If you'd like to open up your Bibles and join me for the study, we'll be beginning in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 this morning. We're going to continue with our study on heaven. We're actually in the middle of a much longer outline, teaching outline and study that we've been doing for nearly a year now on the last things in terms of how God is planning to conclude and finalize his plan for all of history and for all of eternity, how things are From the beginning of creation until now dovetailing to the fulfillment of God's great plan What is yet ahead of us and in particular what we've been focused on just recently is The theme of hell first we studied some six or seven weeks together on the subject of hell and the biblical Understanding of that reality and now we're in the middle of a teaching on heaven. This is our third week We're going to continue on with that what we've established so far is are just some basic principles about heaven. The first is that heaven is a created place, an actual location in spite of what is common and popular among cultural exchange today when heaven is discussed, it's often discussed as a state of mind or as some archaic fantasy of ancient cultures that didn't really understand reality in the way we understand it today. What we have come to see is that heaven is real. It's a place with real spatial reality. Of course, it's not real in only a natural sense of the word. There's a famous account, a true account, of the very first astronaut. Actually, he wasn't called an astronaut, he was called a cosmonaut. First human being into space who was the Russian cosmonaut. Yuri Gagarin, and I don't know if you're familiar with this story or not, but at that time when Russia sent the first astronaut into orbit around the Earth, Russia was dominated by an atheistic, materialistic, evolutionary-driven worldview. And one of their perspectives, of course, as a nation at that time, even though going back into Russian history, Russia was very strongly Christian at one point in their worldview and their perspectives. But by the time they launched this first cosmonaut into space, they were officially and formally an atheist society. And when Gagarin first penetrated that boundary line, that invisible boundary line between the atmosphere surrounding this planet and actually entered into actual space, one of the things he radioed back to the headquarters on Earth, the Russian headquarters, space headquarters, was the statement that See, I'm here and the heaven that they described is not here. I can confirm that heaven is not real because I'm here now and it's not here. Now, of course, what he was missing was a very fundamental and basic teaching from God's Word, which is that, as we saw our second principle, heaven is described in a plurality in Scripture. There's more than one heaven. There are identified in Scripture three categories or three levels of heaven. There is the first heaven, which is the atmosphere surrounding this planet. There is the second heaven which is the universe as we know it, the stars, the galaxies, the solar systems, the planets and so forth. And then there is the highest heaven described in scripture which is above all of that. It has a real and spatial reality but it's a spiritual reality and it is described as being above and beyond the physical universe as we know it and can't be reached by spaceship or space capsule or any other conveyance of mankind. Now what we focused on last time is that heaven is, if it's created, it's created for a purpose. And the fundamental purpose, and we'll develop this further as we go along, but the fundamental purpose for heaven is not first and foremost to be a home for the believer, the home for the righteous, spiritual home, but it is first and foremost created by God to be a universal headquarters. It's the place where His throne is established and from which He administrates all of creation, and all of his universe, and all of the details connected to that. And of course, from which, as we've been studying in the last year, he is carrying out his great eternal plan for all of history. Now, one of the things that we did last time is we focused on the history of heaven. And that since heaven is created, it has a history. It has a past, it has a present, and it has a future. And there's change built into history for heaven, just like there's change built into history for the earth. We saw that in the Old Testament, heaven is populated, but it's populated much differently than it is today. It was populated in the Old Testament by God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of course all of the myriads of angelic beings that serve God's purposes from heaven. But that heaven was a closed society throughout the entire duration of the Old Testament. Closed to human beings. all human beings. Now there was a sense in which, and we saw this in our comparison of heaven to the Old Testament temple and tabernacle, which is a physical symbol on earth of God's purposes in heaven, the reality of heaven, the way things are in heaven. something that natural human beings could look at, could interact with, and could come to begin to understand the unseen spiritual realities of heaven. But we saw that there was a sense of access to heaven for people in the Old Testament, the righteous of the Old Testament who were in covenant relationship with the Lord. But in terms of personal, actual presence in heaven, no human being entered