HEAVEN: BY FAR A MUCH BETTER PLACE

One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven and the prophets' version of the end of all things. "It seems too good to be true," the son said at one point. A smile crossed MacDonald's whiskered face. "Nay," he replied, "It is just so good it must be true!"

How often do we hear about people engaging themselves in a discussion related to the subject of heaven? We don’t read it in the local News papers, the media doesn’t high lights it and the young person doesn’t dwell on it. The following statistics express the prevailing mood of the society. In 1991 a Gallup poll showed that 78 percent of Americans expect to go to heaven when they die. However, many of them hardly ever pray, read the Bible, or attend church. They admit that they live to please themselves instead of God. I wonder why they even want to go to heaven. In 'The Joyful Christian,' C. S. Lewis said, "It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither."

When I was growing up as a Child I heard my grand mother talking about the beauties of heaven. After I became a Christian I often imagined how wonderful and glorious that place would be. I longed to go there one day. Unfortunately it is rare to find such expectation and anticipation even among some of the born again believers these days. According, to J. Oswald Sanders, “Even among the Christians the so called gospel of “health, wealth, and success in this life has served to dim the desire of heaven. Heaven can be here and now.”

In the midst of such conflicting world views how can you know for sure heaven really exists? And if it does exist and is true then what is it like? And what could hinder you from getting there? To find answers to these questions we will turn to none other than Jesus who lived in heaven and came down to earth to show us the way to heaven. During his time on earth Jesus addressed many of life’s crucial questions. While he talked about the brevity of life on the earth he also exhorted people to look forward to a much better world to come which he referred to as “the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God” where God and his followers dwell in perfect harmony and comfort forever. HEAVEN: BY FAR A MUCH BETTER PLACE

One of such discourses is found in John 14:1-6. From the Message Bible, “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I am on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking. Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road? Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.” Let me explain this passage.

I. CHRIST GIVES HOPE TO A TROUBLED HEART:
John 14 begins with one of the most assuring words of our Lord Jesus to his disciples saying, “Let not your heart be troubled.” What has troubled the disciples so much that made Jesus utter these words? To understand the context we must go back into the previous chapter. Jesus knew his hour had come to depart from this world and go back to the father.
During a meal Jesus disclosed his departure plans but did not tell them where he was going, not only that to add to their frustration he said, “Where I go you can not follow me now, but you shall follow later.

Just imagine parents calling for a family meeting and announcing to the children that they were going to divorce. What do you think will go through the minds of those children? All sorts of things like anger, sadness, frustration, confusion, disbelief and so on. Upon hearing Jesus’ plans the disciples were troubled. The word troubled here explains not so much of their sadness but their state of confusion and unbelief. Infact, unbelief is one big concern that the author John was addressing throughout this gospel.

It is interesting to note that the word “believe” occurs about 150 times in the Bible and out of which it occurs 49 times in the gospel of John alone. What does that say? It means that John was dealing with a bunch of skeptics of his time who did not believe the claims of Christ including the disciples. John 20:30-31 “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and believing you may have life in His name.”

Not only during the first century even more so today mockers and skeptics discredit every claim of Christ and Christianity. Isn’t it ironic to note that it is harder to live out Christian ideals in a so called Christian society than elsewhere in some other parts of the world? What hinders us from sharing our faith boldly in public? What keeps us from letting our light shine brightly in the darkness? Is it because we don’t believe in Christ in the first place or are we afraid of being politically incorrect?

Let me illustrate, in John 12:37-43, “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence they still would not believe in him. Yet at the same time many even among the leaders (rulers) believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogues. For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” Could this be said of us too? Are we concerned about what people think of us more than what God thinks of us? Are we afraid of loosing our reputation? Do we love praise from people more than praise from God? The unbelief among the Jews, Greeks and among his own disciples is what has upset Jesus more than anything else because unbelief is sin.

Jesus gave hope to the confused, fearful and disheartened disciples with assuring words. He called their attention to believe in God and believe in him. What kind of hope did Jesus give to his disciples? He pointed them heavenwards which he affectionately called My Father’s house. In a world of economic instability and insecurity where can we find hope?

II. HEAVEN: A FAR BETTER PLACE (Vs 2-3)
John 14:2-3In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”(KJV)
As a Pastor I know these words bring tremendous comfort and consolation to the bereaved to know that their departed beloved is after all in a much better place. They also give much needed hope to the weary traveler on life’s Journey, a persecuted believer, a struggling saint, a faithful Christian, knowing that one day all his earthly troubles and groaning will be over and he will enter the heavenly city.

