Well, in our series on Hell, I've been quoting Larry King in his interview of John MacArthur. He has a number of these, and there's another one that I like to quote. He opens with this question to Ellen Johnson, the then president of the American Atheist Society, and he asks her, what happens when you die? That was the name of the show, and the question that he asked these various religious experts, and one of them was Ellen Johnson, and he asked her, what happens after you die? And she says, the atheist accepts the reality that when you die, that's the end. Death is a nonsense word. The only fulfillment, the only joy, the only happiness you will ever know is right now. So Larry King says, what do you mean by nonsense word? She says, because we cannot know death. We can only know life. So therefore, what are we talking about? So Larry King now looks to the pastor, John MacArthur, and says to him, John MacArthur, is it not a guess on your part, an educated guess based on your scriptures, your reading, your faith, but you don't know. I mean, you don't know, know, do you? I mean, how can you know? And MacArthur said, because the Bible says so. But you believe the Bible. Well, I believe the Bible, but I believe the Bible can be defended. I believe through the centuries the Bible has stood the test of intense scrutiny, and someone has been there and come back, and that's Jesus Christ. Well, then the different religious leaders offer their different opinions about what happened when you die, and King eventually says to the atheist again, Ellen, don't you want these people to be right? Because they're talking about going to heaven when you die. Wouldn't you like to go somewhere? Would you be sad if you woke up somewhere? You die, and suddenly you find you're somewhere nice and peaceful. And she says, no, no, that's not going to happen. That's the reality, and I'm not going to live my life concerned with death. Life is for living. I'm not living my life for death. And I can't accept something that's not believable because we think the outcome is desirable. It's not believable, it's not acceptable. When you die, that's it. Well, it really does come down to what you believe about the Bible, doesn't it? Because nobody really knows. It's a very good question Larry King has for MacArthur. How do you know, know? And you can't. Unless you die and you go to a place and come back, you don't know what happens when you die. But Jesus died. And Jesus came back, and Jesus tells us in his word what happens when you die. And we've been looking at what happens when you die if you are not in Christ. But tonight we're going to have a little bit of good news. It's going to be a little bit lighter. We're going to look at what happens if you are in Christ. So turn your Bibles again to Luke chapter 16, the guidebook. We've been looking at the visitor's guide to hell. Now we're looking at the visitor's guide to heaven, the afterlife, in four sections. We looked at what is hell, and we saw that Hell is called Gehenna, it's called Tartarus, it's called the Lake of Fire, it's sometimes called Sheol, the place of the grave. We looked at that and the different parts of hell and the degrees of punishment in hell. Secondly, what is hell like? We saw that it is conscious, physical, and emotional torment for eternity. Tonight we're going to look at what is heaven like, and heaven is better, and heaven is exclusive. There you go. Heaven is better. Heaven is exclusive. And then we will look at how to get to heaven, and we will do that next time. Not next week, but the next time we're in this text. There's four right ways to get to heaven. There's four wrong ways to get to heaven. And some churches get those mixed up. It can be very, very dangerous. So make sure you come for that one as well. But tonight, we're just going to look at what is heaven like. So let's look again at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In Luke chapter 16, verse 19, Jesus said, there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. And the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side, or Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, Being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in the water and cool my tongue for I'm in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things. But now he's comforted here and you are in anguish. So just until there for now, we'll carry on with the rest later, and especially the idea of, well, how to get to heaven, how to avoid hell, we'll look at next time. So firstly, tonight we're going to lift our gaze and do what Paul encourages Christians to do in Colossians. In Colossians 3, 2, he says, set your minds on the things that are above, not the things of the earth. Now, I know you've been setting your mind on the things of the earth all day long. That's OK. You were working. You were looking at Facebook or the news or whatever, that's what happens down here. But now I want you to forget about all of that and set your mind on the things of heaven and hopefully this encourages you and it'll help you when things happen in this earth to remember this is not all that there is. So firstly, the first aspect of heaven that we learn from the story, what is heaven like, is heaven is better. You've heard me say this before. If you ever want to describe heaven in one word, it's just better. Better than what's here, better than what could be here, better than what you can imagine. It's just always better. In verse 24, the rich man cries out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and Lazarus, like men, are bad things, but now he is, what's the word there, comforted here, and you are in anguish. Remember that the main point of this parable, every parable has one main point, and we don't want to get too many details out of the parable. That's a bit of a red herring. The main point