And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold I make all things new.” – Revelation 21:4-5
Jesus replied to Peter’s question, “Lord where are you Going?” John 14:1-3 – “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
John 17:24 -“Father, I DESIRE that they also, whom You have Given Me, be where I AM, so that they may See the My Glory…”
2 Cor 5:8- “…To be absent from the body and to be at HOME WITH the Lord.”
In John 14, we find Jesus COMFORTING His Followers. They are saddened by the Separation that is about to take place with His leaving and He shares with them the Purpose of His leaving is for an ultimate REUNION! His separation was needful but it was just to be Temporal. He had to leave in order to MAKE PREPARATION for them for All Eternity
His Separation WAS NECESSARY AS He Had to make Preparation for them… He is preparing for them which included going tot he Cross to die for their sin … and sscending to heaven to prepare an eternal place for them…and sending them the Holy Spirit. His Separation was making Possible a Reunion And His Preparation for a Home for them to be with Him forever … in “The Father’s House.”
“EXPIRED”
I have a dear friend who is now with the Lord. She had been very sick and I had gone to visit her on several occasions and sitting with her along with her family during some of those nights. During the early hours of one morning, I decided I would go home and get some sleep and come back the next morning. The following morning I returned to the hospital and taking the elevator up to her floor. I walked down the hall and as I turned to walk into her room…it was empty. I looked and the drawn pictures were no longer on the walls. The bed was made, the medical equipment had been removed. The room had been cleaned and my friend was no where to be seen, nor her family. The room looked like it was ready for the next patient. I went and inquired at the nurses station concerning the whereabouts of my friend. A nurse told me she had been “Discharged.” As I stood there, she went into a side room and got another nurse to come and speak to me who told me, . that my friend had “Expired.”
WHAT SHE TRIED to explain and express in a gentle courteous way was she was “DEAD!” But dear friend, my friend who was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ had not “expired” as though she was some carton of milk that had gone by its “expiration date.” No, it was not “expiration” But GRADUATION! She had been liberated from that body of death and had gone on to The Father’s House. For the Lord Jesus had already made the Preparation and there was no longer any need for them to be Separated – His DESIRE was she be with Him, and having “numbered” all her days {Psalm 19:16} and having made an APPOINTMENT with her {Hebrews 9:27}, He had taken right ownership of this dear lady whom He had died for. “Expired,” sounds like an old carton of Milk that has passed it’s “Expiration DATE.” The world cannot understand and calls death,” Expiration,” we know it was her Graduation- For she had gone to “The Fathers house.”
When Jesus Christ Takes His own to be with Him, there are certian truths the Bible assures us of…
For we know they Live; For Jesus said
John 11:25.- “I Am the Resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall LIVE EVEN if he dies and Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
We believe because we know Him – And He cannot Lie – For He is the Way the Truth and the Life…the follower of the Lord Jesus Lives now and what is it they are PRESENTLY Experiencing and WILL experience in the Fathers House? What is it Like there … well, let us consider several things….about the Father’s House….”
WHAT ARE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST EXPERIENCING IN HEAVEN? {What is it Like in The Fathers House?}
1. The Christian is Experiencing PLEASURES Unspeakable
A. Ps 16:11 – “…at Thy right hand there are PLEASURES forever.”
2. The Christian is Experiencing Uninterrupted Eternal JOY
A. Ps 16:11 – “In Thy Presence is FULLNESS of Joy”
B. Matt 25:23 – ” Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the JOY your master.”
3. The Christian is Experiencing Everlasting COMFORT
When the Lord Jesus told the story of the beggar Lazarus and the rich man He said
Luke 16:25 – “Child remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being COMFORTED here.
4. The Christian is Experiencing Perfect KNOWLEDGE .
1 Cor 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I have been fully known.” “Then shall I know even as I am known.”…this implies we will have no more unanswered questions, no more confusion,
5. – The Christian is Experiencing God’s Eternal LOVE for them.
