Episode Transcript
Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.
Use Ctrl + F to search
0:00
We hold on so tenaciously to
0:02
life in this world because we haven't
0:04
really been convinced of the glory that the
0:07
Father has established in heaven for
0:09
his people. Our greatest moment
0:12
will be the moment that we walk through the door
0:14
and leave this world of tears
0:17
and of sorrow, this valley of
0:19
death, and enter into the presence
0:21
of the Lamb.
0:28
Do you spend much time thinking about the
0:30
reality of eternity? The
0:32
world can tempt us and distract us with
0:35
a new this and a new that, when
0:37
what is really significant is for the Christian,
0:40
one day we'll enjoy seeing God as he is, and
0:42
there will be a new heaven
0:44
and a new earth, and we'll dwell with God
0:47
eternally. You're listening to
0:49
Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham.
0:52
So what will heaven be like? The biblical
0:54
description on many parts is very
0:57
different than what is often
0:58
portrayed in culture, and sadly
1:00
some Christians have been influenced more by
1:03
that than the truth. So
1:05
to conclude this week's study, here's R.C. Sproul
1:07
to explore what the Bible says about eternity
1:10
for the Christian.
1:14
Every Sunday we
1:16
see God's sign of the
1:19
promise of rest that is before
1:21
every believer. As
1:23
the Sabbath day
1:25
is God's established
1:28
sign of his promise that we will enter
1:30
into our rest in
1:32
the future. But there are
1:35
those in our day who doubt
1:37
that there's life after death, and
1:40
who say to us that
1:42
our hope of heaven
1:44
is just so much pie in
1:46
the sky, it's a direct result
1:49
of our ability to project
1:51
our wishes and our desires
1:54
into the future.
1:56
And they will ask on what basis
1:58
do we have any real hope? confidence
2:01
that the next world will be better than
2:03
this one. And of course,
2:05
our answer to that as Christians is from
2:07
the testimony of Christ, not
2:10
only
2:11
by virtue of the proof of
2:13
his own conquest over death
2:16
by the resurrection from the grave,
2:18
but also from his teaching.
2:21
We remember his words at the home
2:24
of Mary and Martha at the
2:26
time that he visited Bethany
2:29
when their brother had
2:31
died before Jesus could get there, before
2:34
Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead.
2:36
And we remember Jesus saying,
2:40
I am the resurrection and
2:42
the life.
2:43
And though a man dies, yet
2:46
shall he live. Now
2:49
in the upper room discourse on
2:51
the night of his own betrayal
2:54
in John chapter 14, Jesus makes
2:57
this observation.
2:59
Let not your heart
3:01
be troubled. You
3:04
believe in God, believe also
3:07
in me. Now when
3:09
Jesus begins this discourse
3:12
that is so popular among Christians, he begins
3:14
with a commandment. He begins
3:16
with an imperative. When he says,
3:19
let not, he is using
3:21
the form of the language that implies
3:24
an obligation. We are
3:26
commanded not to
3:28
have our hearts troubled about
3:31
these matters, about our
3:34
future
3:35
in heaven. You believe in
3:37
God, believe also in
3:39
me. In my father's house are
3:42
many mansions. If
3:45
it were not so, I would have told you, and
3:48
I go to prepare a place for
3:50
you. And if I go and
3:52
prepare a place for you, I will come
3:54
again and receive you to
3:56
myself that where I am,
3:58
there you may be also.
4:00
and where I go you know and the
4:03
way you know." Now here's Jesus, the
4:06
Last Supper, sitting there with
4:08
his disciples, that they
4:11
know that the crisis is upon
4:13
them, that he is about
4:15
to be removed from their midst,
4:18
and they're concerned, they're anxious,
4:22
and Jesus said, calm down, don't
4:24
let your hearts be troubled. You believe
4:26
in God, don't you? Well believe also
4:29
in me, because in my
4:31
father's house are many mansions.
4:34
Now here's what he says,
4:37
if it were not so,
4:41
I would have told you.
4:43
Now this is the rabbi teaching
4:46
the disciples, the master
4:48
teaching his students, and he's saying
4:50
before he leaves, I would
4:52
not let you
4:54
continue on in false
4:56
hope, pie in the sky,
4:59
wish fulfillment and psychological
5:03
cripples in this regard.
