1 Then I saw a
new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had
disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her
husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s
home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his
people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will
wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or
crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making
everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you
is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he
also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the
End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of
life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these
blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the
immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their
fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21 gives us a vision of God’s ultimate plan for
humanity and all of creation. Most people are only thinking “What’s
next? What happens after we die? Will I
go to heaven?” But God’s plans are much
grander and far reaching. Ultimate, God will
restore the original vision He began when He created the world in Genesis
1. God will create a new heaven
and a new earth, for old heaven and earth will pass away. And the great shout of Revelation 21:3 will come
true: “Look, God’s home is now among
his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself
will be with them.” God’s redemption is not just for
people. God will redeem all the animals,
the trees, the plants… All creation will be renewed. We will live in peace and harmony with all the
earth—just as it was when God first created Adam and Eve and placed them in the
Garden of Eden to live without any fear or shame or suffering. And Isaiah 11:6 foretells, “In that day the
wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby
goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child
will lead them all.”
I had several questions asked about heaven and the afterlife and I want to address those today. And I think it is especially appropriate today as we celebrate All Saints Sunday, the day we honor and remember our loved ones who’ve gone to heaven to be with the Lord. For all who are truly Christian--who believe in and follow Jesus Christ--are saints. We are perfect in God's sight, because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.
God is sovereign. That means God has absolute authority and
absolute right to do whatever He decides.
First of all, this is because He made us. Secondly, He rescued us when we were already
dead because of our sin. The only thing
enabling us to draw a single breath is the providence and protection of God. So God has two reasons to claim absolute sovereignty over us.
That being said, God allows us the
freedom to live autonomously. In other
words, we get to make our own decisions.
We can choose to live a clean, healthy life, which tends to lead to a
long life. Or we can smoke and drink and
eat two pounds of bacon every day for breakfast and cake for dinner and never force
our bodies to exercise. That will
probably lead to poor health and an early grave. It’s your choice; God gives you the
freedom how you want to live. Furthermore, others have a
choice too. People choose to get drunk
and drive and crash into innocent people causing untimely deaths. Big corporations sometimes choose to pollute our
earth, favoring short term profit over the long-term environmental health of
our planet. How many cancers and
tumors and other life-ending health problems are the result? Our world is broken because of sin.
Sometimes, God calls a person Home to
heaven. Sarah Brooker, a godly member of my church, may be an example
of God specifically calling a saint Home to be with Him. Sara was a woman who lived a full
life and touched so many; a lady who fulfilled God’s will for her life to the
last day. A lady who wanted to go to
heaven for the last ten years, but who faithfully endured the sorrows of this
life and declining health for the sake of Christ until Jesus finally said the job was done. Then, and only then, when she realized her
work for the Lord was done, she laid her head back and the Lord called her Home.
But we need not assume that every person
who dies was personally chosen by God to die at that moment.
That’s a wrong way to think. God can
choose when a person goes to heaven, but more often than not I think it is our
own decisions (or the decisions of others around us). We need to be extra careful when we claim God
is the one naming the day and hour of every single person's death. I’m not going to blame God for the man who dies
of a heart attack when that man was repeatedly warned about his unhealthy
eating habits, high cholesterol, and lack of exercise. I’m not going to blame
God for the death of a young girl hit by a drunk driver. Do you see where I’m going with all
this? Let’s stop making God the scape goat for all our suffering and death. Let’s take responsibility
here. God created the world. But then we took over and we’ve been ruining
this place for thousands of years by our own rotten choices. I’d rather blame anyone than God for all these tragedies.
And to the
original question—how does God decides when to call people to heaven? I think He doesn’t have to make that decision
very often. I think we usually make
it ourselves, in one way or another. And sometimes, when God does specifically call an individual Home, I believe it's an act of mercy.
God’s question for you is: What
do the decisions you make in your life say about when you will be going to
heaven?