here is that your bank balance, your health, your wealth, your prosperity, has absolutely no bearing on your salvation. Poor people can go to heaven or hell. Rich people can go to heaven or hell. Don't think that your life is blessed, and that's God's way of showing that you're definitely going to heaven because you're rich and because you're healthy. Just like if you're poor and if you're sick, that doesn't mean God is angry with you, it doesn't mean that you're not right with him. So that's the main point of this parable. But we are looking at some details because, honestly, Jesus is the only person who speaks about heaven and hell authoritatively as one who actually knows what he's talking about. So when he frames this parable, we're assuming the details that he uses there are true. And so one of the things that we see here is that Heaven is a place of comfort. Lazarus was in pain and suffering in this life, but now he's in a place that is better. The most obvious aspect of the place that Lazarus is when he went to die is that it's better than when he was on earth. Also, it's way better than the place where the rich man is. So there's only those two places, heaven and hell. You want to go to heaven. Now, Satan has put some prodigious effort into making heaven seem boring and unappealing. I mean, quite frankly, if you are afraid of dying, it's because you don't understand heaven. The more you understand heaven, the more you want to go there, no matter what it takes to get there. And, you know, Satan's propaganda has led us to think of heaven as not a place to go. In fact, a person very dear to me once told me, an unbeliever I'd shared the gospel with, And said, look, I grew up knowing this stuff. I believe this. I don't think that it's not true. It's just I don't want to go there. I want to be with my friends. We're all unbelievers. I want to be in the big party in hell, not the big church service in the sky. That is Satan duping somebody. That is Satan selling somebody the lie that hell is not as bad as you think it is. Here's a man that would do anything for one drop of water on his lip, for just a moment of relief from the anguish that he's in. But even worse, that you would think that heaven is just a place that's a boring, long church service. I know sometimes church can go a bit long, and I know it can be a bit boring, and I know you can tune in and out, but heaven's not like that. Now think of the Gary Larson comic. If you don't know Gary Larson, you should Google and just spend a whole day watching Gary Larson comics. Some of my favorite. And he's known for just having one frame with a picture and a caption. And this one is of a lonely saint with the halo and the harp. And he's kind of reclining there on a cloud in heaven. And the caption just says, I wish I'd brought a magazine. It's like, I'm in heaven now. This is it. OK. Now, Randy Alcorn, he has a book called Heaven, which I highly recommend. This is a book, you know, if somebody that I know is diagnosed with a terminal disease, this is the book that I give them, because if they can read this book, they actually feel like they've hit the lottery, that they only have a few months to live. Couple of times now in my life every time I read it. I just want to die afterwards because it really I mean that seriously I mean, I don't want to kill myself, but I just say Lord. I'm ready. I'm ready after this book So Randy Alcorn's book he tells in his book. He talks of an English vicar like an English minister back in the day asked by a colleague what he expected after death and And he replied, well, if it comes to that, I suppose I shall enter into eternal bliss. But I really wish you wouldn't bring up such depressing subjects. To think of heaven as a depressing subject, you know, you're talking about death, well, let's not talk about death, that's a depressing subject. It's not depressing for Christians. It's something to invigorate us, it's something to give us energy. Yes, let's live this life to the fullest for God's glory, but remember that this is just a short life compared to what there's waiting for us. And some people think of heaven as this long, interminable church service going on and on where we kneel before the throne for eons and eons, and this is not an uncommon view. I remember being shocked by this. In 2010, I was at a conference in South Africa. It's called the Resolution Conference. It was kind of a spinoff of the American version of the Resolved Conference, and there were big speakers from the States and from all over the world there. John Piper was one of the people there, and they were sitting on stage, and there was a Q&A, and somebody got to the microphone, and they asked, what will we do in heaven? And I could see Piper wanted to answer this question. Piper's got such a great answer for this kind of question. I've heard him talk about it. He knows the biblical view. But this other speaker, very well-known, very famous, very respected speaker, was the one that the question was addressed to, and so he got up and I just remember he said, well, I think I got the quote here, yeah, he said, to this question, what's heaven gonna be like? What are we gonna do in heaven? God is wonderful beyond description. His glory is indescribable. We will be absorbed with him, and eternity will be too short. And everyone cheered, everyone amened and clapped, and I was like, What does that mean? You know, it's like, we're going to taste the rainbow. I mean, like, what? What is going on? God is wonderful beyond description. Of course, we're going to yay and amen that. That's true. His glory is indescribable. Amen. We will be absorbed with Him. Not sure what that means. In eternity, we'll be too short to do this absorbing. I mean, I couldn't help but picture my kids staring at a TV screen just absorbed by the flickering light. You know, what, all the Christians of all the ages bowing down on their knees, staring at the glory of God day after day, year after year, century after century, eon after eon, just the flickering light of God's glory. If that's what heaven were, I'm sure we would love it. It's just not what the Bible says. Then we get plugged into some glory socket. Paul saw a vision of heaven, and he started, after he saw what heaven was like, he started saying things like this, I can't wait to die, Philippians 121. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I'm to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, which shall I choose? I cannot tell. I'm hard-pressed between the two, between living and dying. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, what's the word? better. That's better. If you understand heaven rightly, you should, if you really meditate on it and you understand heaven rightly, you should have this tension, this kind of I mean, I don't want to die. I've been programmed by God. I have an instinct for self-preservation, just like all of us do. That's what keeps us away from falling off an edge, you know, something like that. When you see a snake, you run away. It's natural to not want to die, but you've got that tension, because on the other hand, you know what's waiting for you, and it's better. It's so much better. It's like when you're in school, and you're about to graduate, and you know, I don't really want to be in school, but I know it's important, I need to stay here, but it's going to be better when I'm out of school. And so that's the tension. Yes, I would love to see my kids grow up, and who they marry, and I'd love to see grandkids someday. I know some of you wish your kids would know that too, you know. But who cares? In the long run, there's eternity waiting, and it's better. Randy Alcorn says, I find it ironic that many people stereotype life in heaven as an interminable church service. Apparently, church attendance has become synonymous with boredom. Honestly, I hope even if it was a long church service, I hope you guys like church. We do our best. He says, yet meeting God when it truly happens will be far more exhilarating than a great meal. or a poker game, or hunting. He actually mentions that one, by the way. Hunting, gardening, mountain climbing, or watching the Super Bowl. We will always be engaged in worship. If we have a broad view of worship, then the answer is yes. Will we be engaged in worship? Yes, if you have a broad view of worship. In 2 Corinthians 4.17, Paul says, For this momentary light affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. So not this life, but the life that's coming. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal, for we know that If the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. So he's saying heaven is beyond all comparison. That doesn't mean that you can't compare it. It means that the comparison that you come up with is always going to be better than anything you can imagine, far beyond all we can ask or think, as Paul says. It's better. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains that our resurrected body is to our earthly body what a building is to a tent. You spotted that there as well in 2 Corinthians, where he says, our tent, that is our earthly home, is destroyed. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands. It's eternally heaven. So that's the analogy. What a tent is to a house, your body right now is to your glorified body. So it's the same genre, but it's better. When you think of like, well, we don't know what heaven's like, don't even bother imagining it, you can't imagine it at all, you're missing the analogy. If you lived your whole life in a tent, let's say you lived in California, And you lived your whole life in a little three-man tent that's drafty, that has a couple of rips in it, that has a little mosquito net, that has cables that you have to keep tightening every day when the wind blows. You have to make sure that your little tent pegs don't rust. That's your life, and you've lived there for years. And I come to you, and I say, I'm going to build you a house. You don't think to yourself, I have no clue what he just said. I have no idea what to imagine. You know what a house is compared to? It's going to have a roof. I mean, you don't know the design. You don't know the color. You don't maybe know the neighborhood. You don't know how big it's going to be, but you know it's going to have a roof. You know it's going to have walls. You know it's going to have a floor. You don't know if it's going to have tiles or laminate or carpet, but it's going to have something. There's going to be a place to sit. There's going to be a place to lie. It's a house. There's going to be a kitchen and a tent. So you have an idea of what it's going to be like. You don't have the specifics. When we think about heaven, we have an idea of what heaven's going to be like. We don't have the specifics. But we know it's not completely incomprehensible. It's a place. That's what we said about hell, one of the first things. What is hell? Hell is a place. It's an actual place that spatially, it's spoken of spatially. You go there. Same with heaven. You go to heaven. In John 14, 1, Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, speaking to his disciples. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. Sorry, I always get that wrong because of the song. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? You see, he calls it a place. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may also be. So it's not a state of being. It's not like some religions teach that you reach the state of consciousness like nirvana. Nirvana isn't a place, it's like a state that you reach, where you're like one with the consciousness of the universe or whatever, like yuck. No, heaven is a place that you actually go to. Jesus says that there's rooms there. And we learn a lot by the name that God gives our future reality. This is what he calls it in 2 Peter 3, 12. He says, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. So our eternal state is called the new heavens and the new earth. When God says, I will destroy the earth and the heavens, I'll make a new earth and a new heaven, again, we don't know exactly what it's going to be like, but we know kind of what it's going to be like. If you drive an old car, and I tell you I'm going to give you a new car, you don't know which new car. You don't know if it's going to be a truck, you don't know if it's going to be a Porsche, but you know it's going to have wheels. And it's going to have a steering mechanism. And it's going to have windows, and a windshield, and white, purple. You don't know the color. But a new car is like an old car, only better. A new earth is like an old earth, only better. The new heavens are like the old heavens. And the word heavens, in Hebrew, it's the shemayim. In Greek, it's just referring to the everything that's not down here, so the atmosphere, the stratosphere, the cosmosphere, the whole universe, all that stuff. It's going to be like that, only better. A. A. Hodge wrote in his systematic theology, Heaven as the eternal home of the divine man must necessarily be thoroughly human in its structure, conditions, and activities. I want you to think of what that means. Heaven is not a place where you as a spirit sit on a cloud and tap into the glory socket for eternity. Heaven must necessarily be thoroughly human in its structure, in its conditions, and in its activities. Its joys and activities must all be rational, moral, emotional, voluntary, and active. There must be the exercise of all the faculties, gratification of all the tastes, the development of all talent capacities, the realization of all ideals. Heaven will prove the consummate flower and fruit of the whole creation and all the history of the universe. That's a heaven I want to go to, where everything that happens here and all the structures and activities and that that are not sinful that can be done to the glory of God can be done to the highest ideal there. In Alcorn's book, he answers questions like, will there be coffee in heaven? Will there be sport in heaven, and learning, and books, and fellowship? And what will the knowledge be like? What will worship be like? What will the activity be like? And his basic answer is, if something can be done to the glory of God here on earth, and it's enjoyable, and we do it to worship him, then of course it'll be in heaven, only better. So is there coffee in heaven? Does anyone here like coffee? Enjoy it? Is it possible to enjoy it to the glory of God? Then there will be the best coffee you've ever imagined and better in heaven. Why wouldn't there be? Why wouldn't there be? We know that there's plants in heaven. We know that there's the tree that has the fruit that changes each month. By the way, that's how we know there are months in heaven, that there's 12 fruit for the 12 months, so the annual cycle is still the same in some way in heaven. So it's not like this timeless, like you pop in there now, you're in infinity, in the glory socket. No, there's times, there's seasons, there's activity. Now, somebody once asked me, but my favorite thing to do is self-defense classes, like MMA, beating people up. Karate or whatever. Is that going to be in heaven? Are we going to fight in heaven? If you think about it, so I used to do martial arts. I used to do Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and karate. When you boil those things down to the essence of what they are, it's a physical, puzzle that you're solving with someone else. Just think about that for a while. And so in heaven, there will be physical puzzles that you solve with someone else. I mean, when you're doing martial arts, you're not actually trying to hurt the person. You're just trying to get points off of them, right? And the same with you. Now it hurts because you're bad at it. But that kind of thing could still be there. Now Lazarus had a rough life. And yet he doesn't care right now. He's comforted. He has relief from his suffering. He has relief from his humiliation. He has relief from his distress. He's in a better place. He's at Abraham's bosom. He's having fellowship. And he's dining with Abraham. In a lot of the parables, Jesus mentions that you will see People dining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but you who are cast out, there'll be gnashing of teeth because you'll see them and you won't be able to dine with them. Dining is one of the epic activities of heaven. Eating, feasting. The marriage feast of the lamb, ever heard of that? Where Christ himself will serve at that table. where we will enjoy food and drink with him. When he gave the cup of wine to his disciples, he said, this is the last time that I'm gonna partake of this wine ever, no, until the kingdom comes. In the kingdom, Jesus will drink wine again. He's fasting from wine right now, but he won't. There will be the best wine ever in heaven, and I promise you, no one will get drunk, because there's no sin in heaven. Feasting. It's the inauguration party. Who here went to the inauguration party this year? Only you two, right. But I saw the pictures, and I saw the video, and I have another friend who's been to a bunch of the inauguration parties. You know, when the president gets inaugurated, it's a party. It's a victory lap. There's music, and there's food, and there's enjoyment. And at the marriage feast of the Lamb, that's Christ's ultimate coronation. He's with his people. It's his victory lap. Sin has been defeated, and death has been defeated. And the way that we experience that is by feasting with him. C.S. Lewis said that joy is the serious