into heaven throughout the entire Old Testament time period. There's a reason for that. We're going to begin again. We read this portion, but I want to reread it this morning, and Jerry even read some of this during the communion time, so I think it's appropriate for us to reemphasize it. I want to reread this to emphasize why it is that there were no human beings in heaven throughout the Old Testament. And then we'll lead up to our focus today, which is how heaven has changed in the sense of what it's like today. But reading from Hebrews chapter 9, we're going to read a longer section. Hang in there and I'll stop and comment on a couple of key points here as we go through. Now, even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one. Of course, this is, as we focused on last time, the tabernacle, and later became the temple in the Old Testament time period, the place where God met with his people, the place where God's people worshipped him and offered sacrifices for their sins. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, and which were the landstand, and the table, and the sacred bread. This is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the Covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy-seek. But of these things we cannot now speak in detail. And I won't stop and speak in detail on these things either, but what he's describing there is as you enter into the Holy of Holies, as we talked about last week, there's this box. It's a special box, it contains certain things, and on top of that box there are erected or there were erected these representations of angels, a specific category or kind of angel called cherubim. And we saw that this is all a physical, symbolic representation of the current reality of the way things are in heaven. representing the throne of God in heaven and those four living creatures described in the book of Ezekiel, described in the book of Isaiah, and of course described in the book of Revelation, that are flying around the throne of God day and night and declaring the holiness and the majesty of God without ceasing. And then continuing on from there, let's read in verse 6. Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship. but into the second, meaning the second room, the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest enters once a year. Now this was a very practical reality for the children of Israel. If you were part of the priesthood of God, if you were born into the tribe of Levi in the Old Testament, and if you were called from that tribe to serve as a Levitical priest, you were specially prepared for your service, and you were given permission by God to enter that outer room of the tabernacle of the temple, the holy place, and to be involved in the various service of worship that took place on a daily basis between God and His people. But, even if you were a specially called Levitical priest and you dared to enter past that curtain that separated the holy place, the outer tabernacle, the outer room, and enter into the most holy place, where that representation of God's throne was, that direct representation of heaven itself. If you dared to cross that threshold, what would happen to you as a priest in the Old Testament? you would be, and we see a couple of very dramatic and vivid examples of this in stories of the Old Testament, your life would immediately end. And it wouldn't end just by accident, just by coincidence. God would end your life if you dared to cross that threshold. This is symbolically portraying to us that no human being had access to the throne room of God throughout the entire Old Testament time period. But let's continue to read. But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this. In other words, this is the message behind all of this practical spiritual activity that's taking place year after year among the children of Israel. He's signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience, since they only relate to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. But... and, you know, but is one of those little words that can just be... You know, a fairly light word to connect two thoughts in a sentence. But there are times, especially in God's word, where the word but is a critical word around which all critical and important and eternal concepts revolve. Something changes. All of this took place throughout the whole Old Testament, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered not, as we talked about last week, into the earthly temple. Never once did Jesus enter into the Holy of Holies in the earthly temple that was in Jerusalem. Yes, he circulated through the outer precincts, through the courtyards, he taught and interacted with people in the outer courtyards, but he never once, during the duration of his life on earth, entered into the physical holy of holies on earth. But what he did do, as it says, he appeared as a high priest of the good things to come and he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. In other words, Jesus entered into a different tabernacle, a greater tabernacle, a tabernacle in heaven, not part of this earth's creation. And then in verse 12, and not when he entered through the blood of goats and calves like the physical priests or the Levitical priests of the Old Testament, but through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that since death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, Those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives." This