We sometimes talk about when we get to heaven, don't we? Or we think about friends who are already in heaven. But what is heaven actually like? How can we find out about heaven? Well, we'd have to go to what God tells us in the Bible to find out about heaven and what it's like, wouldn't we? Now, the Bible doesn't actually give us just one big, long description of what heaven looks like, or what all we will do when we get to heaven. No. Instead, we have to look around in the Bible and find different places where it talks about heaven. And there are quite a few places where we can look. So let's talk about some of the things we can find out about heaven from the Bible. All right? First of all, the best part is that after a believer in Jesus dies, that person will then actually go and be with Jesus in heaven. Isn't that wonderful? Just imagine being with the Lord God Himself. And the Bible says that to be with God is to be filled with joy, with great happiness. So right away from the Bible, we can know two happy things about heaven, can't we? Yes, we know that we'll be with Jesus and we know that there is joy, great happiness for us in heaven. And that can be encouraging to us even now, can't it? Especially if we are sad. Yes, even now, we can be encouraged by looking forward to this great happiness for ourselves. And we can be encouraged by knowing that our friends who are already in heaven already have this great happiness, right? Oh, and before we go to heaven, while we're still in this life here on earth, we have the chance to help people and to tell them about Jesus and be a blessing to them. Those are all happy thoughts, aren't they? Yes, the Lord God is in heaven, and the Apostle John tells us in the book of Revelation, in the Bible, that God has a throne in heaven, a throne with a rainbow around it, and there are four special heavenly beings called seraphim around his throne. I've told you about seraphim and cherubim before, haven't I? And these seraphim are praising the Lord God. And the people who are already in heaven will be able to sing praises to God too. Won't that be fun? After all, we like singing songs to praise God now when we're in church or Sunday school, don't we? Just imagine being able to be right there in heaven with God and to actually sing praises right there to God himself in person. Wow! Also, there are angels in heaven. So, we can know that our friends and relatives who trusted in Jesus and have already died are in heaven with God right now, aren't they? And we can know that they are very happy, right? So, Even though we miss them now, and that may make us sad, we can still be happy knowing that our friends are happy, can't we? Yes, and also we can be happy knowing that someday we can be with them again, and we'll know each other, and we can all sing praises together to the Lord God, and be happy together, and be with God forever. What fun that will be! We can look forward to that joyful time, can't we? Oh, and when Jesus was here on earth, he told his disciples that he was going to go back to heaven, didn't he? And he told them that in heaven he was going to make a special place with lots of rooms for us, and we could be with him there. So heaven will be our home then. Now, listen carefully, as this next may be a little confusing. We're going to talk about bodies and spirits, okay? Now, each person has a body, don't they? Yes, people have arms and legs and a head of the face and other parts of their bodies. And we see people's bodies, don't we? but people also have a spirit. The spirit is the living part of us, the part of us that thinks and loves. We can see the body, can't we? But we cannot see the spirit while we are here on Earth. We might say that the body is sort of like a house for the spirit. Now, when we say that a person has died, what does that actually mean? It means that their body has stopped working in any way and that their spirit has left their body. You see, the body is the part of the person that stays here on earth and is buried, but the spirit is the part of the person that still lives on and is the part that goes to heaven. And when our spirit goes to heaven, then we will be able to see other people's spirits and we will recognize them and know who they are. That means we will see the people themselves, the part that loves and thinks. Yes, the spirit leaves the dead body and goes to heaven where it is alive with Jesus and is alive with the spirit of their friends and relatives who are already in heaven. And in heaven, the spirits can see each other and recognize each other and talk with each other. And oh, there are also in heaven the spirits of all of the saved people that we read about in the Bible. Did you know that? That's right. When we are in heaven, our spirits will see and be able to talk with the spirits of Abraham, and Moses, and Ruth, and David, and Daniel, and Peter, and Paul, and others. Just imagine that! Yes, when we die, our spirit stays alive and goes to heaven, but the body stays here on earth and is buried. But