What About Heaven

Happy Sunday. A few years back, I officiated a funeral of a lady who grieved herself to death. She was only 49. Her teenage daughter had died of an overdose, and 10 months later the mother died. The family was not a family of faith, and they had no hope. It was sad.

For believers, we have the greatest hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 tells us, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the Believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope." There is such a difference. Today I want to answer some common questions about heaven.

I was asked recently, when will we go to heaven? I believe it's immediate for the believer. Do you remember what Jesus said to the thief on the cross, the one that became a Believer? We find this in Luke 23:43. Jesus said, "I assure you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Today.

In Philippians 1:23, this is taught by the Apostle Paul. He said, "I'm torn between two desires. I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me." Heaven is that close. If you happen to be with a loved one who's a Believer at the time of their death, you are at a very holy moment.

Another common question is, will we know people in heaven? Do you remember this from Matthew 17? "Jesus Took Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus's appearance was transformed so that his face Shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, lord, it's wonderful for us to be here. If you want, I'll make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Now, what I learned there is that, you know, Moses and Elijah had been gone a long time, but they were recognized. They were distinguishable. I believe that we will absolutely recognize people in heaven, all people. In fact, I've saved a copy of an obituary given to me by a dear friend in Mississippi. This is from a South Carolina paper from September of 1882.

Lizzie Miller Benson was 6 years old when she died of diptheria. Here's a quote from 142 years ago about her death: "She seemed to get a glimpse in of the invisible world and exclaimed, I see Eva and kitty," her two sisters who died just weeks earlier, "I found my brother Hazel. And then, noticing her grandmother sitting on the bedside, she addressed her: grandma, I want you to go where I'm going. And then, looking once more as if peering into the world of spirit, she said, I see Uncle Nikki, and so breathed her last."

Lots of books have been written over time about stories of people dying and coming back. Movies have been made. Not too long ago, a man who pinned a best-selling book claiming that he ascended to heaven and met Jesus during a near-death experience when he was a little boy, well, he changed his story. He admitted that he made it all up in an effort to seek attention. His name, Alex Malarkey.

His story was told in the 2010 book The Boy Who came back from Heaven. It was written by him and with the help of of his father. Tendale House published the book, and then after he recanted, they pulled it from print. He admitted, "I did not die. I did not go to heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible," he wrote.

He continued, "People have profited from lies and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of Truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible." I agree. I kept away on purpose from Reading, uh, and and Reporting on these types of books, because I want scripture to be our guide. But I have been with people in their last moments. They didn't come back, but they seem to recognize people.

What about our bodies? Death has two stages: first, the separation of the body and the spirit, and second, the reunion with the body and a glorious Resurrection at the second coming of Christ. Let me read from 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 18. "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the Believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope." That's how I began today, with people who didn't have hope.

"For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the Believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: we who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding Shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with a trumpet call of God. First, the believer who have died will rise from their graves. And then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on Earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words." What a day that will be.

Philippians 3:20 and 21 tell us, "We are citizens of heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we eagerly await for him to return as our savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control." Yes, we'll have bodies.

Romans 8:23 says, "And we Believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies that he has promised us." I think the older we get, the more we look forward to those new bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:42 to 44 sheds more light on this. "It is the same way with the resurrection of the Dead. Our Earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in Brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. Our bodies are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. Our bodies are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies."

Now I'm going to skip to verse 53. There we are told, "For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die. Our mortal bodies must be transformed into Immortal bodies. And then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die." You know, it sounds to me like a caterpillar to a butterfly transformation. For the Christian, death is a graduation to something much, much better. Next week we'll continue our study of Heaven.

Pray with me. Father, it's my prayer that everybody watching and listening have hope, that they're Believers. If not, we pray that you would cause us to believe. Thank you for your plan that goes beyond this world to something much better. Thank You For Preparing A Place For Us. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

God bless. Thanks for being with me today.