Dear friends in Christ.
How many of you have ever been asked the question, “What will heaven be like?” How many of you found yourself giving an answer something along the lines of, “I’m not really sure.”? How many of you have wished that you had a better answer to that question, not only for the person who asked it of you, but also for yourself? Well, if you’ve ever been asked that question, or simply wished for a better answer, you are not alone, because the truth is, so often we simply aren’t exactly sure how to answer the question of what heaven will be like. We aren’t exactly sure how to answer that question so we take the most “heavenly” thing that we do here on earth and imagine that is what heaven will be like and use it to draw a picture for ourselves of what we think heaven might be like. Well, this is very much like what the Lord our God does for us as he gives us a glimpse into what heaven will be like in our text today. Though we may not find all the specific details about heaven that we might have hoped to find, we will certainly find that heaven is a place that is filled with the glory of our God and it is a place that the Lord our God designed specifically for his people. Just as John tells us in our text this morning: “And [the Angel] carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb…I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ” (Revelation 21:10-14, 22–23, NIV)
What an incredible picture the Lord our God paints for us through the pen of the Apostle John. What a beautiful picture of the glories of heaven that are waiting for us, and what a beautiful sight it must have been for John to see. What an amazing thing it must have been for him to witness the City of God shining in all of its splendor and coming down from heaven. What an incredible vision of heaven as the place filled with the glory of God, and yet, even though you and I have never been blessed with such a remarkable vision as this, we have all still received a taste, a glimpse of the type of glorious brilliance that John saw when he saw exactly what heaven will be like; for the truth is, we have all seen the brilliance of the sun. We have all had many an opportunity to drive East as the sun is breaking the horizon and slowly creeping its unblinking way across our windshields. We have all had the opportunity of driving West as that unblinking eye grows redder and more weary, finally allowing the lid of the horizon to close over it for the evening. Though it can be more than frustrating to get locked into a staring competition with God’s great light in the sky, we have all seen how, during those special times of day, everything that the sun’s gaze touches seems to glow with its own special kind of radiance.
Though this is nowhere near the glory that was revealed to John in his vision, it does give us a taste of what heaven will be like as it gives us a glimpse into the glories that he saw when he saw the Holy City, Jerusalem, shining with the radiance of the glories of the Lord. For in that moment, he saw the brilliance that Moses saw on Mt. Sinai when he asked the Lord if he could see him face to face. He saw the same brilliance the Israelites saw as the glory of the Lord descended on the temple after Solomon had finished construction on it. This was the same brilliance that Elijah saw when the Lord God called him to be his prophet, it was the same radiance that John and the other two disciples saw as Jesus was transfigured before them, and this is the glory that John saw revealed in the kingdom of heaven which he has recorded for us in such beautiful pictures.
Yet, some of you might be asking yourselves, “Why in all the world does the Lord use pictures to explain what heaven will be like for us? Why doesn’t he just simply tell us?” Well, the answer to that is quite simple, we cannot fully understand what heaven is like because of our limited, sinful minds, so the Lord uses pictures to help us grab hold of and imagine the place where he dwells in glorious majesty. When Martin Luther described heaven to his 6 year old son, he described it as a garden where he could play with other children, ride ponies with silver saddles, and pick the best fruit from all the trees. When I’ve described it to my own children, I’ve talked about heaven as a place where their favorite toys will be, they can play games with their friends and relatives who are waiting for them, and even Jesus himself will sit down and join in the games with them. I’ve heard many other people describe heaven with many different pictures, but truly what better way to describe the place where our God dwells in all his glory than the way that John did in verse 23 of our text when he said, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Revelation 21:23).
It is through these very pictures and images that the Lord our God helps us to understand the incomprehensible beauties of heaven. It is through these very pictures and images that the Lord our God makes the abstract nature of eternal life a concrete thing for us to focus on. Though we do not know the exact glories that await us in our heavenly home, we look forward to the day when our Lord will call us to shine with the brightness of his glory in the place that he has so lovingly and carefully designed for each and every one of his people.
Though there are many places in the Scriptures where the Lord reveals just how lovingly and carefully he has designed the halls of heaven for his people, I believe that one of the most beautiful descriptions can be found right here in our text as John writes beginning with verse 10: And [the Angel] carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” and jumping down to verse 22: “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” (Revelation 21:12-14,22-27).
This is what the Lord has prepared for us—a place where we will live with the Lord our God, forever; a place where we will be reunited with all our friends and loved ones, who through faith, have been called home, before us; a place that Jesus himself has prepared for us. But even with such beautiful and stirring descriptions of what heaven will be like, I have actually had a few people ask me why they needed to be looking forward to the beauties of heaven and why the Lord needed to design such a beautiful home in haven if this earth is already such a beautiful place? Well, the answer to both of those questions can be summed up in one word, sin! Though the Lord did truly design a beautiful home for us here on this earth, when Adam and Eve listened to satan rather than the Lord our God it destroyed the perfect beauty of God’s creation and brought an end to the perfect relationship that our first parents had with the Lord their God. When sin came into the world it separated people from their God and because of sin, we continually fall short of God’s glory even though we daily struggle to follow his will.
Though we might strive to live perfect, sinless lives, constantly showing our love for our Savior by always obeying his will, because of our sins, we are simply unable to live the perfect lives our God demands, and we find ourselves kneeling at the foot of the cross begging forgiveness on a daily and even hourly basis. Though we know our sins have been forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior, we still face frustration and hardships in this life, pain and suffering, even heartache and pain. Though there are times when the stormy Navy blue skies are contrasted by the bright spectrum of the Lord’s rainbow, and we see great beauty in this world, it is nothing like the sinless beauty that our Savior designed for us in our heavenly home. Thus, we look forward to the day when the Lord our God will call us from this life to the life that is to come. We look forward to the day when we will be freed from this world of sins and delivered to the home of righteousness, which our Savior has so lovingly prepared for each and every one of his children.
What an incredible picture the Lord has painted for us through his servant John! What an incredible picture of the beauties of heaven which the Lord our Savior has designed for his people! What an incredible picture of beauty and peace where we will live with the Lord forever! For there, in the halls of heaven, we will be safe with the Lord our Savior forever. We will be free from the curse of sin. We will be free from our enemies. We will be free from all that is not God pleasing, and we will live with him forever serving our God in everlasting righteousness innocence and blessedness. We will be reunited with all our friends and loved ones who in faith have gone before us. We will live with the Lord Jesus himself. That is what heaven will be like!
What greater thing could there be for us to look forward to than the beauties of heaven which Jesus himself has prepared for us. What greater place could there be in all the world than the glorious kingdom of our God! Though we may not have received all the details we had hoped for, we have received a great picture of the glories of our heavenly home, which the Lord has prepared for us. If nothing else, hopefully we will be better prepared to answer that question when it comes, “What will heaven be like?”
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
