What Is Heaven Like?

Heaven is a real place. Heaven isn't a figment of one's imagination. It's not something somebody made up to pass on to people who are suffering to give them a little bit of hope in this life.

It's a real place and the Bible describes it as such. Notice the first words of chapter 5. And I saw. Followed by verse 2. Then I saw. And then verse 6.

And I looked and behold. You see, this is John's visit to Heaven. He is given a private tour. Though there are disagreements about who gets into Heaven and what Heaven will be like, studies show that most Americans believe Heaven is a real place. Today we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number 13 spot is Skip's message, What is Heaven Like?, where Skip debunks some of the most common false ideas people have about Heaven, explaining what you can really expect from your eternal home. But first, we want to invite you to see the very places Jesus walked, skipheitzig.com slash C-A-B-Q.

Thank you, Skip. Now, we're in Revelation chapter 5 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. Well, there was a preacher who preached a sermon on Heaven, and the text he used was Genesis 28 of Jacob's ladder going up into Heaven and the angels of God descending and ascending on it. The pastor's son was in that sermon, and as a young boy, it just captivated his attention. And a couple days later, he went and said, Dad, I had a dream about Heaven, about your sermon. He said, well, tell me about it. He goes, well, I had a dream that there was a ladder that went from Earth all the way up to Heaven, like this sermon, but at the bottom of this ladder, there were pieces of chalk, and before anyone was allowed to go up on the ladder, they had to take a piece of the chalk and write a mark for every sin they have committed on the rungs of the ladder.

So I'm going in my dream up this ladder, haven't gotten very far, when somebody's coming down the ladder. And Dad said, well, who would that be? He said, well, it was you, Dad. He said, I was coming down the ladder, why would I be coming down the ladder?

And his boy said, for more chalk. Well, the imaginations of a boy are fun, but the revelation of God is better. And God gives to John the Apostle a revelation of Heaven, of the future. Now, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you follow Him, you will, one day, either through death or rapture, see Heaven.

That's where you're going. So let's get oriented on what it's going to be like, a little bit, so that when you arrive, you won't seem like a country bumpkin, like, well, what's that? Somebody else is going, well, it was in the book of Revelation.

So we want to get a little bit of a grip on what you can expect. After all, we're going to be spending enough time studying about the tribulation period, the worst period in history, from Chapter 6 through 19. Let's get under our spiritual belts, the best part of the deal.

And that is what Heaven is going to be like. Because once that rapture does occur, that's going to trigger a chain of events. The chain of events is called the 70th week of Daniel. If you know the book of Daniel, you know that that last seven-year period is known as the 70th week of Daniel. It is also called, by Jeremiah the prophet, a time of Jacob's trouble. It's also known as the day of the Lord by several prophets. It is the worst period of time to come in human history.

It is catastrophic. But during that time, even while Israel is experiencing trouble and persecution, along with the nations of the world, it will be a time of great revival as well. But what you need to know is that the reason why, the story behind all that, the backstory as to why all this is happening, is found, of all places, in Heaven, in Revelation, Chapter 5. And I would say that Revelation, Chapter 5, is the greatest real estate deal in history. You can think of a couple of deals in our nation's history that are terrific real estate deals, like buying New York, Manhattan, when Peter Minuet, in 1624 or 1626, paid the equivalent of $24 for Manhattan, for New York City. I mean, that's before Donald Trump.

That out-Trump's Trump. That's a deal. Or you may be thinking of the Louisiana Purchase, if you remember that from school. 1803, Thomas Jefferson paid, what, $15 million for almost a million square miles west of the Mississippi River, so our nation could grow.

Amazing deals. But the greatest deal is this deal, because it involves all of the earth, all of the world reclaimed. In Revelation 5, I want to give to you four characteristics about Heaven. There are many more characteristics, but because of time and text, we want to look at four.

