Reading: Revelation 21:1-9

As we turn our attention to chapter 21, we transition from the lake of fire in chapter 20, to what most people call ‘heaven’. But. I think heaven is largely misunderstood. Because heaven isn’t the final destination. So. In the Bible, Heaven is looked at three different ways. Number one, there is the terrestrial heavens. That is: the atmosphere surrounding the Earth. The roughly 6,000 miles that exist before sky blends into space.

The second way heaven is used is the celestial heavens—the moon, stars, and sun. Maybe you’ve heard the Scripture, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The third use of heaven is what we conveniently call the third Heaven. We call it that, because Paul called it that. He said, “I was caught up into the third Heaven.” What’s the third Heaven? It’s God’s Heaven. His dwelling place. And what do we read here? God’s dwelling place comes down to a New Earth.

Which. That word “new” is a very particular word, and it is very different from the typical word. The usual word in Greek for new means new chronologically. Like. It’s never been seen before. It’s the iPhone of 2008. This word means something new in quality. It’s a fresh design. It’s the PS5 versus the PS1. Entirely different. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell my wife. We need the PS5 because it’s entirely different.

But. This text gives us a little snippet of this ‘new in quality’ place. It says, there’s no tears. There’s no mourning. There’s no death. There’s no pain. You’ll never say, “Have a nice day.” in Heaven. That would be the dumbest thing you could say. Matter of fact if somebody did say that, you’d look around and be like, “Oh. It’s your first day, huh?”

But. As I was studying this I came to realize that most people aren’t excited about heaven because they largely misunderstand it. They’ve been told stupid stuff like, “When you die you become an angel.” What? Where did that come from? Not from this book. Best I can tell it came from that awful movie, where that girl says, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.”

So. I’ve been around long enough, to have heard people say when a child dies that God just needed another angel. That’s a horrible thing to say. God has enough angels. Furthermore, He doesn’t need anything. Now. I get it. We don’t know what to say—and honestly I do believe that when a child dies they go to this temporary heaven, until God creates the new one—but they’re not there as an angel. And if you’re wondering where I get that from Scripture, it would be 2 Samuel 12:23.

Or. Maybe you were taught about a place called Purgatory. How. You’ll eventually get to Heaven, but you got to go somewhere first to burn your sins off. Again. Anti-biblical. Nothing in the text to suggest that. So. We can put those things aside. Which. If you want a helpful resource to get excited again about heaven, read Randy Alcorn’s book titled, Heaven. Here’s a small excerpt: “Satan labors to give people an inaccurate view of Heaven. He slanders three things—God’s person, God’s people, and God’s place.”

Nonetheless. The whole point of Revelation 21 is for us to look forward to heaven. I mean. Imagine what God’s dwelling place looks like, if this is what our dwelling place looks like. And it’s been corrupted by sin! So. Be excited, friends—God’s got something AMAZING in store!

With Gratitude,

pLJ