Everlasting Life, Part 2

We come today to the last part of the last clause in the Apostles Creed. So, for the final time in this mini-series, let’s recite the creed together. Last week we started to understand what we believe when we profess our faith in “the life everlasting.” I explained that, for all of humanity, there are two possible eternal destinations. You will either trust in Christ and inherit the kingdom of heaven, or you will go your own way and inherit eternal death in hell. As we saw, all of humanity will be brought to judgment on the last day, and those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ will be judged by their works and thrown into the lake of fire. This morning, we answer the question of what happens with those who have trusted in Christ. Just as with Hell, there are many misconceptions about Heaven as well. So, to begin with, I want to explain what we don’t mean when we confess belief in everlasting life, and then what we do.

First, we reject the belief that eternal life is a bodiless, ephemeral existence in a realm far removed from this reality. Most of what the modern American believes about eternal life comes more from Renaissance art, which pictured eternal life as a place in the clouds where we constantly play harps and float around in our little baby bodies. I remember watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie with my children, in which the youngest daughter, Grace Pearl, has a vision of Heaven, where she bounces around on clouds and talks to angels with gigantic heads. I had to pause the show just to explain that this isn’t the way the Bible describes Heaven or eternal life.

Second, we reject the belief that eternal life is whatever we want it to be. This is another common myth that I hear about Heaven – that we will get to do whatever we want, be whatever we want to be, live however we want to live. The Muslims, for one, believe that whatever has been refused to us in this life will be allowed in Heaven, which is a strange, contradictory view of God’s character. I’ve heard many a funeral eulogy in which the speaker opined of the deceased enjoying his favorite hobbies – “He’s playing golf on the heavenly greens. She’s sitting by a river fishing with Jesus.” It’s even popularized in our culture through songs like Brad Paisley’s “When I get where I’m going” – “The first thing I’m gonna do is spread my wings and fly. I’m gonna land beside a lion and run my fingers through his mane. Or I might find out what it’s like to ride a drop of rain.” Now, don’t misunderstand me – eternal life will be everything that God intended life to be. It will be perfect, unending, joyful, and fulfilling. But, as we will see in a bit, the point of our eternal life isn’t anything we will get to do, but the relationship we will inherit.

Third, we reject the belief that we will be angels in God’s court. Humans are different from angels. We were created from the beginning as a distinct creation that is made to bear the image of God. We will not transform into angels. Rather, we will rule them.

Finally, we reject the belief that eternal life is Heaven. As I’ve stated before, humans were not made for Heaven, we were made for earth. Now, as soon as I said that, you might have wondered, “wait a minute preacher, what about the passages in Scripture that talk about the saints that are before the throne of God, or the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16?” In understanding eternal life, there is a very important distinction we need to make between three places that we tend to mash together into one. In Scripture, there are three spiritual realms where God’s people dwell. First, there is Heaven. Heaven is where God and his angels dwell. It is pictured, as in Isaiah 1, as a throne room, or a heavenly temple. Humans are allowed to experience Heaven by special privilege, either through Revelation (as when Jacob saw the stairway to Heaven in Genesis 28 or Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel’s visions), or because of a unique sacrifice (as we find the martyrs who were allowed before the throne of God in Rev. 7). 

Second there is Sheol. In the OT, Sheol is depicted as both the physical grave and a place of rest or torment. Sometimes, it is pictured as a place of peace. In other passages it is depicted as a place of lament. In the NT, Sheol is called Hades. When we hear that word, we probably only think of torment, but NT Jews would have understood this as a waiting place where souls are sent until the day of judgment. We see Hades depicted in Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16. You’ll notice, if you read that story, that while Lazarus and the rich man are in different locations, they appear to be in the same general place. Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham, enjoying peace and comfort, and the rich man is in darkness, parched by the fire. But, the rich man can see Lazarus, and Abraham can see the rich man, though there is a great gulf separating them. Until Christ returns, every soul that passes is taken to Sheol to wait, either in a preview of the torment of Hell or the delight of Heaven.

