In order to live with a heavenly perspective, in holiness, it is important to keep our focus on God and heaven. I have five suggested ideas to do that. Here is the first idea.
Cultivate A Love For God And His Heaven
I think of cultivation as a farm word. It involves working the soil to promote the growth of whatever you are trying to grow. Love for God and His heaven grows best by working the ground of love—or by preparing the heart for love.
First of all, to do this the heart needs to be free of the weeds of the lust of the flesh and of the cares of this world (1Jn. 2:16). Then replace those thoughts with the thought that God has made us citizens of heaven and that He has paid for our citizenship with His own blood (Eph. 2:19).
Next, it would be good to do whatever you can to invest your time and money in heaven. That is, in bringing as many people into the kingdom of God as is possible; and then you will see your love for God and heaven grow. Then also, give your heart to worship and singing about heaven and your hope of heaven, and you will experience a great joy in the Lord.
God has given us a down-payment on heaven. He has transferred our citizenship there. We ‘are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God’ (Eph. 2:19).3
In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul writes,
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory…
Again, in Ephesians 2:19-21 Paul writes,
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
It feels good to be a citizen of heaven. Here are seven blessings, and also responsibilities, that come from our heavenly citizenship.
As heavenly citizens we are welcome to sample all of the delights of heaven.
As citizens we are part of the family of God (Jn. 1:12; Eph. 2:19).
As citizens we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
As citizens we have new heavenly affections (Col. 3:1).
As citizens we are to be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4).
As citizens He has begun a good work in us (Phil. 1:6; Eph. 2:10).
As citizens He is conforming us to the image of His Son and making us fit for heaven (Rom. 8:30).
On a personal note, I like the idea of being a citizen of heaven because I feel that I am locked in—in a good way. I mean, nobody can take heaven away from me. I am a member. I am a legal citizen with full rights.
3 John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1996), p. 64.
So far, in previous posts, we have seen that we have the assurance of a heavenly inheritance; and we live now in the kingdom of God, which mysteriously is in us; Christ rules and reigns in our heart. And because we are born again spiritually we have a new life in Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
I would like to take some time now to break this verse down. What does it mean that we as Christians are new creatures? I think it just means that we, being born again spiritually, are a new creation of God. Or we could say that we are regenerated—which means to give new life to. Here are a few verses that may shed some light on this.
In John 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Yes, when we are born again it is only then that we can see and understand anything of God. By our new spiritual birth, we have a new understanding and a spiritual sight.
In Ephesians 2:1-5 Paul writes that we were dead to God in our sinful nature; we lived in sin. But God made us alive together with Christ. He gave us a new life.
In Titus 3:5 it says that we were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made us New creatures.
In 1 John 2:29 and 3:9 it tells us that all who practice righteousness are born of God; and all who practice sin are not born of God. Hence those who are born again and have a new regenerated life will love to do what is right; but those who do not have this new life in Christ are more prone to sin and follow their sinful nature.
The result of having this new self is that the old things of our past life are passed away—gone, and new thing have come. Now we still sin, but sin does not dominate or control us anymore. Our new nature is more dominate. We no longer live just for ourselves; we live for eternity and to please God. And we now have a spiritual mind—the mind of Christ. Let’s take some time now to list a few more things of our old life that are passed away.
Worldly values
Priorities that are worldly and selfish
Plans and ideas that are self-centered
Material thing that promote my popularity
And here are some things that have become new.
Values that are according to God’s word
Priorities that put God and others first
Belief that are in line with biblical truth
Plans and ideas that are according to what I think God would approve of
According to 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, I now have a new ministry of reconciliation and of proclaiming the gospel to others. I am now an ambassador for Christ.
Every believer when he is born again and is assured of an everlasting inheritance, is also miraculously, by the power of God, rescued from the domain of darkness and is transferred into the kingdom of God and of His Son. Paul in Colossians 1:13 writes, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
This kingdom, though it is grand and glorious, is not visible; it is a spiritual kingdom and it is within us—within every believer (Lu. 17:21). Christ sits on His throne in our hearts, and He will lead us and instruct us in right living; but only if we allow Him to. Hence, all who are obedient sons of God are led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14).
Now from time to time we will fall into sin; for we still have our sinful flesh. But we remain children of God who live in His kingdom, and because Christ has come into our heart and changed us—given us a new nature—we have His mind. Paul has written in 1 Corinthians 2:15-16,
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
And with our new mind and by the powerful strength of God in us and around us we are protected from the devil and all evil—but only if we use that protection. Paul, in Ephesians 6, speaks of this Christian protection as the armor of God. It is available to us if we put it on every day. It is the Christian’s daily and life-long attire.
