have been searching for all your life even when you didn't realize you were looking — that thing will finally be realized. You will see God face to face. You will know him. Because heaven is where God is, and he will live with us and we will be his people.

There's so much more we could talk about regarding heaven. Billy Graham kind of captures the awesomeness of what we have to look forward to. He made this statement:

Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.

In Christ we have a great future.

But this morning as we close, as we think about what comes next for we who are in Christ, I also want us to consider what this means for us right now. In Colossians 3 we're told:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

In other words, put the values of heaven above the values of this earth. Do not live merely for what matters today — live for what matters for eternity. We really do have a lot to look forward to. I've only scratched the surface regarding the beauty and excitement of what's coming next. It's that awesomeness and anticipation that becomes part of our motivation to live for God, to live for what will matter in eternity.

But that starts with one choice — stepping across a line of faith, choosing to put our trust in Jesus Christ to forgive our sins and be our Lord and Savior. In Romans 10 we're told:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This is why Jesus came to this earth and hung on that cross. As we read in John 3:

For God so loved the world — that world is us, every man, woman, and child on this earth — God loves us so much that he gave his only Son Jesus, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Living for God, being ready to go to heaven when we die — it starts by stepping across that line of faith and putting our trust in Jesus Christ. My question is: have you made that decision? Are you ready for eternity?

I didn't ask, do you go to church? Do you come from a Christian family? Are you a pretty decent human being? You could answer yes to all three of those questions and still not be ready. I'm asking, have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you confessed your sins to him and received him as your Lord and Savior? That's where it all starts. That's the decision we need to make, and I encourage you — if you haven't made that decision yet, make it today. Today is the day to step across that line of faith.

And if you have made that decision — if you've put your faith in Jesus — then my question to you is, is heaven influencing your life right now? The decisions you make, the kinds of places you invest your time and your money and everything that you have. Is the reality and awesomeness of what lies in the future filling you with anticipation? Is it spurring you on to live boldly for Jesus in light of eternity? How will you live your life right now?

Let's pray. Father, here we are. You have prepared something awesome for us in the future. You've given us glimpses of it. I know we can't totally understand or picture it — Paul tells us already that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has even conceived. But Lord, you've given us a picture that tells us it's worth going on, and it's worth trusting you, and it's worth living for you and looking forward to eternity with you in heaven. Father, confirm that within our hearts again and again, and help us to live that way.

Lord, for those today that need to make a step across the line of faith to put their trust in you as their Lord and Savior, give them the courage to do that. May they just pray to you right now — may they pray with the prayer team after the service, or talk to that friend that brought them here today — but may they make a decision today and not leave it hanging.

For we who are your followers already, Lord, may heaven spur us on. Sometimes it's hard to live for our faith — sometimes we get in trouble because our boss doesn't like our honesty, or whatever else might be going on — but Lord, give us the courage to live boldly for you because we have heaven in the future. Thank you, Father. Please work in our lives. Amen.