Transcript Document

Pastor D.L. Richardson, PhD
Instructor
Who And What Is In Heaven
The Father is there, and that’s why Jesus taught
us to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name” (Matt. 6:9). Jesus
Himself is at the Father’s right hand. Hebrews
9:24 says, “Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures
of the true; but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us.” So our
Savior is also in heaven, where He intercedes
on our behalf (Heb. 7:25).
The Believers are there, too. Hebrews 12:23
says that in turning to God we have come “to
the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect.” Our departed loved
ones in the faith are there. Every Old and
New Testament believer who has died is now
in heaven.
Our names are recorded there. In Luke 10:20
Christ tells His disciples, who were casting
out demons, “Rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because
your names are written in heaven.” And by
saying that our names are written in heaven,
Christ assures us that we have a title deed to
property there. This is our inheritance. First
Peter 1:4 says we are begotten in Christ “to
an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you.
“Our citizenship is in heaven,” according to
Philippians 3:20 (NASB). In other words,
heaven is where we belong. We’re just
“strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb.
11:13). Our goals therefore should not
include the accumulation of possessions
here. Our real wealth—our eternal reward—
is in heaven (Matt. 5:12). In Matthew 6:19–21
Jesus says that the only treasure we will
possess throughout eternity is there.
WHAT IS HEAVEN?
The King James Version of the Bible employs
the word heaven 582 times in 550 different
verses. The Hebrew word usually translated
“heaven,” shamayim, is a plural noun form that
literally means “the heights.” The Greek word
translated “heaven” is ouranos (the same word
that inspired the name of the planet Uranus). It
refers to that which is raised up or lofty. Both
shamayim and ouranos are used variously in
Scripture to refer to three different places.
(This explains why in 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul
refers to being caught up into “the third
heaven.”)
There is, first of all, the atmospheric heaven.
This is the sky, or the troposphere—the
region of breathable atmosphere that
blankets the earth. For example, Genesis
7:11–12 says, “The windows of heaven were
opened. And the rain was upon the earth
forty days and forty nights.” There the word
“heaven” refers to the blanket of
atmosphere around the world, which is
where the hydrological cycle occurs. Psalm
147:8 says that God “covereth the heaven
with clouds.” That is the first heaven.
The planetary heaven, the second “heaven,” is
where the stars, the moon, and the planets are.
Scripture uses the very same word for heaven to
describe this region. For example, Genesis 1 says,
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament
of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for
days, and years: and let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth: and it was so. And God made two great
lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the
lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars
also. And God set them in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth.
The third heaven, the one Paul speaks of in
2 Corinthians 12, is the heaven where God
dwells with His holy angels and those saints
who have died. The other two heavens will
pass away (2 Peter 3:10); this heaven is
eternal.
The Eternal Soul and Spirit
Every living person is an eternal soul and
spirit.
•Everyone who has ever lived will always live;
no one goes out of existence. Everyone whom
God has created is eternal.. It is God,
Zechariah said chapter 12 verse 1, who forms
the spirit of man within him. And that spirit of
man is an everlasting spirit, everlastingly selfconscious, everlastingly able to reason and
think and feel and understand, everlastingly
alive.
• It is the spirit of a man, Job 32:8 ,that the
breath of the Almighty has given understanding.
This is self-consciousness. It is to exist and
know you exist, it is to think and know you think,
it is to reason and know you reason and why you
reason and to what you reason. It is to feel and
know you feel, it is to love and know you love, it
is to hate and know you hate. That's what selfconsciousness means. And that will never
change.
•When Job asked the question in Job 14:14, "If a
man dies, shall he live again?" The answer is, of
course, yes, a resounding yes. You will live
forever, everyone will live forever.
The Believer’s spirit goes immediately to the
Lord at death. Stephen, Acts 7, was being
stoned he said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
He knew there was no intermediate state. There
was no limbo, purgatory, waiting place. He knew
that his spirit was going immediately into the
presence of the Lord Jesus.
Second Corinthians 5:8 he said, "Absent from
the body, present with the Lord." place. So when
a person dies, instantaneously they are in the
presence of the Lord forever, spirit, body in the
grave, the ground, the ashes, whatever, so that
until the resurrection which hasn't happened
yet, the soul exists without a body.
•.
PURGATORY. The Roman Catholic doctrine of
purgatory is taught no where in Scripture. It was
devised to accommodate Catholicism’s denial of
justification by faith alone. Here’s why:
Scripture very clearly teaches that an absolutely
perfect righteousness is necessary for entry
into heaven. Jesus said, “I say unto you, that
except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven” (Matt. 5:20). He then added, “Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect” (v. 48)—thus setting the
standard as high as it can possibly be set.
The Believer’s spirit is groaning for its body
while in heaven.
The spirits and the souls now in the presence of
the Lord, enjoying all the full perfection that a
spirit can enjoy are still not complete because
they don't have their bodies. Romans 8:23 says
that there's a groaning among us, waiting for the
redemption of our body. "This corruptible shall
put on incorruption. This mortal shall put on
immortality." And by the way, there will be a
resurrection for the wicked and the righteous.
Right now the wicked are suffering in their spirit
and in their soul without their resurrection
bodies.
