Heaven is a great big place . . . (July 24, 2024)

Listen Here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/d5335af3/heaven-is-a-gr...

Last breath on earth, next one in Heaven!

On my recent Footsteps of Paul tour, the most fascinating stop we made did not involve Paul, but instead, the apostle John—the same who recorded Jesus’ words in John 14: I am going to prepare a place for you.  John is the only one of Jesus’ disciples who died a natural death; the rest were martyred as they would not deny the Jesus they knew well – the One they had seen crucified and then alive once more over the 40 days after. This Jesus they would not deny and it cost them their lives.  

John however was exiled to the Greek isle of Patmos -- cancel culture in the early days a la Roman emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus. This silenced John's preaching and leadership in Ephesus where he lived in a small home taking care of dear Mary.

But, God.

John may have been exiled on Patmos, but God knew exactly where he was. Some six decades after that Passover night when Jesus talked about his Father's house, God was on the move . . .

From Revelation chapter 1: I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,  which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”  Real places, real churches – messages for them, a strong word for us.

The Isle of Patmos is simply beautiful. (pictured above) What a setting for the message John was to be given--in a cave high atop Patmos! (pictured below) Besides prophetic words about the last days John is shown the rapturous beauty of Heaven.  Think of it: John remembers Jesus saying He would prepare a place, that it would have many rooms, and He would take them to be with Him.  Hmmm…. And now, some 60 years later, Jesus gives John a purview as to what it looks like. And only John. (for some reason, I find it so interesting to picture John the disciple eating the Passover meal with Jesus and then in his old age at Patmos, absolutely enraptured by the revelation he was given...just incredible)

My own interest in knowing about heaven was piqued when my mother went to Heaven, now almost 18 years ago.  About that time, I read a book that I found very credible, comparing it to the pages of Scripture, the litmus test for truth. 

Here’s the story: a minister was leaving a conference in Texas, in a driving wind and rainstorm, when he swerved to avoid a collision and then was run over by an 18-wheeler – pronounced dead on the scene by four different sets of paramedics who then went on to help others who might have a chance at life.

Another pastor, leaving the same conference, happened onto the tragic scene and felt compelled by God to stop.  Further, he strangely felt compelled to pray for the man in the mangled car, all the while wondering to himself what the prompting meant, as it seemed so strange.  Somehow he climbed into the back of the small car, got behind the driver’s seat and alternately prayed for the man and sang hymns to him.  Would you believe it?  The ‘deceased’ started singing along with him. ²   

Don Piper, the man who spent 90 minutes in Heaven described some of his experience – including the glorious light, the welcoming committee that greeted him, and more.  

There are literally thousands of people who have had experiences akin to Piper’s.  While folks may scoff about the possibility of these accounts, here is how it could happen; An individual has some kind of physical trauma, is pronounced dead and then is medically resuscitated some time later.  The peek into Heaven happens in that in-between time.3

There are several things the taste of Heaven experiences have in common:  

First, Heaven is a place of unimaginable BEAUTY with mountains, trees, flowers, sunsets… why yes, it is very colorful.  One man I interviewed said that the color is alive, almost liquid, because our senses are greatly heightened.    

Heaven is a place of glorious LIGHT; in heaven, there is no darkness.  The LIGHT flows from a central source: Jesus himself.  So interesting how this puts flesh on John's words describing Jesus as both Light and Life.  “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” ⁴  

The invitation to John: “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 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. . . ^" from Revelation 21

Heaven is laid out as a square – 12,000 furlongs is what John describes in this 21^st chapter, which in today’s language means it is a cube 1500 miles square.  How to grasp that?  It is as large as the area from Canada to Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies; it can easily accommodate 20 billion residents, each having his or her own 75-acre plot.⁵

The walls of Heaven have 12 foundations,6 adorned with precious stones-- amethysts, topaz, rubies – with the grand street in the middle being made of pure gold.  Stop for a moment and think of how the great light of Heaven, combined with the transparent beautiful gold and the depth of the colors of the foundations of Heaven would make for prismatic colorful beauty. Amazing.

There will be no loneliness in Heaven as we will be enveloped by perfect love. At last, we will be our best and true self.  We will know and be fully known by God and others.  Aha, in light of these words of Paul, that makes sense: “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”⁷  While we cannot know everything about Heaven, we certainly can know some.

You and I can choose our eternal destiny. I love that I can know Christ in this life, but can hardly wait to see him face to face and live forever in light of his love and joy. And for me, I have one more waiting on the other side who I will hug again. I miss you, Robert.

listen, smile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDL85-FoJWg

With one eye cast toward Heaven,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

^{1 – Heaven: My Father’s House, Anne Graham Lotz}

^{2 – 90 Minutes in Heaven, Don Piper}

^{3 - Best (and biblical) resource I have found for these accounts: Imagine Heaven, John Burke}

^{4 - John 1.4}

^{5 - Heaven: My Father's House, Anne Graham Lotz}

^{6 - Revelations 21.19}

^{7 – 1 Corinthians 13.12,}