How We Will Relate to Others in Heaven B

What is inviting about heaven to Paul is going to be all those who have come to Christ who are going to be there to welcome Him and to rejoice with Him.

You are our joy and crown of rejoicing. You're what makes heaven so attractive. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Paradise, that's a fitting and entirely biblical description of heaven. It's the culmination of your salvation, the place where you finally will be perfect, glorified with your perfect Savior forever. Well, paradise is John MacArthur's focus today, as he puts the finishing touches on his series called When We All Get to Heaven. Perhaps the most important question this study is helping answer is this, how does your future glory affect the way you're living today? How should you live in light of eternity? Consider those issues right now as John MacArthur looks at the pure joy you will experience in heaven.

And here's the lesson. We're talking in this study about glorification. We're talking about the future for those who are saved, who have been justified, are being sanctified and will be glorified. And in the last couple of discussions about our future salvation, we have been kind of launched from 1 Peter chapter 1, this little phrase, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Live your life fixed on the future. Another way of saying that is Colossians 3, set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth. Another way of saying that, the words of the Apostle Paul, very wonderful words, which really summed up his whole approach to life. This one thing I do.

I love it when people can reduce it to one. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I live with a view to being called up face-to-face with the Lord Jesus.

I live with a heavenly perspective. That's what we're to do. We're to live with a fixed hope. We're to live in the light of hope, let the things that happen in this world fall where they will. They are not worthy to be compared with that glory which awaits us.

The sufferings of this life are trivial, they are meager, they are insignificant compared to the weight of glory. And we've talked about all that which God has for us in His presence. Now that brings us to the remaining issue of what's it going to be like? What will heaven be like?

And I don't have any inside scoop on this, folks. All I know is what the Bible says but there's a lot more there than maybe you thought on the surface. Let's ask, what about family? People always ask this question. Will we still be married in heaven? Will there be marriage in heaven? Will there be family in heaven?

Let me take you to that just in a couple of passages. I think I can help you to understand that 1 Corinthians chapter 7 is a good place. Paul in this chapter, verse 29, he says, the question comes up, should you marry or should you not marry?

This is the debate. He says, if you're married, stay that way. But look back at verse 26, I think then that it is good in view of the present distress, it's good for a man to remain as he is. If you're not married, it's good. Stay that way.

Life is less complicated. But if you're bound to a wife, verse 27, don't seek to be released. If you're released from a wife, don't seek a wife.

If you have literally been divorced, don't necessarily seek to be remarried. But if you should marry, verse 28, you haven't sinned. And if a virgin should marry, she's not sinned. That is to say if a divorced person remarries and has biblical grounds, it's not a sin. And if a virgin marries, it's not a sin. Yet such will have trouble in this life and I'm trying to spare you. That's the part of the marriage sermon you never preach at the wedding. You just don't do that in that environment.

You're going to have trouble. He doesn't mean by that that it's wrong to marry. He doesn't mean by that that it's something less than the best. It is the grace of life, after all.

It is the best gift that God gives to human kind in shared joys of life. But it does multiply your problems. I tell young people a lot of times, the only thing worse than wishing you were married is wishing you weren't.

There is trouble, he says. Verse 29, "'This I say, brethren, the time has been shortened so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none and those who weep as though they did not weep and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice and those who buy as though they did not possess.'" He's saying it's good if you can stay as free from worldly connections on all fronts as possible. But in verse 31, "'And those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it, for the form of this world is passing away.'"

What's he talking about? He's talking about marriage. Marriage is part of the schema, the Greek word schema, part of the scheme here but it's for here and it's passing away. If you will turn again to Matthew chapter 22, perhaps a more familiar portion of Scripture to most of us, the Sadducees who believe there's no resurrection, or a better way to say that is who don't believe there is a resurrection.