Now, I want to be moving rapidly through this, and because the language is symbolic, figurative, and I'll be explaining it, it will demand your utmost attention to understand it. But here is the first characteristic of Heaven. First, Heaven is a real place. Heaven isn't a figment of one's imagination. It's not something somebody made up to pass on to people who are suffering, to give them a little bit of hope in this life.

It's a real place, and the Bible describes it as such. Notice the first words of chapter 5, and I saw, followed by verse 2, then I saw, and then verse 6, and I looked and behold. You see, this is John's visit to Heaven.

He is given a private tour, a guided tour, and he experiences what he experiences with his sight as well as his ears. It's a visual and auditory experience, and so we find in the book of Revelation that kind of language. The words I looked is found 12 times in Revelation.

The words I saw 34 times. I heard 26 times, so he is fully entering into a visual auditory experience with his senses of Heaven. And by the way, Heaven is found, that word, 532 times in the Bible. It is a huge subject, and whenever it's spoken about, it's spoken about something that is a real place. How did Jesus speak about Heaven? He spoke about it as a real place, right? He said, in my Father's house there are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. Heaven then is a real place. It's so real that Paul said our citizenship is in Heaven. Think of Heaven as home sweet home. It really is your home sweet home. Everything that is important to a believer is in Heaven.

The Father is there. Your Savior is there. Your Comforter is there. All of God's people throughout all of history are or will be there.

Your reward is there. That is why Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain, because of that. So John takes a tour, and we saw in chapter 4 he saw a throne set in Heaven, and one who sat on that throne. And he uses words a lot like behold. Now that's a Bible word, behold. Behold is a word that denotes something remarkable. It's like saying whoa, or wow, or hey, check this out. Look at this. Behold. This is all to inspire awe in the reader. I heard a story about a cat who died and went to Heaven, and Peter was there at the gate welcoming the cat in and saying, look, we've noticed you've been a really great cat while you were on the earth, so we want to do something special for you.

What is it you'd like? And the cat said, well, you know, Peter, I've lived a pretty hard life, and I lived with a poor family on a farm, and all the places I had to sleep were hard surfaces. Peter said, say no more. A big fluffy pillow was provided for the cat in Heaven. A few days later, half a dozen mice died, and they were taken to Heaven. Peter was there, made him the same offer. And the cat said, you know, Peter, we mice, we've had it pretty tough on the earth.

We're always being chased by cats or dogs or women with brooms, you know, everything. So, you know, we were thinking, it would be, it sounds crazy, but it would be so cool in Heaven if we could have, like, roller skates. Peter said, say no more. And the cutest little roller skates were made for the mice's feet, and off they rolled. About a week later, Peter decided to check up on these new occupants of Heaven. He went over to the cat who was asleep on that big fluffy furry pillow. The cat woke up with that big yawn and a smile, and Peter said, so how's it going up here? And the cat said, Peter, it's going great. And by the way, those meals on wheels that you're sending over, they're the best.

They are the best. Okay, so Heaven is not going to be like that. But I'll tell you this, Heaven's going to be a lot better than most people think Heaven is going to be. There is nothing whatsoever in the text of Scripture in the Bible about sitting on some dumb cloud and playing a harp.

Nor is there any sense that Peter's going to be at the gate like in all those dumb jokes like the one I just told you. What John describes is the ultimate adventure. He describes a divine light show, an emerald rainbow around the throne of God, and the one who sat on the throne, this brilliant iridescent set of stones that are glowing. It's a throne room. It's Heaven. It's real. You'll be there.

You'll see it. One of the best books I ever read about Heaven by Randy Alcorn. He says, Satan labors to give people an inaccurate view of Heaven. Our enemy slanders three things, God's person, God's people, and God's place. Some of his favorite lies, writes Alcorn, are lies concerning Heaven.

That makes sense. Satan was evicted from Heaven. You are going to Heaven if you know Christ.

All of that would be sufficient motivation to have him work hard to try to lie about what it's going to be like. Heaven is a real place. Second characteristic, Heaven is a relevant place. Notice in verse 1, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll. It was written inside and on the back.

