Participants: Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000082S
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00:21 Hello friends. Welcome to another Wednesday night 00:23 Bible study here at the 3ABN Worship Center. This is A 00:27 Sharper Focus. Thanks so much for taking the time to tune in. 00:30 We're continuing our studying on the topic of heaven. Who 00:33 wants to be in heaven say Amen. And you know I'll tell you the 00:37 day is coming. We've been talking about this for at least 00:40 most of my adult life and I believe there are Christians of 00:44 generations past, some are now sleeping in Jesus, waiting for 00:46 the Lord to come and take them home. Heaven is something that 00:50 we need to talk about. Because this world is not our home. Can 00:53 we all say amen to that? This world is not the place that God 00:56 intends for us to stay eternally and so thank you so much for 01:02 becoming a part of our audience. Get your Bibles and invite your 01:05 friends so that we can sit down and study the word of God 01:09 together. In just a moment I'll tell you how you can get a copy 01:11 of our lesson to follow us along but before we do anything we 01:15 always begin with a word of prayer. So let's bow our heads 01:18 together. Heavenly Lord, thank you for the goodness that we 01:23 will receive tonight as we study Your word together. We pray that 01:28 you'll strengthen us. We pray that our minds and our hearts 01:32 will be open to understand your word and to hear the voice of 01:36 the Lord speaking to us on a personal level. So come Lord to 01:41 those who have tuned to the program. Speak to them and 01:44 strengthen them we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now before we 01:50 sing our theme song which is Victory in Jesus, just to let 01:53 you know where you can get a copy of the lesson. Go to this 01:56 website ASF.3ABN.ORG and down load lesson number 26. Now some 02:03 of you may have downloaded them last week but I update them. So 02:07 last week we had eight questions Now if you download the newer 02:11 one which is under the same title, The Truth About Heaven 02:15 and the New Earth, it is 17 questions. So download the new 02:20 one because chances are we're going to get to go through the 02:23 second half of the questions. And also any past lessons of any 02:28 topic that you have missed, they are there. But there is also 02:31 another tab, a video tab, and some people don't know it's 02:35 there. Right to the right, click on that tab and you can look at 02:37 all the videos from the very first program we've done all the 02:42 way up to the present. Well let's sing our theme song 02:44 tonight, Victory In Jesus. ♪ ♪ 02:56 ♪I heard an old, old story how the Savior came from glory♪ 03:03 ♪How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me♪ 03:10 ♪I heard about His groaning of His precious blood atoning♪ 03:18 ♪And I repented of my sin and won the victory♪ 03:26 ♪Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever♪ 03:34 ♪He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood♪ 03:41 ♪He loved me e're I knew Him and all my love is due Him♪ 03:49 ♪He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood♪ 03:56 ♪I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory♪ 04:04 ♪I heard about the streets of gold♪ 04:07 ♪Beyond the crystal sea♪ 04:11 ♪About the angels singing, and the old redemption story♪ 04:19 ♪And some sweet day I'll sing up there♪ 04:23 ♪The song of victory♪ 04:26 ♪Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever♪ 04:34 ♪He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood♪ 04:41 ♪He loved me e're I knew Him and all my love is due Him♪ 04:49 ♪He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood♪ 05:08 Amen. That is a song that has gained popularity. Also if you 05:13 go to the same website I gave you, ASF.3ABN.ORG you can 05:18 download the lesson. Just look down the tabs and you'll 05:20 see the words Victory in Jesus 05:22 and you can have the lyrics for that song. Now getting back to 05:26 the topic of heaven. Heaven is an interesting topic because no 05:32 really knows what's waiting for us in heaven outside of what the 05:37 the Bible has revealed to us. No one really knows. Paul the 05:41 apostle has done his job by saying to us, Eyes have not seen 05:46 ears have not heard and neither has it entered into the heart of 05:51 man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him 05:55 So outside of what the Bible has revealed about the description 05:57 of heaven in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, we really don't know 06:00 what's there. We just have the description of the new Jerusalem. 06:04 That's just the city, that's not the whole of heaven. That's just 06:11 the city. The Bible talks about the fact that there was 06:15 war in heaven 06:16 in the very beginning. Satan did not prevail, neither did his 06:19 angels. We don't even know much about outside of the new 06:22 Jerusalem, the Bible I believe is silent on that and I believe 06:26 one of the reasons is the Lord is waiting to wow His saints. 06:33 Because if you had all the description you'd say okay well 06:35 this is that and that is this but the reality is, the truth 06:39 about heaven is amazing that we're going to get to heaven one 06:42 day and we're going to see heaven in a way... Well let me 06:46 just rephrase that. We're going to see heaven because we've 06:51 never seen heaven before. What we also learned when we began 06:53 the lesson is no one has seen God, no one has gone to heaven 07:01 to see God. There's a lot that's being talked about. There's a 07:03 movie now called Heaven Is for Real. And heaven is for real. 07:07 Amen to that. But we don't really know. We don't really 07:12 know because until we are changed, we will never know what 07:14 is in heaven. And a person who has not yet been changed cannot 07:20 go to heaven and see what is there. So tonight we're going to 07:24 begin with Question Number Four because we got up to Question 07:26 Number Three last week and it's amazing, out of eight questions 07:30 we've got up to Question Number Three. But we were finishing the 07:34 prior lesson also. And, by the way, I want to just say hello to 07:37 those of you who are viewing it and especially a couple that 07:40 we had a chance to talk to in Carbondale. If you're watching 07:43 tonight just want to say hello to you. But Question Number Four 07:46 let's begin with that and see what the Bible reveals to us. 07:49 Here it is:... 