5 Surprises You will Discover in Heaven: Surprise #5 The God of Heaven

Surprise #5 The God of Heaven

Review:
Surprise #1: The Nature of Heaven: A Renewed, Recreated, resurrected, Redeemed Earth! Heaven and Earth are One!

Surprise #2: The People of Heaven:
1. We will still be the same person in Heaven...having our own personality!
2. We will still be physical...having bodies...although perfected (free from sickness)
3. We will still be limited...having expanded capacities, but still limited.
4. We will still be made in the Image of God with out the curse! Having Creative capacity!
5. We will be Freed Forever from Sin and the Curse!

Surprise #3: The Relationships of Heaven
1. Will be Rich
2. Will be Pure

Surprise #4: The Activity of Heaven
1. Worship
2. Learning
3. Fellowship
4. Rest and Pleasure
5. Work/Labor/Service

The God of Heaven
A story:
Bill and Sue lived in NYC. Bill had a brother who lived in San Diego. They rarely got to see each other, but Bill and Sue had been saving for a vacation and decided to go see Bill's brother. They looked online for the cheapest plane ticket to San Diego, however there were several layovers along the way. The most outstanding of which was in Dallas for five hours. Once in Dallas, Bill started down the list of things he had thought of to do to keep him occupied throughout the five hours. He read the news paper, read a book, listened to some music, wondered the terminal, talked to others who were waiting on flights. But all of this was exhausted within an hour. With four hous left Bill started to think of what He could do...and then He had an idea! Turning to his wife, he said, "we could take our nest egg (about $35,000) and go out and buy furniture and bigscreen tv's and a surround sound system and bring them into the terminal so that we wouldn't be so bored! Sue thought this was a great idea and added, they would still be here for our return trip...what a great idea.

Now wait a second....who in their right mind would do such a thing?

Isn't that what we do everyday? We spend our lives here not even thinking about the bigger picture! We don't often think about storing up our treasures in Heaven.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Our Heavenly Dwelling
For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."

1. The Centrality of God will Overwhelm us!
Any discription of Heaven without God as it's center is inadiquite! The permanant and real presence of God is first and foremost in Heaven!
Revelation 4
The Throne in Heaven
"After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.' At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!' And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'"

Isaiah 6
Isaiah's Vision of the LORD
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and 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 thresholds 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; 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.'"

Both John and Isaiah got to see the thrown of God! And in both accounts it filled their view...actually in Isaiah's account the train of God's robe filled the temple! God will be so Big, Bigger than we can ever imagine. There is nothing, nothing that can prepare us for the Centrality of God in Heaven!

Revelation 21:1-3
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'"
God will be among His people!
Revelation 21:22-23
"And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb."
No localized Temple for God's presense...because He is among His people!
Revelation 22:3-5
"No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."
We will see God's Face...the very thing that would have killed Moses when he asked to see God's Glory. This is God's Shakina Glory (if you know Hebrew!).

Read through the book of Ezra! There is an amazing story of how God comes first.
Breifly...The people come back to rebuild Jerusalem. They don't build the walls first even though there are many enemies still after them. No, they first build the Alter, then the Temple next! They put God first and have complete trust that God will protect them even without the wall!
This is the type of faith that we as followers of the One True and Living God should have!!!
God must come first!!!!!

Story:
Jeff has decided that his family deserves a new house to live in. As he is building the house, he also decides that he doesn't want to be controled by a roof. You see, when Jeff was a kid, his father had to reshingle the house every year. The roof controled his father's summer and Jeff wants nothing to do with that! So the house gets completed and the family moves in. They love the house and the wonderful summer nights spent just looking at the stars from the comfort of their own beds! However, the next night it starts to rain. Jeff quickly runs to the store to get tarps to cover the furniture and the rest of the summer goes well. Summer turn to fall and fall starts heading into winter. You see, Jeff and his family live in Wisconsin...were the winters aren't so nice! Jeffs wife and kids complain about the cold and Jeff adds more wood to the fire. Finally Jeff's wife gets to the point where she can't take it anymore. She asks, "why can't we have a roof?" Jeff replies, "My father was controlled by his roof, I will not!" To this his wife says, "Jeff, you are being controlled! You are being controlled by the lack of a roof!"

