The Unfathomable Nature of Heaven

Revelation chapter 21 this morning we're going to continue our series on the reality of eternity and

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

last week we spoke of the certainty of eternity it's coming whether you're ready for it or not

I encourage you to be ready this week I want to talk about heaven particularly the unfathomable

nature of heaven now the word unfathomable means incapable of being explored or understood

impossible to measure the extent of so I'll tell you that I'm going to do my best today to describe

to you some aspects of what heaven will be like but I promise you from the beginning it will not be

sufficient the reality is the words of English cannot put or any other language cannot really

explain to us the vast expanse of the glories of heaven but we get a glimpse of it in Revelation

21 of all places in scripture it's most clearly in Revelation 21 I want to begin to unpack that

this morning it's in Revelation 21 beginning in verse 1 it says this

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 they'll 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 and he said to me it is done I am the alpha and the omega the beginning

and the end to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment the one who

conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he'll be my son but as for the cowardly the

faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immoral sorcerers idolaters and all liars

their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death then came

one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying

come and I'll show you the bride the wife of the lamb and he carried me away in spirit to a great high

mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God having the glory of God

its radiance like a most rare jewel like a like a jasper clear as crystal it had a great high wall

with 12 gates and at the gates 12 angels and on the gates the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of

Israel were inscribed on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates

and on the west three gates and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the 12 names

of the 12 apostles of the lamb and the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold measuring the

city and its gates and walls the city lies four square its length the same as its width and he measured

the city with his rod 12,000 stratia its length and its width and its height are equal he also measured

its wall 144 cubits by human measurement which is also an angel's measurement the walls was built of

jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned

with every kind of jewel the first was jasper the second sapphire the third agate the fourth emerald the

fifth onyx the sixth carnelian the seventh crystallite the eighth barrel the ninth topaz the tenth

christophase the eleventh jason the twelfth amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates made

of a single pearl and the streets of the city was pure gold like transparent glass and i saw no temple

in the city for its temple is the lord god the almighty and the lamb and the city had no need of sun or moon

to shine on it for the glory of god gives its light and its lamp is the lamb by its light will the nations

walk and the kings of the earth be will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day

there'll be no night there that will bring into the glory and the honor of the nations but nothing unclean will

ever enter it nor anyone who does what is detestable or false but only those who are written in the lamb's

book of life i want to share with you three things that you can look forward to but i realize that i don't

have time to share you three things so i'm going to show you two of them this morning two things that

heaven has this morning first one is this unforeseen beauty in that city the unforeseen beauty of that

city beginning in verse 11 we get the most clear picture in this life that we can have of heaven

it says the glory of god will shine in that place brighter than the sun shines here shall be the glory

of god there now what exactly does that mean well we'll have to get there to find out but i can give

you some examples that point to it in exodus chapter 34 verse 29 do you remember when moses went up to

Exodus 34:29

mount sinai and he went up to mount sinai and received the 10 commandments from the lord

i want you to listen to what this this was like for moses as he was in the presence of god

it said when moses came down from mount sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand and

he came down from the mountain moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been

talking with god aaron and all the people of israel saw moses and behold the skin of his face shone

and they were afraid to come near him but moses called to them and aaron and all the leaders of the

congregation returned to him and moses talked with them afterward all the people of israel came near

and he commanded them all that the lord had spoken with him in mount sinai and when moses had finished

speaking with them he put a veil over his face whenever moses went in before the lord to speak with him

he would remove the veil until he came out and when he came out and told the people of israel what he

was commanded the people of israel would see the face of moses that the skin of moses face was shining

and moses would put the veil over his face until he went in to speak with him tell you what was

happening moses was coming down covering his face because it glowed with the glory of god

he had been in the presence unadulterated presence of god and from that he shone literally the glory of

god let me give you another example it's in matthew chapter 17 it's at the transfiguration of jesus

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

we pick up a few different signs of heaven here i want to touch on one it says after six days jesus took

with him peter and james and john his brother led him up a high mountain by themselves and he was

transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light

and behold there appeared to them moses and elijah talking with them and peter said to jesus

lord it is good that we are here if you wish i will make three tents here one for you and one for

moses and one for elijah he was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them

and a voice from the cloud said this is my son with whom i am well pleased listen to him when the

disciples heard this they fell on their faces and were terrified but jesus came and touched them and

said rise and have no fear and when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but jesus only and as

they were coming down the mountain jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the son of man is

raised from the dead

i'll tell you what happened on the mount mount of transfiguration they were exposed to the glory

of god the glory of god is the shine of heaven his glory illuminates heaven

in revelation 21 verse 12 it tells us that there's a high wall around heaven that is a powerful symbol