is using natural inheritance terminology, legal inheritance terminology, to describe the spiritual purpose that God was accomplishing through Christ. If I make an inheritance for my children, it only goes fully into force at the moment of my death. Until then, it's a theoretical document describing my intention, and my plan, and my promises. But it's at the moment of my death that that becomes legally their inheritance. And in the same way, God had planned throughout the entire Old Covenant time period in our timeline here. We should probably get one on the board. But this is the point of creation, and this is the second coming of Christ, and this is the coming of Jesus to die on the cross, rise from the dead, and ascend back to the right hand of God, the turning point of all of history. God throughout the entire Old Covenant time period, from the garden to the cross, promised certain spiritual realities to His people. But those things could not be fulfilled until the death of the one whose death puts in force the very things that were promised. And this is referring, of course, to the death of Jesus on the cross. Let's pick up in verse 18. Therefore, even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. And we know, of course, the blood that was used to inaugurate the first covenant, which is the blood of bulls and goats. And now, in those deaths of those animals, the blood that was shed, that was gathered, and that was used in very specific ways in the Old Testament tabernacle, that blood in itself was not efficacious or effective to accomplish the fullness of what God had promised, but it was symbolic, pointing forward to this moment of fulfillment. A symbol just like the tabernacle itself was a symbol. Reading on. In the same way, he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the law, this is the law of Moses, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And the idea here is, of course, when this tabernacle structure, this tent structure, that God had ordained for the children of Israel to build, in which He would meet with them, and they would worship Him, and there would be sacrifice offered for their sins. In this tabernacle structure, before the tabernacle was opened, before the tabernacle was actually functioning as a meeting place between God and his people. What was required, we read this back in the book of Exodus as Moses inaugurated this tabernacle, and later, when the temple was built under the leadership of Solomon, Solomon followed Moses' pattern and did the identical same thing with the temple itself. And what we have is Moses takes blood from bulls and goats that was shed on this altar that was erected outside the entry point to the tabernacle, And with this blood in a basin, he took some scarlet wool and some hyssop. Hyssop is just like a plant that was used to dip into this bowl of blood. And he went around and what he did with this was he sprinkled what? He sprinkled everything. He sprinkled the outer curtain that that forms the outer wall, so to speak, of the tabernacle. He came in and he sprinkled the lampstand, he came in and he sprinkled the table of showbread, he sprinkled the altar of incense, and he sprinkled the actual Ark of the Covenant itself upon the mercy seat, as we talked about last time. Now, without understanding what's going on here, first reading, especially to our culture, our society today, and especially with all of the emphasis on animal rights and whatnot, this seems like kind of a politically incorrect thing for Moses to do, wouldn't you say? He's sacrificing animals, taking their blood, and sprinkling it like it would be someone coming around and sprinkling all the walls of the sanctuary, going around sprinkling the pews, sprinkling the board that I'm riding on, the pulpit that I'm teaching from, sprinkling everything in here with blood. And it seems kind of unusual at the least, and perhaps even a little morbid and, yeah, strange to us, to our sensibilities. What's this all about? Of course we have understanding about what's going on here. The blood is signifying God's answer to the sin of mankind. And it's an answer which is essential for this structure to function as a meeting place between God and man. The idea is this box here in this Holy of Holies is of course a symbol of the throne of God which is established upon principles of God's absolute holiness and God's absolute justice. And the problem is, like the Levitical priest who if he wandered through this second curtain and into the presence of this box without blood in between him and the one who sits in awesome holiness upon this box, upon this seat, upon this throne, his life would be immediately ended by fire which would come out from the presence of the Lord to consume him. As the book of Hebrews describes later on, our God is a consuming fire. When we say God is a consuming fire, what are we saying He's consuming? He's consuming the corruption, the defilement that is in sinful mankind. His holiness consuming the defilement. But that consumption of defilement is based upon the sacrifice and the blood that's shed on this altar. Now we've already said blood in bulls and goats isn't going to be sufficient, so let's read on. We're reading from verse 21 again now. And in the same way, speaking of Moses and what he did on the inauguration of the tabernacle, he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these. What that tells us is the tabernacle and then later the