08:03 And let's turn to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 12. By the 08:11 way, it's called Revelation because it's a revelation of 08:15 Jesus. All that is revealed in Revelation brings us into a 08:19 clear picture about Jesus. Here it is. Revelation 3. I want you 08:23 to notice the wording of this because it's very important. 08:26 It's not saying everybody's going to go, but notice the 08:28 first two words. Let's read that together and it's on the screen. 08:31 Are you ready? Here we go... The Bible says he who does what? 08:36 He who overcomes... 09:06 So now if you think about the text in answer to the question, 09:12 What specifically does the Bible say is in heaven? Let's go back 09:15 and you'll see clearly. I will make him a pillar in the temple 09:22 of my God. So what is in heaven? The temple of God is in heaven. 09:29 We'll find out more about that. Also the city of God is in 09:34 heaven. The temple is there and the City of God is in heaven. 09:37 And by the way, what is that city called? What is it called, 09:42 say it together. The New Jerusalem. There are a lot of 09:45 people who like to go to the middle East. I haven't gone yet, 09:48 I'm looking forward to going. There's a lot of Bible history 09:50 there, lot of good information. People have gone there and have 09:54 said I feel so much closer to the Lord. I've seen the Jordan 09:58 River, I've seen the Dead Sea, I've seen... Oh well their list 10:03 goes on and on and on and on. Mt. Sinai, the Pyramids, the 10:10 temple mount, the walls in Jerusalem. There's so much 10:14 description there that it's a wonderful thing that you can go 10:19 to Jerusalem there in the middle East now and look at some very 10:24 interesting things about it. However, I'm looking forward... 10:28 If I never go to the Jerusalem existing today, I cannot wait 10:31 to go to the New Jerusalem. What do you say to that? The NEW 10:38 Jerusalem where there is no war, there is no sickness, there is 10:42 no death, that list goes on and on and on. Something I want to 10:45 point out, someone read this before and I was kind of 10:48 perturbed by this because when you see the Bible text say I 10:53 will write on him and then I will write on him not only the 10:57 name of my God and the name of the city of my God but I will 11:01 write on him my new name. Somebody once used that text 11:04 and said God believes in tattoos That's not what that is. That is 11:09 not what that is What that means is simply God is describing 11:14 His ownership of us. God is describing his ownership of us. 11:21 As the Bible talks about the mark in the forehead or in the 11:25 hand. The seal of God in the forehead. What is in the 11:29 forehead is the brain, the mind. The reason why it talks about 11:32 the seal of God or the mark of the beast on the forehead or on 11:35 the hand, it talks about by assent and by our works 11:39 but God is not going to be tattooing us. Can you say amen 11:42 to that? I know you could just do it by the thought but there 11:46 are not going to be people walking around with tattoos 11:49 of God. Who's name you got on your forehead. That's God's name 11:51 What's that on your arm. That's the name of the New Jerusalem. 11:54 That's not what the Bible is suggesting. So glad to know that 11:55 it's not what the Bible is saying. But what is true, is in 12:00 heaven the temple of God is there and the New Jerusalem is 12:05 there. Let's go to Question Number Five. 12:17 Now this is very important. I think in a few weeks I'm going 12:21 to get to the specifics about describing the walls and the 12:24 gates and all of that. Often times when we talk about heaven 12:27 that's what we talk about, the size of the walls and the gates 12:31 and they're made of pearl and all the different levels and the 12:34 names of the disciples and the apostles. That's what we often 12:38 talk about. There there's so many more interesting facts 12:39 about heaven that we don't often get, and I'm going to talk about 12:43 those before we get to the actual architecture of what the 12:47 Bible describes as the New Jerusalem. All right So here's 12:50 question. What does Jesus describe as the origin of His 12:54 mission, or where? John 6:38. Some of you are already there. 12:59 And here's what the Bible says: Jesus said: For I have come down 13:04 from where? From heaven, not to do My own will, but the will 13:09 of Him who did what? Who sent me. Now why is this text 13:13 important you may ask yourself? Some people may say well we know 13:16 that Jesus is from heaven. Not everyone knows. Some people 13:19 believe that Jesus began on earth through the birth that 13:24 Mary gave to the Child. Some believe that that's when He 13:28 started. And let me add another interesting fact. I mentioned 13:31 this a few weeks ago but it serves the purpose for the 13:33 answer right here. Some people say, Well in the Old Testament 13:35 you cannot find the name of Jesus. One of the names that the 13:41 names that the Bible gives in the Old Testament as well as in 13:45 the New Testament His pre- condescension name is talked 13:50 about in the Bible. You want to see it, you want to see it? Let's 13:55 go to Daniel. Let's see His precondescension name because 14:04 when Jesus was