PASTOR, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT HEAVEN EXISTS? Josimar Salum

PASTOR, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT HEAVEN EXISTS? Josimar Salum

“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly." 2 Peter 3:7 

Yes, indeed, the heavens and the earth were created by God and exist.

 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“All things were made through him; without him, nothing that exists would have been made.” John 1:3

The heavens and the earth were created by God. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made of what is visible.” Hebrews 11:3

But neither the heavens nor the earth that now exist are eternal. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35

“Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.” 2 Chronicles 6:21.

““But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" 2 Chronicles 6:18 

Now, what then is the eternal dwelling place of God?

The eternal home of God are his children, the Church, his Body.

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." John 14:23 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." Revelation 21:1 

They say that Jesus went to prepare a place in heaven for us. But how did he go to prepare a place in heaven that will no longer exist?

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John 14:2 

If heaven is not the Father's house, what or who is the Father's house?

“if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth."1 Timothy 3:15 

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3 

Where did Jesus go to prepare a place?

Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18

Jesus was announcing his death on the cross and His resurrection. “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live." John 14:19 

““You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." John 14:28 

Jesus was going to die on the cross, but he said he would come back. What Jesus was referring to? He said He would send the Advocate like Him.

 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—" John 14:16 

“““When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me." John 15:26 

““But now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 

Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” 

At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 

Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 

Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." John 16:5‭, ‬7‭, ‬13‭, ‬16‭-‬17‭, ‬19‭-‬20‭, ‬22 

Where was Jesus going? To the Father, He replied.

Where was Jesus going? To the cross. He also replied.

“Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later."

Peter asked, “Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!”” John 13:36-37

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:3‭-‬4 

Jesus went to prepare a place on the cross of Calvary. And he came back a few days later, resurrected from the dead. The disciples were saddened by his death, but they rejoiced when he returned.

And Jesus did not go to heaven to prepare a place, because the Kingdom was already prepared from before the foundation of the world. He could prepare nothing that by the cross and his eternal sacrifice he had not already prepared.

Even because the heavens that now exist are not eternal, like the earth, they are all passing. 

“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—" John 14:5‭-‬6‭, ‬16 

“Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word. My Father will love him, we will come to him and make our abode with him.” John 14:23

We are the eternal Abode of the Father.

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. 

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:24‭, ‬42‭-‬44‭, ‬49‭-‬53

It does not say in the Bible that we will live in heaven forever. It just says we go to heaven when we die. And from there we will come with Jesus at His Coming.

“For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." 1 Thessalonians 4:14‭, ‬16 

"However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—" 1 Corinthians 2:9 

“““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Matthew 25:31‭, ‬34 

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21:1‭-‬3

John saw that the New Jerusalem, the Church, the wife of the Lamb was coming down from heaven, not going up into heaven.

“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." Revelation 21:9‭-‬10 

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. 

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life." Revelation 21:3‭, ‬22‭-‬27 

#ASONE