TAE: BETWEEN YOUR DEATH & THE RESURRECTION
SMWS- 7/19/09 Text: 2 Corinthians 2:21-22
SRBC #
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
1) Here’s a fact: With the possible exception of a few babies in the nursery
A) Every person here at church this morning will be dead within the next 80- 100 years
B) Unless Jesus comes back first
2) Now last week we talked about your ultimate destiny as a born-again child of God
A) You’re going to live in a resurrected body
B) On a resurrected Earth prepared by God as the eternal dwelling place for His children
3) How can you be certain this is going to happen?
A) The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the One who guarantees your future
B) Listen to what it says in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
4) IOW:. God made you, and saved you in Christ.
A) You don’t have to worry about the future. You are His.
B) He insured your future- He set you apart for eternity- by giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit.
5) OK- that takes care of your eternity on the resurrected Earth
A) But it also raises another question:
B) What happens to me after my physical death and before the Resurrection at the end of time?
6) That’s the question I want to address this morning
A) Here’s the way we’re going to do it
B) I’m going to share four Biblical truths you need to know about this ‘in-between’ time
7) The first truth is that…..
WHEN YOU DIE YOU GO TO BE WITH JESUS
1) Have you ever met someone who believed in ‘soul sleep?’
A) It’s an interesting theory
B) It says that when a Christian dies their soul
1) Enters a state of deep sleep
2) Where it remains until the Resurrection at the end of time
2) I once read a book by a pastor who compared ‘soul sleep’ to being under general anesthesia
A) He said: A person may be under anesthesia for many hours. But as far as they are concerned it’s just a split second between falling asleep and hearing the recovery room nurse say ‘wake up Mr. Jones.’
B) This is the way it will be for the Christian in a state of soul sleep
1) When you die you may lay in the grave for hundreds- thousands- of years
2) But as far as you’re concerned it will be an instant later that you will hear the trumpet call signaling the beginning of the Resurrection
2) Isn’t that a nice illustration?
A) A nifty little theory- soul sleep
B) The only problem with the theory is what it says in the Bible!
3) For instance- when Jesus was hanging on the Cross the repentant thief asked Him to remember me when You come into Your kingdom (Luke 23:42)
A) Jesus responded by saying: I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
B) What has Jesus promised the thief?
1) Listen
2) That’s right- within a 24 hour period of time he would be with Jesus in heaven
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body (physically alive in this present world) we are (physically) away from the Lord. (Remember- He’s always with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit)
7 We live by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body (the physical body we presently occupy. He’s not talking about a ‘spiritual’ existence apart from the body) and at home with the Lord.
4) How many of you have had at least one friend or loved one die knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord? (Allow for show of hands)
A) On the authority of the infallible, inerrant Word of God- I can assure you: They’re not in a state of suspended animation waiting for Resurrection Morning
B) They are alive and well and with the Lord in heaven….Amen?
THE PRESENT HEAVEN IS NOT THE PLACE WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY
1) On two of our trips to Israel we had a layover in London
A) It was terrific- we even got to do some sightseeing (Saw everything but the Queen Mum herself)
B) Before I left- if you’d have asked me where I was going-
1) I might have said: We’ve got a layover in London- but I probably wouldn’t have even said that
2) Instead I would’ve told you: I’m going to Israel because Israel was my final destination
2) Well here’s the thing: As a Christian when you die….
A) You’ll immediately go to heaven- the place where Jesus is right now
B) But that’s not the place where Jesus- or you- will spend eternity
3) Once again- you have to remember what the Bible says about your ultimate destiny as a born-again child of God
A) You’re going to live in a resurrected body
B) On a resurrected Earth prepared by God as the eternal dwelling place for His children
4) IOW:
A) The present heaven is a temporary layover place you go to between the time of your physical death and the Resurrection
B) But your final destination is the heavenly home God is preparing for you on the ‘new’ Earth
5) At this point some of you might be thinking: But Steve- I thought God didn’t change. Doesn’t the Bible say He’s the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever?
A) Well- if God doesn’t change
B) How can heaven change?