5:05
If this were a false hope,
5:08
if this were simply a projected
5:11
paradise, I would have corrected
5:13
your error. If it were not so,
5:15
I would have told you, but not only
5:17
is it so, but that's exactly
5:20
where I'm going right now. I'm going
5:22
to my father's house, and I'm
5:25
going there with one of the purposes I'm
5:27
going for, is to prepare
5:30
a place for you. I'm
5:33
going ahead into heaven
5:36
and make sure that when I get there, there
5:38
will be a place for you
5:41
when you die. That's
5:44
the promise of Christ to his people. That
5:47
everyone who puts his trust in him, Christ
5:50
has prepared a place in his father's
5:53
house for us, and
5:55
God doesn't make idle
5:58
preparations. And
6:00
I think we've all had the experience of preparing
6:02
dinner for guests, and then at the last minute
6:05
we get the phone call that's saying that
6:07
they've been sidetracked and they're
6:09
not able to make the appointment.
6:11
Well, that doesn't happen when Christ
6:14
prepares a place for His people. His
6:17
people will make use of that
6:19
place. And so the first thing we want to say about
6:21
heaven is that we have every
6:23
reason to be confident of
6:26
its reality.
6:28
But usually where our concern is about
6:30
heaven is what's it going to be like?
6:33
And the Scriptures have much to say about
6:35
heaven, but John also
6:38
in his first epistle gives
6:40
some insight into our
6:43
future state, which I think
6:45
is extremely important to us. In
6:48
chapter 3 of 1 John
6:50
we read these words, Behold
6:53
what manner of love the Father has
6:55
bestowed upon us that we should
6:57
be called the children of God. Now we've
6:59
looked at this from another perspective elsewhere.
7:02
Therefore, the world doesn't
7:04
know us
7:06
because it did not know Him.
7:08
Beloved, now we are the children
7:10
of God and it has not yet been
7:13
revealed what we shall
7:15
be. But
7:17
we know that when He is revealed,
7:21
we shall be like Him,
7:23
for we shall see Him as
7:25
He is. And
7:27
everyone who has this hope in Him
7:29
purifies Himself just
7:32
as He is pure. This
7:34
text I think is one of the most important
7:36
eschatological texts, if not the most
7:38
important eschatological text in
7:41
all of the New Testament, because
7:43
what it promises the believer
7:45
is the zenith
7:48
of the felicity that we will
7:50
enjoy in heaven, which is found
7:53
in what is called technically in theology
7:56
the visio dei,
7:58
or... The
8:01
Beatific vision.
8:08
The first phrase, Visio Dei, simply means
8:10
the vision of God. Which
8:13
vision is called the beatific
8:15
vision? Why? Well, you
8:17
may not be familiar with the term beatific,
8:21
but you are familiar with the term beatitude. The
8:23
beatitudes are those sayings
8:26
that are recorded in the Sermon on the Mount when
8:29
Jesus begins each of the beatitudes
8:32
with the prophetic oracle of blessing. Blessed
8:35
are the poor.
8:37
Blessed are the peacemakers
8:40
and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness
8:43
and so on. That is a
8:45
promise of blessedness,
8:49
a degree of happiness that
8:51
transcends any pleasure or any
8:53
kind of earthly happiness when
8:55
God gives blessedness
8:58
to the soul of a person. That
9:01
is the supreme level of joy and
9:03
fulfillment and of happiness that any creature
9:06
can ever
9:07
receive. And that is
9:09
called, this blessedness is what
9:12
is in view here when we talk about
9:14
the beatific vision. A vision
9:18
that is so wonderful, a
9:20
vision that is so fulfilling
9:23
that the vision itself brings
9:26
with it the fullness
9:29
of the blessing.
9:31
And what is that vision? It's
9:33
the vision of God. For
9:35
what John says here in this chapter is,
9:37
we don't know yet what we're going to be. He says,
9:40
I don't know all the details of what heaven is going
9:42
to be like.
9:44
But one thing we know is
9:47
that we will be like Him, for
9:49
we shall see Him in, say,
9:57
est in the Vulgate, in
9:59
the Latin.
9:59
conversion,
10:00
we will see Him as
10:02
He is in Himself. We're
10:07
going to be able to see and
10:09
to behold not a
10:11
theophany, not an indirect
10:14
manifestation of God, not
10:16
a burning bush, not a pillar
10:18
of cloud or a pillar of smoke, but
10:21
we're going to see Him as He is. We're
10:23
going to see Him in His
10:26
unveiled being.