This particular scripture “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (KJV); Over the centuries has indeed inspired many to write songs of hope and comfort of a beautiful land that is far away. In 1898 Eliza Edmunds Hewitt wrote a popular Hymn “When we all get to heaven”. It has inspired believers in Christ to anticipate the glories that await us in God’s great Home.

Eliza Hewitt was a schoolteacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eliza had her career cut short by a serious spinal problem. As an invalid she turned to hymn writing. Eliza had written her songs with the goal of reaching and teaching children with the truths of the gospel. I wish we could impart to our Children such precious eternal truths. Let me read a few words of that song.

"Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place.

When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory! "

Will mansions be truly awaiting us in heaven? The translator’s use of the word “mansions” in King James Version however has given rise in some people’s minds to a concept the word was never intended to convey. The other day we were driving through Cambridge, we saw pretty big dream homes like mansions over there. Of course who wouldn’t be delighted to live in a huge mansion? But brace yourself, what I am about to say may upset your version of a mansion.

When Jesus used these words he did not talk about mansions, the original Greek word is translated as “the dwelling place” It did not have that grandeur as suggested by KJV version. So it can be read as “In my Father’s House there are many dwelling places (rooms)” Whether there will be mansions or no mansions in heaven the very words “In my Father’s house” struck a deep personal chord to the disciples who have risked their lives and have left everything to follow Jesus. In a literal sense, “the father’s house” means a home.

Oswald Sanders notes, “Home means different things to different people. To the homeless it remains a tantalizing mirage, an unattainable ideal. To others it conjures up memories of strife, abuse and absence of love.” Ideally speaking home is a place where the parents provide emotional warmth, love, care and protection.

For many in the eastern society Father’s house still means a lot. It is a place of permanence. Jesus used this analogy of a home to describe the heavenly fathers’ home. Figuratively speaking the father’s house meant the family of God or the Kingdom of God. It was something that they could experience then and there but also something they were to look forward to with much excitement and anticipation.

The Kingdom of God is permanent and there is place for every body. This is what Paul envisioned when he said in 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” This is what was promised to all the heroes in the hall of fame of faith. In Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For, he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Heaven by far exceeds all our understanding and wildest dreams. It is a place beyond human comprehension. Based, on the scriptures Oswald J Sanders mentions, ten blessings of Heaven. (Rev 7:16, 21:1-23). Though some of them may sound negative nevertheless they are blessings because in heaven you will only find blessings no curses.
1. No temple: Rev 21:22, there is no need for a physical temple the Lord himself be it’s temple.
2. No sea: 21:1, No shipwrecks, pirates and Tsunamis. Instead there is a River of life Rev 22:1
3. No death: 21:4, No heartache of loosing a loved one. No one will die anymore.
4. No mourning and Crying: 21:4 there will be no grief due to bereavement.
5. No pain: 21: 4, “We don’t need any pain killers. I will be free from my Gout forever.
6. No Hunger or no Thirst: Rev 7: 8 “Every one will have plenty to eat and be satisfied”
7. No tears: 21:4 “I don’t know what kind of Handkerchief the Lord will use” said Charles Spurgeon but He will wipe away all the tears of every citizen of heaven.
8. No night: 22:5 thieves will never break into our heavenly home. Our heavenly bodies do not need sleep to be recuperated like our earthly bodies.
9. No Sun or Moon: 22:5You won’t be scorched during the day, you don’t need the moon at night because the Lord will be our light.
10 No Evil: 21:27, There will be no impurity in heaven, no crime, violence, no terrorists.

III.JESUS THE PRESIDENT OF HEAVEN
Yeh right, that’s what you might be going through in your mind. This can’t be true? This is all an illusion. Prove to me that heaven indeed exists? If so where is it? Has any one gone to heaven and came back to earth tell us how it looks like? These are legitimate questions. I can’t answer all these questions but Jesus. He is not only the resident but also the president of heaven. He lived in heaven, and came down to earth to explain what heaven is like.

Before he departed he said, I am going ahead of you to prepare a place for you and I will came back to take you to be with me for ever. Moreover he said, “you know the way to that place” One of his smart perhaps somewhat skeptic follower asked, Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? To that Jesus uttered these most profound words of all time. “I am the way and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Even after living with Jesus for a long time, listening to his teachings, seeing all the miracles the disciples still had a hard time believing his words. Philip challenged Jesus saying, then show us the Father that is enough. In other words, show us God. Jesus must have been grieved in his heart with that, “Don’t you know me Philip I have been among you such a long time. Any one who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Don’t you believe in me?

If Jesus were standing here before you and ask you “don’t you know me”? Don’t you believe in me? What would you say?