being born the commission was call His name 14:13 Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. That was 14:18 His mission name. Call His name Jesus. He will save His people 14:23 from their sins. But he had a pre-name. And sometimes we get 14:27 it backwards. Let me just go ahead and show it to you. Why 14:30 am I in Matthew when you guys are in Daniel. Hold on, I'll get 14:34 there. I'm back and forth. Okay, here we are. Daniel 12. Let's 14:40 look at Daniel 12, all right. Okay. Daniel 12:1. The Bible 14:51 says: At that time, what's the next word? Michael shall stand 14:59 up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your 15:02 people. There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since 15:07 there was a nation, even to that time and at that time your 15:11 people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written 15:15 in the book. Michael, the one above the angels, the highest of 15:21 angels. When Paul the apostle says the Lord himself shall 15:26 descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel. 15:31 That's Michael. He's higher than all the angels. He's the one 15:36 above all the angels. He's the highest. He's the commander of 15:40 the heavenly host. The Bible describes Him as such in the Old 15:43 Testament. So many people today ask the question: How do we know 15:46 that Jesus is Michael? The more appropriate question is how do 15:49 we know that Michael is Jesus? Because Michael, the 15:56 pre-condescension name, Jesus, the post-condescension name. 15:59 The word condescension means when he came to walk among men. 16:03 Call His name Jesus. The Old Testament calls Him Savior, the 16:09 Old Testament calls Him Redeemer all the things that He would do. 16:13 Go with me to Isaiah 44. Since we're on this thought, I'll give 16:16 you another New Testament text. Go with me to the book of Isaiah 16:23 And, okay. Isaiah 44 Okay. Let's look at verse 6. Isaiah 44:6. 16:44 The Bible says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and His 16:51 Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last. 17:00 Beside me there is no God. Powerful. Who's saying it? The 17:05 King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts. What are they 17:09 saying about themselves? I Am. Say that with me, I Am. Now it's 17:18 an amazing topic to discuss. A lot of people that tumble and 17:22 trip over the Trinity must understand that the Lord our God 17:26 is One God. That's the Godhead. So the Lord Jesus, before 17:32 Abraham, He said that to the Jews, before Abraham was, what 17:36 did He say? I Am. So the great I Am has always been. The self 17:41 existing one. Let's go to the book of John, and see a couple 17:45 more things about this beautiful Savior that we have. John 1. You 17:51 know, there are three books in the Bible that are like Genesis. 17:53 Genesis 1 is one of those. John 1 is the other. And who can tell 18:00 what the third one is? I don't often ask for answers. Who can 18:02 tell me what the third one is. There are like three Genesis's 18:05 in the Bible. Genesis 1, John 1 and Hebrews 1. Matter of fact, 18:13 Hebrews goes further back. Let's look at John 1. The Bible says 18:18 here in John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the 18:21 Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1 In the 18:28 beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word 18:31 was God. Notice in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with 18:36 God and the Word was God. Clearly all things, I want to 18:42 look at verse 2. He was 18:44 in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him or 18:49 by Him as the King James Version says, and without Him nothing 18:52 was made that was made. Verse 4: In Him was life, unborrowed, 18:59 underived. Unborrowed. He didn't borrow life. If He had borrowed 19:05 life, all things could not have been made by Him. He would have 19:09 made and then He would have continued the practice of making 19:13 The Creator is the only One that has the right to redeem His 19:19 creation. Not the created. The created cannot redeem the 19:22 created. The Creator redeems the created. Amen. Last verse and 19:27 verse 4. In Him was life and the life was the light of the men. 19:35 And the darkness did not comprehend it. So in the answer 19:41 to Question Number Five: Where does Jesus describe as the 19:44 origin of His mission? Where is the origin of His mission, 19:46 somebody tell me? Heaven. He began there. He began there. 19:51 That's why Revelation describes Him as the Lamb slain from the 19:57 foundation of the world. He was there in the very beginning. 19:59 Therefore, another beautiful fact we find out about heaven 20:03 is He came down from heaven. 20:06 I only can imagine what He left to come down here. 20:11 He didn't leave just the New Jerusalem. There's so 20:16 much more. We'll get a chance to see that. Once in a while I 20:20 get enamored by, and I think Ralph is somewhat of an 20:24 astronomer. He loves to study the stars and He and Len Wenzel 20:30 did a program not too long ago talking about the stars and the 20:33 constellations and I have a lot of pictures on my iPad of 20:37 different nebulae and different planets and constellations that 20:41 are just mind boggling to think how far away they are. And I 20:44 think that when we get to heaven we're not just going to be 20:48 isolated in this little small city, it's going to be huge, but 20:51 that's not it. That's the beginning stage. I believe that 20:55 is the entrance into all we have never seen and never beheld with 20:59 our eyes. Let's go to Question Number Six. All right. 