10:30
Now wait a minute. In
10:32
the Old Testament, all of the joys and
10:35
blessings that people experience
10:37
by the nearness of God have a limit,
10:40
and the limit is this. No man
10:42
shall see God. No
10:45
man is allowed to see the face of God
10:47
or they will perish. Even Moses, who
10:50
begged with the Lord that the Lord would
10:52
let him see His face, God
10:55
said, no Moses, I'll let you get a backward
10:57
glimpse of my passing glory, but
11:00
my face shall not be
11:02
seen.
11:04
That kind of intimate vision,
11:08
face to face, looking directly
11:10
at God is what is
11:13
absolutely forbidden every
11:15
mortal in this world.
11:17
And it's what makes the living of the Christian
11:20
life so difficult because you are
11:22
called to pursue a life
11:25
of obedience and holiness
11:27
and devotion and dedication to
11:29
a God you've never seen. That's
11:32
the hardest thing of the Christian life is
11:34
that we serve a Master who is invisible
11:38
to us. Never
11:40
heard His voice, never seen Him, and
11:44
yet the promise is
11:45
that someday we will see Him.
11:48
Well, the immediate question that comes up
11:51
at this point theologically is, now
11:53
wait a minute, how are we going
11:56
to see God as He is when
11:58
God is invisible?
12:00
And yet we go back to the Sermon
12:03
on the Mount.
12:04
Who is it that is promised
12:07
that they would see God? It's
12:10
not the peacemakers. It's
12:13
not the poor. It's
12:16
not the merciful. Blessed
12:19
are the pure in
12:22
heart,
12:23
for they shall see God.
12:27
And you see, the reason why we can't
12:30
see God is not because there's something wrong
12:32
with our eyes.
12:33
The reason why we can't see God
12:36
is there's something wrong with our hearts.
12:38
But when we enter into glory
12:40
and receive the fullness of our
12:43
sanctification, that present
12:45
barrier that makes us impossible
12:48
to have a direct and immediate perception
12:50
of God will be removed. But
12:53
again, you say, but it's still, even
12:55
in heaven, God will not have a body,
12:58
He will be a spirit. How can
13:00
you see a spirit? Well, I don't know the answer
13:03
to that. This is one of those
13:05
things where God has not
13:07
told us, although some of the best
13:09
minds in theology have speculated on
13:12
it a little bit.
13:13
Just yesterday I was writing, working
13:16
on a book on philosophy, and was dealing
13:19
with one of the philosophers and explaining
13:22
the whole business of mediated
13:24
knowledge. And in my illustration,
13:27
I talked about watching basketball
13:30
games
13:31
on television.
13:34
And we say that when I watch the basketball
13:36
game on television,
13:38
am I really watching the basketball
13:40
game? Obviously, I'm not
13:43
live and present at
13:45
the event. The basketball game
13:47
is taking place miles away from
13:50
where I am. What I am
13:52
watching is an electronic
13:54
broadcast and reproduction
13:57
of what is taking place miles and miles
13:59
and miles.
13:59
miles away. There is a
14:02
medium between the game and
14:04
me. And
14:07
so I am made aware of what's going on
14:09
to the basketball game through the media.
14:12
What is a media, but an intermediary
14:15
that communicates something that's going on
14:18
over here to someone who is
14:20
over here. Now, why do I say
14:22
that? I said, well, I didn't see the game.
14:24
I was only looking at pictures
14:27
of the game.
14:29
Well, if I were at the game,
14:32
what would I be looking at?
14:34
Images that
14:36
are reflected
14:38
in front of my eyes
14:40
and light then illumines
14:42
that image so that light sources
14:45
hit my eyes and the
14:47
lens of my eyes, my optic nerve,
14:49
and through this whole process of
14:52
sight, I say, ah, I
14:54
see it.
14:55
But all kinds of things are
14:58
taking place here in the transmission
15:01
of the sensory
15:03
activity that I am perceiving with my
15:05
eyes. And I couldn't see anything.
15:07
If I had the best vision in the world and you locked
15:10
me in a room without any light, I
15:12
wouldn't see anything. I still need light and
15:15
I need those images to be able to see
15:17
them.
15:17
So even our present sight
15:22
is mediated. And
15:26
what Edward said was this, that
15:28
we are going to be in such a state where
15:31
our souls without
15:33
the advantage of our eyes will
15:36
be able to have a direct and immediate
15:39
apprehension of the invisible
15:42
God. Now, again, soul,
15:44
spirit to spirit
15:47
communication, I don't know how that works.
15:49
That's pure speculation. But
15:52
one thing we know for certain through the
15:54
revealed word of God
15:56
is that the delight
15:58
of our souls in heaven.