They came to Jesus and they questioned Him so they want to ask what they think is going to make Him look stupid, make Him look ridiculous. Oh, so you believe in a resurrection, do you? And they immediately assume then there's going to be families in heaven because people are going to be raised and they're still going to be married and they're still going to have families. So they said, "'Teacher, if a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife and raise up an offspring to his brother.'"

That's what the Old Testament says. That was the Law of the Old Testament, that if a man didn't have a child, a single brother could marry the wife to give perpetuity to the family and carry on the line. Now this is their hypothetical scenario. There were seven brothers, the first one married and died having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Now we've got seven brothers, the oldest one marries and then he dies. And so the second one marries her and he dies. The third marries her and he dies, down to the seventh.

You know what? If I was number three, I don't think I'd marry her. This is a fatal pattern. And I can promise you if I was number four, five and six and seven, I'd be out of town.

But finally, mercifully, the woman dies before she can do more damage. And so they ask what they think is this great thing, in the resurrection therefore whose wife of the seven shall she be? For they all had her.

They think they've got him. And he said to them, you're mistaken. Here we go again, not understanding the Scripture or the power of God, so much power that that kind of existence is far beyond anything that you would ever know in this life. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven, like the angels. They don't marry.

They don't reproduce. Does this mean that we're...I mean, does this mean that when we get to heaven we're all going to be sexless, sort of like eternal mules? Are we not going to be men and are we not going to be women?

No. You will be you. You will be you. The angels are spirits. They are neither male nor female, although when they did appear and were given a body, it was a male body. But we will be like them in the sense that they do not cohabitate and they do not reproduce. This was part of the schema here, Genesis 1, 27 and 28, be fruitful and multiply. We will be who we are, Jesus Christ will forever be the Son of Man, Son of God. He will be a glorified man. We will be glorified men. We will be glorified women.

We will be recognized for who we are. And this is abundantly clear in Scripture that when we get to heaven we maintain who we are. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, I love this little phrase, this mortal shall put on immortality.

This corruptible shall put on incorruption. And that is a way of saying this mortal and this corruptible becomes immortal and incorruptible. This is a transformation of this person who remains who He is, that eternal Spirit given a body fit for eternity.

Listen to what it says and it's kind of a...it's kind of a shaded statement. But in Genesis 25, 8 it says that Abraham breathed his last, died in a ripe old age, an old man satisfied and he was gathered to his people. He was gathered to his people. That doesn't mean he was buried in the family cemetery. It means that he was collected with his people. David said when his little son died, he cannot come to me but I will go to him.

He wasn't saying I'm going to visit the grave. His hope and his joy was found in the conscious reality that he would see that little one again in a reunion, a real reunion where there would be recognition and true fellowship. Isaac, Genesis 35, 29, breathed his last, died, was gathered to his people.

Again it's the same idea. It's an interesting phrase, gathered to his people. And it appears a number of times actually, if I remember, I think it's also in the 49th chapter toward the end of Genesis. Yes, here the twelve tribes of Israel and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. Jacob, he blessed them, everyone with the blessing appropriate to him, he charged them and said to them, I'm about to be gathered to my people.

You see it in Numbers 20, 24. You see it in Judges 2, 10, to be gathered to his people. And again I mentioned David, 1 Samuel 12, 23, 2 Samuel 12, 23, I cannot...he cannot come to me but I shall go to him. But look at some New Testament texts. Look at Matthew chapter 8. Jesus in chapter 8 of Matthew and down in verse 10 says, truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel, commenting on the faith of this man in Capernaum, Centurion, and I say to you that many shall come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven. You're going to know Abraham, you're going to know Isaac, you're going to know Jacob.

You say, well are they going to...are we going to have name tags? How are we going to...how are we going to...you will have perfect knowledge. You will have transcendent knowledge and you will know them. You know, in the seventeenth chapter of Matthew when Peter, James and John went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared and they knew them...they knew them.

And so there is clear evidence of personhood and identity. We're going to see a little of that when we get into the amazing story Jesus tells in Luke 19 about Lazarus and the rich man and their self-consciousness and their awareness. By the way, in Luke 10, just think I'll add this, rejoice, He says in this, that your names are recorded in heaven.

