Walking Through Ephesians
“What Makes Heaven, Heaven?”
Categories: A Month of VictoryWhat Makes Heaven, Heaven? - Revelation 21
The book of Revelation was written to Christians undergoing severe persecution. So, it’s message was written in symbols in order to comfort the believers, while concealing its truths from their enemies. So, it is already a very symbolic book—written in pictures, metaphors and similes.
When we come to chapter 21 we have the added problem of, “How do we describe heaven?” Just imagine that! Imagine trying to describe calculus to a three year old. How will you do that? Or maybe a better illustration is this: Consider trying to describe Hawaii to a man who has lived his whole life on the barren ice of Antarctica. How are you going to describe the feel of the sun, the sound of the waves, the smell of the sand, and the shape of the palm trees?
That is John’s daunting task. The pictures he uses are not literal, but they do describe the characteristic of a real place.
Let’s begin with this initial and foundational question, “What makes heaven, heaven?” There are those who take a “man-centered” view of heaven (Anthropocentric). These are the people who think of heaven in terms of “my friends, and my family.” They will say, “If I get to play golf all the time, that will be heaven. Heaven will be an endless massage with ice tea and chocolate.”
This man-centered view of heaven is prevalent even among those who would call themselves Christians. For many people, what makes heaven, heaven, has to do with our senses, our earthly pleasures, and our earthly relationships.
These descriptions of heaven end up being nothing more than projections of our own values; a form of escapism that has nothing to do with reality.
The Bible presents an entirely different view of what makes heaven, heaven. It says, “God’s presence is what makes heaven, heaven.” This is a “God-centered” view of heaven (Theocentric). Heaven is not the projection of our greatest wants. Heaven is an expression of God’s very nature! Now, that is a very different way of thinking of heaven. A very Biblical way of thinking of heaven.
Did you notice in our reading that God is at the center of everything with regard to heaven? Revelation 21:3, “I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them.’ ” What makes heaven, heaven, is that God is there! In heaven, God ‘s the light in which we live, the throne before which we bow, the temple before whom we worship, the name we have written on our foreheads! What makes heaven, heaven, is His presence there. As Paul would say in Philippians 1, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and that is far better.” (Phil. 1:23). What makes heaven, heaven, is the presence of the Lord.
Those who love Christ long to go to heaven because Jesus is there; because God is there. You see, our view of heaven tells us a lot about the focus of our lives. If we don’t think much of the Lord here, then our view of heaven is going to be very man-centered. But, if our lives are full of all the Lord has taught, all the Lord has done, and all the Lord is doing, then we will long to be with Him. A heaven that has nothing to do with Christ is a heaven of your own imaginings, and has nothing to do with the heaven the Bible speaks of. For the heaven the Bible speaks of centers around the Lamb that was slain and the worship of God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ.
It is because God is there that heaven is a real place. It is because God is there that heaven is such a beautiful place. It is because God is there that heaven is beyond human imagination.
