As Christians, we believe in heaven. We
believe in hell, too, but as Christians, we believe that we’re going to heaven.
One of the most basic beliefs in the Christian faith is that if we
believe in God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will be saved and have
eternal life with God.
But even though we believe that, a lot of times we wonder
about heaven. It’s just a hard concept for us, as humans, to really get
our minds around. We know it’s going to be good. I mean, it would
not be heaven if it was not good, right? In fact, we know it’s going to
be more than good, it’s going to be awesome. But still--what’s it like
there? What does heaven look like? What will we do there?
Even though we believe in heaven, we feel like we really don’t understand
it.
We’ll get to that. But we’ve said before that there’s
a lot of symbolism and imagery in Revelation, and we run into that here, so I
want to talk about it a little bit. First, you heard about twenty-four
elders sitting on twenty-four thrones. We don’t know for sure who they
are, but the most common explanation seems to be that they represent the
patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel--in other words, the twelve sons of
Jacob--plus the twelve apostles.
We then read about seven lamps blazing, which we’re told
are “the seven spirits of God”. This is usually thought to refer to
Isaiah Chapter eleven, Verses two and three. That’s a prophecy of the
coming of Christ, and it says, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him--the
Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the
Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.” And we also need to
realize that seven was considered a number that represents perfection. So
God, being perfect, would have seven spirits.
Then comes the four living creatures covered with eyes.
One is like a lion, one like an ox, one has a face like a man, and one is
like a flying eagle. Each has six wings. What’s that all about?
Well, we cannot say for sure about that, either. They
appear to be some sort of heavenly beings. Perhaps an order of angels,
although we don’t know. They’re similar to beings described in passages
in Ezekiel and Isaiah, creatures called cherubim and seraphim. The eyes
all around are thought to represent the fact that these creatures see
everything--there is nothing that escapes their notice.
By this time you’ve probably noticed that I’m saying a lot
of things like “the most common explanation is” or “this is usually thought to
refer to” or “this appears to be”. These are things we don’t know for
sure. People who are supposed to be experts don’t agree. Sometimes
you’ll read definitive statements about these things, but that just means the
author you’re reading is convinced he or she is right. You could find
another author who’d say something different.
And the other thing we don’t know is whether we’re supposed
to take these things literally. Listen again to how God is described:
“Before me was a throne with someone sitting on it. And the one who
sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone
like an emerald encircled the throne.” Is that really what God looks
like? I don’t know. It could be. Are there really twenty-four
actual thrones encircling God’s throne? I don’t know. There could
be. We’re told “Also before the throne was what looked like a sea of
glass, clear as crystal.” Does that literally exist?
We don’t know. The only way we’ll know is when we get
to heaven to see these things. But that’s okay. Because appearances
are not important. What these things look like is not important, just
like God does not judge us based on our appearance. God looks at our
hearts, and our hearts are revealed by our words and our actions.
So, what do all these things--these elders, these living
creatures--what do they say, and what do they do? They worship God.
They worship the Lamb who was slain, Jesus Christ. They acknowledge
that God the Father and God the Son are worthy of worship.
Listen to this again. “Day and night, the living
creatures never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who
was, and is, and is to come.’” And whenever they do that, “the
twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him
who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and
say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and
power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have
their being.’”
And they say similar things of Jesus Christ. Listen
to this: “In a loud voice they were saying, ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was
slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and praise...To him who sits on the throne and is the Lamb be praise and honor
and glory and power for ever and ever!’”
That’s what the elders do. That’s what the living
creatures do. They worship God--God the Father and God the Son.
Their words, their actions, all revolve around the worship of God.
They are constantly worshiping God.
And that’s what I think you and I will do in heaven, too.
We’ll worship God. We will constantly be worshiping God. Our
every word and our every action will be to worship God.
Now, maybe you’re thinking, is that it? Is that all
we’re going to do in heaven? I thought I was going to be able to have fun
in heaven. This does not sound like fun. It sounds boring.
Just sit around and bow down to God all day? Not get to do any of
the stuff I enjoy? Do nothing but give praise to God for all eternity?
Well, I don’t know if we just sit around and bow down to
God all the time. There may well be other things we do to serve God and
worship God in heaven. In fact, I think there probably are. But the
point is that even as we do those other things, we will still be worshiping
God. The things we do will be done in such a way, and with such an
attitude, as to be acts of worship to God.
And no, it won’t get boring. You know why?
Because we will be in the presence of God.
The thing is, you and I tend to think of God in human
terms. That’s okay. In fact, as human beings, that may be the only
way we can think of God and still have our thoughts make any sense. But
the fact is that God is so much more than a human being could ever be.
God is so much bigger and grander and greater and awesomer than anything
we human beings can even begin to imagine. When we are in the presence of
God--the actual presence of the almighty God--when we truly see God in all
God’s glory and splendor and majesty, we are going to be filled with a sense of
awe. We are going to be stunned. We are going to stand there with
our mouths open, just utterly amazed at who God really is.
And when we see God in all God’s holiness and perfection,
we’re going to realize just how unholy and imperfect we are. And then
we’ll truly realize, in a way that we can never quite realize while we’re on
earth, just how much God really loves us. And we’ll truly realize, again
in a way that we never can quite realize while we’re on earth, what an
incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us. And we’ll also realize what an
incredible, unbelievable gift the gift of salvation and eternal life truly is.
And when we realize that, we
are going to be just so incredibly grateful that this holy and perfect God has
allowed us to be in God’s presence, to be in heaven with God, that there is
absolutely nothing else we will want to do but worship God and thank God.
There won’t be another thought that even enters our minds. It won’t
occur to us to do anything but worship God and be grateful to God for allowing
us to be in heaven. Worshiping God will never get boring. We’ll
never get tired of it.
But you know, even though we
cannot really imagine God as God really is, we don’t have to wait until we get
to heaven to worship God. We can do it now, while we’re on earth.
Not perfectly, not the way we will in heaven. But we can do better
than we’re doing.
That’s not to say that we never
worship God now. You’re here in church. As we said last week, that
makes you part of a minority group--the people who actually attend church on a
Sunday morning. And you came here to worship God. That’s all good.
This is not meant as a criticism. But we can all do better at
worshiping God, not just in church, but throughout our lives. I know I
certainly can.
What did we say earlier?
God looks at our hearts, and our hearts are revealed by our words and our
actions. Let’s think about our words and our actions. How often do
they reflect our worship of God? They do sometimes, I’m sure. But
could we do better? I know I could.
So this week, let’s take some
time to think about who God is. Let’s think about the glory and holiness
and perfection of God. Let’s realize just how worthy of our worship God
is. And let’s make our words and actions on earth show our worship of God
now, just the way they will in heaven.
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