Lastly, there is the place called “The New Jerusalem”, or as Jesus calls it in Matt. 25, our “eternal inheritance.” This is a future place that is yet to be, and so we need to consider now what we do mean when we confess our belief in everlasting life. To see that, let’s read Rev. 21:1-8. From this passage I want you to see two characteristics of our future home: The bride of Heaven and the blessing of Heaven.

First, in verses 1-2, notice the bride of Heaven. After the final judgment, in which the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, John immediately turns to see a wonderful scene that is in stark relief to the pains of Hell. He looks and sees a new heaven and new earth. When we read this, we might think this means that God has totally destroyed everything to do with heaven and earth and made it all new again from nothing. But, the word used for “new” here is kainos, which doesn’t exactly mean “created from nothing.” In terms of the form of a thing, it means to be refreshed or renewed. Some of you have hobbies that picture this kind of newness, like Scott, who likes to refurbish old cars. When he does this, he often buys new trim, paint, even maybe a new engine to go in a car. Sometimes, the only thing left of the original may be the chassis. The car is new, unworn, refreshed, but it’s the same car. But, kainos is more than just a refurbishment – it makes new in substance so that what is made new is enhanced. Keeping with the analogy of the old car, it is like the enthusiast who takes an old Model-A Ford and puts a modern engine in it so that the car that once maxxed out at 35 mph can now do 70. So, after the judgment, God will renew heaven and earth into something familiar but enhanced. And, one of the most important enhancements will be a new Jerusalem. This new city is both a place and a people. It is pictured as a beautiful, indescribable city that you can read about starting in verse 9. But, it is also described as the bride of the lamb. A physical city cannot be a bride. Rather, we know this bride to be the people of God because Jesus refers to his church as a bride on multiple occasions. In John 3:29, John the Baptist calls Jesus the bridegroom and the church his bride. In Matt. 25:1, Jesus tells the parable of the 10 virgins, comparing his people to betrothed women waiting on their groom to appear. So, what is pictured in Rev. 21 is the completion of that hope. Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ will inherit a beautiful city made just for them, and they will be joined to Jesus Christ as a bride is wed to her husband.

Second, notice the blessing of heaven from verses 3-5. These verses address the errant beliefs we talked about earlier. First of all, notice what the voice of verse 3 says, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.” At the end of it all, we will not be transported to Heaven, but God will make his dwelling place with man. This is the whole story of the Bible – God’s purpose to dwell with his people. When God first created man and woman, he dwelled with them in a Garden Temple. At the judgment of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, their greatest curse was their banishment from this Garden Temple. When God redeemed his people from bondage in Egypt, he gave them his law and instructed them to build a tabernacle in which he would dwell. God would literally fill the tabernacle with his glory and the priests would meet with him face to face. When the people of God inherited the promised land of Canaan, the great king Solomon built a temple for the Lord according to a vision of the Heavenly throne room, and God filled the temple just as he had the tabernacle. But, with each of these experiences, there was an ever-present problem – man could not dwell with God without a sacrifice. Sin must be atoned for. And, because of sin, Israel failed to remain faithful to the covenant that God had made with them. So, the temple was destroyed, and the glory of God left. Even though the temple was rebuilt, the glory of God never returned. That is, until a peasant girl from Nazareth gave birth to a little baby in a stable. At that birth, angels appeared to Shepherds announcing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men.” In John 1:14, the apostle tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is “God with us.” He is the temple of God. He is God’s tabernacle with his people. And, even in his resurrection and ascension, he promised that he would never leave us, but that he would be with us through his Holy Spirit, to the end of the age.

You see, our eternal inheritance isn’t a mansion in the clouds. Our hope of eternal life isn’t getting to do all the things we never got to do on earth. The promise of eternal life is that we will inherit a renewed earth, made perfect by God’s hand alone, and God will dwell with us. Sin will be no more. Pain will be removed. Sorrows will be wiped away. We will have the joy of knowing our God and walking with him in the delight of eternity. We will know life as it was meant to be, and we will live in the fullness of the glory of God. This is the promise that motivates us to faithfully wait on the return of our Lord. This the hope that spurs us on as we live in righteousness. We hope in the promise of a renewed world and a fulfilled relationship with our Creator and Savior.