One of the most powerful pieces of armor available to us is prayer. Paul writes that we are to “pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 1:18). James also writes about prayer. He said, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (Ja. 1:5). But then he goes on to say that we must ask in faith without any doubting. And this is the key to living victoriously in the kingdom of God—having faith in God and in Christ without doubting. It is a life of trust in Him.
The first and most basic thing to nail down in order to prepare ourselves for heaven is to know how and to be assured that we will get there. If we know all about heaven—if we have studied the subject thoroughly from the Scriptures—and we fail to be assured of our entrance, then all our effort in study will be in vain. But the good news is, we can know for sure that we are going to heaven; the bible tells us how we can get there.
We Enter Heaven By Faith And The Gospel
I would like to start this section from Revelation 21:3-4, because it gives us a clear picture of what heaven will be like. Then we will travel backwards in time to the cross and show what Jesus did for us on the cross to accomplish heaven. So, in Revelation 21:3 and 4, John wrote,
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them,and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
So, here we see the presence of God in heaven and what He will do for us. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. And He will abolish death. And He will eliminate any mourning, or crying, or pain.
And He does that for us based on His own suffering and death on the cross. He suffered and died for our sins. Let’s look at Isaiah 53:3-6.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
From this passage, we could say that Jesus was a “substitute recipient of God’s wrath on sinners.”1 And by His scourging we are healed. Everything, every blessing we see in Revelation 21:4 will come to us as our healing of sin that He worked out for us. Our having no pain, no mourning, and no crying is our healing from His cross. It is our new body which He has made for us through the cross.
Yet we must receive it by faith. We must acknowledge what He did for us on the cross. Then we must respond to it; first, seeing our sin and separation from God (Rom. 3:23; 6:23); then to see that we need His remedy for our sin—that if we believe in Him (Jn. 6:40) and ask Him, He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of sin (1 Jn. 1:7), making us His children (Jn. 1:12). And if anyone chooses to believe in Him, He gives us a new heart and a new life. His old life is passed away and a new life is come (2 Cor. 5:17).
Now let us return to Revelation 21, and we will start reading from verse six to verse seven.
Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
From these verses we find two key words: “thirst” and “overcomes.” Jesus says to us, first of all, that He will give the water of life to the one who thirsts. Jesus here is bringing us back to the time when He provided for us a living example on this very subject from John 4:7-14. In this story He said to a Samaritan woman who had come to a well to draw water, “Everyone who drinks from this water [from this well] will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
So here in Revelation 21:6, Jesus is saying to those in heaven, if you thirst, that is, if you desire anything from Me, I will give you living water—water of life from Me—without cost. That is our heavenly blessing.
Then in verse seven, Jesus gives us the condition for this heavenly blessing. We must be overcomers. And John clearly tells us in 1 John 5:4 what this means. He writes, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.” Hence, we who are Christians are overcomers, and so we will inherit the blessings of heaven. We will drink from the water of life freely whenever we thirst.
1 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2006), John MacArthur’s notes of Isaiah 53:5.
In this article we will look at Revelation 21:1-7, verse by verse.
Verse 1. After John got a good view of the great white throne judgment, God flashed this scene before his eyes. He saw a new heaven and a new earth. It appeared very different than the old ones. And one reason is because there appeared to be no seas. And what that means I’m not exactly sure, but we will discuss a few different views in chapter eight.
Verse 2. Next, after being in awe of the new heaven and earth, John was dazzled by a very large bright cube-shaped city descending from the heavens. This, John commented, was “as a bride adorned for her husband.” These words tell us that it is the place where the saints (the church as well as the Old Testament and Tribulation believers) have been taken to live with the Father and the Son (Jn. 14:2-4).
Verse 3. Then John heard a loud voice from the throne of God saying, “The tabernacle of God is among men” (all believers)—meaning that God now lives together with His believers. I am not sure whether this is referring to the holy city, or to all of heaven. The new Jerusalem will be the capitol city of heaven and where God’s throne is; but certainly, all of heaven and earth will be God’s abode and His presence will be everywhere.
Verse 4. This verse describes the new changes that God will bring to all believers. (1) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; (2) there will no longer be death—for you remember (in 1 Cor. 15:26) that death was abolished; and (3) there will no longer be mourning, crying, or pain; these things have passed away.
Verse 5. And then He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And then He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (NIV). So, God wanted to make a firm point to John, and to make sure to record it—that He was making all things new, that the heavens and the earth, and the people and all things were new and different. It is nothing like the old. No sin, no tears, no death, no pain and no curse. Everything is and will continue to be very good and new.
Verse 6. Then God said to John, “It is done.” He was saying that His work of making all things new was completed. Then Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” So, He was saying here clearly that He is supreme overall and if anyone has any needs He will supply that need.
Verse 7. Here Jesus puts a condition on those who receive His blessing freely. It is for only those who are overcomers of sin according to their faith, which makers them sons of God. For all others, their part will be in the lake of fire (v. 8).