1 Cor 13:13 says ” But now abide faith, hope, love these three but the greatest of these three is LOVE.”
Why Love? Because Love is Eternal…. Hope is Fulfilled in Heaven… “FAITH, ” WILL BE SWALLOWED UP BY SIGHT”….But the follower of the Lord Jesus will love perfectly there and be Loved Perfectly there by God who Is Love! His Love never “fails”- Decays…or corrodes…{1 Cor 13:8} In the “Father’s House” believers are Experiencing, Not only Presently EXPERIENCING Perfect Pleasure and Joy and Love and Rest…
6 .- The Christian is Experiencing the Perfection’s of HOME.
2 Cor 5:8 “…To be absent from the body is to be at Home with the Lord.” For THE LORD JESUS prayed for your loved one, who is a follower of His to be with Him when He prayed to His Father in …John 17:24 “Father, I DESIRE that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, IN ORDER that they may BEHOLD My Glory….”
John 14:6 -We can Personalize it for the child of God- Instead of “You” use THE NAME of Your Loved one who had given their lives to Jesus Christ.
Jesus in John 14:2-3, said to His troubled disciples when He had told them of His departure, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; If it were not so, I would have told you, FOR I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR …..{place your loved ones name here} And if I go to PREPARE a place for {place your loved one’s name here}, I will come again, and RECEIVE {place your loved one’s name here } to MYSELF; that where I am there you {place your loved ones name here } may be also.
7. – The Christian is Experiencing the AMAZING GRACE OF GOD–
Rev 4:3 – “Around the Throne a RAINBOW…” – It is a Place of Perfected PEOPLE.
Rainbow in the Old Testament was a sign God Placed in the sky as a sign of his Covenant/promise that He would never destroy the earth again by Flood. Often people “ooooh” and “aah” over the colors of the rainbow but miss the Purpose of The Rainbow – which is a Reminder to us of His GRACE. He is FAITHFUL and the RAINBOW speaks of His Faithfulness and Graciousness…and the AMAZING thing is that there will be People in Heaven from Every tribe tongue and People in the PRESENCE OF A THRICE HOLY GOD! Accepted, welcomed, loved and secure in the Presence of Him whose Holiness is like a consuming Fire- and they will not be burnt up- But safe having been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is Amazing Grace … and your loved one is among them and that surely is AMAZING GRACE…Made Only Possible by an AMAZING GOD!
8. – The Christian is Experiencing Everlasting REST- PEACE
Jn 14:2-3 – “In My FATHERS HOUSE are many DWELLING places;…For I go to Prepare a place for you where I am you may be… I will come again and RECEIVE you to Myself, that where I Am, there you may be also.”
“DWELLING PLACES” – The imagery used here, is taken from the oriental house in which sons and daughters have apartments under the same roof as their parents. “RECEIVE you to Myself“- He will come and take us to “His” Place- “to be face to face with Me.” As one writer so aptly puts it,
” So wonderful is Christ’s love for HIS own that He is not satisfied with the idea of merely taking them to Heaven.
He must needs take them into His OWN EMBRACE.”– Hendricksen
9 – The Christian is Experiencing a LIFE DEVOID OF PAIN OR SORROW –
Heaven will be devoid of Life’s Sorrows …
Rev 21:4-5 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold I make all things new.” Rev 21:4-5
10 – The Christian is Experiencing beholding the GLORY of the Lord Jesus.
John 17:24 – “Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may Behold My Glory…
Heb 12:2 -” For the Joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and HAS sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God.” The Joy of Obeying His Father…and the Joy of Knowing His Work on behalf of your loved one, personally would one day lead to their coming to be with Him in HEAVEN- and not only Heaven but into His Loving embrace!!!! In Jude 24 the Bible says,” To Him who is able…to PRESENT YOU before His GLORIOUS Presence without fault and with GREAT JOY…”
DEATH AND THE CHRISTIAN
CONCERNING Death and the Christian {By that the Bible means a Follower of the Lord Jesus. A Person who has turned to God in acknowledgment of their sin and submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord to rule over them and Savior to save them from the penalty of sin };
We read in Psalm 23:4 – “Even though I walk through the valley of the SHADOW OF DEATH, I will fear no evil, for YOU ARE WITH me.”
– Death is but a shadow…just as driving on the highway on a beautiful sunny day and you may find yourself being passed by a Huge Truck…. the shadow from the truck that falls upon your car cannot hurt you. So, death cannot hurt the Child of God but in essence is the Entrance into the Very Presence of God.