temple was a copy. And we emphasized this last week, but it was a copy of something. It's not the original. It's not the reality. It's a symbolic copy of something that is in existence at the very moment that the copy is made. It's already in existence. And that greater thing, the original, is in heaven itself. Reading on. Verse 23, therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Now when we talk about heavenly things, what are we talking about here? What is the writer conceptualizing when he describes Moses went in and he sprinkled all the things in the tabernacle with blood of bulls and goats, but it was necessary The blood of bulls and goats was sufficient to symbolically portray the greater purpose of God in sprinkling the heavenly things. But what are those things? The implication is, every item of furniture corresponds to something in heaven itself. And the whole structure corresponds to the reality, the spiritual reality of heaven itself. And ultimately, what's most critical, the focal point of the shed blood was not just to get some of the blood on the tabernacle and some on the table and some on the lampstand and some on the altar of incense. The goal of shedding the blood was to get some of that blood sprinkled onto the mercy seat, which represented the throne of God. So ultimately, The goal of the bloodshedding was for the throne of God in heaven to be sprinkled with blood. Now was the blood of bulls and goats going to accomplish that? Absolutely not. Verse 23 again, therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, the one on earth, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Meaning this sacrifice, this focal point sacrifice around which all of history and even all of eternity revolves is not a sacrifice to be repeated yearly like the sacrifices of the old covenant. It's a once and for all sacrifice and what is accomplished in that sacrifice is sufficient forever and always and for all. And let's read again starting in verse 24. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also. having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him." Meaning that what was accomplished when he died on the cross, rose from the dead and ascended back to the right hand of God is something that encompasses now Looking backwards, the fulfillment of all that was promised to those in the Old Testament, and looking forward, it encompasses all that will live between the cross and His second coming here. Now what is it that He actually did though? What this passage tells us in Hebrews chapter 9, and I read the whole chapter so that we wouldn't miss any critical detail, is that when Jesus died, and when He rose from the dead, and when He ascended back to the right hand of God, He ascended to the right hand of God, taking something with Him. Now, we talked last week about how He took human beings with Him, and that is true, and I want to re-emphasize that in a moment. But even before that, even before we focus on who he took with him, we need to focus on what he took with him. What he took with him was his own blood, his incorruptible blood. And he entered into not the sanctuary made with human hands in order to offer the blood of bulls and goats. He entered into the heavenly, holy of holies, the temple of God in heaven, And He offered His blood as the ultimate testimony, the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate payment for the sins of mankind upon the throne of God in heaven. And He sits as the testimony to that completed sacrifice on that very throne, which is now described as our mercy seat for the duration of this time period between His cross, resurrection, ascension, and then the second coming. Now, what that means for us is that things have changed between the Old and the New Testament. Because here, there was only the promise of access to the throne of God. There was only the hope, the future possibility of access to come directly into the presence of God before His throne. But you could not venture there unless you were the high priest. And that only once a year, and that only according to all of the regulations of the tabernacle and temple worship. But the high priest, of course, represents in the Old Testament who in his role. Hebrews just tells us it represents Jesus himself. So the whole idea here is that no other person could enter into the throne room of God until Jesus as the heavenly high priest himself entered in. And just like the high priest entered in on the Day of Atonement with blood of bulls and goats to sprinkle the throne, the mercy seat of God, Jesus is the heavenly high priest at his ascension, entered into heaven with something greater than the blood of bulls and goats. And by doing that, he opened heaven to human beings for the first time. And so at that point, the population of heaven radically changed. Before in the Old Testament, heaven as a reality was populated only by God and angels, angels of various categories and types. In the New Covenant now, because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and only because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God is still in His heaven, of course, the angels are still there in the presence of God, and now for the first time in history since the ascension of Christ, human beings have access to the throne of God and to enter into heaven itself. Now does that mean that all human beings, you know, as we have the testimony of, I think it's the Walt Disney movie, I could be wrong, all