Heaven’s Door is Opened
Easter, various passages
Welcome. Happy Easter. We celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So what does that mean? What’s the significance of Jesus’ resurrection?
One significance I’d like us to consider today is that we also will rise again.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Ro 6:5)
We will not remain in the grave. We will also have a resurrection.
Not only will we rise again, we’re supposed to think about where we’re going.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Col 3:1-2).
Hebrews 11 points us to people of faith. We’ve been talking about living by faith. What do we see about people of faith: they thought about heaven.
Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16)
To live by faith means to think about all that Jesus has done and will do for us. It is to believe in what is yet to come, and to believe it so strongly, that it changes how we live today. In simple terms, for us today, we think about heaven.
Richard Baxter, a pastor in England in the 1600’s, had the practice of meditating on heaven 30 minutes/day and describes the powerful impact that had on his life (The Saints’ Everlasting Rest).
“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Some people have their heads in the clouds, their minds on abstract and “impractical” things, they’re so “spiritual” that they aren’t very useful for those of us who live on earth.
“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. . . It is since Christians have largely ceased to thin of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
This Easter, as we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection and believe in our own resurrection, I’d like to think about Heaven.
A new and glorious body
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)
As mentioned above, we look forward to our glorious future, to Christ’s return, to heaven.
He will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body. Whatever you think of your body now, Paul says our heavenly body will be far more glorious.
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor 15:50-53)
Scripture speaks of a new and glorious body. We will be changed; our perishable, mortal bodies will be replaced with imperishable, immortal bodies.
Some of us may feel we almost have divine physiques today, but most of us probably wouldn’t mind an upgrade. Maybe as a kid there was a little wish list of the things we wish we could change about our bodies. Or maybe we look at different celebrities and inwardly wish we were stunning and gorgeous.
Not to play into your vanity too much, but Scripture tells us that we’ll get an upgrade, an extreme makeover, a glorious body! You’re going to look amazing!
In heaven, the creatures there are breathtaking. Twice in the book of Revelations John describes how when he met an angel, he was so overwhelmed that he bowed to worship it (19:10, 22:9).
That’s angels. But we are the brothers and sisters of Christ, who will share in the glory of Christ. Our future glory exceeds the glory of the angels. To put it in simple terms: we’ll be looking better than the angels.
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship . . . (C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”)
In one sense, this is vain and superficial. But in another way, I think this points to something deeper. In heaven, we will look in the mirror and say, “It is good. It is very good.” We will be pleased with who we are. We will not see disappointment and inadequacies, we will not be restless with wishing we were more.
No more worrying about our grades or accomplishments or marital status. No more constantly weighing ourselves and wishing we were thinner. No more wishing people liked us more or respected us more. No more wondering if there’s someone who will find us lovely or lovable.
We will live in deep and complete inner satisfaction. We’ll have inner peace. We’ll look in the mirror and say, “It is very good.” That’s how it will be in heaven.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4)
We’ll not just have glorious and beautiful bodies, we’ll have strong and pain-free bodies.
No more suffering, pain, death.
No more glasses or contacts, headaches or caughing, diabetes or high cholesterol,
No more disease or deformities, no more aging, no more cancer
No need to drink coffee or sleep in, never tired.
I’m not that old, but I feeling that my body is definitely not as young as it used to be. It takes me longer to recover from jet-lag, if I work out a muscle, it stays sore longer. I know for some the metabolism slows down (though that hasn’t been the case for me). I have a nice tuff of grey hair. I have friends around my age with bi-focals, back problems, breathing problems. We may know of some people who have already passed away, even in their early 40’s. Some of us are too young to feel it, but our bodies will get old. Our bodies are breaking down.
Bart Millard’s father had been battling cancer for a long time, when in 1991, when Bart was 18, his father finally passed away. You can imagine how a teenager must have struggled with the loss of his father, but people told him that his dad was in a better place. In fact, they suggested that if his father could have a choice, he’d rather stay in heaven than coming back. That got the boy thinking about what his father might be experiencing in heaven, and he wrote the phrase, “I can only imagine . . .”
It wasn’t until years later that he took that phrase and wrote a song that won numerous awards. I can only imagine.
Maybe you’ve lost a loved one, a believer in Jesus. And you also have thought about the “better place” your loved one is at. You’ve thought about a place with no more cancer, no more strokes. Can you imagine your parents, your loved ones, with no more suffering or pain?
As implied above, heaven is more than having beautiful bodies and having strong and healthy bodies. I believe this also points to something deeper. The wholeness of our bodies point to a wholeness in all creation.
