All right, you should have the handout in your, in or from your bulletin, backside of what you would have seen for this morning's sermon. We are back in the series, Heaven and Hell, Present and Future, talking about destinations beyond the grave. Might call it the afterlife, but theologians call what we're doing individual eschatology. What happens to us individually after this life and Speaking in terms of destinations, then. Where do we go? What are those places? How are we to think about it and feel about it? So, we just barely dipped our toe into the water last time we were in the series together. We just barely dipped our toe into the water thinking about heaven and comparing some scriptural emphases to various thoughts and themes people have have had about heaven throughout, especially throughout church history. Um, what people like to emphasize about heaven or, or contemplate about heaven changes depending where their focus is, obviously, um, in this life. Now, today I want to be more, more directly or just more completely focused on pure scripture. I want to talk about the heavens heaven or you could say the heavens in the Old Testament and just give you a quick Flavor what we learn from the Old Testament before we ever get to the New Testament about heaven and I say the heavens in the Old Testament largely because There's there's one basic word in the Old Testament Hebrew for heaven Shemaim That's a plural form in Hebrew, which means you can translate it either as heaven or the heavens. It means the same thing, maybe different nuances depending on the context. When I first put this material together, this isn't the first time I've taught through the same basic stuff, I borrowed a lot from a chapter by Raymond Ortland Jr., or Ray Ortland Jr. It was in a book called Heaven. Very simple title. Heaven, and it was edited by Christopher Morgan and Robert Peterson, part of Crossway's Theology and Community series. I'm saying all this just to give credit where it's due. Also to say, I would not broadly recommend Ray Ortlund Jr. as an author or a reliable Christian leader, especially given some recent history. And only a few of you know about that, but if you know, you know. So, while saying that, he has good things to say, very good things to say in this chapter, so I've kept the material with that caveat. If it's biblical it's biblical, but I also don't want to plagiarize all right, so One opening quote from from that author About the whole concept in in the Old Testament that God dwells in heaven not on earth He says he the Lord God dwells on high Not in the sense that he's uninvolved below But in the sense that he is above all earthly change Unlike the Baals, who died and rose and died and rose within the cycle of the annual seasons. That was the theology of the Canaanites and peoples around Israel. The Lord's throne is in heaven. Psalm 11 4. See also Psalm 2 verse 4. And therefore he's unthreatened by earthly powers and his throne is final in its judgments. End of quote. That's a good way to start out summarizing what we know from the Old Testament about heaven. It doesn't give us a lot we'd like to know, but the emphasis is heaven is on high, way above and superior to everything that's happening on earth. God's throne is not an earthly throne that can be toppled. His throne is in heaven. And so, things we see from the Old Testament, the big themes we see aren't really where people want to go first when they talk about heaven. Obviously we're selfish beings, so we like to start talking about what will heaven be like for us when, if we get there after death, right? That's not the biggest theme of the Bible about heaven. So we need to start out understanding that. I want to show three basic things from the Old Testament this afternoon. Number one, The heavens, this is just talking about that word. And so you understand the range of what that word is used for in the Old Testament. Number one, the heavens include the visible creation above the earth. So be careful when you read about heaven or the heavens, it can be talking simply about the sky where the birds fly. It can be talking about the starry heavens where we see the sun, the moon, and the stars, which people were tempted to worship, in fact. But then number two, the heavens include as well, the invisible abode of God. So not just the visible creation above the earth, and don't fall for the silly skeptic objections as if we Christians believe that God lives up somewhere in the clouds, literally. Don't be like the Soviets. I don't know if that's a true story or an urban legend about, you know, the Soviet, they didn't call them astronauts, did they? The cosmonauts, that's right, the Soviet cosmonauts in space, they got up there. Well, I don't see God anywhere up here, you know. So the heavens include the visible creation of the Earth, but the heavens, the concept of the heavens in the Old Testament also include, it includes the invisible abode of God. We can't access it or see it by natural means from this realm, this dimension, whatever you want to call where we are now. from the earth and from an earthbound standpoint. And number three, then God's sovereign rule over all is sovereign rule over all is executed from heaven. And that's really the point in the old Testament. His throne is in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. All right. So again, due to my notes, that's just your hand out there. So I know what I'm saying here. Okay. Number 1. The heavens include the visible creation above the earth. And some of this I'm sure I can fly through pretty quickly, but let me go a little more slowly through this first reference. Turn to Genesis 1 with me. Genesis chapter 1. The heavens include the visible creation above the earth. What's the first verse in the Bible? And it's all important to believe in the rest of scripture. Genesis 1.1. In the Hebrew, Bereshit, in the beginning, Bara Elohim, God, Elohim, created Eid Hashemayim, the heavens, the Eid Haaretz, the earth. There's that Shemayim word, the heavens. Like I said, you can translate that heaven or heavens doesn't really matter as far as the word goes. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, which was a way of saying God created everything. We would say the universe, but there's the added emphasis that there's the universe is two realms, essentially earth down here where humans live and everything above that heaven. Um, that's what God created in the beginning, all things, all things. And, and Genesis one, of course, goes on to describe everything. Uh, he just, he created everything that would fill those realms, the heavens and the earth. He made it all in six days and all very good. Verse two, then the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Remember we already preached through the book of Genesis. So if you, if you want to really deep dive on these verses, go back to that sermon. The verse three, God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and there was morning the first day. Now the way I'm interpreting verse one is that God spoke things from nothing in the beginning so that now we have this category, the heavens and the earth, but then he continues to create and to divide things one from another, to organize. So we already had the heavens and the earth in one sense, but now we get to verse six and we find heaven in yet a different sense. And God said, verse six, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters. Or the old word is that there'd be a firmament in the midst of the waters, but expanse is a good translation and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so, and God called the expanse heaven, same word there called it heaven. And there was evening and there was morning the second day. Then you skip down to verse 14, on the fourth day of creation, we have something else said about heaven or the heavens. God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens, in the firmament of the heavens, to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light, meaning the sun, to rule the day, and the lesser light, meaning the moon, to rule the night. and the stars. And God set them in the expanse, the firmament of the heavens, to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning before the day." So, obviously, this is where we need to start talking about the heavens in the Old Testament. Genesis 1 has a lot to say about the heavens. Whatever the waters above the expanse of heaven were, by the way, there's some really interesting theories about that. Young earth creationists, I am a young earth creationist, that's another topic. Whatever the waters above the expanse of heaven were that we just read about, they were still there after Noah's flood, okay? Scripture's clear about that. So it seems safest to say those waters refer to the clouds. You say, how can there be clouds? Doesn't the Bible say it never rained before Noah's flood? No, it doesn't exactly say that. But go back to the series in Genesis, we talk about that. In any case, Psalm 148, verses four through six, a long time after Noah's flood, it says, praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever. He gave a decree and it shall not pass away. They're still up there. So now just summarizing, of course, when Genesis 1 is talking about heaven, it talks about it in different ways of things we observe from an earthbound perspective, looking up into the sky and what's beyond that and the stars. Yes, we know a lot more in some ways scientifically about what we now call the solar system, the galaxies, all that. None of that invalidates how Genesis describes things here. It's saying it from the perspective of someone looking up from the earth and we use that language all the time. There's the firmament or and that's the old word that the ESV says the expanse that God called heaven that word for expanse or firmament is Rekia. And again, that's the same as the sky viewed from an earthbound standpoint in our day. Psalm 19, verse one, the heaven is declared the glory of God and the sky, there's that word for firmament or expanse. The expanse above proclaims his handiwork. Or Psalm 150, verses one through two, praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens, there's that word for firmament or expanse. Praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him according to his excellent greatness. Okay. We also see Genesis 7 that when the worldwide flood of Noah's day happens the windows of heaven as it were are opened and the fountains after the fountains of the great deep burst forth and Rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights because the windows of the heavens were opened. What does that mean? Very simple. It's talking about the sky water falling from the sky And Deuteronomy 419 again you see a God saying beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars all the hosts of heaven you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven again talking about the sky and what we would call space but what you observe in the sky okay that stuff's probably I mean, it's good to know, but it's not directly to our point. So now let's talk about how we know even from the Old Testament that there's this concept of God abiding in heaven. Heaven is God's royal residence. The heavens include not just what we can visibly see up there. The heavens include the invisible abode of God. That's