The rapture is a term some Christians use to describe a future
event when Jesus calls all Christian believers who are alive, along with the
resurrected dead believers, up to "the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air". It is based on 1 Thessalonians
4:16-17, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together
with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” Some Christian denominations place more
emphasis on the rapture and the End Times than others. My Grandma was more and more interested in eschatological studies, including the rapture, the older she got. She hope her and her husband would be spared the pain of death and separation. She saw the world around her becoming increasingly evil and longed for Jesus' return. She hopes she and her husband would live to see the day He came back and they would be raptured to meet Him in the air. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. She died in 1994 and my grandpa died five years latter in 1999.
Methodist don’t
have an official doctrine about the rapture (or many other End Times concepts) other
than what we say in the Apostles’ Creed: we believe Jesus “will come again to
judge the quick and the dead.” We know Jesus is coming again. It plainly says it in Scripture. Most Methodists
believe and accept the concept of a rapture, but we tend not to be as concerned with the End
Times. We are more concerned with the
present. We want to live our lives for
God now, sharing the love of Christ with as many as we can as often as we can in
as many ways as we can. We believe if we
do this, we will be ready whenever and however the end comes.
God’s question for you: Are
you ready if Jesus comes for you today?
Yes. In fact, I believe you will recognize them
better then than you ever did here on earth.
1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling
reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything
completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
Here on earth, we recognize people
by mostly by their physical appearance. My older brother and I look pretty similar and sound even more alike. Over the phone, we can almost be indistinguishable. Back in the day before everyone had caller ID, I would often call my mom and she would think she was talking to Nelson. And being he practical joker I am, I would just go with it and pretend to be my older brother. And I could make it several minutes before I would laugh and let my mom know who it really was. My brother used to do the same thing when Mom would mistake him for me.
That will be no mistaken identities in heaven. Just as God sees into your soul now, we will be able to see deeply into the core of those we love when we get to Glory. We will see and be seen this way. And just like Adam and Eve who were naked in the Garden of Eden but were unashamed, we will have nothing to hide in eternity. We will gladly be completely open and vulnerable, so that people can see who we really are, and we will not be ashamed. Yes. We will recognize our loved ones, even better than we know them now.
That will be no mistaken identities in heaven. Just as God sees into your soul now, we will be able to see deeply into the core of those we love when we get to Glory. We will see and be seen this way. And just like Adam and Eve who were naked in the Garden of Eden but were unashamed, we will have nothing to hide in eternity. We will gladly be completely open and vulnerable, so that people can see who we really are, and we will not be ashamed. Yes. We will recognize our loved ones, even better than we know them now.
God’s question for you is: How
do you recognize your family and friends today?
Do you see them mostly for how they look or what they do for you? Could you look at them in a deeper way and
recognize something in them you’ve missed before?
First, Holy Communion is an opportunity to do something Jesus asked
you to do. Think of someone you love who
has died. Suppose they asked you to do
something just before they died. Something
simple, a simple ceremony that you should do often to remember them. Wouldn’t you do it? Well, Jesus, whom we love, said "take and eat and drink in remembrance of me."
Second, Holy Communion is a chance to commune with all the
saints (all believers of Jesus Christ), both living and dead. As we gather around the Lord’s Table to
remember Him and His sacrifice, so to do all the saints gather with us. How this happens is a mystery, but we allude
to it every Sunday as we recite the Apostles’ Creed: We believe in the communion of saints.
Third, Holy Communion is a chance to commune with Jesus Christ. Jesus is not dead; He is alive. And He is with us as we celebrate communion. Yes, I know Jesus is with us always; but through Holy Communion, He can open our hearts in a special way so we can experience His presence with us. I encourage you, as you take Holy Communion, to seek to know Christ’s presence with you as you kneel at the altar to pray.
Fourth, Holy Communion is a sacrament God uses to pour His grace
into our lives. Grace is God’s undeserved
love and favor. Through Holy Communion,
God strengthens and equips us to live as His people. Just as food nourishes your body, God’s grace
imparted through Communion nourishes your spirit in a special way that you can
live as His people.
ConclusionI hope it has been helpful to ponder the questions with me. May God bless you.