It was sealed with seven seals. And then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals? And no one in Heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. The focus now turns from the throne and the one sitting on the throne to the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. There's a scroll. There's a document in the upturned palm of the one that is sitting on this throne.

And that document has something to do with the earth. Heaven has always been concerned about what is going on on the earth. The New Testament talks about the angels desiring to look into the things that happened to us. Can you just picture them peeking over the portals of Heaven, wondering at human beings? Jesus even said, there's joy in the presence of the angels when one sinner repents.

So Heaven is always concerned with what goes on on planet earth. Now this scroll. We know that a scroll were ancient documents that came before these things, before books. This is a codex, C-O-D-E-X, and codices, or many codexes, are books. Before books, there were scrolls, and typically scrolls were rolled from both ends toward the center. And with ancient documents, a portion would be written, the scroll would be turned, a seal would be placed of wax, typically to affix it so you couldn't open unless you broke the seal.

More would be written, turned, sealed, written, turned, sealed, etc. Those are how ancient documents were written. Robert Thomas said, the Hebrew document most closely resembling what we're reading here was the ancient title deed, property deed. So a deed was drawn up for the transaction of a piece of property.

On the inside of that scroll were written the assets. On the outside of that scroll were written the requirements to buy that piece of property, or to buy it back. If you remember your Old Testament, you know that land in Israel could never be permanently lost. So that if you had to forfeit a piece of land, eventually someone related to you who is willing to pay the price and able to pay the price, those are the requirements, has to be related. So it's a goel, that's the Hebrew word, a goel is a kinsman redeemer. He has to be willing, okay I want to go through it, I want that piece of land, and he has to have the money to do it.

He has to be related, willing, and able to do it. And that's why these scrolls all had redemption provisions or redemption clauses written within it. If the property gets lost, here are the requirements to get it back, to purchase it back. Now what I just described is really the story of the book of Ruth. Land is lost, the owner dies, Elimelech dies. The widow and her daughters-in-law move back to Bethlehem.

The land is up for buyback, redemption. A guy named Boaz who is related, able, and willing, gets the land and the bride, and they live happily ever after. That's the story of the book of Ruth. There's also a story, and you don't have to turn to it but I want you to remember it if you can or write it down and look at it later, Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah was a prophet who in chapter 32 is in jail. You know why he's in jail? He's in jail because he was a preacher, and he preached the truth. And he said judgment is coming on this nation, this nation is going down, the Babylonians are going to destroy it, take us all away, and this land will be lost to a foreign power. People didn't like that, threw him in jail. While he's in jail, his cousin comes to him to visit.

His cousin's name is Hanamel. And Hanamel says, Jeremiah, buy my property in Anathoth, just outside of Jerusalem. For he says, the right of inheritance is yours. You can buy my property.

Now that's a stupid thing to tell him to do. Jeremiah has predicted the Babylonians are taking over the land. This land will be valueless if the Babylonians take it over like Jeremiah predicted. Why would Jeremiah want to do it? And when they come back, Jeremiah said 70 years later they'll both be dead, so he won't be coming back to the land. But God says, Jeremiah, as a statement of faith, buy the land. Pay the money for it. And get the title deed, because eventually your offspring will come back and they'll have land to settle in. So it says in that chapter, God from heaven says, take both the sealed deed, that scroll that is sealed with wax seals, take the sealed deed, title deed, and the unsealed copy and put them into a pottery jar and preserve them for a long time.

For the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says someday people will again own property here in this land and buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields. Back to Revelation 5. What is this scroll? Whatever this scroll is, number one, it's highly significant, because it's in the right hand of God.

That makes it important. Number two, it involves the fate of everybody on the earth and even heaven is looking and wondering at it. That's verses three and four. And also, jubilant praises erupt in heaven when finally somebody meets the requirements to redeem something, to take that scroll. I suggest to you, what we're looking at is the title deed to the earth. The title deed to the earth. We would call chapter five of Revelation in real estate terms, the closing of the deal. Some of you might hear that and go, nah, I don't know about that. I mean, why would God, who created the earth to begin with and maintains it with his power, need to buy it back, need to do this? Now listen carefully.

