Refresh
A Recap from Sunday’s Sermon

Preaching Text: Rev 21:1-8

When we think about heaven, it may stir many questions in our minds.  Is there any proof of heaven?  Can I be sure that I will go to heaven?  What will heaven really be like?  And because our ideas of heaven can seem confusing, disconnected to our present life, and maybe even boring, our idea of heaven has little relevance to the struggles we face here and now.  But the Bible gives us an abundant and compelling picture of heaven in order to help us face our current challenges with confidence.  

Main Point:  Strength for the journey comes from the destination.

Although we cannot prove the existence of heaven scientifically, all of us get small moments of profound wonder through our experiences of beauty, love, nature, and music.  These fleeting moments seem to give us glimpses that leave us longing for more than just the material world. But God does not want to leave us grasping at a fleeting intuition. The Bible gives us a profound vision of heaven, especially in Rev 21:1-8.  This passage paints a picture of eternity that awaits us where we will dwell with God on a new heaven and a new earth.  We will live on a physical earth with mountains and streams, music and recreation, all of the things we love about our current earth but untainted by the Fall.  We will be both spiritual and physical beings with resurrection bodies that will not bear the curses of sin and death (1 Cor 15:35-58). All our physical pain, anxiety, depression, relational wounds, aging, grief, and disabilities will be no more.  God himself will wipe away every tear that we have cried from the day we were born (Rev 21:4). 

Can we know that we will go to heaven when we die?  Revelation 21:6 says, “To the one who is thirsty I will give from the springs of the water of life without payment” which allude to Jesus’ words to the woman at the well John 4:7-26. The way to the place of heaven is through the person of Jesus.  If we thirst for Jesus, repent of our sins, and place our trust in him, we who believe in Jesus may know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13).  

Taking It Home:

Set aside 10 minutes this week to sit with God and share with him the struggle that has been most on your mind recently.  Then read Revelation 21:1-8.  How does the assurance of knowing that this is what awaits you for eternity bring perspective to your situation?