business of heaven. Now, you might ask, well, if there's a feast, how can we have a feast if there's no meat? Because there's no death in heaven. Well, there's a couple of things. Firstly, in the years that I was vegan, I enjoyed every meal I had. So you can enjoy food without meat. But for those of you who don't believe me, if you've ever read Restaurants at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, there's that scene where the cow comes in, the talking cow, and he says to the people at the table, what part of meat do you want? And then he carves it off and he gives it to them, and nobody dies. So it could be that. Or it could be that the trees have stakes growing on them, I don't know. Or even like now they make man-made lab-grown meat, which is apparently absolutely disgusting. But yeah, that's because it's the British that are making it. Imagine the angels were making it. Imagine angels were making this stuff. So if you just like the texture and the taste, don't worry, God's got you covered. Everything that's here will be there only better, but there will be no death. Now, the Bible describes our activity in heaven as governing. Our rewards are described as increased responsibility. We're told that we're going to govern angels, even. That God's ever-expanding kingdom requires people to steward and spheres of responsibility. That's the family business. Every time rewards are described in heaven, they're described in terms of things on earth that represent authority and reigning and ruling. People say, well, your reward is the crown, your crown of life, the crown that the martyr gave. Well, what is a crown? It's what kings wear because they're in charge of something, right? It's like the mayoral chain that the mayor wears. It's not the chain that he wants. It's the office and the job of being the mayor. The Bible describes our activity this way. Rene Pache said, He described what we do as, quote, centered more on activity and expansion, serving Christ and reigning with him, unquote. Elkhorn shows from scripture that heaven may include this ever-expanding government and exploration of God's universe, discovery of all the creatures and plants and landscapes that God has created for us to go and discover and to explore and to find and then to share with others and to bring back. It speaks of the kings coming into the holy city, bringing the treasures that they found out inside to put on display like a giant museum of all the amazing weird kind of alien things that the people have found out they've brought back. Every time there's a tsunami or something, these creatures get thrown up from the deep that no human beings have ever seen. Did you see the one that's kind of going viral at the moment, that one with the teeth and the thing? Have you seen it? How many people have seen it? It's like all over the news at the moment. There was this fish that nobody's ever seen before, and they finally discovered it, and it's this Brutally ugly looking fish, which is why it's way down there But God made it and it's discovered and it's on display and everyone's like wow and all the people who believe in evolution are like Yeah, I don't know what went wrong there, but we know that God has creative power So imagine that but just times a zillion like wherever you go in the universe. There's these creatures that we can't even imagine yet. I Kind of picture it being like Star Trek meets Chronicles of Narnia Now, I've left a gap that I want to fill for you. In 2 Peter 3, it says that God will destroy the world and make a new heaven and a new earth. So you might have this question, if that hasn't happened yet, we know that hasn't happened yet, it's still going to happen when the earth gets destroyed, where do people go when they die now? Because they're not going to the new heavens and new earth, that hasn't been created yet. If you want to turn somewhere, you should turn to 2 Corinthians 12. While you're going there, I'll tell you this. My wife's cousin is a mechanic on Air Force One. So whenever the president flies anywhere, he goes with the president on the plane. And I kind of asked him once, what are you going to do if there's a problem and you're in the sky? You're going to pull out your spanner and climb outside and tighten the bolt? And he's like, no, it's all done on computers. OK, well, good to know. Anyway. He knows Air Force One better than anyone else. And he was explaining to me that, you know, Air Force One is whatever airplane the president is on at the time. So that's Air Force One. The old Air Force One is the one that Ronald Reagan used to fly around in and is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. I don't know if it still is, but it's been there, on display. It's an old Boeing. It was state-of-the-art at the time, but that was like the 80s. The new one, is super upgrade. He could tell me absolutely nothing about it, because then he would have to kill me, because it's all confidential. But he was telling me, trust me, it's better than Ronald Reagan's. He got me a little box of M&Ms with Donald Trump's signature on it, which is in my office, little red, white, and blue M&Ms with the presidential seal that they have on the plane. So I know that that's there. But his point was, there's an old Air Force One, And it's been decommissioned. It never gets used anymore. It's just on display. And then there's the new Air Force One, which is 1,000 times better than the old Air Force One. And you know what? 50 years from now, there'll be another Air Force One that's even better than the one that's here. So that's like the concept of the new heavens and the new earth, is that the one that's coming is this huge upgrade. Now, heaven is wherever God lives, just like Air Force One is whatever the president flies. That's Air Force One. If it's a helicopter, it's called Marine One. If he got