6) Well first of all- it’s true that God doesn’t change
A) The theological term to describe this truth is ‘immutability’
B) ‘Immutability’ means that in the essential qualities of His character- His moral attributes and His unending faithfulness
1) God never changes
2) He is the picture of eternal and absolute consistency
7) Now here’s why the doctrine of ‘immutability’ is so important
A) In the Bible it says: If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9)
B) Now if you’re a Christian- you want to be sure that what it says in Romans 10:9 still applies today- and that it will continue to apply until the end of time
1) Otherwise- you’ve got no hope of salvation
2) Well- the doctrine of immutability says: What God said in Romans 10:9 always has been, and always will be true- if you believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ- you will be saved
8) So you’re right- God doesn’t change
A) But here’s where your logic breaks down
B) You’ve equated heaven with God
1) You’ve assumed that if God doesn’t change
2) Heaven doesn’t change
9) But that’s not true- and here’s why:
A) The present heaven- the place where you will go when you die- is a created place
1) It’s not eternal
2) There was a time it didn’t exist
B) God made It- just like He made everything else in the Universe
10) This means the present heaven is under God’s sovereign control
A) He makes the rules- He determines what happens to it
B) And God’s plan is for the present heaven to give way to the eternal heaven that will exist on a resurrected Earth
Revelation 21:1-3
21:1 Then I saw a new (rejuvenated, renewed) heaven and a new (redeemed, reclaimed) earth, for the first (or present) heaven and the first (or present) earth (as they exist now) had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. (What makes a place heaven is the presence of God) They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
11) Now if you go back to the book of Genesis this promise begins to make sense
A) The Bible says before Adam & Eve chose to sin
B) God would come down and walk with them in cool of the day (Genesis 3:8)
12) IOW: In God’s original plan for human beings
A) He didn’t intend for Adam & Eve to come up to the present heaven to visit Him
B) Instead, He planned to come down and be with them on the Earth He had created for them
13) In eternity it’s going to be that way once again:
A) All believers- from all the ages- will live in resurrected bodies on the new Earth
B) And God will come down and be with us in the perfect heaven (the resurrected Earth) He has created for His people
14) In the meantime-
A) Jesus- and all those Christians who’ve gone on before us
B) Are with the Lord in the present heaven waiting for Resurrection morning
15) I’m telling you- this is so cool!
A) God’s truth!
B) You can’t beat it!
THE PRESENT HEAVEN IS A REAL, PHYSICAL PLACE
1) Here’s a fact
A) Unless Jesus Comes Back first-
1) And nobody can be sure when that is going to happen
2) You’re going to spend time in the present heaven
B) So it’s only natural to want to know something about the place
2) Now if you remember last week I talked about how some early Christian theologians-
A) Let themselves be more influenced-
1) By Greek philosophy
2) Than the inspired, inerrant Word of God
B) These guys taught-
1) That anything material- including human flesh- was morally evil and should be rejected
2) While anything ‘spiritual’ was morally superior and should be desired
3) People who buy into their pagan ideas have always insisted that heaven must be a ‘spiritual’ place
A) I mean even if they accept that the eternal heaven will be a physical place located on the resurrected Earth (and most of them won’t even do that)
B) They claim the present heaven is a gray, misty, place where faceless, formless spirits sit around for eternity- meditating on God
4) With preaching like that it’s a wonder anyone ever gets saved
A) That’s not a picture of the joys of heaven
B) That’s a nightmare from an existential novel
5) It makes me glad we’ve got the Bible to set things straight
A) God’s Word makes it clear that the present heaven is a physical place occupied by physical creatures
B) Look at what it says
6) Remember- when Jesus offered the repentant thief salvation He said Today you will be with Me in paradise
A) The Greek word translated as ‘paradise’ is paradeisoi
B) Paradeisoi means a walled park- a carefully cultivated garden
7) Now some people……/ Sounds to me…..
A) Claim Jesus used ‘paradise’ as an allegory to symbolize a place of spiritual oneness with God
B) Like Jesus is describing a real place of God-touched beauty that’s greater than anything we know here on Earth!
8) Colossians 3:1 goes on to say: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
A) Here’s what Paul is saying: As a Christian keep your minds focused on the Resurrected Jesus who is seated on a throne in heaven at the right hand of the Heavenly Father!
B) If that’s not a description of a physical person occupying a physical space I don’t know what is
9) When you get to the book of Revelation you’ll find that it is loaded with physical depictions of the present heaven
A) Objects of worship are described including lamp stands, scrolls, trumpets, harps and bowls of incense
B) John says he saw the Resurrected Jesus standing in the middle of the throne room of heaven- surrounded by heavenly creatures that resembled animals who had the faces of human beings
C) And then- in chapter 10 one of the elders hands John a scroll and says
9 ….. ‘Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’
10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
10) Turn with me to Revelation 21:15-17
A) This is part of John’s amazing description of the new Jerusalem
B) Which will be the capital city of the new Earth- the place where God will dwell with His people
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (roughly 1,400 miles) in length, and as wide and high as it is long. (Think of a cube 1,400 miles long, 1,400 miles deep, and 1,400 miles tall)
17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits (about 200 feet) thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using.
11) Unless the Bible is deliberately trying to confuse us- this is a description of a physical place
A) A physical place that currently exists in the present heaven
B) Revelation 21:9-10
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, (physically) coming down out of heaven (the present heaven) from God.