You're not a floating nondescript eternal spirit, you're a person and personhood is indicated by a...what?...a name. You will be you there. And everybody else will be who they are and we will enjoy fellowshipping together. You say, well if we're not married and we don't have family and marriage and family are so wonderful and so enriching, sure. And the best of marriage and the best of family is a faint illustration of the blessing of heaven. Whatever's good about family and marriage will be infinitely glorious on all accounts in relationship to everyone in heaven. Now by the way, when you get to heaven, you may have a name a little bit different because it tells us in Revelation 2 17 that you're going to have a new name.

I love this verse, to him who overcomes, which is a way of describing the saved, John uses it back at the end of the 1 John that our faith overcomes the world and he says to whoever overcomes, I will give a new name written on stone which no one knows but he who receives it. So this is a wonderful personal identity, a new name be given in glory which no one knows. You'd be amazed how many people have asked me, what is that name? John? Amazing.

I don't know what that name is. There are other indications of this new name toward the end of the third chapter as well in verse 12. So we're going to be persons, we're going to be self-conscious, we're going to know each other, we're going to recognize and have wonderful, wonderful reunions. Let me give you a great text that kind of maybe is the most helpful one, 1 Thessalonians 4. First Thessalonians 4 and here is this Rapture text that is so critical, verse 13, we don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, which is a wonderful way of speaking of death because for the believer, it's nothing more severe than sleep. Don't grieve as if you had no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord that we are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not proceed or go before those who have fallen asleep.

The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord, therefore comfort one another with these words. Why did they need comfort? And how does this comfort them? Because they were concerned about the believers that died, verse 13. We don't want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep so that you grieve and don't have any hope. What's going to end your grief? Hope is going to end your grief and the hope that ends your grief is the hope of what?

Being rejoined with them, being reunited with them, the hope of reunion. I think the Apostle Paul specifically anticipated this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, back up a couple of chapters there. Paul looked toward heaven, just the terrible suffering in this world made him keep his eyes on heaven. He constantly was aware that he could die any day and for him to live was Christ and to die was always gain. He lived with the hope of heaven. And when he spelled out what really attracted him to heaven, sure, seeing the face of Christ, but look what he says in chapter 2 verse 19, who is our hope, a joy, crown of exaltation. What appeals to me about heaven?

What's going to be the crowning joy there? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? You are our glory and joy. What is inviting about heaven to Paul is going to be all those who have come to Christ who are going to be there to welcome Him and to rejoice with Him. You are our joy and crown of rejoicing.

You're what makes heaven so attractive. He says in 2 Corinthians 1.14, we're your reason to be proud as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus. When I come to the face-to-face in the day of our Lord Jesus, which is the day when we are taken to see Him, your presence there is going to be my joy. And remember Luke 16, purchase friends...remember?...purchase friends for eternity with your money, use your money for evangelistic purposes so that you purchase friends for eternity so that...this is so wonderful...they may receive you in to the eternal dwellings.

They're going to be there to welcome you. What a glorious, glorious picture this is. This fellowship, maybe a good way to kind of wrap up our thoughts about it, is in the 21st chapter of Revelation. You see this magnificent picture of our fellowship in heaven. I saw a new heaven and a new earth which is the final eternal state. By the way, the final state is called the new heavens and the new earth in Scripture. First heaven and the first earth, what we know, is passed away and there's no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God...listen to this...is among men.

It doesn't say it's among floating spirits. It doesn't say it's among transcendent beings, although there is transcendence and although we will be eternal spirits, but we will be men. We will be people in heaven, only we will be different.

We will have a body like the resurrection body of Christ, as we saw the differences in our study of 1 Corinthians 15. And it says, the tabernacle of God, God pitches His tent among us, He will dwell among them, they shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them. That's a picture of the marvelous reunion and fellowship in the glories of heaven.