We live in a broken world—things don’t work right. Our bodies don’t work right. Things break down. Death is woven into the fiber of creation.
In Ge 3, after the Fall, we read about how now we’re separated from God and death has entered our bodies. But there are other problems as well: there is pain in childbirth, the ground produces thorns. Death entered our bodies, and death entered the physical world.
But with Christ, death is no more. Instead of brokenness, we have wholeness. Things work right. Things don’t break down.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed . . . that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Ro 8:19, 21)
No more birth pains, cancer cells, viruses, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis.
But it’s not just our bodies. No more thorns. No more drought, floods, global warming, hurricanes, tsunami’s, earthquakes. The ecological system would be in perfect balance. The animal kingdom would live in harmony.
If I were to use today’s terms: food doesn’t decay, weeds don’t grow, computers don’t crash, flights depart and arrive on time with our luggage, nothing gets lost in the mail, husbands and wives love and serve each other, parents lovingly raise and enjoy their children, neighbors care for neighbors, there is no poverty, no racism, no sexism, no classism, no oppression, no violence, no crime, no war.
All of creation will be whole. In heaven, things work right. Nothing is broken anymore. Shalom.
Direct Access to God’s Presence
What makes heaven heavenly is God.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” Rev 21:3
Notice the repetition and emphasis: in heaven, God is with us. We will be with God. We will be in perfect relationship with God.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)
“rooms,” not “mansions” The picture is not of grand luxurious estates, but of “dwelling places.” The point is that we can dwell with God.
Notice also Jesus’ language, “you also may be where I am.” We will be with Jesus.
What makes heaven heavenly is not the pearly gates and streets of gold, not our glorious bodies. It is that we will be in the very presence of God.
Now we see but a poor 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. (1 Cor 13:12)
We shall see face to face, we shall know fully.
To appreciate this, we should understand some themes in Scripture.
God’s people have always wanted to see God
The Psalms are full of such prayers:
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Ps 27:4)
There is in God’s people a longing, a yearning to be with God, to see God.
Moses asked God, “Show me your glory.” God responded, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you. . . But you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Ex 33:18-20)
God’s people have always wanted to see God. But no one could.
No one could see God and live. It was simply too overwhelming.
The amazing thing with Moses is that Moses just saw “God’s back” and afterward, his face was glowing so gloriously that the other Israelites asked Moses to put a veil over his face! The afterglow of seeing God’s back was too glorious for people to see.
When Moses first meets God in the burning bush in Ex 3, God commands Moses to take off his sandals because this was holy ground. “Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God” (3:6).
In Ex 20, God appears on Mt. Sinai in thunder lightening and smoke and gave the Israelites the 10 commandments, the people were so terrified just at the voice of God that they told Moses, You speak with God and let him tell you whatever needs to be said. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
It was simply too overwhelming. People felt they would die, and they were right, God said they would die.
We read in Isaiah how seraphs had 6 wings: with 2 they covered their faces, with 2 they covered their feet, and with 3 they were flying. These seraphs cover their faces. What would it be to gaze upon what seraphs hide their face from?
In Revelations we see these 4 strange creatures (like a lion, like an ox, one with the face of a man, one like an eagle), and they had wings, and they had eyes all over them, front and back, even under the wings.
And what were all those eyes looking at? They were gazing on God, and their natural response, their insuppressible response was to worship. In fact, day and night, they couldn’t stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” What were they looking at?!
John was tempted to bow to an angel. What will happen when we behold God!
Some commentators point out that with our new, glorious bodies, we will actually, physically see God, the way we see other people. It would kill us today, but with our new glorious bodies, we will be able to actually look at God.
It will not just be a “spiritual” seeing. There are moments when we “see” Him spiritually, by faith, and we get an inner glimpse of His glory, beauty, holiness, grace and love—and that blows us away. What’s going to happen when we actually see God?
What makes heaven heavenly is that we will see God, we will be with God. God is our reward, our delight, God is our heaven. We’re going to see Him, to be with Him
We will be at peace with ourselves, we will find contentment and deep satisfaction, not just because we’re beautiful and glorious, not just because we’re healthy not broken. We will find deep satisfaction because finally, we will be doing what we were made to do. Augustine is often quoted for saying,
You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
We were created to worship God, to enjoy God, to find our satisfaction in God. And as we gaze on Him, admire Him, praise Him, adore Him, we will scream, this is what I was made for! This is heaven!
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Some of may have been aware of the journey John and Binh have had in their recent pregnancy.