21:04 Here we are... 21:16 Psalm 103:19. You know when you think about the study of heaven 21:25 you think ah great we're going to talk about the fruits and the 21:29 river of life, the leaves of the tree that bears fruit are all 21:34 year-long and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the 21:36 nations. We're going to study that but let's look at some 21:39 of the often not talked about facts about heaven. Psalm 103:19 21:44 and here's what it says... 21:54 Whenever you think that your world is in trouble, remember 21:58 that God's world is not in trouble. Amen? His kingdom rules 22:04 over all. That's like Daniel when it talks about the stone 22:06 that hits the image replaces all the kingdoms of the earth and 22:11 His kingdom lasts forever. It shall never be destroyed. But 22:16 something that's very important. His throne is where? In heaven. 22:21 Let's go now to Isaiah 66:1. This is a fascinating thought. 22:27 I have a very imaginative mind and the picture that came to my 22:31 mind I'll describe to you after you read this text. Isaiah 66:1: 22:38 The picture that came to my mind is amazing because usually if 22:45 somebody's sitting on the throne, if somebody is sitting 22:48 on the throne and they have their legs hanging down, you 22:55 think wow; you'll get the picture here in just a moment. 22:59 Here it is. We know that His throne is in heaven but look at 23:02 Isaiah 66:1: Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and earth is 23:11 my what? Footstool. I like the these questions are asked. 23:14 Where is the house that you will build me, and 23:20 where is the place of my rest? Isaiah 66:1 Where is the house 23:25 you will build me? You know why the Lord is asking that question 23:31 Can you build me a house? Now just think about this for a 23:33 moment. If He's sitting on His throne, which he is, if His 23:37 throne is in heaven and the earth is His footstool. I don't 23:43 want to be sacrilegious at all, but that's a long way. If you 23:48 think about yourself, because if you look at the pictures of the 23:51 kings in the context of the kings, whenever they sat on their 23:55 throne they had a place to rest their feet. Throne in heaven, 23:59 divine legs, earth is His foot stool. God is far greater, far 24:07 more encompassing than our minds can ever fathom and ever imagine 24:16 I mean, earth is so small and that's why He asks the question, 24:20 where is the house that you will build for Me? Oh man, I'll tell 24:29 you. But let's answer the question. What does the Bible 24:32 teach about God's throne. What did you put down. His throne is 24:37 in heaven. And add this other component, the earth is His 24:41 foot stool. The earth is His foot stool, the place where He 24:47 rests as a king does, he rests his feet. Question Number Seven: 24:51 Here it is:... 25:05 One of the reasons I took on this study and I really got into 25:10 looking into the Bible, looking up all the words about heaven 25:12 and throne and the dwelling place of God is because I need 25:19 to know why this place is so glorious, I need to know what's 25:23 there at least what is revealed and the Bible says those things 25:27 that are revealed belong to us and to our children. But the 25:31 things that are not revealed belong to God. At least I know 25:35 this. 1 Kings 22:19 and here is the answer... 25:45 Then Micaiah said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord: and 25:52 notice what it says: I saw the Lord sitting on His what? Throne 26:01 and all the host of heaven standing by. Where are they 26:05 standing? On His right hand and on His left. Where were they 26:10 standing? On His right hand and on His left. In other words, 26:14 when you look at the King all His retinue are standing around 26:18 Him. What were you saying? His angels are there and I thought 26:21 to myself okay. Let's go to Isaiah 6 and see a little bit 26:28 more. I couldn't put all the statements in here but we do 26:33 have additional scriptures. Let's look at Isaiah 6. Okay. 26:37 Let's try to develop in our minds a picture of the beauty of 26:41 the Lord. This is an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. 26:45 Let's go back to where it is. Sitting on a throne, all the 26:50 host of heaven standing by on His right hand and on His left. 26:53 Look at Isaiah 6. In the year that King Uzziah died, I say the 27:01 Lord sitting on a throne. What was it? High and lifted up and 27:08 the train of His robe filled the temple. Now I must make a 27:13 statement right here. I'm sure that the train of His robe was 27:17 far greater and longer than that of Princess Diana, or any 27:22 monarch. Think of that. But it goes on further to say in Verse 27:26 2. Above it, that is above His throne, stood what? Seraphim. 27:31 So when the Bible says, all the host of heaven standing by some 27:35 of those hosts are seraphim and cherubim, four-winged angels and 27:40 six-winged angels. Seraphim four wings. Cherubim six wings. Just 27:47 get the picture now. Powerful and these angels... You've got 27:51 to just get a picture of these angels. It only took one angel 27:54 to take out an entire army. You remember the story? A hundred 28:00 and twenty thousand killed by one angel. Mighty angel, 28:04 standing far taller than Goliath But all the host of heaven 28:10 saying this. Let's continue to go on. Verse 2. Above it stood 28:17 seraphim each one had six wings. I had it the other way around. 28:23 With two he covered his face, with he covered his feet and 28:26 with two he flew. With two he covered his face, with two he 28:32 covered his feet and with two he flew; and what did he say? 28:36 Verse 3 And one cried to another and said; let's just read this 28:42 together, are you ready? Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. 28:49 The whole earth is full of His glory. So the seraphim, six 28:57 winged angels, the cherubim, four-winged angels 28:59 I had it backwards the last time, I've got that clear now. 29:02 So you look at this in Question Number Seven: What further 29:05 detail does the Bible reveal about heaven? Where God is 29:09 sitting on His throne the hosts of heaven are on His right and 29:14 on His left. And who are the hosts of heaven? Somebody tell 29:18 me. The angels are there and when you think of the judgment 29:21 scene that's given to us in Daniel 7. Let's go there. 