The Bible says...
2 Cor 5:8 – ” To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
Phil 1:21 – “…to die is gain.”
Phil 1:23 – To depart this life is to be “with Christ.”
Luke 23:43 -To the repentant thief on the cross – “This DAY you will be WITH ME in Paradise.”
EVERYTHING OF ETERNAL VALUE IS IN HEAVEN. Everything we should love and value is there….
In Heaven..
1. – Our Heavenly Father is there – John 14:1
2. – Our Savior is there – 1 Thess 1:10
3. – Our Names are recorded there – Rev 21:27
4. – Our Citizenship is there – Phil 3:21
5. – Our Spiritual Family is there – 2 Cor 5:8
6. – Our Future is there with Him- John 14:1-3
HEAVEN IS A PLACE OF PERFECTION….THERE ARE NO IMPERFECTIONS THERE...
So in Heaven… THE FOLLOWER OF THE LORD JESUS…IS EXPERIENCING PERFECT… FLAWLESS… UNINTERRUPTED… Pleasure, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Love, Fellowship, Amazing Grace, Everlasting Peace and Rest, a Life devoid of sorrow or pain, Beholding the GLORY of Jesus Christ, The Follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is Perfectly at Home- with the Savior in the Father’s House. In 1 Thess 4:17-18, Paul wrote to the believers, “Comfort one another with these words…”The comfort comes from the prospect of reunion with our loved believing brothers and sisters in Christ in “the Father’s house!” Their Response in Light of His Presence is not only to bask in Eternal uninterrupted Pleasure and Undiluted or unhindered Joy…Not only to Revel in His Love for them and be at Rest for all Eternity never to be disturbed in their hearts by anything or anyone again but also there …
WHAT ARE THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST DOING IN HEAVEN?
They are EXPRESSING
1. Gratitude to Him – Rev 4:9
For they haves joined the Throngs of People in Giving Him endless thanks for His perfection’s, His Grace and mercies.
They are EXPRESSING
2. Worship To Him – Rev 5:12
The believer is Expressing with all their heart or mind, what they could never express before in Gratitude and Adoration to Him who HAS LOVED them AND BROUGHT them Safely to “The FATHER’S House”
They are EXPRESSING
SINGING The Praises of the Lord Jesus Christ – Rev 5:8 -9
“And they SANG A NEW SONG saying WORTHY ARE THOU, Thou, to take the Book and to break its seals; For Thou wast slain, and did purchase for God with Thy Blood, men from every Tribe and tongue and people.”
They will also
SHOUT
Rev 5:11-114 says “And I looked, and I heard the voice of MANY ANGELS around the Throne and the Living creatures and the elders; and the NUMBER of THEM was MYRIAD’S OF MYRIAD’S, and THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS SAYING with a LOUD VOICE– “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and Riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and Blessing. And EVERY LIVING CREATED thing which s in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the Sea, and al things in them, I HEARD SAYING, “To Him who sits on the Throne and to the lamb, be blessing and Honor and Glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living Creatures KEPT SAYING “AMEN” And the elders fell down and worshiped.”
GOD IS THE THEME AND WORSHIPFUL OCCUPATION OF THE BELIEVERS IN HEAVEN. HE IS THE THEME!
In the last week of my friends life upon this earth, I heard her SHOUT out in pain in her hospital bed…BUT in “The Father’s House” she will SHOUT AGAIN – But this time not a Shout of Pain but a SHOUT OF PRAISE TO THE LORD This dear sweet servant of the Lord along with every other blood bought child of God, WILL SHOUT AGAIN…But Not the Shout of Pain… But The SHOUT OF PRAISES TO GOD AND TO THE LAMB….
All IS WELL in THE FATHER’S HOUSE….” Not only are those who have gone ahead of us Experiencing…Everlasting Pleasure, Everlasting Joy, Everlasting Comfort, Everlasting Knowledge, Everlasting Love, Everlasting Fellowship With God….face to Face, With loved ones, Everlasting friendship and recognize people we have never met before, they are perfectly at Home there!
