The Community of Heaven

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. He was allowed to see into our future and speak of God's plans for our lives in eternity and not only the end of the world but beyond this world. It's called the Book of Revelation. Today we're going to talk about the community of heaven. The community of heaven meaning who's there and how will we know them because not only is heaven real it's about relationships like life is said that life is all about relationships the rest is details and so it's true regarding heaven it's about relationships with this truth it will be a redeemed company redeemed relationships. Our prayer our passion is that we would long for heaven that we would long for him to see Jesus that we would love him and love his appearing and knowing that one day we will see Christ and will be with Christ beginning in verse one after this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said come up here and I will show you what must take place after this verse two says at once I was in the spirit and behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne skip down to verse four around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads and from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire which are the seven spirits of God and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal and before the throne around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind and the first living creature like a lion the second creature like an ox notice these similes like like an ox like a lamb and one with the face of a man and the fourth living creature flying like an eagle and the fourth living creature each of them had six wings they're full of eyes all around and within and day and night they cease not to say let's say this out loud holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come verse 11 says worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and they were creator of praise to the creator God there is a redemption song there's no evolution song in heaven it is a creation song and celebrating the one who has created all are you contemplating your future many think about death from time to time the Bible says that before we met Christ we were in bondage to the fear of death some think every now and then about life after death about their future maybe when attending a funeral but most people don't think too much about these subjects maybe they're afraid or maybe they just don't have the information maybe they don't hear teaching on God's Word but just no consideration of what is yet to come of heaven and of hope beyond it's very important that we correct that because life is so brief it truly is like a candle that snuffed out like a mist on a on a cool morning that you breathe out and it appears like a vapor and then it goes away the Bible describes death like that and life like that a vapor that vanishes life is a brief candle and we must prepare to meet our God because we're going to spend eternity on the other side of this life this is the before life the life that is to come is the afterlife and there is an eternity around the throne of God we see God himself on that throne we start with God himself in heaven who will be there obviously heaven is consumed and consummated with the very presence of God himself the one who is described as creator and sustainer and redeemer the lamb upon the throne the one who rules from eternity his everlasting kingdom and the presence of God the Bible says fills heaven and earth the scripture says and God will be with them and his people will be with him Revelation 22 verse 4 says that we will see him face to face we will see God's face and he will write his name upon our foreheads his face in the Old Testament the scripture says that no man can see God's face and live to see the burning glory and pure white holiness of God would strike us dead but in Christ we have been redeemed and welcomed invited into the very presence of God the veil has been torn from top to bottom not to let God out but to let us in and we are now in his presence and one day face to face with him our Lord Jesus Christ and no one will doubt or wonder who is God or who is on the throne it won't be Buddha on the throne it won't be Muhammad on the throne it won't be Confucius on the throne it won't be some petty world dictator on the throne it will be God Almighty the lion the lamb who reigns forevermore he is on the throne and when we see him we of course will be awestruck with his majesty astonished that we are in his presence we will be on the ground on our faces and then not only on our faces but then on our feet standing and worshiping and praising God because there is so much joy because we are present with him Psalm 16 11 says at your right hand are pleasures forevermore in your presence Lord is fullness of joy at your throne fullness of joy at your right hand pleasures forevermore it is that promise of pleasure forever with him that excites us that gets us ready to go to heaven you will have no trouble recognizing him he's the one with the nail prints in his hands the only man made thing in heaven will be the prints of the nails in his hand as a perpetual reminder of the sacrifice and blood that was poured out for our redemption and our salvation which he offers as a gift to all who will receive him yes I will know him by the prints of the nails in his hands the same nail scarred hands that open to us the door of grace will open to us the doors of glory we will see him and instantaneously immediately all of our questions and we have questions in life mysteries suffering problems perplexities that we cannot answer this side but immediately in his pure light we will know even as we are known the most often repeated word that you will hear in heaven is not after Jesus himself will be aha that's what it was all about aha this is why it happened God had a plan he truly was working all things together for my good God's got a plan for your life and it's an eternal plan and he's not finished yet he's still working weaving his master plan in our lives so yes we will live in light now we see through a mere darkly according to the scriptures it's vague but then we shall see face to face we will know even as we are known and we shall behold him and we will be with him listen to me we will be with him we will walk with him and talk with him we will worship him we will live in his presence our God our savior God has given us this sure promise you're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and today's message the community of heaven even in life's heaviest moments the promise of heaven holds out an encouraging hope for you today and when you understand what your future with God will be like the burdens of the present feel lighter. That's what Pastor Graham's book heaven is all about and it's why we want to get a copy into your hands today. Heaven is our thanks for your gift to help share the truth of the gospel to more people around the world. So call now to request your copy of heaven when you give call 1-800-795-4627. That's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word PowerPoint to 59789 and don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you could shop our store give a gift online or sign up for Doctor Graham's free daily email devotional.

Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Now let's get back to today's message the community of heaven. The one on the throne, but then those around the throne these images here and just because they're images and symbols does not mean they do not represent something real. These things are real, but these are but symbols of something else, but they represent something very real and one there are angels around the throne of God. The heavenly host worshiping God 24-7 forever and ever and ever saying holy holy holy Isaiah saw this in Isaiah 6 and reported on when he went to heaven in that vision that around the throne of God these angel beings are are worshiping God. We're grateful for the angels.