29:25 Daniel 7. So we can get an expanded picture of the hosts of 29:29 heaven. Daniel 7. Wow. Hmm. Ooo. Okay Daniel 7 and let's 29:51 look at verse 26. Daniel 7:26, also, verse 9. Yes. Let's start 30:01 with verse 9. Verse 9 of Daniel chapter 7, Daniel says speaking 30:07 of the Ancient of Days: I watched till thrones were put in 30:11 place and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was 30:17 white as what? Snow and the hair of His head was like pure wool. 30:23 His throne was a what? Fiery flame. So not only is His throne 30:29 heaven but what is His throne? A fiery flame. Are the details 30:35 popping out now? Not only is His throne heaven. You know 30:38 sometimes you see the throne, Oh a wonderful kingly throne 30:40 but how many times have you seen a throne on fire? And the king 30:44 sitting on it. And His train filling the temple and His foot 30:50 stool the earth and all the hosts of heaven standing around 30:54 Him? Let's keep going. A fiery stream, well I didn't finish the 31:01 verse 9. His garment was white as snow and the hair of his head 31:05 was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, it's wheels a 31:13 what burning fire If You want to spend some time really soaking 31:17 that up read Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 2. And it 31:21 says in verse 10, A fiery stream issued and came forth from 31:26 before Him. Now how many are standing on his right and left? 31:31 Here it is. A thousand thousand ministered to Him, ten thousand 31:39 times ten thousand stood before Him. Can somebody say Amen? 31:44 This text, it falls so far short the host of heaven standing by. 31:50 How many? Nine, 15. Oh no! Thousand thousands ministered 31:56 to Him and ten thousand times ten thousand. When you multiply 32:01 ten thousand times ten thousand you get millions. The court was 32:06 seated and the books were opened So when you add the whole 32:09 picture together: He's sitting on His throne, His throne is a 32:12 flaming fire, the wheels of it are flaming fire and a stream of 32:18 fire issues and comes forth from before Him. This ought to give 32:21 you enough evidence to know that no one has gone to heaven, stood 32:25 in the presence of God and come back. They would have been 32:30 consumed before they got to heaven. You've got to be 32:35 immortal before you go to heaven You cannot go to heaven. Mortal 32:38 man cannot exist in the presence of immortal God because David 32:41 the psalmist says a mortal man cannot exist in the presence of 32:49 an immortal God. Because the Bible says our God is a 32:52 consuming fire. What would happen? You've seen those 32:56 furnaces where you throw stuff and some of them are so flimsy 32:58 before it gets in there... God is not somebody... Let me just 33:06 pause here and just tell you, one of the reasons I decided to 33:08 get this deep into the study about heaven, is because I 33:11 wanted heaven to be seen not just as a wonderful place, 33:15 streets of gold, gates made of pearl, perfectly square, fruit 33:21 trees, water that I would want to drink from. I wanted us to 33:24 get the magnitude of the majesty of God as He exists today and 33:32 help us understand that to be in that kind of Presence, to be 33:36 in the presence of that kind of God is something that we have 33:40 to prepare for. See the preparation is now. That's why 33:44 this lesson's going to take a turn. You're going to say, wait 33:46 a minute, that took a turn that I did not expect. The throne of 33:49 God is an awesome thing to consider. I want to show you one 33:53 more component. Go with me now to Revelation 4. The Bible says 33:59 a lot about the throne of God. Revelation 4. And now when 34:05 you're reading all this just consider this is kind of a small 34:10 picture of what Jesus left to come down here. Ministering 34:17 angels. Look at Revelation 4. Hmm. They were glorifying the 34:27 Lord, they were ministering to Him. When they ministered to Him 34:29 what did they say? Revelation 4. I'm going to go quickly now. 34:33 Verse 1: After these things I looked and behold a door 34:37 standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was 34:40 like a trumpet speaking with me saying, come up here and I will 34:46 show you things which must take place after this, or shortly 34:48 take place. Immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne 34:54 set in heaven and One sat on the throne. Now when we read that 34:58 what kind of throne do we see? Somebody tell me, what kind of 35:00 throne do we see? A fiery throne hosts everywhere. When you get 35:07 this picture do you just run-up to that throne haphazardly? Oh 35:12 no. You know, you could understand why when Isaiah saw 35:16 the Lord, these men bowed their face to the ground. These men 35:22 fainted at the glory of God. This is not some frivolous 35:26 vision they saw. It goes on. And it says in verse 3: And He who 35:33 sat there was like a jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance. 35:37 Now we're getting to something more about His appearance. Not 35:39 only was His throne a flame of fire, but He's a flame of fire 35:43 the wheels are a flame of fire, what does He look like. Now John 35:47 begins to describe who he saw. He who sat there was like a 35:52 jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance, and there was a 35:55 rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. What 36:00 was around the throne, tell me. A rainbow. And then it goes on 36:04 to say in verse 4: Around the throne were 24 thrones. On them 36:09 and on thrones were 24 elders sitting clothed in white robes 36:15 and they had crowns of gold on their heads and from the throne 36:21 proceeded