The point is, something is going to control us! What is going to control us? God, or something else? God must come first!

2. The Grace of God will Stun and Shock us!
Revelation 21:4-7
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.' And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son."
Revelation 7:15-17
"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
A. See how Great God is?
B. See what Heaven is like? What God has created for us!
C. See the utter foolishness of our sin and His extension of forgivenness through Christ!

Do you fully Understand what Christ has done for You? I don't think any of us can untill we get to Heaven! Truly I don't!
We will look back with tears in our eyes at our life, at our sin and we will weep! But God has promised to wipe away those tears from our eyes!

He has welcomed us into His family! For all eternity He will say, "You are my Son/Daughter, and I love you!

3. The Worship of God will Consume us!
Do you ever get distracted in your worship? Where you have to pull yourself back to God and away from the world? This is life on earth in our fallen state...we all get distracted! What is it that pulls us away?

Heaven will be much different! We will be so consumed with Worship that we will have to pull ourselves away from God to get anything done!

Revelation 5:11-14
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' and the elders fell down and worshiped."
There will be no distractions in Heaven! Don't you just want the job of falling down on your face and worshiping God!!!

Here is a letter from a wonderful man that has not let a distraction get in his way of serving God!

John Piper Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
January 6, 2006
Dear Friends,
I hope this letter will encourage your prayer, strengthen your hope, and minister peace. I am writing with the blessing of the Council of Elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church to help you receive the news about my prostate cancer.
At my annual urological exam on Wednesday, December 21, the doctor felt an abnormality in the prostate and suggested a biopsy. He called the next day with the following facts: 1) cancer cells were found in two of the ten samples and the estimate is that perhaps 5% of the gland is affected; 2) my PSA count was 1.6, which is good (below 4 is normal); 3) the Gleason score is 6 (signaling that the cancer is not aggressive). These three facts incline the doctor to think that it is unlikely that the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, and that it is possible with successful treatment to be cancer-free.
Before going with my wife, Noël, to consult in person with the doctor on December 29 about treatment options, I shared this news with the Bethlehem staff on Tuesday morning, December 27, and with the elders that evening. Both groups prayed over me for healing and for wisdom in the treatment choices that lie before us. These were sweet times before the throne of grace with much-loved colleagues.
All things considered, Noël and I believe that I should pursue the treatment called radical prostatectomy, which means the surgical removal of the prostate. We would ask you to pray that the surgery be completely successful in the removal of all cancer and freedom from possible side effects.
With the approval of Bethlehem’s executive staff and elder leadership, we are planning surgery in February. The recovery time is about three weeks before returning to a slow work pace, and six weeks to be back to all normal activities.
This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet.
For example, is there anything greater to hear and believe in the bottom of your heart than this: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)?
God has designed this trial for my good and for your good. You can see this in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” And in 2 Corinthians 1:4-6, “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God . . . If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.”
So I am praying: “Lord, for your great glory, 1) don’t let me miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you have for me in this experience; 2) don’t let the people of Bethlehem miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you have for us in this; 3) grant that the surgery be successful in removing cancer and sparing important nerves; 4) grant that this light and momentary trial would work to spread a passion for you supremacy for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ; 5) may Noël and all close to me be given great peace—and all of this through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.” I hope God will lead you to pray in a similar way.
With deep confidence that
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
Pastor John
With Sam Crabtree, Lead Pastor for Life TrainingKenny Stokes, Lead Pastor for SpreadingTim Johnson, Chairman of the Council of EldersRoss Anderson, MD, Bethlehem Elder

Who could blame a man diagnosed with Cancer for leaving his post to spend time with His family? But not Mr. Piper...I just love his attitude.

He has, and we must always strive to Set our Hope and Focus on Heaven!
Keep one eye on Earth and one eye on Heaven!

In Christ,

David