obviously where we're driving. It's interesting that there's probably even a little play on words just to give a certain flavor. In Genesis 11, remember when people are rebelling against God's command to scatter through the whole earth after Noah's flood. They want to all be together with one language, one big city, one big tower, the Tower of Babel, we call it. Genesis 11, four and five, then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, the Nazbi, little more literal, whose top will reach into heaven. What are they saying? Well, on the surface, they're just saying a really tall thing that reaches into the sky. But there's also a religious flavor here, I think, especially when you compare it to other scriptures. They're wanting to, instead of having God come down to them in grace, they're wanting to make a name for themselves. That's the next thing they say, let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And they think they're going to exalt themselves to heaven, you see. And this probably fits in with the religion of the time that we see in that area of the world where the ziggurats, the towers were temple towers, which was supposed to, they were supposed to be a bridge between heaven and earth. for communion with God or the gods. But of course, the next verse there is ironic. They think they're building this tower that's reaching into heaven, but verse five, the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. God has to stoop down. Oh yeah, I see that little thing down there. I see what your people are trying to accomplish. That's important for later. So just hang on to that thought about Babel, the top reaching into heaven. But one thing that's very clear, over and over and over, I have multiple texts listed here, don't have to read each one of them. We have just regularly when God interacts with people like Hagar, when she's with Ishmael being driven out from Abraham's household, or when God speaks to Abraham, stops him from killing Isaac on the altar. Regularly it says God or the angel of God called to him or called to her out of heaven from heaven Indicating God's in his of his home of heaven speaking from there But then we get to Genesis 28 I do I do want you to turn here Genesis 28 Remember the story of Jacob's ladder as it's called really Jacob's staircase is probably equally valid and Jacob has to leave home after tricking and deceiving his father and brother out of his brother's firstborn blessing. His brother Esau had his own issues, but Jacob is on his way out of his home area to his uncle way up north. He just basically has the clothes on his back and his staff, his walking stick, and that's all he has in life now on the run. Set up there by his parents, but he has a very uncertain life at this moment. Genesis 28, verse 10. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder, or a staircase, set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Does that sound familiar, by the way? Top of it reached to heaven? Sorry, I just went through Babel. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, on this ladder or staircase, these steps. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land in which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and your offspring shall all families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place. And I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God, which is why it was called Bethel, the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven, he says. So here, let me quote Ray Orland. This is really good. He says, all his life, Jacob has felt that he has to survive by his wits and it has not gone well for him. He has never realized how involved God really is on his behalf. Now he sees the messengers, the angels of God running errands for their Lord, accomplishing a myriad of his gracious purposes on earth and returning to heaven for more orders. Jacob is not abandoned to himself. His future does not depend on his own devices. He has an ally in God, a God highly active on his behalf through ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation, Hebrews 1.14. What Jacob had previously seen as his lonely and precarious existence is in fact the place of God's very presence, and now Jacob feels it. Now he can see that the hidden reality of his daily life, sins and troubles notwithstanding, is nothing less than mercies from on high, moving toward an unworthy man in all his need. One again thinks of Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel, for Bab-ilu, or Babylon, means gate of gods. That impressive culture saw itself as the entry point for heaven on earth through human self-exaltation. But the gospel of Genesis reverses this way of thinking. It is the God of heaven who is moving down toward earth to take over. The only hope for this world, therefore, comes from beyond this world. It is not subject to human control or manipulation." End of quote. That's a very good description. This is one of the first places we, our attention is really drawn to heaven as the place where God's, where God maintains his kingdom, where his throne is. And they are the messengers, that's what angel means, messengers of God, those on duty for God, ascending and descending between heaven and earth. They are constantly on the move, constantly working God's will in his creation, and particularly his plan of redemption and grace, even for poor sinful Jacob and through him. Again, I have more references listed where the Lord says, for instance, when he talks about how he talked with Moses on Sinai, he actually says, he talked with Israel from heaven. Out of heaven, he lets you hear his voice, Deuteronomy 4 verse 36. So again, the concept that God, God's proper abode, if you will, though he fills all things, the place of his where he especially manifests his royal presence is in heaven. When King Solomon dedicates the temple of God in Jerusalem, this glorious, magnificent complex filled with gold and precious stones, and it's beautiful. It's much more majestic than the tent, the tabernacle Israel had originally had for the worship of God. Solomon is offering a prayer of dedication for this temple on earth in Jerusalem, where God chose to put his name, as he says. But Solomon is acknowledging in 1 Kings 8 verse 27, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built. Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day, but toward this house, the place of which you have said, my name shall be there that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place and listen to the plea of your servant and of your people, Israel, when they pray toward this place and listen in heaven, your dwelling place. There it's very explicit. Listen in heaven, your dwelling place. And when you hear forgive, Much as under the new covenant now, Jesus has placed his name upon his church, which is his temple, which meets now all over the earth. But God's eyes and ears are open towards the place where he has put his name in the name of his son, which is the church of Jesus Christ, the temple of the living God. And he in heaven, his dwelling place, hears our prayers that are made through Jesus, through the name of his son and in his name. But heaven is His dwelling place in a way that earth is not. At least not yet. I'll get ahead of myself and say the New Testament makes clear what's so wonderful about the eternal state. It's that heaven and earth become one. Heaven comes down to earth. And there's no longer this divide between God's proper dwelling place, if you like, and our fallen realm. It's no longer fallen. And it's a new creation. And there's no difference then between heaven and earth. The heavenly city is on the new earth, but that is getting out of myself. Have you noticed how second Kings chapter two, the prophet Elijah is taken up to heaven. It says by a whirlwind accompanied by horses and chariots of fire, angelic, an angelic manifestation, apparently. What does that mean? It doesn't just mean that Elijah went up into the sky. The story makes that clear. Some people foolishly ask the next prophet, Elisha, can we go and see if God dropped him somewhere on a mountain or something? He says, no, he went to heaven and you saw what happened. So it doesn't just mean that Elijah was taken up by a tornado into the sky for a little bit. But the idea is Elijah had the unique, alongside Enoch, he had the unique experience of bypassing physical death altogether and going straight to God's dwelling place in heaven. He was translated, we would say. He was changed instantly, glorified, much as we will be if we're alive when Jesus returns. But he was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind because heaven is where God is. There's more things in the Old Testament, obviously, saying heaven is God's holy habitation, 2 Chronicles 30, 27. Psalm 2 and verses 1 through 4, the nations are raging, the peoples are plotting. They want to get rid of these bonds. They want to burst their bonds apart and cast away the cords of the Lord and His anointed. They don't want to be bound by and submit to the Lord and His Messiah, His anointed one. And it says, he who sits in the heavens laughs. He's far above all this, this chaos and angst down here. And he just, he's looking down, sitting in the heavens and he laughs. He holds them in derision. Or Psalm 11 verse four, the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. So heaven is his ultimate temple. His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. Ecclesiastes 5 makes the point not to rashly say something or make a vow in worship when you come before the Lord on earth because, Ecclesiastes 5, 2, God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Be appropriately humble and just be quieted before the God of heaven and don't rashly say things or promise things before him. Isaiah 66 verse one, the Lord describes heaven by saying, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. All right. So the heavens include not only the visible creation above the earth, but the invisible abode of God. And here's the big point we've already kind of said, God's sovereign rule overall is executed from heaven. I do want you to turn to first Kings 22. First Kings 22, starting in verse 18. The first thing that should come to our minds when we think about heaven is not what we get out of it, what we get out of heaven. First thing that comes to mind is God's government, his rule over all things is secure because he is on the throne in heaven. And everything happens down here because he says so from up there. 1 Kings 22. Ahab, the king of Israel, had a bunch of false prophets who were encouraging him to go to battle against his enemy alongside Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, as his ally. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, actually was a godly man, though he was really stupid in being friends with Ahab. Jehoshaphat wanted a true prophet of the Lord. Something tipped him off that these that these hundreds of prophets Ahab already had just said what he wanted to hear. He said, isn't there a real prophet of the Lord around somewhere? Ahab says, oh, there's one guy named Micaiah, but I hate him because he never says anything good about me, only bad. Well, I wonder why. But Jehoshaphat says, no, no, no, bring Micaiah. And I want to hear what he has to say if we should go into battle this way against the Syrians or the Arameans, depending on your translation. So Micaiah, originally he sarcastically just agrees with all the false prophets. Go up and succeed, the Lord's with you. And Ahab says, how many times do I have to tell you to be straight with me, to tell me what the Lord told you? And so Micaiah then prophesies, yep, you're going to go up to battle. And I see all Israel scattered as sheep without a shepherd, going each man to his home. They're going to lose their king. You're going to die in battle, Ahab, because you're on going on this mission. So here we are. First Kings 22, verse 18. The king of Israel, Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? See, already in the storyline of first Kings, God had already prophesied disaster against Ahab and his dynasty for all the evil they've done. Then I should say middle of verse 20 and one said one thing and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, by what means? And he said, I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Now therefore behold, the prophet Micaiah says, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster for you. Again, Mr. Ortlund says it well here. He says, does heaven tell lies? No. But heaven can use lies, he explains. Ahab says to Micaiah, how many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? Verse 16. Outwardly, Ahab not only desires but demands the truth. But in reality, his heart is open only to flattering assurances. What he wants is impossible. True flattery from heaven through the mouth of a true prophet so that he can then disregard God and do what he wants to anyway. How many are like that? They want to know that God really approves of what they already want to do. What better plan to defeat such a man, therefore, than by strengthening the illusion he loves? Micaiah does give Ahab fair warning of defeat. I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. Verse 17. But Ahab dismisses it as the same old blah, blah, blah. Verse 18. It is then that the prophet reveals God's purpose of judgment. Zedekiah the false prophet responds by mistreating Lycaea, Ahab has him arrested, and the king proceeds toward his own destruction under the power of his chosen lies. So Mr. Ortland says, what becomes visible about heaven from 1 Kings 22? The God who rules there is so shrewd, I would say wise, that he can advance his purposes on earth through his angelic host without making himself dependent on them. He is so shrewd that he can bring doom through the false promises of false prophets without falsifying himself. God only speaks the truth, but in his providence, even the false prophets work what he has decreed to take place, you see. And Mr. Ortlund again, and as it was then, so it is now. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false. in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2, 11-12. Truly, God is not mocked. That's what he says, and that's true. But that picture is very important also, just the basic picture. Heaven is where God's royal court is, where it meets, you might say. Where he holds counsel, war counsel even. And we see that other places. Remember Isaiah chapter six, when the prophet Isaiah sees the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. So it's also the Lord's temple. The temple is just a palace for deity. That's what it is where you meet with deity. And above the Lord stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost, or I am undone. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Who will be my representative on earth? Was the idea. Then I said, here I am, send me. So two things, again, we see here where this time the prophet is by a vision let into God's heavenly presence. And then he's sent out as God's messenger, his representative. Two things about heaven. First of all, it's a dangerous place for sinners. Isaiah, who's already a prophet, by the way, before this, Isaiah is reduced to almost despair and terror as he's confronted with the sight of the Holy Lord of hosts. I'm undone. I'm ruined. I'm going to be taken apart. But also because of the grace of God, if your sins are atoned for, as the angel said to Isaiah, as he symbolically purified his tongue, If your sins are atoned for by God's grace, then heaven is a safe place, the only safe place, as Ray Ortlund puts it. Now compare 1 Kings 22 and Isaiah 6 to a shorter text, Jeremiah 23, verses 21 through 24. This tells us a lot about what true prophecy is and is not. God says in Jeremiah 23, 21, I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them yet. They prophesied these false prophets. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him, declares the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and earth, declares the Lord? On the one hand, again, God fills heaven and earth, so these false prophets aren't hiding what they're doing from him. But he also says, what's the difference between a true and a false prophet? A true prophet has been let into heaven's court where God is holding counsel. If they had stood in my counsel, Then they would have proclaimed my words to my people. A prophet was led in to the secret of what's happening in heaven, in the royal court, where God holds counsel, as he puts it. A false prophet has no clue about that. He just makes it up, whatever he wants to say, whatever he thinks the people want to hear. That's the difference. Which is also why we need to be very severe toward those who would say, I have a word from the Lord. for you. I'm a prophet. Oh, really? You've been led into heaven's courtroom. Is that what you're saying? You know exactly what God is saying to us from his throne. That's a pretty serious claim. That's why the prophets had to back up their claims with