what? Lightening, thunders and a voice. Okay, now 36:25 we're getting some more. Can you see the description of 36:27 heaven here? Flames of fire, wheels of fire, ten thousand 36:32 times ten thousand, emerald, sapphire, Sardis stone and then 36:38 as he looked at the throne, what proceeded from it? Lightening 36:43 and thunder. And I can say this, I don't think that voice was a 36:50 small voice. The voice of God probably shook the heavens and 36:54 the earth. Okay, let's go on. And then it says: There were 37:00 seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the 37:05 seven Spirits of God. That is the complete work of the Holy 37:12 Spirit. Now let's get a different description of the 37:14 throne. Look at verse 6. Before the throne there was a sea of 37:18 what? Glass like crystal and in the midst of the throne and 37:23 around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in 37:29 front and in back. This is becoming more descriptive. And 37:34 verse 7: The first living creature was like a lion, the 37:36 second living creature was like a calf the third living creature 37:40 had the face like a man, the fourth living creature was like 37:43 a flying eagle and the four living creatures each having 37:46 six wings were full of eyes around and within and they do 37:49 not rest day or night. What kind of angels were they? Six wings. 37:54 We just read about a moment ago. Seraphim. And what do they say? 38:00 They don't rest day or night. What do they say all the time? 38:02 Together: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty who was, and is and 38:09 is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor 38:15 and thanks to Him who sits on the throne who lives forever and 38:21 ever. Whenever they do that what happens? The 24 elders fall down 38:24 before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives 38:29 forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying 38:33 together: You are worthy O God to receive glory and honor and 38:37 power for you created all things and by your will they 38:41 exist and were created. I hope you got a more complete picture 38:46 of heaven. This is just the throne of God. This is just 38:52 what's in the proximity, in the vicinity of where God is. Wow! 39:01 Wow! We were there in England, in London and we went to the 39:04 Parliament and we saw this room the moment we walked in our 39:10 eyes were captured. It just dragged our eyes through the 39:13 whole room and we could not leave the room until we saw 39:16 every facet of it and we said what is this room? And they said 39:19 this is the throne room. This is where the queen comes when 39:23 she's getting ready for a magnificent event. The whole 39:27 room, bigger than this, gold everywhere, finely carved, 39:32 beautiful, magnificent, ornate. They said you can walk up to the 39:40 throne, she's not on it right now but when she's on it this 39:42 whole wing is shut down and there's security that you cannot 39:46 even imagine. How much security does Jesus have? The hosts of 39:52 heaven standing on the right and on the left, thousand thousands 39:55 ten thousand times ten thousand. Security, an understatement. 39:58 Let's go to Question Number Eight. Wow. We just took a 40:02 little turn there but think that turn was educational, what do 40:04 you say? Question Number Eight. 40:16 After what we just read now this is coming into clearer view. 40:20 Psalm 11:4 This is one of the psalms. All right. Hmm. Hmm. 40:33 Here it is... 40:53 Now you've got to pause for a brief moment when you read that. 40:57 How does David the psalmist describe the Lord's dwelling 41:01 place? The Lord is in His what kind of temple? Holy temple. 41:04 Right next to Psalm 11:4 the Lord is in His holy temple. 41:09 The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's dwelling place is 41:13 the HOLY temple. All right. Now when you think about His 41:18 eyelids testing the son of men. I remember growing up and 41:21 children are very interesting, I was going to say creatures, but 41:26 children are very interesting. When they don't think their 41:29 parents see them sometimes parents go... They glance and 41:37 their eyelids tell the whole story. I see it. What that is 41:46 actually saying is God sees everything. That's all that's 41:49 saying. As the writer of Hebrews there's nothing hidden. 41:53 Everything is naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we 41:58 have to give an account. God sees everything. That's why when 42:02 the Bible describes His throne as being holy, we've got to live 42:05 holy in the presence of a holy God. Can you say amen to that? 42:09 Living holy in the presence of a holy God, and this is a very 42:12 important point. Living holy doesn't start when we get there. 42:15 Living holy starts when? Down here. If we serve a holy God 42:20 live holy. Look at the next text Psalm 115:2,3. Turn there. 42:25 Psalm 115:2,3. Let's look at the next text. All right. David the 42:31 psalmist had a lot to say about God and His beautiful temple, 42:33 about God and His dwelling place Here it is, okay. Why should the 42:45 Gentiles say, where is their God What's the response? But our God 42:50 is where? In heaven; He does whatever He pleases. 42:53 Can anybody stop the hand of God? What's the answer? The 42:57 answer is absolutely not. Got does whatever He pleases. God 43:01 is the One who makes the decisions, who rises, who falls, 43:04 who lives and whose reign comes to an end. God does whatever He 43:10 wills. Matter of fact, I like the way the psalmist says, well 43:14 actually Isaiah says it. He says Remember the former things of 43:18 old for I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end 43:21 from the beginning and from ancient times things that are 43:27 not yet done saying, I will do all my pleasure. So God is in 43:31 charge, amen? Now it's important to understand that because God 43:34 does whatever He wills and we have to keep this in mind that 43:37 God never has a moment like we have like what do I do now? God 43:41 doesn't have the economy is going downhill, what do we do? 43:44 God doesn't have those moments. God is never caught off guard. 