This great and important event takes place immediately after the destruction of heaven and earth. We will comment on it verse by verse from Revelation 20:11 to 20:15.
Verse 11. After John saw (in his vision) the devil being thrown into the lake of fire, he then immediately saw the vision of a great white throne and Him (God) sitting upon it. And the Scripture text here is written as if this throne with God upon it was all there was. That is, the earth and heaven had fled away, or we could say that it disappeared or gone into non-existence. It seems here as if John missed the great explosion of heaven and earth. His eyes saw the great white throne, and then he realized that heaven and earth were gone.
Verse 12. Then next John saw the dead (those who had died) standing (now alive) before the throne. And John here is careful to make clear that all the dead are here: great and small, which means the young and old; the rich and the poor; the big ones and the short ones, etc. And the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to what was written about them in the books—all their deeds (everything they ever did, good or bad, was recorded in these books).
Verse 13. God here seems to circle back to make certain that no dead is left out, even those who died at sea, or that were thrown into the sea; these were included in the number of dead. And all the places of death and hell turned in or released their dead ones to go and sand before the throne of God. Apparently, these dead beings are given new bodies suited for hell.
Verse 14. At first glance this verse was difficult to me. But when I looked back at 1 Corinthians 15:26 the meaning was made clear. At this point, that is, at the great white throne, death and hell will be abolished forever—cast into the lake of fire. And this is the second death. The first death was only physical death, but this second death is spiritual and eternal.
Take note also that this second death is only for unbelievers. It will have no power over believers. They will reign with Christ for a thousand years and then on into eternity (Rev. 20:6; 22:5).
Verse 15. Here it is made clear who will be judged. It is all those whose names are not written in the book of life.
After the devil is cast into the lake of fire (v. 10), John the apostle saw (in his vision) “a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them” (v. 11). Regarding this last phrase, John Macarthur commented, “John saw the contaminated universe go out of existence…The universe is ‘uncreated’ going into non-existence.”8
This destruction of the universe is also mentioned in 2 Peter 3:10, 12 as the “day of the Lord.”
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
Then also we will look at Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
There is much we could say from these verses to back up the claim that heaven and earth will indeed be destroyed, or go out of existence. Let’s examine these terms.
“Earth and heaven fled away” (Rev. 20:11). This seems to indicate that they do go out of existence.
“Heaven and earth will pass away” (Matt. 24:35). It seems that “pass away’ and “fled away” is the same thing.
“The heavens will pass away with a roar…” (2 Pt. 3:10). This sounds much like an atomic reaction.
“And the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pt. 3:10, 12). The elements could be atomic components from which matter is composed and held together.
Total destruction of the universe seems to be the meaning of these verses; however, many scholars look at it differently. They see just the surface of the earth being renewed by fire, or made new by fire. We will discuss both interpretations later.
8 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2006), John MacArthur’s notes of Revelation 20:11.
I can’t believe that the media are pushing the Pride events so hard. And they seem so happy about it—that we are giving all the queer people a happy place to go, and be who they are. They announced that this whole month (in Minnesota I guess) is dedicated to Pride people (homosexuals) and that there are over 600 places for them to go. (But in the end they won’t be allowed in Heaven). I wish the church would say something—because the entire movement of pride is evil! And we ought to give them the message of truth—that God hates what they are doing, and He sees it as wicked and a rebellion against Him. (Have you noticed lately how the Pride rainbow colors are displayed everywhere?)
In the ancient world God destroyed all people except Noah because of their wickedness. Then again in Abraham’s day He destroyed two entire cities, all but Lot and his children for their wickedness. They were Pride people too! God was grieved because of them (Gen 18:20). And I hope we as Christians are grieved too.
This sin it seems is not going away. It is multiplying! (their colors are everywhere.) Just as the whole world was infected in Genesis 6, and just as two entire cities were infected, don’t you know that the same thing is happening now. Soon Jesus will come and remove all His people (the Rapture) and He will bring seven years of His wrath on the world. Then one-thousand years later, even when Satan and the demons are locked up, the world again (at least much of the world) will be rebellious against God. This time the entire world and all this universe will be destroyed by fire. Read it in 2 Peter 3:10-12. It is also mentioned in Revelation 20:11, “The earth and heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” It sounds like God just makes the earth and the heavens disappear. In 2 Peter it reads more like a great explosion by great heat where the elements (the atoms) melt away. Finally, all evil will be gone! And God will make all things new— “A new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1). I don’t see any idea of a renovation—as most people teach.
This is the message that we ought to be preaching to the world. That all their rebellious pride will not last. It will soon be gone—destroyed. And if they want to see and be a part of the beautiful new earth they must leave behind their sin and rebellion against God, because nothing of the way they are, nothing impure will be allowed to enter heaven (Rev. 21:8, 27).
Stephen Nielsen 