The Believers and Unbelievers will be given a
resurrected body. Jesus said in John chapter 5
and verse 28, "Do not marvel at this, an hour is
coming in which all who are in the tombs shall
hear His voice." Jesus had the power to give life
to the bodies of all who have died in the history
of the world and all will come forth. Some to a
resurrection of life, some to a resurrection of
judgment. Verse 29, all who have ever lived will
be raised. There are bodies fit for hell and
bodies fit for heaven. Bodies in which the souls
that are damned will dwell and bodies in which
the souls that are glorified will dwell.
The Believer will be resurrected first. Four
components of this resurrection are:
The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ephesians
2:6 teaches that we were raised together with
Christ when He was raised from the dead.
The resurrection of the Church (Rapture)
1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4:13 to 17).
 The resurrection of the Old Testament
saints at the end of the Tribulation along with
the Tribulation saints (Daniel Chapter 12).
 The resurrection for anyone who dies
during that thousand-year reign of Christ
described in Revelation chapter 20.
Relations With Angles
Reside with the Angels (Hebrew 12:22):
When we come to heaven we come to the
dwelling place of the holy angels, the elect
angels, as Scripture calls them. We will then,
first of all, fellowship with angels. They are
eternal spirits. They do not have bodies in
heaven, they are given bodies on occasion on
earth for certain functions of interfacing with
people. (Hebrews 13)
 Rejoice with the Angels (Luke 15:7): This
fellowship with the angels is defined as joy. In
verse 7 after Jesus told the story about the
shepherd who went and found the lost sheep, "I
tell you in the same way there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over
99 righteous persons who need no repentance."
The joy of heaven is related to the salvation of
sinners. The one in heaven who launches that
joy is none other than God Himself.
But notice in verse 10, "I tell you, there is joy in
the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner who repents." And so we're going to be in
heaven joining with the angels in a celebration
of joy over our own salvation.
Reverence God with the Angels (Revelation 4):
This chapter teaches that the believer will join
the angles in praising God in heaven..
Twenty-four elders are there, representatives
of the redeemed church, sitting in their white
garments having been crowned.
Four living creatures appear, these are
obviously angelic creatures. They in verse 9
surround the throne with mighty praise.
The twenty-four elders also fall down before
Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him
who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns
before the throne and say, "Worthy art Thou, our
Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor
and power."
Render Judgment on the Angles (1
Corinthians 6:3): we shall judge angels...we
shall judge angels He doesn't describe
exactly that means.
There certainly is not going to be any
rendering of negative judgment on holy
angels.
Perhaps in the millennial glory to come,
we're going to render divine verdicts on
behalf of the judge of all the earth and the
one to whom judgment has been committed,
Jesus Christ, on those angels who have fallen
and corrupted the heavens and the earth; the
Relations With Family and Friends
Will there be Marriage in Heaven ? Matthew
22.. For in the resurrection they neither marry
nor are given in marriage but are like angels in
heaven.“
 Like the angels, believers will not marry.
 Like the angels, believers will not reproduce.
This does not mean that there is not going to be
male or female in heaven? You will keep your
sexual identity. The angels are spirits. They are
neither male nor female, although when they did
appear and were given a body it was a male
body.
 We will be glorified men and glorified women
who are recognized as we are.
Will We Know One Another? It is abundantly
clear in Scripture that when we get to heaven we
maintain who we are. 1 Corinthians 15,"This
mortal shall put on immortality. This corruptible
shall put on incorruption.". This is a
transformation of this person who remains who
he is, that eternal spirit is given a body fit for
eternity.
Genesis 25:8 that Abraham breathed his last,
died in a ripe old age an old man, satisfied and
he was gathered to his people." He was
gathered to his people. It means that he was
collected with his people.
David said when his little son died, 1
Samuels 12:23) "He cannot come to me but I
will go him." His hope and his joy was found
in the conscious reality that he would see that
little one again in a reunion, a real reunion
where there would be recognition and true
fellowship.
Isaac, Genesis 35:29, breathed his last,
died, was gathered to his people.
You see it in Numbers 20:24,
 you see it in Judges 2:10, to be gathered to
his people.
Will We Know Others? Matthew 8:10, "Truly I
say to you, I have not found such great faith
with anyone in Israel," commenting on the faith
of this man in Capernaum, the Centurion. "And
I say to you that many shall come from east and
west and recline at the table with Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.“
• You're going to know Abraham. You're going
to know Isaac.
• You're going to know Jacob.
• You will have perfect knowledge. You will
have transcendent knowledge and you will
know them.
 Matthew Chapter17: Peter, James and John
went with Jesus to the Mount of
Transfiguration and Moses and Elijah
appeared.
They had never met Moses and Elijah but
they knew them.
They knew them because they experience
a glimpse of glory on the mountain.
We will know others because of the
perfect knowledge of Christ.
 And so there is clear evidence of
personhood and identity.
 What will my name be in heaven?
Revelation 2:17
"To him who overcomes," which is a way of
describing the saved, John uses it back at the
end of 1 John that our faith overcomes the
world. And he says, "Whoever overcomes I
will give a new name written on stone which
no one knows but he who receives it." The
wonderful personal identity we will enjoy will
be a new name in glory which no one knows.
Have You Made Reservations For Heaven?