43:48 God doesn't have I man, I didn't think the devil would do that. 43:52 God doesn't have those moments. He does whatever He pleases and 43:56 He understands before something comes to pass He sees the motion 44:00 of how it is moving and where it's headed and what's going to 44:02 come to pass. God is in heaven. He does whatever He pleases. 44:07 Let's put that down. Psalm 115:2,3. Where is our God? In 44:19 heaven. That's why the Lord says thou shalt have no other gods 44:22 before Me. Don't make a god on earth because rust and dust 44:29 and moths will eat your earthly god, but the heavenly God is 44:36 forever. One other very important wonderful fact about 44:39 the throne of God and then we're going to transition to Question 44:43 Number Nine. Psalm 119:89. Are you all there for that one. 44:48 Psalm 119:89. Something about the Lord's dwelling place. Let's 44:57 read this one together. It's very short. What's the first word? 45:06 What word? His written word, His communicated word, His 45:14 living word is settled in heaven There's a lot of discussion 45:16 about what the word of God says. While men are trying to figure 45:19 out what the word of God says, the fact of the matter is it's 45:22 settled. Where's it settled? Where's it settled? In heaven. 45:27 It's clear. The truth of God is nonnegotiable, it's settled. 45:30 While men are trying to figure out what it says, the throne 45:33 room in heaven, the place of God His dwelling place, the word of 45:38 God is settled in heaven. And how long do you think it's 45:41 settled. Somebody tell me, how long do you think it's settled? 45:44 Forever, that's the first word. Let's turn the page. Let's turn 45:49 the page and I'll open up another facet of heaven. All 45:53 right. Some very interesting facts about heaven. Now let's 45:59 look at Question Number Nine. 46:13 Let's go to the book of Philippians chapter 3. 46:17 Philippians 3. When the Lord returns to prepare us for heaven 46:23 what will He do? Okay, all right. Some of you already know 46:30 where I'm headed. Or I should just say some of you already 46:32 know what the Bible text says. And Paul the apostle writes... 47:06 When the Lord returns to prepare us for heaven what will 47:09 He do? What is the answer? What is the answer? What's the 47:15 word that was used? Transform. Transform. The transformers. 47:22 Transform. We will be the transformed. Be not conformed 47:27 to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of 47:30 your mind. Now get this. Our minds need to be renewed now. 47:34 Because our bodies will be renewed later. Our minds need to 47:38 be transformed now so that our transformed minds will be united 47:43 with our transformed bodies. Amen to that? You don't wait for 47:46 your... You know everything about us is going to become 47:52 immortal but the transforming of our mind is to take place 47:54 when? Now so that our bodies, when our bodies are transformed 48:01 we would mentally and spiritually be ready for that 48:04 transformation. That's what this life right here is now, that's 48:07 what this life is all about, transforming, being ye not 48:11 conformed. And that's very important because the world 48:12 if you don't do something to significantly transform the way 48:17 you think then the world will do everything to conform you to 48:21 the way that it thinks. Because what's wrong in the world is 48:27 right in the kingdom of God. What's right in the world is 48:34 wrong in the kingdom of God. There's a dichotomy there. 48:38 There's a flipping of the _ Those things that are highly 48:43 esteemed among men are a reproach to God. And those 48:47 things that seem to be praised among men. This lesson's going 48:53 take a twist that you don't see coming. So when Jesus comes 48:57 what's the answer? When the Lord returns to prepare us for heaven 48:59 what will He do? The answer again is, transform our bodies. I want 49:05 you to put down transform our bodies, because I made the point 49:09 very importantly. He's not going to transform our minds. Our 49:14 minds must be transformed now. That's what this life is all 49:17 about. Get your mind together for heaven, get your mind in 49:20 gear for heaven. Start thinking, set your affections on things 49:23 above. That's right. Very good point _ Our bodies don't 49:29 get transformed when we die. Our bodies get transformed when 49:33 the Lord returns. We go back to dust. From dust thou art and 49:39 unto dust thou shalt return. That's what happens when we die. 49:43 But the transformation part takes place when the Lord comes. 49:45 Let's go to the next question. Okay... 49:58 When we receive our transformed bodies what will we no longer do 50:03 Okay. Revelation 21:4 okay. Yeah This is the text that I'm 50:14 looking forward to. Revelation 21:4. I think we ought to read 50:17 this one together. One day we're going to see this happening in 50:20 our very presence. Okay. And God the Bible says, will wipe away 50:26 what? Every tear from their eyes and this is what's not going to 50:29 happen anymore. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor 50:34 crying... 