dogs go to heaven, right? Do all people go to heaven? You know how it is, it's popular in our culture nowadays to believe and to say, all people in their hearts are really good. essentially good. People do bad things, of course, but everybody's really essentially good, therefore everybody will eventually go to heaven. We've talked about this recently, but the reality is, no, not everybody has access to heaven, not everybody is in heaven. People die, and in the Old Testament, we talked about when people died here on this earth level, Everybody went down into the heart of the earth. Different categories of where they stayed, but paradise itself, even the abode of the righteous dead, were in the heart of the earth, in the Old Testament, in this three-tiered reality in the heart of the earth. But when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, what he did first before ascending is he first, as we read in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 last week, he first descended into the lower parts of the earth and he led captivity captive, meaning he took paradise captive, all of the inhabitants of paradise, and he evacuated it. And like a triumphant general having accomplished the mission that God had given him, he took all of the inhabitants of paradise, we're talking Moses, we're talking Abraham, we're talking David, we're talking Isaiah, and we're talking Ruth, and we're talking many, many others in the Old Testament, all those who were in right relationship with God at the moment of their death. He took all of them and ascended to the right hand of God into heaven itself, where all of them have been with Him since that day. Now, in the New Covenant, what changes is, at the moment of death, those who are unrighteous still go down to the heart of the earth, of course, into what is identified as Hades, Sheol, Hell, the unseen realm. But the righteous in the New Covenant ascend immediately at the point of their death into heaven itself to be with the Lord. Let's turn from Hebrews to the book of Philippians. I read last week a passage in 2 Corinthians. I won't read it again, but I just want to mention it. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, in which Paul the Apostle describes a spiritual experience that he had as God was revealing certain things that were later to be written in the New Covenant. and which were shaping and molding for Paul's own life and ministry. But Paul describes that he ascended into the heavenly realm. He wasn't sure whether he was in his physical body in this experience or whether it was a spiritual experience only. But he describes that he visited paradise in heaven. So what we see is that since paradise was evacuated, paradise is now identified as being equal to heaven. I say equal, heaven is still greater than paradise, because heaven includes the concept, as I said at the beginning, of it being universal headquarters, government headquarters, whereas paradise was never in the Old Testament government headquarters. It's a place of comfort and rest for the righteous from the moment of their death until the day of resurrection at the second coming of Christ. But paradise is now in heaven. But Philippians chapter 1 gives us this testimony as Paul is describing his anticipation of his own death. And at this point, Paul, as he's writing these words, is in a circumstance that's not particularly enjoyable. Paul is writing, this is considered to be one of his prison epistles or prison letters. He wrote this from a Roman prison. How many of you, and I would hope, if not, praise God, you're here now, but how many of you have been to prison, and I mean more as a visitor than as a person that would inhabit a prison cell, okay? How many of you one time or another in our culture visited prison? You know, prison is not something, even in our culture, that I would prefer as a living situation. But honestly, you know, prison in our society is just not that bad. It really isn't. Yeah, I mean, they have everything that you could want in terms of essentials. They have, of course, a place to sleep. They have shelter from the elements. They have, you know, three squares a day that are provided for them free of charge, and they have all kinds of entertainments provided for them, like access to watch movies and television and gymnasiums and all kinds of things that are available to them. In some of what are called white-collar prisons, there are even greater, you know, entertainments and luxuries than that, like tennis courts and handball courts and things of that nature. you know, spas with, you know, you think I'm being facetious or joking here, it's real, there are prisons like this. But, you know, we look at that and say, well, you know, that's being kind to the prisoners and what not. You know, I don't want to get off into a commentary on the prison system here, but Paul was writing from prison, and the prison he was writing from was an entirely different, category than the kind of prison we experience today. I used to do periodic prison ministry down in Tijuana in the Tijuana prison. It was much closer maybe to the kind of prison that you can find in the state penitentiary you can find in Tijuana than you can find in our culture. In Tijuana The way they do their prison is they have built some really strong, big, sturdy walls around an entire block of the city of Tijuana. And then they just turn the prisoners loose into that location. And they tell them, fend for yourselves. And, you