Here's why. Because the earth, though it is God's by creation, was lost to a usurper. Adam, in effect, turned over the title deed to the earth to Satan in the Garden of Eden. That's why Paul said in Romans 5, through one man, that's Adam, through one man sin entered the world and death through sin and death spread to all. But it wasn't just mankind that was affected. It wasn't just people that was affected.

Property was affected. The earth itself came under a curse. Romans chapter 8, it says, this creation was made subject to futility. And all of creation, he said, groans and travails, wanting to be delivered. So what did Jesus Christ call the devil, call Satan? Called him the ruler of this world. The ruler of this world on many occasions. What did Paul call Satan?

The God of this age. What did the Apostle John say of the devil? It says the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one. And then do you remember when Jesus was taken up to a high mountain and tempted by the devil? The devil came to Jesus, showed him the kingdoms of this world and said, all this authority I will give you and its glory, for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whomsoever I wish. Jesus didn't dispute that.

He didn't argue that. So the scroll is the title deed to planet earth. And as each seal will be broken, as you see beginning in chapter 6, as each seal is broken open, the earth gets purged through unimaginable tribulation judgment, but it's also a scroll of redemption.

Because during that time, as I mentioned, 144,000 Jews will be saved, an innumerable number of Gentiles, non-Jewish people will be saved in all the earth, as the world is taken back from the usurper. The usurper gets usurped by this. So the question comes in heaven and it's a very, very critical question. Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose the seals?

It's a very important question. Who has the right, who has the authority to take it? Who has the innate virtuous worthiness of character, the divine right to take that scroll? Who has the power to defeat Satan and wipe out the effects of sin on the earth?

To reverse the curse put on all creation. Who is worthy? And then something very troubling appears, verse 4 or verse 3. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.

In other words, the question is asked and the answer is dead silence. Who is worthy to take the scroll? Nobody steps forward. Of all the millions of angels, not one of them, Gabriel, Michael, none of them say, I can do it. Abraham, father of faith, he didn't say anything, he didn't step forward.

Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, Elijah, Elijah, Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah, David. Nobody says a word. No one says, I'm worthy, I've got the power, I've got the right, dead silence. That's Skip Heitzig's number 13 message on our Top 40 Messages countdown. It's from the series, What's Next? Find the full message and more of Skip's teachings and watch him teach live twice a week at youtube.com slash calvaryabq. Right now, we want to share about a great resource that will help you grow stronger in your faith. Imagine the challenge we faced. Skip Heitzig has taught over 3500 through the Bible messages and we had to pick the top 10 for a special resource offer.

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The time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ falls under the designation, the last days. The exact set of Skip's top 10 teachings are messages you will want to hear and share. And one of the things I love about God is he's not complicated.

Most truth you will discover is simple truth, not simplistic truth, simple truth. When you give $35 or more today, we'll also include Lenya Heitzig's book, Reload Love, the history of a ministry that's been helping children victimized by terror on the front lines. Get Skip's top 10 messages on CD plus your copy of Reload Love by Lenya Heitzig today. Call 800-922-1888 to give or visit connectwithskip.com. Do you want to see people come into a relationship with the living God? The way to know him is by knowing his word. That's why we've made these life-changing Bible teachings available around the world. And you can help continue this broadcast and reach even more people with a generous gift today. Your gift helps connect more listeners like you with the gospel. To give, just visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Or you can call 800-922-1888, 800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares another Top 40 message about God's unique love for mothers. And you'll gain valuable insight to nourish your relationship with the Lord. What she does is she takes her sorrow of heart and she pours it out before the Lord. And look at verse 11, what she calls God, O Lord of hosts. That's a frequent designation for God in the Bible. You know what it means, Lord of hosts? It literally means you are the master commander of heaven's armies. She is appealing to God based on God's character of authority and sovereignty. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.