16:00
will be that
16:01
we will see Him, and
16:05
we will see Him as He
16:07
is. Now in
16:09
our series on the overview of the Bible,
16:12
Dust to Glory, where we
16:14
went through from the beginnings
16:16
of Genesis and gave an overview of the
16:18
whole scope of biblical history
16:20
and Revelation, ending up in the book of Revelation,
16:23
we titled that series, Dust to
16:25
Glory.
16:27
Obviously, the glory
16:30
was found in the zenith
16:32
of Revelation that comes to us in
16:35
the last couple of chapters of the New Testament
16:37
in the book of Revelation, where John
16:39
records the vision
16:41
that he received on the island of Patmos,
16:44
in which Christ Himself showed Him
16:47
things, including a vision
16:49
at the end of the apocalypse
16:52
of the new heaven and of the
16:54
new earth
16:55
that come down from
16:58
God. And let's just take a
17:00
moment to look at some of these elements.
17:03
Chapter 21 of the book of Revelation, Now
17:07
I saw a new heaven and
17:10
a new earth, for the first heaven and
17:12
the first earth had passed away, and
17:15
there was no more sea. And
17:18
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
17:21
coming down of heaven from God, prepared as
17:23
a bride adorned for her husband.
17:25
And I heard a loud voice saying,
17:29
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
17:31
men, and He will dwell with them,
17:33
and they shall be His people. God
17:36
will be with them, and He will be their God.
17:39
And God will wipe away every tear
17:41
from their eyes, there shall be no more
17:43
death, nor sorrow, nor crying,
17:46
no more pain, for the former
17:48
things will have
17:51
passed away. Now, notice
17:55
that when the Bible gives us a description
17:58
of the coming
17:59
of heaven. It focuses
18:02
on some startling dimensions
18:04
of what heaven will be like and
18:07
what it will not be like. It
18:09
tells us what will be there, what
18:11
will not be there. If you go on and read this
18:13
text, it does talk about streets
18:16
of gold,
18:17
gold so fine and so
18:19
pure that it is translucent.
18:22
It talks about gates
18:24
constructed with magnificent pearls,
18:27
and the foundation established
18:30
and adorned with precious jewels.
18:33
Now, knowing the nature of apocalyptic
18:35
literature, what is so imaginative,
18:38
we assume that these are symbolic
18:41
representations about what heaven will
18:43
be like. But let me just say,
18:46
I wouldn't put it past him.
18:49
I would not put it past God
18:51
to have a city that
18:54
is paved with streets of gold and
18:57
to have it look just exactly as
18:59
it is described right here. I wouldn't
19:02
put it past him at all, but he
19:04
said there's no sea there. I saw,
19:06
oh, wait a minute. And that's where we live for
19:08
every year is to go on vacation, go to the beach. We love the sea.
19:12
No, no, no. For the Hebrew,
19:13
the sea is the symbol of
19:15
violence. They
19:18
didn't have sandy
19:20
beaches in Israel. Their
19:23
seacoast was the source of
19:25
marauders coming who attacked
19:28
them and violent weather that came
19:30
off the Mediterranean. In all of Hebrew
19:33
poetry, the sea is a negative
19:35
symbol.
19:36
It's the river, it's the fountain,
19:39
it's the well that serves
19:41
as the positive image
19:43
in the Hebrew poetry, not
19:45
the sea.
19:47
And so he says the first thing, folks, there
19:49
won't be any violent,
19:51
natural catastrophes that you have
19:53
to worry about in heaven
19:55
because the sea won't be there. And
19:57
he said,
19:58
here's what else won't be there.
19:59
be. There
20:02
won't be any tears. There's
20:07
no room for tears unless
20:09
they're tears of joy. But
20:11
we associate tears in
20:14
our language with sorrow, with
20:16
sadness, with grief. And
20:19
every child remembers what it was like to
20:21
be overwhelmed with being
20:23
upset and having a fit
20:26
of crying and having your mother come
20:28
with her apron and wiping
20:30
away the tears. And what a comforting thing
20:32
that is. However,
20:35
you cry again tomorrow.
20:38
But when God
20:39
wipes away your tears, they
20:42
never come back. They
20:44
will be no more. Why?
20:47
Because the things that make us cry will
20:50
be removed. There will
20:52
be no more death.
20:54
There will be no more sorrow. There
20:57
will be no more pain. These
20:59
former things will have passed
21:02
away. Well,
21:04
we jump down to verse 22 and we find
21:06
out what else won't be in heaven.