50:43 Amen? No more crying, no more sorrow, no more death, no more 50:48 pain. Ah, no more of that. Ah my back hurts, oh my leg, oh my 50:55 knee. What was that? Come on You all know what I'm talking 50:58 about. Right Mike, you know what I'm talking about We got these 51:01 things that are happening in our bodies. And we ohhh. One day 51:05 Mike is going to have a heart that is all in rhythm, top and 51:07 and bottom together. He's going to run and not be weary, walk 51:12 and not faint. Sometime Mike has to... He's a diligent person 51:16 driven, but sometimes he has to put that in neutral. When the 51:19 Lord comes back, no more pain. Why? So all these things 51:23 described here will be former things and Isaiah the prophet 51:27 says the former things will not be remembered nor come into mind 51:32 So we won't be flying to the nearest planet and say ohh my 51:36 wing hurts. I've got to find a place to land. We won't be 51:40 running through the streets of the New Jerusalem or even the 51:42 new earth and so ohh, hold on. Wait up, wait up for a minute. 51:48 We will run and not be weary. We will walk and not faint. Run 51:52 and not be weary, walk and not faint. Pastor Brooks was telling 51:55 a story about his mother, how she had so many aches and pains. 51:58 He said one day my mom and I are going to be able to run the full 52:02 length of the streets of the New Jerusalem and not even slow down 52:04 What a wonderful day. And for those of you who are getting old 52:07 and you got the walkers and the canes and the wheel chairs and 52:11 you have to get assistance to go from one place to the next. Oh, 52:14 that's going to end. That transformed body will not know 52:19 pain, sorrow, death, crying, none of those things, because 52:25 that's what God is going to get rid of. He's going to eliminate 52:26 all of that from the experience of the saints that reign 52:30 eternally with Him. Let's go to Isaiah 33:24 and look at another 52:35 component. Isaiah 33:24: Hmm. Whenever we start getting a 52:45 tickle in our throat let me just give you sense. You probably 52:49 haven't thought about it, you won't get a tickle in your 52:52 throat in heaven as an indi- cation that a cold is coming on. 52:56 You'll be going oh what's happening. 52:59 I'm getting a cold. No more. Can I 53:03 get an amen? No more medication neither throughout eternity. No 53:07 more people lined up for shots. Oh there's a flu season. There 53:11 will be no flu season in heaven nor in the new earth. I have 53:15 proof for that. Together... 53:25 No more sin, no more sickness. Okay. I got to slow down. I'm 53:32 getting in my New York form. I'm about to get happy here. 53:35 But when I get sick it happens at odd times. God is so gracious 53:39 We had a wedding here not too long ago. Mike and Celestine did 53:43 their 15th rededication, 15 years of marriage. She's a 53:48 singer, couldn't sing. It was the most painful experience. 53:52 Voice is shot, cold, crud, she was a bass voice, couldn't sing. 54:01 In heaven she'll be able to sing. Amen Mike? No more cold 54:04 No more problems. No more injuries. The inhabitants will 54:09 not say I am sick. Doctors and nurses I love you but you will 54:13 be forever retired in the kingdom of heaven. 54:18 CDC because God's got that all taken care of. Okay go to Number 54:25 11. Got to look at my time here. Number 11... 54:37 1 Corinthians 15:50. Why is it important for us to be 54:41 transformed before we enter heaven? Okay. I'm going to move 54:48 on a little bit of pace here. 1 Corinthians 15:50 This is a 54:52 text that is often misunderstood sadly misunderstood and 54:54 I'll take a little time to explain it. Paul the apostle 54:57 speaking of the earth being heaven, he says... 55:13 Now let's get this. Flesh and blood. Do we walk in the flesh 55:17 or do we walk in the Spirit? Help me out. Do we walk in the 55:21 flesh or do we walk in the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit 55:24 and the Bible says do not yield to the lust of the flesh. So we 55:32 are living in the flesh but when Paul talks about flesh and blood 55:35 he's not talking about the physical dimension of humanity. 55:40 He's talking about the sinful dimensions of humanity. That's 55:43 why he says nor does corruption inherit incorruption. I got to 55:52 go to the next question very quickly. This body that's 55:56 corrupt, not only are we in a corrupt world, but our bodies 55:59 are corrupt. Our cells are dying by the thousands. Explosions are 56:09 taking place in our bodies all the time. New cells are being 56:11 born, but the important transition is right here in the 56:14 very next question. Let's get to that very quickly. Question 56:17 Number 12... 56:25 I'm going to go over it very quickly. Just bring it up on the 56:27 screen. Here it is. The transformation. It is sown a 56:35 natural body, it is raised as a what kind of body? Spiritual 56:37 body. There is a natural body and there is a what else though. 56:40 Spiritual body. Go to the very next text. Here's our reference. 56:45 And this is the difference. For this corruptible must put on 56:50 what? In corruption and this mortal must put on what? 56:55 Immortality. Let me spend a moment to talk about these three 56:58 things that are very important to us. Flesh and blood, this 57:01 sinful human being that I am, this sinful flesh. We're not 57:07 going to go to heaven with this defective body. We're not going 57:09 go to heaven with this body that has ailments and sinful 57:15 tendencies and thoughts that are corrupt and attitudes that are 57:18 in conflict with our testimonies All those things will have been 57:23 changed because this corruptible this mind that can be corrupted 57:27 will put on incorruption. The day is coming, and I want you to 57:30 just embrace this. The day is coming that we won't think bad 57:34 thoughts anymore. We won't think evil thoughts, we won't think 57:40 mean thoughts, we won't think anything corrupt. That's a 57:45 better saying. This corruptible will put on incorruption. We 57:48 won't have a mind that people don't what to hear what's in it. 57:52 One day my brothers and sisters, we'll be just like Jesus. Until 57:57 that day we pray that you keep studying the word of God and if 58:00 it doesn't make sense one day it'll come into A Sharper Focus. 58:03 God bless you. 58:05 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-01-13