know, there's all kinds of stuff going on there. It's just really an unbelievable circumstance. But it's not particularly an enjoyable situation. And that's what Paul was dealing with, but even worse than that. The Roman prison system was particularly difficult. And so Paul is running from this situation and considering his life, considering his calling, considering his purpose. And as you might imagine, if you were in the same sandals that Paul was in, you might not want to continue in that circumstance for the duration of your life here on earth. And this is what Paul writes in Philippians 1 verse 21. Actually, I should probably read up from verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." What he means by the statement, to live is Christ, is that his life was defined by his relationship to Christ. His life was defined by his calling and his purpose. There was no other reason for him to live other than his connection to Christ and the purpose that flowed out of that connection. But for him he saw the possibility of dying in his near future and for him the perspective was, the idea of death was for Paul a gain over his present circumstances. Why? Verse 22. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose, but I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." So Paul basically was looking at two options in front of him as he's sitting here in a Roman prison writing this letter. The two options are, to live on in the flesh, and by living on in the flesh he'd have to endure the hardship of his circumstances, but he had the hope and the promise of fruitful ministry in his service of the gospel and of the Lord himself. But the option that he had in front of him was he could die, and in dying he saw it as the potential of gaining something, something that he described as for him to go in death and be with the Lord was something that would be very much better." And in the original language that Paul uses here, you know, our words, very much better, somewhat convey it, but he uses particularly strong language to say, really there's no comparing these options that I have. He did in his heart, decide and desire to remain on in spite of his suffering life circumstances because he wasn't a particularly selfish person. He was a person that was living for the purpose of Christ and for the calling of Christ and for the ministry that was flowing out from him to the other believers that needed his influence, needed his instruction, needed his counsel and his guidance. But personally speaking, it would have been for Paul very much better to die and go to be with the Lord in paradise. Now my question is, why? What is so great about heaven and about paradise to make it very much better than Paul's present life circumstances? The reason I want to focus on this is that even in the Christian community, we believe in the reality of heaven. We believe in the idea that it's a goal set in front of us, that God has promised to us. And I think we all believe that heaven has got to be some pretty good stuff. And yet, even among believers, there is this spiritual preference that I'd rather be here. Here. Living out my life. If I said to you, how many of you want to die today? Most of us don't want to die today. What I want us to capture is this, Paul chose not to die, but he wanted to. And not just, you know how it is, people can get so beaten down by life that they see death as an escape hatch. They don't even know what's awaiting for them afterwards, but they just want to get away from the present pain, the suffering, the difficulty. That's not what Paul's dealing with. He did have great and intense suffering and pain and difficulty in his circumstances. But he wasn't just looking for an escape hatch to an unknown other set of circumstances. He was looking at this. He was weighing his present reality to a reality that represented something that was very much better. Like weighing in the scales. All the benefits of continuing on in this present life versus all of the benefits that I would immediately gain if my life were to come to an end today and I would go to be with the Lord. Now he ultimately chose, for the sake of service, for the sake of life purpose and calling, he chose to remain and continue. And his life did continue on for some years after this. But in his perspective, what he was giving up, even for those few years, was something that was very much better than what he was experiencing in his life here in this world. And I think that perspective needs to shape more of our perspectives, needs to influence and affect our lives in a greater degree than it tends to. This is what I was referring to a couple of weeks ago when we started this section of our teaching. When I was talking about a Christian, you know, which is the common saying of you can be so heavenly minded, you're no worth the good. But I was wanting to reverse that and to say. We often, instead of that, our problem is that we're so earthly minded, we're no heavenly good, meaning we don't value enough the reality of what God has promised us and what is actually taking place at the right hand of God in heaven. So let's just start today, we won't complete this, let's just start for a couple of minutes here, the investigation of what is it really like there. Turn with me back to the book of Hebrews, if you would, chapter 12. Hebrews 12. And as I said, I just want to introduce this part today. We'll pick it up, Lord willing, together next week. Hebrews 