Revelation 21:12

because walls were built around cities for security it was not to keep people in it was to keep harm

out and the point of that is heaven is an eternally secure place that there is no fear in heaven

there are no locks in heaven there's gates but they're always open there is no apprehension in heaven

it describes the walls of heaven as made from most precious stones all which are colorful with

brilliant hues and when you see how this book is translated from the original language to english you

realize that we don't have words for some of these we find something similar the word may mean blue and

so they find a jewel that's blue and place that word in there it is really truly beyond our comprehension

and the point is when it stacks the walls with 12 different jewels of amazement it is magnificent

beauty beyond the imagination of the human eye the book of revelation is a fascinating book it is also the

most abused and misused book in all the bible it is fascinating and it is controversial and there are

several characteristics that mark the book let me give you two of them that are relevant relevant for what

we're doing today one of them is symbolism there's a ton of symbolism in revelation symbolic images that

you can pick up on what they mean by looking at the context of the rest of scripture the second thing that

you'll find that characterizes revelation is numerology and a lot of people take the numerology of

revelation and run with it and go crazy with it and come up with formulas and all that stuff that are not

in the bible they make it up just to be honest with you sells good books though there are four numbers

however that are repeatedly used in scripture if you'll look at the multiples of of what we're looking at

today you'll see these numbers used again and again four of them one of them is the number three

now all of these numbers mean complete they mean perfect so you help me this morning why would the number

three be considered a perfect number

it's because of the trinity because the three in one one in three god that we serve the trinity points

to perfection points to completion the next number is the number seven now why would seven be a symbol

of perfection do you know it's creation the world was created in seven days

if you take the day of rest off you have the number six

if you triple that number put it together three times you get six six six so if six is an evil number

because you lay off the day of rest then three times more would be the number six six six for instance

another perfect number that is mentioned is the is the number 10 why would 10 be significant

because of the 10 commandments they represent the whole of the law they're not the whole of the law

they represent the whole of the law so when you have the 10 commandments you cover the law of swords

the last number and you see that quite a bit here is the number 12 and the reason why the number 12

is a symbolic number that's used again and again is because all of god's people in the old testament

were made up in the 12 tribes so when you include the 12 gates you include all of god's people it's a

powerful symbol now today those who are in christ are god's people so what this speaks of when it speaks

of the tribes it speaks of the old israel god's chosen people but when you look at the foundation of

those walls you'll see there's 12 foundations and what is upon those foundations but it's about the

apostles names and so you also see the newest trail which are those who are in christ you see since the

cross since the cross and the carrying out of the great commission all through christ are god's chosen

children we all come through christ those before christ came in the hope of christ those since christ

came because of what christ did we all come through christ now if you stumble on that i want you to

notice that the foundation has the names of the apostles on it which means that the message in which

the apostles preached is the foundation of what heaven stands on what is that that's the gospel that's the hope

that we have heaven is made up of god's people and its foundation is the message of the apostles

which is the gospel in those walls are gates how many 12 gates verse 21 says in the 12 gates were 12

pearls each of the gates made of a single pearl now i may make more of this than i ought to but i always had

trouble as a kid when i heard people talk about people going through the pearly gates because when

i heard people talk about the pearly gates what it sounded like to me was some saturday morning get

together where you get a bunch of fake pearls and glue them together to come up with some ornate gate

of sorts that you come through and that is not at all what it's speaking of i want you to notice that it

makes the point to say that verse 21 says and the 12 gates were 12 pearls listen each of the gates made of a single pearl

that is significant especially if you understand how a pearl is made a pearl is formed when a small grain

of sand becomes embedded into an oyster and it begins to irritate that oyster and to soften that

irritation the oyster coats that grain of sand with a smooth layer of mother of pearl is what it's called

as long as it is an irritant it continues to coat it making it larger and larger and for those who are

cracking open oysters looking for pearls they want a lot of irritation before they ever get to it because

they want that pearl to be good size what kind of irritant would have been necessary

to make pearls the size of forming gates now let me just give you an understanding here

when we speak of the gates of these walls scripture says they are 144 cubits thick

a cubic cubit is from the average man from his elbow to the tip of his third finger

on my arm it's 18 inches and so it's safe to say that 144 cubits would at least be 200 feet

the gates of the walls of heaven is described in scripture as 200 feet thick

it must have been some type of irritation to make a pearl that big i mean it had to be tremendous

suffering

so what in the world does that mean well i believe the answer is found inside the question

how can we get through the gate of heaven because of christ because of his sacrifice because his

sacrifice coated over the irritant of our sin and these pearl gates represent the beauty of our entrance

into heaven because of the suffering of christ that went before us not only does it talk about the gates but it says that the streets