on that old plane at the Reagan Library, that becomes Air Force One. He gets on the new plane, that becomes Air Force One. In the same way, when God lives where he lives now, we say God lives in heaven. That's true, because everywhere that God lives is called heaven. But that heaven's going to be destroyed. There's going to be a new heaven, a super upgrade, and then that's what we're going to be called heaven. In the meantime, they have two different names, if you want to be specific. If you say, Grandma died and she went to heaven, yes, that's fine. That is what happens when you die. But if you want to be technical, which we do, tonight, the old Air Force One is called Paradise, and the new Air Force One is called the New Heavens and the New Earth. And the capital city of the New Earth is called the New Jerusalem. It's described in Revelation 20. We'll look at it in a moment. Yes, when you die now, you go to heaven, but that's just because that's where God lives. You actually go to a place called paradise. Remember what Jesus said when he was on the cross, the thief on the cross? He said, today you will be with me in paradise. Yeah, Jesus gets his terminology spot on. So yeah, he died and went to heaven, but technically paradise. But the new heavens and the new earth, a place that is busy, because he said, in John 14, he told his disciples, I'm going to go and I'm going to prepare a place for you. I think the angels are busy with a construction project, building the new heavens and the new earth, because we know that the new Jerusalem comes out of heaven onto the earth, it says. Really interesting. So where did I tell you to turn? 2 Corinthians 12, yeah, yeah, yeah. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 2. Paul says, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, there's our word, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. So this is a really interesting little glimpse into the history of Paul. By the way, Paul, the man that he's talking about is himself. So if you read the context, it's very clear. He's talking about himself, but he's talking about himself in the third person, so as not to boast. And his whole point is, if anyone's going to boast about anything, I'm the one that could do it, because I've been to heaven and back. But he doesn't want to come out and say that, because his point is that you shouldn't be boasting. So he talks about himself in the third person. Like, let's say there was this guy who went to heaven and came back. He's the guy that could boast, and he's not even boasting, so you shouldn't, okay? But he's talking about himself. And in it, he talks about seeing heaven, being taken to heaven, and then he admits it was so realistic that it might actually have been real. Like when he was stoned to death and he was left for dead, that one time, and then he was revived, it could be that his spirit went to heaven, like Lazarus, you know, died and came back. It was very real. But he said it might also not be in the body. He says, I don't know. That's what he means when he says, caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know, God knows. So he's like, it was so real, it might actually have happened, or it might just have been a very, very realistic vision. He goes to this place called the third heaven. Again, heaven is always described as up. He's getting caught up there. It's the same terminology as when Jesus comes and catches us up in rapture to take us, right? So there's this up into heaven thing. And he calls it the third heaven, because the Greeks understood that there was the sky, which we call the atmosphere, and then there was what's beyond the atmosphere, which we call the stratosphere, you know, like, or, You know, when you look up and you see the stars and the comets and stuff, that's not in the sky, that's not in the first heaven, that's in the second heaven. He's saying that there's another one beyond that. So as big as the universe is, there's a limit somewhere, and beyond that there's heaven. And that's where he was caught to, where the angels come from and that kind of thing, right? The third heaven, and he calls it paradise. That's where Jesus is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father. That's where God is right now, that's why it's called heaven, but it's actually paradise. In Revelation 2 verse 7, Jesus says, to the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. So these are the people living in the tribulation who hold to the faith even if they get killed, they end up in paradise eating of the tree of life. But the new heaven is something different. You can look at Revelation 21. We don't know exactly what the new earth will be like and the new heaven. We know that the new earth will have redeemed people in it. We know that it'll have geography. It'll have society. It'll have culture, landscapes, ecosystems with animals, exploration, and everything else that we have here that isn't sinful. Let me just read for you. I'll give you a glimpse, Revelation 21. John says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. Remember, the dwelling place of God is what we call heaven. Now God is on earth with man. So that's why we say we live in heaven at that time. He will dwell with them, verse 3 says, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. And then look at verse 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates. At the gates, 12 angels, and on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates. And the wall of the city, have 12 foundation stones. Now on them there were 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. And then he describes the layout and the look of the gates and the foundations and all that. Verse 16, he describes the city this way. The city lies four square. its length the same as its width. By the way, John is going out of his way to use extremely pedantic literal terminology. A lot of people just read this whole thing like It's super symbolic. We have no idea what it means. 