12, we'll read from the end of the chapter. Or toward the end of the chapter, actually. And we're going to read from verse 18. What's being described here is the circumstances that surrounded the establishment way before the cross of the first covenant in its formal expression under the leadership of Moses in what we know as the tabernacle and the giving of the law. What's being described here is that day in which God had led the children of Israel to the foot of Mount Sinai and then called Moses up into his direct glory, into the Shekinah cloud of his presence that covered the entire mountaintop. And upon that mountain, Moses received the revelation of the law that we know as the Ten Commandments and all of the 603 additional commandments beyond the initial ten. And also received the revelation of all of the details of the construction of the tabernacle. This is what we're reading now in verse 18. And this is kind of a dramatic present tense as though we were there on the scene as it's happening. For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind. All of this was taking place when God called Moses up into his presence. The children of Israel camped around the mountain. And he walks up into the presence of God. There's a blazing fire from the mountaintop. There's darkness and gloom and whirlwind. To the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words. Which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, and this command was given, if even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. This is again God portraying this idea that no human being has access into his presence, apart from the blood sacrifice that needs to be made in this tabernacle. But at this point, the tabernacle hasn't even been constructed yet. And so God said, if you even cross the boundary line at the foot of the mountain, or even one of your animals does, you're going to instantly be killed. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. So now the writer of Hebrews says, that's not what we've come to. Though that was how God revealed himself to his people in the Old Testament, the old covenant, the establishment of the first covenant. But we've come to an entirely different spiritual reality. Why? Not because we're better than the people that were living at this time or deserve more, but because we happened to be living at a different moment in God's history, a moment following this critical event, which changed everything, which changed our access point to heaven itself. So, what's described about us is in verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of angels. Now, there is a lot of detail given there, but the focal point of what we're going to tackle next is this. In verse 23, he begins to describe beyond the presence of God himself in heaven, beyond the presence of myriads of angels in heaven, he begins to describe now the presence of human beings in heaven, which he describes in these terms, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and then at the end of that verse, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Why is heaven to Paul a very much better life circumstance than his life here on earth. Because his life here on earth, he has a relationship with the Lord. He knows the Lord. In fact, not only does he just know the Lord in an old covenant way, the Bible describes that the Spirit of God has actually come to live inside of Paul. And yet, even with that reality, to Paul, heaven was a very much better circumstance. Why? One simple reason. In heaven, the human beings that are there are described as the spirits of the righteous. And this one critical phrase, and we'll just end with this today. Spirits of the righteous made perfect. There is something in the understanding of that phrase, what it means that human beings who today are in heaven. Francis was struck this morning with the remembrance of our brother Creighton, who not long ago passed on to be with the Lord, who is in the presence of the Lord in heaven. There's a critical difference between what Creighton is experiencing right at this moment and what I'm experiencing and you're experiencing right at this moment. I have a relationship with God as do you. God lives inside of me as he does inside of you. That's an awesome reality, but my spirit has not been made perfect, but Creighton's has. What that means, the implications of that, how that changes the way Creighton is living out his life right now. is critically important for us to understand, and it is the focal point of the hope of what makes this a very much better spiritual reality. So we'll end there today, and we'll pick up with that thought, Lord willing, together next week. Let's pray. Father God, I am thankful for your Word. Your Word is described to us as a seed, which when planted, when it finds good soil, contains within itself the potential, the power, the ability to change and to transform our hearts, our minds, and our lives. I want to thank you, Lord, for these passages that we've studied together this morning, the meditation together through these things. I want to thank you for the seeds that you've caused to be planted in each one of us. I pray, Lord, that those seeds would bear good fruit, transforming fruit, changing fruit, and that our perspectives would be changed in such a way that we would become a more heavenly minded people. I thank you for that grace and look to you and lean on you for that in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.