Turn me in a word of prayer. Father, it's just so staggering to contemplate the glory before us, so wonderful to fix our hope on the grace to be revealed at the time when we see You face-to-face. We are awed by this, going all the way back to our wretchedness and our sinfulness. Why would You ever be so gracious as to give us eternal glory? Maybe glory for a little while and then we go out of existence.

Maybe a few nice benefits and then it's over. But to lavish us with unending, limitless goodness and loving kindness forever and ever is so far beyond anything we can imagine that we can't comprehend Your grace. We're reminded of the words of Paul to the Ephesians, that we will be raised up with Him, seated with Christ in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us.

What kind of God are you who is so kind as to take unworthy sinners and to give us everlasting bliss and joy, an unfolding adventure that never is dull, always rich, incomprehensible to us is such generosity. In the light of that, we're compelled to love You, to obey You, to proclaim You, to honor You, to serve You with all our strength. We thank You for the hope, the blessed hope that captures our hearts, that is not a wish, it's not a fantasy, it's not fiction, it's not a feeling, it's not some kind of tug, it's truth. And we know it's real because Jesus conquered death and because He lives forever, so will we together with Him in Your presence. And for this we offer You our praise and shall forever, in Christ's name, amen. You've been listening to John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, and for 52 years now, the Bible teacher with grace to you.

His current study is titled, When We All Get to Heaven. Now, John, I love these messages on heaven, and I've always liked to hear you teaching about heaven, and you keep taking us back to all the biblical information that's given about heaven there, and I find that the older I get, the more I long for heaven. And yet, heaven seems far away sometimes when we're here on earth because we get bogged down in all the mundane issues of life. So how do you stay heavenly-minded in the midst of such a vile world?

Well, I think you do by being biblically conscious, setting your affections on things above and not on things on the earth. And I think also, the older we get, the more people that I have loved and been loved by are in heaven, the more attraction there is. You know that now, in a way today that you didn't know yesterday, because your Father went to heaven yesterday. And all of a sudden, heaven has a new attraction, somebody that you love and will be joined together with.

But I think it's not just the fact that we know people who are there. I think the attraction of heaven is based on a full understanding of what heaven is. Just think about the fact that the Lord has given you an inheritance, undefiled, that will not decay, reserved for you in heaven. And the Lord is preparing a place for you, a room in his Father's house. And he's going to take you there to share all the glories of his own eternal inheritance with you personally. You have to think of heaven not so much in the physical elements of it, although we get the beautiful picture in the book of Revelation of the jeweled city and the cube that is golden streets that are transparent and all of that.

But I think that's just a way to help us understand the grandeur of the place. But what heaven has to offer primarily is the presence of Christ and the absence of sin and evil. If you hate your sin, if you're weary of the struggle, then heaven has an attraction for you. I want to encourage you to get the series we've just done, along with the book, The Glory of Heaven. You can get the series when we all get to heaven. Three CDs, you can order them from Grace To You. We'll send them along to you.

Or you can download the MP3 files at gty.org. That's right, and both of these resources will help you pursue godliness by showing you the glorious future reward that belongs to all who follow Jesus Christ. To order When We All Get To Heaven, or the book, The Glory of Heaven, contact us today. To get the three-CD album, great for putting into the hands of a friend, call 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org. And as John said, you can also download the lessons from When We All Get To Heaven free of charge at our website, gty.org. In fact, all of John's sermons, the audio, and the transcripts from over 52 years of ministry are available for free at gty.org. And if you'd like to purchase the revised, expanded edition of the book, The Glory of Heaven, the cost is $12.50 and shipping is free. Also, like many of our books, The Glory of Heaven is available in Spanish.

To order yours in English or in Spanish, call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday. Check your local listings for Channel and Times, and then be here next week when John begins a study that is sure to deepen your worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. John has titled that series Rediscovering the Christ of Scripture. Join us for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Monday's Grace To You.