October 23, 2007
Dear Christian,
. . . Your mom and I estimate that your life began somewhere between the islands of Kauai and Maui, a veritable paradise where the problems of this world seem to be distanced by thousands of miles of ocean. If you can picture your family to be – your older sisters Faith and Hope, myself and your mom – playing in the sand, enjoying the breeze, not even aware that you had entered this world. But the type of joy felt once we were made aware of you tops those tropical pleasures.
. . . Your mom was real excited when the pictures revealed additional “white” between your legs, indicating that you are a boy. She had been hoping you would turn out that way. But it was only five minutes later that the doctor turned our attention to the “black.” Who would have thought that the empty space represented by the black would have such profound implications. We were told this meant that you had fluid in the area that should be occupied by your lungs. We were told this could be due to hundreds of possible causes, none of which would lead to instill hope. We were told we have less than a fifty percent chance of ever seeing you alive, face to face. And even if we do, it may not be for long.
. . . These comforts do not lessen the intensity of hopes we have for you and the degree to which we desire to express our love for you. You have already become a part of me, and that part is fully invested in your well-being. Whether we have just these next few weeks, months, or many years together, I look forward to that time and promise to love you as much as an earthly father can. . . .
All my love,
Dad
October 31, 2007
Dear Christian,
. . . We have thankfully received more pictures of you. And this time you were more photogenic. The doctors feel that the fluid on your lungs is localized to one side and has been stable. They have also stated there is a possibility that you could have a normal and healthy chance at life if you make it through these trials ahead in the next few months. You could not believe the renewed sense of hope this has given your mom and I! It has been a challenge to position our emotions between hopeful optimism, trust, and faith in the God of miracles on one side, and preparedness for loss, grief, and the required faith to embrace those real potentials on the other. Even now, as I write, the ping-pong ball of my heart has been volleyed with the news from your mom this morning of another concerning sign that could herald the end of your time here on this earth.
. . . Your mom said she likens herself to Abraham of the bible, offering his son Isaac. I hope to tell you more one day about that great story, but suffice it for now to say that we both identify with the need to be settled in our souls with an outcome which may go against the grain of every fiber in our bodies. . . .
With all my love,
Dad
November 22, 2007
Dear Christian,
Today is Thanksgiving, and you are much on my heart. At this time, it looks as
if the fluid is only getting worse, and in four days your mommy and you will be
undergoing a procedure to place a tube in your chest so that the fluid can
drain. Four days ago they put a needle into your side to take some fluid off.
. . . I hesitate to entertain the fantasies of one day holding you, singing
you to sleep, playing ball, chopping wood together, going to your school
graduations, and passing on a legacy of faith. The more I stoke these desires,
the harder it will be for me to accept events as they actually occur. I will
begin to project onto God my own desires for you, and even believe that I can
convince Him that He should align His plans for you with mine. But, again we
are told "Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and
do this or that.'" . . .
Lovingly yours,
Daddy
January 25, 2008
Dear son,
. . . And so each day gets a little closer. You are feeling the walls closing in a bit more frequently. We’ve got the bag ready for the hospital. Your clothes have been amassed and mom can’t wait to dress you. I’ve turned the house upside down and put it back together to prepare for your arrival. The team of doctors are trying to come up with a plan to do all they can to help you as well. What will be your world waits in eager expectation.
This will probably be my last letter for this chapter of your life. I pray the table of contents for this book grows for as long as I live to write. I look forward to receiving letters in return. For now, I would be overjoyed to receive from you a dirty diaper. . . .
With expectant love,
Dad
On February 13, 2008, Christian John Applegate was born to John and Binh.
He was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, where he was put on a ventilator. There he stayed with a chest tube to drain the fluid and waited for his lungs to further develop. John and Binh would express how thankful they were to even have the time they did, still not knowing what the ultimate outcome would be. There were various up’s and down, but then this past Thursday, March 20, Christian Applegate came home.
One day, we’ll go home too. And after years or decades on earth of trusting, serving, loving and worshiping our Lord, we’ll finally get to see Him. We’ll be in His arms, we’ll be with our Daddy! We’ll finally be home!
That’s what makes heaven heaven—we will finally be with our Daddy.
One last word to those of us who may not know what will happen to us after our death. We may not celebrate that Jesus’ resurrection means one day, we too will rise again and spend our eternity in glory.
I want to know, the door of heaven has been opened. Jesus has made a way for us, and in trusting Him, have a relationship with Him, you’ll find that Heaven becomes a deeper longing—for you too will long to be with this wonderful and glorious Savior.
If you’d like to know more about this Jesus and what it means to trust Him, to receive all He wants to give, please let us know, please come back.
For those of us who do know and trust Him, set your mind on things above. We will rise again, and go home!