–
Paul wrote to those in 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 – “Comfort one another with these words…” The comfort comes from the prospect of reunion, death is not the final chapter JESUS has Written that-and because of Him we will be reunited again in His Place of Perfection! Glory!
Also in Heaven the Believers work will be Recognized and Rewards will be given
1 Cor 3:14 “If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall RECEIVE A REWARD.”
The Believers who have “Graduated” have gone HOME – WHAT a Homecoming... For my friend, this dear woman who exercised Hospitality to so many over the years now is on the receiving end of the Hospitality of… God Himself!
What a Way to Go Home – To close her eyes and the last face she sees are those of her saved children who loved her and whom she loved…when she opened those eyelids to behold the FACE of Him who has Loved her unto death even the death of the Cross paying her price for sin that she may never die IN HER SIN but spend Eternity with Him who DIED IN HER PLACE FOR HER SIN…He Loves her best….How exciting to Know that the Lord Jesus WANTED HER IN HEAVEN WITH Him.
EXPLAINING DEATH TO A CHILD;
Noah our second oldest boy was 7 years old at the time, He did not want her to die…As I tried to explain what it means I asked my children if they had ever been excited about someone coming to visit…indeed they were! So God is excited about one of His own Coming Home. In Psalm 116:15 we read God’s Perspective of the death of one of His own, it reads,
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”
Psalm 116:15
Indeed, every one of His own that comes into His warm and loving presence is another answer to Calvary and why He was on that cross, Jesus said, “For God SO LOVED the world that he gave His Only Unique Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” -John 3:16
My friend, like countless others by the AMAZING GRACE of God have turned to God in true sorrow for their sin against Him of living a self centered life and trusted in His Son, the Lord Jesus ALONE to forgive them and to cause them to Love God with all their heart and mind and soul. Daily God Brings His loved ones Home…but He will not begin the Feast until every last child is safely and securely Home in His presence…
A CHILD’S LOVING CONCERN;
Seven year old Noah came into my study and he had a concern concerning our dear friend. he was afraid she would fall off…that there would not be enough room in Heaven for her…But there is room there for her…and there is room for you too In – The Fathers House…
The Background to John 14:6- In Biblical days the son could not go and get his bride until the father said so. When he was satisfied with the preparations then he would say to his bride “go get her. “The bride was met by her groom and she had a vale and as they walked back together to the home he had prepared for her … the vale was lifted and put upon His shoulder and the words “the government is upon your shoulder ” was said… He now was responsible for her. There comes a time, to walk with Him to Heaven one must place the control of our lives upon Him and trust Him with “the Government is upon His Shoulders” not only to lead us and provide for us, protect us,. and take us to Him to be His bride…indeed the Bride of Christ…Just as the bride was known by the name of the man she was marrying as his bride…so we too who are passing through this life are to be known for whose we are we are “the bride of Christ” on the way to the Father’s House…The Son has already made Preparation for you…The Son has made preparation for His Bride…and what the world sees as a sad and tragic time is but for us who Know the Father His APPOINTED time {Hebrews 9:27}, to say to His Son…” Go get her, the one whom You Love…” Now is the time for You to have her and for her to have you in a way where faith will no longer be needed for sight will be evident …where Hope will be Realized and where Unending and Unbreakable Joy…Peace…Purity…Love will endure for ever and ever in the Father’s House….
The Son has made preparation for His bride…through…His Cross…Resurrection … and has the Authority and the Ability to give you a NEW LIFE without A PAST….
Heaven How do you Get there?
Acts 4:12- ” And there is Salvation in NO ONE ELSE; for there is NO OTHER NAME under Heaven that is given among men by which we MUST BE SAVED.”
In John 14:6- Jesus said “I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life; NO ONE comes to the Father BUT THROUGH ME.”
A beautiful children’s’ song that says “come and go with me to my FATHER’S HOUSE…to my FATHER’S House, to my FATHER’S house, come and go with me to my FATHER’S house there is Joy, joy, joy. JESUS IS THE WAY TO MY FATHER’S HOUSE…”…”
By God’s Grace
A. – Acknowledge your sin
T. – Turn from your sin to God
T. – Trust yourself to the Son- Jesus Christ
“There is Room in the Father’s House…”