and the city are pure gold like transparent glass

you ever seen gold that looked like transparent glass

ladies if some fellow's trying to give you gold that looks like transparent glass i wouldn't take it

okay

but literally what this means is it is gold without impurity

literally what this means is it describes the process of how gold is heated up and when gold is heated up

impurities rise to the top and then that is removed off of that gold

and therefore the better the gold you have the more impurities are removed

never are all the impurities removed

hopefully most have been removed

however the point of it is there is no impurity in heaven

therefore the appearance of the gold in heaven is like glass

because all the impurities have been removed

there is no impurity in heaven

which means that this gold construction is transparent which is fitting

because nothing is hidden in heaven

and the pure gold is a treasure beyond any that this world

can bring

it also speaks of the size of heaven

the size of heaven is identified as four square

and when it's identified as four square

if you take the measurements

and of 12,000 stratia

and you change that to our measurements today

it means that heaven is 1400 miles on each side

it also means that heaven is 1400 miles high

1400 miles that is from Canada to Mexico

that is from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains

if you take that height

because it's a cube

if you take that height into consideration

it would accommodate 20 billion people

each having a 75 acre cube

or room

or mansion

and the point of that is

thank God

there's room

in heaven

John 14 1 through 3 says this

let not your hearts be troubled

you believe in God

believe also in me

and 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

some of you do not like that translation

and the reason why you don't like that translation

is because they have ripped the mansion out

and put a room in

I often use this passage

at funerals

and I always

read the New King James Version

because

I ain't about to tell people at a funeral

that they're going to a room

they've been waiting on a mansion

all this time

let me tell you why that's different

it's because over the last

400 years and more

we've been able to

come to a better understanding

of the New Testament language

Kornei Greek is a dead language

nobody speaks it

and so

what we get from it now

is from archival information

and the more documents

that are dug up

and the older the documents are

that are dug up

and the more you see the language used

and how it is used

the better understanding that you have

and the reality is

the word there in the Greek

that was translated mansion years ago

is really normally used

more like a manse

which would be a house

or a dwelling place

or even a room of sorts

the point is

there is room for all

it goes on to tell us

that there's no sun

there's no star

there's no night

God the Father

and His Son Christ are there

they are all the light

we need

and I take you back

to Matthew 17

I take you back

to the passage in Exodus

that speaks of the shine

that came from those

who had just been

in the presence of God

not God Himself

the gates are always open

ready to receive more

can you imagine

the beauty of heaven

no

no you can't

it is beyond

anything we can comprehend

we have no idea

not only

is there unimaginable beauty

of heaven

but I want you to also see

this morning

the unimaginable

reunion with the saints

the unimaginable

reunion with the saints

Hebrews 12 23 tells us

that when we turn to God

we have come

to the assembly

of the firstborn

who are enrolled

in heaven

and to God

the judge of all

and to the spirits

of the righteous

made perfect

I want you to hear me

this morning

listen

if you're a child of God

scripture says

your name is written

in the Lamb's book of life

that is the way

scripture puts

the registration

of heaven

when you give your heart

and life to the Lord

Jesus Christ

you're registered

and you will not

arrive late

you'll be right on time

God will send for you

on time

and when he does

you will be with

fellow saints of God

that are already there

people ask me

will we know each other

of course we'll know each other

we'll know each other

more than we do now

now how do I know that

well if you look back

at Matthew 17

Matthew 17:3

verse 3

that we looked at earlier

it says in verse 3

that

and behold

there appeared to them

Moses and Elijah

talking

with them

with Moses and Elijah

talking with Christ

at the Mount of Transfiguration

Peter, James and John

were looking on

and they recognized

Moses

and Elijah

now I want you to think

about that for a moment

folks

Peter, James and John

did not have

one of those

green covered Bibles

that we had as a kid

where you open it up

when you get to the

Moses passage

and it shows

the Charlton Heston

standing in front

of the burning bush

they didn't have that

they didn't have portraits

of Moses

they didn't have portraits

of Elijah

they don't know

what them men

looked like

they know Elijah

wore funky clothes

but they don't know that

but instantly

they recognized them

no pictures

they didn't know

what they looked like

they had

an intuitive

knowledge

listen

when I get to glory

I'm going to be thin

and buff

and good looking

and you're still going to know

who I am

it's going to be amazing

how?

because of intuitive

knowledge

if Peter, James and John

recognized those

they had never seen

don't you dare doubt

that you'll not be able

to recognize those

that you have seen

how?