wait, that's not the end of our bodies. No, not at all. You see, God made us to have bodies as well as spirits, and our bodies are important too. As I just said, our bodies stay here on earth, but Remember, someday Jesus is leaving heaven again and coming back to earth, isn't he? And our spirits, which were with him in heaven, will be with him then, too, when he comes back to earth. And what do you think happens then? Why, Jesus will raise our dead bodies that have been waiting here on earth, and he will make our bodies so that they are fresh, healthy bodies that will never get sick again, or get hurt again, or die again. But they will still be our very own bodies. And Jesus will have our spirits go back into our bodies again. So our body and spirit will be together again. That's called our resurrection. Resurrect means to stand again. And then our spirits and our resurrected bodies will be together again forever. How exciting! And the Lord Jesus will be king here of the whole world. King of everyone and everything forever. We've talked more about when Jesus comes back at other times, haven't we? And we will be with the Lord and with our friends in our own resurrection bodies forever. And then the whole world will be changed into a new happy world without any sin. That's right. Bad things will never ever happen again. Wow. Isn't that a happy thought. Nothing ever bad again. And a great, big, beautiful city with golden walls will come down from heaven. This beautiful city is called the New Jerusalem. And God the Father and the Lord Jesus will have their throne in the New Jerusalem. And we can go in and out of the New Jerusalem into the rest of the new perfect world. Doesn't that sound wonderful? So, we might say there are sort of like two steps of going to heaven, aren't there? The first step is when we die, when our spirits leave our bodies and go to heaven and are happy in heaven. Then the second step is when the Lord Jesus comes back and we are resurrected. That is, our spirits are back in our resurrected bodies, and we are happy in the new, chained, sinless world, and the new Jerusalem. And we will still be with the Lord, and with our resurrected friends and relatives, and with Moses and the other Bible people, too. And this happy time will go on forever and ever. Now, this may all sound a little confusing. And that's why often people just think of both of these two steps as heaven. Because with both, we'll be with God forever. And that's the most important thing, isn't it? So, from now on, I'll also just call both of these steps heaven. But wait a minute. We're all sinners, aren't we? And the Bible says there is no sin in heaven, doesn't it? So how can we be able to go to heaven someday? Why, the Bible gives us the answer to that too. Yes, the Bible tells us that God the Father loves us so much that he had Jesus, who is God the Son, come to earth. And then Jesus was not only still God, but he became a man as well. But unlike us, Jesus never did any sins, did he? But then Jesus died on the cross for sins. But for whose sins? Yes, for our sins. But do you remember what happened after that? Yes, after three days, Jesus rose from the dead, was resurrected, Jesus was the very first one to get a resurrection body, wasn't he? And all we have to do to be able to go to heaven someday and be with him is to trust in Jesus to save us from our sins, and he will. Of course, then we should want to do what Jesus tells us in the Bible, because Jesus will be our King, even here on earth, even though we can't see him now, right? Yes, our sins will be forgiven and someday we can go to heaven and be with him forever. And to go to heaven will be like going home, going to our real home, a perfect home. There is a song that says, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. It's sort of as if in our lives here on earth now, we are just visiting. But when we go to heaven, we'll be going to a real home with the Lord and going to a reunion with our saved family and friends. A forever reunion in a real home in a wonderful world. Yes, we know that heaven will be a wonderful, happy place, our forever perfect home. And God will be there. Just think, we'll actually be with our very best friend, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is no sin in heaven, nothing bad will be there, and there's no sickness or dying or unhappy things in heaven. and all of our friends and relatives who have trusted in Jesus will be there. And we will be with them again, and will know them, and be with them and with our loving God. And when the Lord Jesus comes back to earth someday, we will still be with Him, forever, in a changed new world, with our spirits, in our own fresh changed resurrection bodies. forever with our loving God and forever with our friends. What joy! What great happiness that will be. And now we can tell other people about Jesus so they can go to heaven too. And we can be happy now just thinking about heaven and looking forward and being there someday, can't we? God is so good to us.