12) Look- if you’re afraid the present heaven is some gray, misty place where faceless, formless spirits sit around for eternity- meditating on God
A) Erase that thought from your brain
B) In fact- the present heaven is a real, physical place that is better by far than anything we know on Earth (Philippians 1:23)
YOU WON’T RECEIVE YOUR RESURRECTION BODY IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOUR PHYSICAL DEATH
1) OK- let’s imagine for a moment that later today you suffer a massive heart attack and drop dead in your tracks
A) Now- I pray that doesn’t happen to you
B) But just for the moment- let’s pretend that it does
2) Think about this with me-
A) We’ve already established that when you die you’ll immediately go to be with Jesus: To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord
B) We’ve also learned that when you die you’ll go to the present heaven-
1) Which is the very real place where Jesus is right now
2) But not the place where He and you will spend eternity
3) So here’s the question I want you to think about: Will you receive your Resurrection body when you get to the present heaven?
A) Anybody want to hazard a guess?
B) The answer is ‘No’
1) According to the Bible
2) You won’t get your Resurrection body until Jesus returns to Earth at the end of time
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant (or uninformed) about those who fall asleep (this is a euphemism Paul uses to describe the physical death of a Christian), or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. (Paul’s talking about the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time)
15 According to the Lord's own word (Paul’s received a direct revelation from Christ), we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede (or have any advantage over) those who have fallen asleep. (Or died knowing Jesus as their Savior)
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (This is a description of the Resurrection)
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
4) Now with these words in mind- let’s turn over to 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery (A truth that God wants His people to understand): We will not all sleep (some Christians will be alive when Jesus comes again), but we will all be changed (or transformed)--
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead (in Christ-those whose physical bodies have been buried and returned to dust) will be raised (resurrected) imperishable (they will never again face death), and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal (Christians who are alive when Jesus comes again) with immortality (They will instantly receive a Resurrection body that will never be subjected to disease, decline or death).
5) At this point you may be thinking:
A) OK Steve- I’ve got it. I won’t receive my resurrection body as long as I’m in the present heaven
B) But here’s what I want to know:
1) Will I at least have some kind of body in the present heaven
2) Or will I be more like a ghostly spirit?
6) I want you to listen carefully to what I’m about to say:
A) Even though the Bible doesn’t directly say that we’ll have some type of physical body in the present heaven
B) It strongly suggests that we will
7) Take the parable of Lazarus and the rich man
A) This is the only time in Jesus’ parables in which one of the characters is given a name
1) Maybe that’s coincidental
2) But more likely because Lazarus was a real person who died and went to live in the present heaven
B) And if that’s the case- Lazarus is clearly in some kind of body
1) In Luke 16:24 the rich man begs Father Abraham to have Lazarus
2) ‘….Dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
8) Turn to Revelation 6:9-11
9 When he (meaning the Resurrected Jesus) opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls (the Greek word here is psuche. It refers to the total existence of a human being- physical, spiritual and emotional) of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
9) Fact- A disembodied spirit does not wear a robe
A) A robe is a piece of clothing
B) And clothing can only be worn by a person with a body
10) Now we don’t have time to examine all the Scriptures that suggest we’ll have some sort of physical body in the present heaven
A) But make no mistake about it- they’re in there
B) And when study them- and believe them- you’ll discover a joy you never knew was possible!
C) The message of God’s infallible, inerrant Word is good news:
1) The best is yet to come
2) And after that- it gets even better!
CONCLUSION
1) Next Sunday we’ll continue our series on heaven by thinking about the nature of our Resurrection bodies
A) As you go through this week every time you have an ache or a pain- or cope with an illness- or deal with a headache
B) I want you to remind yourself: All this will be over soon- because I’m going to be resurrected to eternal life!
2) But in the meantime- I want to ask you a simple question: Are you sure you’re going to heaven?
A) I don’t want to say: I think so or I hope so
B) I want you to be able to say: I know so- because I have asked Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior and Lord
3) You know it’s interesting- people will experience intense chest pain and refuse to go to the hospital
A) I guess they’re afraid of having the ER doctor tell them: We checked you out and there’s nothing wrong with you
B) Let me tell you something:
1) If you come into an ER with intense chest pain
2) That’s what the ER doctor wants to be able to tell you: We checked you out and there’s nothing wrong with you’
4) What’s the point of that illustration? If you’re not absolutely sure of your salvation this morning
A) Come forward and let’s talk
B) I’ll ask you some simple questions
1) When we’re done I hope I’ll be able to tell you: Based on the authority of the Word of God I can assure you that you are saved
2) But if there is even the slightest doubt about your salvation- I promise: You’ll be given a chance to ask Jesus to come into your life
5) Let us pray