21:10
There'll be no temple there. And
21:14
we go on and we'll say, oops, there'll be no
21:16
sun there. There'll
21:18
be no moon there. No temple? You mean there'll be no church? And
21:22
there'll be no sun, no moon? What is
21:24
this place of desolation? Thought it was going to
21:27
be heaven. Why won't there be a temple
21:28
there? Because
21:33
the temple is the visible symbol
21:37
of the presence of God. And
21:39
when the reality is there, you
21:41
don't need the physical temple
21:44
there. And why will there not be
21:46
any sun or moon or stars?
21:49
These are artificial sources of
21:51
light. And what we're told about that
21:53
in heaven,
21:54
the radiance, the refauldgence
21:57
of the glory of God and of the land.
22:00
will illumine the whole
22:02
city. There will never be night
22:05
because the glowing, brilliant,
22:08
radiant glory of God
22:11
never stops. It's not on a 24-hour cycle.
22:13
I mean, the
22:15
Son of Righteousness does
22:18
not set
22:19
ever.
22:22
And so heaven will be a place
22:24
that will be a glow
22:26
with the unvarnished,
22:30
unveiled radiance
22:32
of God. And
22:35
there are other beautiful things that are said here about
22:37
heaven, but think of it, friends. What
22:40
are you living for?
22:41
Jonathan Edwards said, you know, can
22:44
you imagine somebody saving to go
22:46
on a journey on a vacation for 10
22:49
years, and in order to get
22:51
to their destination, they had
22:53
to travel and that the first night they
22:55
stopped at a wayside inn.
22:58
And
23:00
the next day, instead of continuing
23:02
their travel to get to their desired destination
23:05
that they had hoped and saved for for
23:07
all this time, they decided
23:09
to forego it all and to stay in the inn.
23:12
That's the way we are.
23:14
We hold on so tenaciously
23:16
to life in this world because
23:19
we haven't really been convinced of the glory
23:21
that the Father has established in heaven
23:23
for His people.
23:25
But for all eternity, God
23:28
has established this place which is
23:30
the end and the destiny of
23:33
all of His people.
23:36
It doesn't get any better than that. And
23:39
again, every aspiration, every
23:41
hope, every joy that
23:43
we look forward to will be there and
23:46
then some in this wonderful
23:48
place. Our greatest
23:50
moment
23:52
will be the moment that we walk through the
23:54
door and leave
23:56
this world of tears
23:58
and sorrow as a valley.
23:59
valley of death and
24:02
enter into the presence of
24:04
the lame.
24:12
That will be a glorious moment. And
24:15
I find it so comforting and significant that
24:17
not only will there be no tears in heaven,
24:20
but also that it's God Himself who
24:22
will wipe them away. You're
24:25
listening to Renewing Your Mind, and that was
24:27
R.C. Wrobel, discussing the Believer's
24:29
Final Rest. This message
24:31
comes from his Foundation series, which
24:34
consists of 60 messages, and
24:36
it walks us through what we believe and why
24:38
we believe it as Christians. For your donation
24:41
of any amount, at renewingyourmind.org,
24:43
we'll give you lifetime streaming access
24:45
to the series. We'll also give you access
24:48
to the digital study guide and send
24:50
you the newly released hardcover book, Facing
24:52
the Last Enemy, by Guy Waters. This
24:55
book from Dr. Waters was written to help
24:57
you prepare for death, but also
24:59
to help you practically care for those
25:02
who are grieving or are going through suffering.
25:05
This book is a helpful resource regardless of
25:07
your current circumstances, but perhaps
25:09
there is someone who comes to mind who would benefit
25:11
from receiving this as a gift. So I
25:13
encourage you to visit renewingyourmind.org
25:16
or call us at 800-435-4343 to request digital access
25:21
to R.C. Sproul's Foundation series and
25:24
the new hardcover book by Guy Waters,
25:27
Facing the Last Enemy. This is also
25:29
the final day for this offer, so respond
25:31
now while there's still time at renewingyourmind.org.
25:37
We've spent the last couple of days considering
25:40
heaven, but between now and
25:42
when we pass into eternity, we live
25:44
in this world. So how are we to
25:46
relate to the world and please God
25:49
while we're here? Be sure to join us
25:51
next week as we'll explore those questions
25:53
here on Renewing Your Mind.
Podchaser is the ultimate destination for podcast data, search, and discovery. Learn More