I don't know

but I'll know then

because 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:12

verse 12

says this

now we see

but a poor reflection

as in a mirror

then we shall see

face to face

now I know in part

then I shall know fully

even as I am fully known

oh my friend

it will all become clear

instantly

when we get there

until then

we just see through

a glass dimly

George W. Truitt

pastored the First Baptist Church

of Dallas

for half of the 20th century

the first half of the 20th century

somebody in the church

had a baby

and George W. Truitt

went to the hospital

to see that baby

to visit that family

and the father came out

with the baby

and when the father

came out with the baby

Truitt began to cry

the father asked him why

and Truitt said

I was just thinking

about your beautiful family

and I realized

that all of you

will not be in heaven

I realized

that all the rest

of your family

will be

but you won't be

how sad

I love to think about

the glories of heaven

the beauty of the city

and the opportunity

that we have

to be

in the greatest reunion

that we could ever imagine

thank God

that for the Christian

heaven will be a reunion

like you've never seen

let me just be blunt today

what about you

are you ready

have you nailed

your salvation down

God gave us

his words

so that we would know

John writes

in both

big John

the gospel of John

and the little John

in first John

he says

I've written these things

that you may

know that you have

eternal life

folks I want you

certain

this morning

has there ever been

a time in your life

when you've asked

the Lord Jesus

to come into your life

and to forgive you

of your sins

and to cleanse you

and to change you

if that's never

happened to you

I promise you

today's the day

of salvation

if you feel any

yearning at all

to come to him

it's not from you

it's because of him

his Holy Spirit

has initiated that

and you have a responsibility

to respond to that

in obedience

I'd love to guide you

in that process

and we're going to stand

in just a moment

and we're going to sing

and when we do

I encourage you to come

say pastor I'd love

to give my heart

and life to the Lord

Jesus Christ

or maybe you have done that

you've never let anybody

else know that publicly

I mean maybe a few

in the family know

or something like that

but you've never publicly

acknowledged that

Jesus by his commission

and by his example

tell us

that we are to acknowledge

that through baptism

hey

and I got good news

for you

if you've never

acknowledged that

through baptism

we have an opportunity

in Lake Chiliwater

this afternoon

you have a wonderful

opportunity

and it's not too late

I promise you

if you've never

acknowledged your salvation

publicly through baptism

you come

you come

whether today works out

or not

you come

and make that right

publicly

before us

and before the Lord

maybe you're here

and God's drawing you

to be a part of this

fellowship

I'm telling you

the sweetest times

that Pickens First Baptist

Church will ever have

will only simply be

a foretaste

of what we have

to look forward to

I highly anticipate

this afternoon

I think we're going to

have a wonderful

glorious time

together

we're going to celebrate

the birth of Christ

moving and working

in the lives of folks

the birth of a Christian

excuse me

working and moving

in their lives

and we're going to

celebrate with them

I mean if one of our

college football teams

won a national championship

we'd drive wherever

we had to go

fight as much traffic

as we had to fight

stand in whatever

kind of weather

we had to stand

to cheer them on

and it'd only be

a temporary title

it'd be put in some

case and people

could go by

and look at it later

those players

would graduate

grow old and fat

like the rest of us

but when somebody

gives their heart

and life

to the Lord

Jesus Christ

they're forever changed

for all of eternity

we ought to cheer

like it matters

when they acknowledge

that publicly

we ought to be

in their crowd

thank God

there's a great cloud

of witnesses

I'll talk about

one morning

that's also cheering

us on

but we have a responsibility

to cheer one another on

what an opportunity

we have

and then to eat together

what a great opportunity

for that

but I'm telling you

the sweetest reunions

we ever have

in this church

is just a foretaste

of what it's going to be like

when we see them

face to face

God's drawing you

to our congregation

you come

we'd love to guide you

in that process

God's blessing us

in mighty ways

God's doing a move

I have no way

to describe it

except that God's

chosen to put his hand

upon us

and work in us

in mighty ways

I thank God

lives are being changed

if you feel led

to be a part of that

you come

maybe you're here

this morning

and there's barriers

in your life

that you need to lay down

before the Lord

you know you're a Christian

but there's things

in your life

you're ashamed of

things that you need

to confess

and you need to walk

away from

in the power

of the Holy Spirit

of God

he gives us

the strength

to do that

he also gives us

folks to encourage

us along the way

I'll be happy

to walk with you

through your journey

and encourage you

along the way

you just obey God

as he speaks

to your heart and life

Lord Jesus

I love you

and I thank you

for the opportunity

you give us today

to celebrate you

to live for you

to dedicate our lives

to you dear God

to publicly confess you

to join in

with your believers

Father

God help us

to simply be obedient

right now

of exactly what

you'd have us to do

nothing more

or nothing less

bless our efforts

oh God I pray

in Jesus precious name

Amen