12 foundation stones, who knows what that means. It just means the perfect number of stability in heaven. No, it doesn't. It means that there's 12 foundations. There's no other way to say there's 12 foundation stones except to use those words. And now he starts getting very pedantic. And notice how careful he is to make sure you don't think he's speaking symbolically. Verse 16, the city lies four square, its length the same as its width. and he measured the city with his rod. 12,000 stadia, that is 1,500 miles. Its length and width and height are equal, so now we know that it's a cube. It's not just a square that's 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles, it's a cube that goes up 1,500 miles as well. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits, that's 32 yards, by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. So he's like, I don't want you to even think that that part's symbolic. Well, maybe angels use different cubits. No, they don't. So this is a city. It's massive. I did some calculations today. Just to give you an idea, Greater London is 606 square miles. The New Jerusalem is 1.4 million square miles. It's a big city. Big, big, big city. It's a city the size of half of the continental United States of America. And that's just the surface area. It also goes up. So you picture a city like the size of Australia, but lying on its side, going up. It's absolutely massive. If you calculate how many people could fit in there, you could fit 100 million people comfortably living just on the bottom floor. And now you've got 1,500 miles going up as well of floors. You could very comfortably fit, you could give every person that has ever lived on planet Earth up until this point, roughly 16 billion people, a ranch to live on in the city. That's how big the city is. It's massive. And then he describes what it looks like. It looks like jewels and all these types of things. And then verse 23, the city has no need of sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. And by its light will the nations walk. So we have countries there as well. We have nations. And the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. So it's not everybody only stays in the city. You can go in and out. That's why there's gates. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night. So the gates are always open. And they will bring into the glory and honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what's detestable or false, but only those who have written the Lamb's Book of Life. Because remember, there's a big chasm. There's some sort of dimensional gap between heaven and where the rich man is in hell that can't be traversed. So nothing bad can ever come in. So it's just always open. And people are going in and going out and bringing in their treasures. So all that to say, heaven is better. Heaven is better. It's not going to be boring. It's going to be mind-blowing. It's going to take you centuries just to figure out where everything goes. Point number two. So we've gone a little bit long. I will just wrap up. I'll just mention that point number two is heaven is exclusive. Heaven is exclusive. And that's that point there that we read there where it says nothing unclean can come into heaven. You can only get into heaven By invitation only. You can only get into heaven if you're in Christ. It's not for everybody. It's not for the people that reject Jesus. It's not for people who are like, I like the city, but I don't like the whole Christianity part. No. You only get in through Christ. He is the only way. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes through the Father except through me. Every day, over 150,000 people die. Two-thirds of those, 100,000, will die of old age. The rest, accidental death or disease. Every day, 150,000 people. Every day, they go somewhere, heaven or hell. And you only get to heaven if you come through Jesus. When the disciples asked Jesus, well, how many people go to heaven, Luke 13, 23, Lord, will those who be saved be few? And he said to him, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to. Luke 18, who then can be saved? And he said, what is impossible with men is possible with God. How many people go to heaven, biblically speaking? Very few. Very few. Of that 150,000 who died today, I have no idea how many people go, but it'll be the minority get to go to heaven. It's interesting to me that the rich man was not painted as particularly wicked, He's not really listed doing any sins. He's not living a debauched life. It just tells us that he was more focused on his needs than the needs of the beggar. You know, like most people. Revelation 22, 14, blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life. that they may enter the city by the gates, outside of the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. So how do you make sure that you go to heaven and not hell? There are four ways to heaven. They say they're going to heaven, but they're labeled incorrectly. They lead to hell. There's one way to heaven, and we will deal with that next time. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this very encouraging and inspiring reminder of... what our eternity will be like if we are in Christ, but also the sobering reminder that this life is short, that we only get one chance to make right with you. And so I pray if there's anyone here, Lord, tonight is not sure of their salvation, that they would not let another day go by without getting counsel, without finding out if they are right with you or not, and how to be right with you through calling out for forgiveness and mercy, knowing that whoever calls out to you will be saved. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.