a lot of other things. Well, last place I want to mention here in the New Old Testament is the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter two, I'll just mention, King Nebuchadnezzar has this dream, which Daniel then interprets, a dream of this huge statue or image set up on the earth, made up of various kinds of metals, representing all the kingdoms of man, all their glory and power. But the dream ends with this rock cut out without hands, hurtling down from heaven and smashing the kingdoms of this earth. That's the kingdom of heaven Jesus talked about. And describing that, interpreting it, Daniel says, Daniel 2 verse 44, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever. Daniel sees the same process, but with different pictures. In Daniel seven, then starting in verse nine, he sees the heavenly throne room again. As I looked, thrones were placed in the ancient of days. God took his seat. His clothing was white as snow and the hair of his head, like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousands served him. And 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened. And it talks then about how the last impudent ruler on earth to raise his head against God and his people, he's put down this little horn and this beast. But then it says, verse 13, I saw in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, Christ, of course. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed. When we say the kingdom of heaven, when we see that in the new Testament, that's not just talking about heaven. It's talking about a kingdom that comes from above, from heaven, that because it has all heaven's power behind it, it will succeed and it will replace the kingdoms of this earth in the end. That's because God rules on the throne in heaven and thousands serve him. 10,000 times 10,000 stand before him. All things are his servants. The hosts of heaven are his servants. He makes the greatest king on earth. look like nothing. So what's most important about heaven? As we wrap this up, we're in a series about the afterlife, but heaven, as I said, is not first of all defined by whatever we would like to imagine enjoying in the afterlife. You ask people on the street, what, what do you think heaven is like, or what would you call heaven? They might come up with just like, well, heaven is, um, an ice cream parlor with never ending flavors for me. Heaven is like a spa for me, because that's what I would like to experience forever. Heaven is a never-ending vacation. All sorts of crazy things. Some religions, with a straight face, will say heaven is something, if you really are radically for our God, heaven is a place where you can enjoy carnal pleasures forever, if you're a guy. There's all sorts of ideas about what would be paradise, what would be heaven to us. But heaven's not, first of all, defined by whatever we want to enjoy forever in our little twisted minds. For those who trust and know and love the God of heaven, his glorious presence will really be unspeakable delight if you know him. But heaven is first of all the throne, the palace, and the temple of God. And it's high above the rest of creation. It's a fitting royal residence that he made, but fitting for the one who made all things and transcends all things. He is high above all things, and in fact, in a category all his own. He's holy. That's what holiness is about. That's what's important about heaven. And that's why you cannot presume that you will go to heaven when you die. apart from God's supernatural, awesome, unspeakable grace to you that you don't deserve. And the only way to have the grace that gives you eternal life with God in heavenly glory, the only way to that is Jesus Christ. As Jesus said in John three, no one is ascended to heaven except the son of man who came down from heaven. So listen to me when I'm telling you about heavenly things, Jesus says. I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, in heaven that is, but through me. But if we don't start in the right place about heaven, we're gonna fall for anything and everything. And every newest book that's written about someone who saw how heaven was such a wonderful place, according to their standards. Some experience, or near-death experience, someone thinks they had, or who knows what. some philosophy about what heaven must be in some man's system of thought. Heaven's all about God, first of all. And then, if you have God's grace, then heaven's about you, but only secondarily. And you'll love heaven only because and only if you love God. Heaven would be terrible for you if you didn't love God and if you didn't love holiness. Let's pray together. Lord, of course, we know that many of these things are pretty basic to those of us who've been in the faith for a while. We should know these things. these concepts of heaven and what's important about it, but help it to sink down deep into our ears and our hearts and change us. Help us to be living for that which is truly heaven, not for any other utopia or satisfaction that this world can conjure up. Help us to know you better, that we may love you better and enjoy heaven better one day. And thank you that we have heaven, not because anyone deserves it, anyone but Jesus Christ, that is. Thank you that we have heaven as a free gift if we turn from our sins to Jesus Christ and place our trust only in him and what he has done for unworthy sinners in their place. Dying the death that sinners deserve and rising to give them eternal life reconciled to God. Thank you, Father, for heaven, but thank you Just for yourself. Impress us with yourself. And then as a result with your heavenly glory, we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.