There are millions and millions and millions of them. They interact with our lives. They serve the people of God. They show up again and again and again in scripture from cover to cover in God's word. We meet the holy angels, but their primary focus is the worship of God and singing the hallelujahs and the choruses of praise to God and leading anthems of of exaltation. We will sing and shout the angelic choruses will be worshiping God. Can you imagine the thunderous mighty power of that heavenly host praising God. Angels will usher us into God's presence. Jesus told a story of a poor man by the name of Lazarus who died and when he died everyone thought unnoticed.

The angels were there to take him into the presence of the Lord into paradise itself. You will not die alone as a believer. You will not die in fear as a Christian because that moment however it comes whenever it comes the angels will carry you into the presence of God. Jesus himself will meet you there.

There is no fear to die because we know the Lord. These heavenly beings worship and serve him continually, but the focus is not only on the angels but the redeemed. Represented here in Revelation 4 by these 24 elders who sat by the throne of God. Most Bible scholars believe, I certainly believe it, that they represent the old testament and new testament states. The 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles.

24. So people who trusted in God old testament new testament believers you say how are old testament believers saved? Christ did not come yet. They were saved by believing the promise and anticipating the one who would come and trusting in him. They were saved by looking forward to the coming of Christ. We are saved by looking back to the coming of Christ and his cross but the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses from all sin past present and future.

So these are the redeemed of the ages. They are around the throne of God. Now the question is often asked will we know one another in heaven? What about our loved ones who have left us? I can tell you that saying goodbye is the greatest grief on earth.

Saying goodbye to the people that we love. We miss them because they leave us for a while. We haven't lost them.

If your Christian husband is with the Lord you haven't lost him you know where he is. We don't lose our loved ones. They leave us for a little while. But one day the Bible promises us, Jesus promises us that there will be no separation. Separation is painful beyond words. When you bury a loved one, a husband, a wife, a child you feel like you bury your own heart with them. Such great grief. We long to see our family and our friends.

It's human. It's an aspiration that is real and of course God will reunite us with our saved family members who precede us into heaven. The Thessalonian Christians were asking that that same question. Will we know one another? Will we see our loved ones ever again? They had died and and had disappeared. Christ had not come and so where are they? Will we ever see them again? And that is when in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 the apostle Paul wrote to encourage and comfort them and he said, I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who are asleep that you saw not even as others who have no hope.

The grief is real, the pain is real, but we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that the dead in Christ shall rise first and that we who are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord will be caught up, watch this, together together together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so will we, we, family and friends and loved ones and the redeemed of the ages, so will we ever be with the Lord. Yes we're going to run to Jesus, yes we're going to worship Jesus, yes we will most and forever be enthralled with His presence, but Jesus knows our need for relationships. There will be friendships and relationships. You say, will we know one another in heaven?

Of course. You think we'll know less in heaven than we know right now? In fact, you probably don't even really know the person you think you know until you get to heaven and you'll see God's grace in their lives. No, we don't say goodbye to loved ones there, no more sad goodbyes, no more broken hearts, no more shattered in peace as lives, no more funerals, no more sad songs. When John the Revelator was looking into heaven and describing it at the end of the book, Revelation 21, he talks about no more suffering, no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sadness, and in the midst of that explanation of heaven he says, no more sea.

It seems almost out of place comparatively. Sorrow, sadness, no more sin, no more sea. I like the sea. I'm thinking about a great beach in heaven, why no more sea? Well remember when John gave us the Revelation, he was an exiled prisoner at Patmos. Imprisoned there, incarcerated there, because of his faith and boldness in Jesus for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

He's an old man now, aged and alone, living with the insane and the incarcerated on this prisoner's island and all around him is the sea, just sea as far as you can see. But in the distant is Ephesus and other places in the Greek Isles, Ephesus, Turkey, over there where John the Apostle had last lived before he was arrested, he served as the pastor of the Ephesian church, loved ones were there, friends were there, and so when he got every up every day and he saw that sea and that distance and he felt that aloneness and that alienation and separation, when he saw heaven one of the first things he noticed was no more sea, no more separation. We will be united together again.

What a promise! There's going to be a great getting up morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and we will be raptured together forever in His presence and around the throne of God, Revelation 5 9 and 10. It's another fantastic portrait of heaven and it says and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood ransom people that is delivered people for God from, watch this, every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth. When John saw heaven he saw people from every nation, every creed, every tongue, every tribe, every ethnicity, every race, people from all over the world. Heaven will be a multi-racial, multi-ethnic place marked by love and grace and peace. No more racial hostility, no more brokenness, no more segregation, no more separation because we are together forever in Christ and our goal this side of eternity must be to come together now in preparation for our being together forever and there should only be one people in Christ. There's only one color in Christ. It's the royal red blood of His cross. We are redeemed, we are ransomed and we are there not by the color of our skin or our ethnicity but because of Jesus and His grace. It's amazing grace for every race.

That's what it is and we will be together. We often ask about the children. The children who have died before their time, some even in their mother's womb, some very young before ages of accountability and responsibility to make a personal decision for Christ and we wonder what about the children? We have one brief but I believe conclusive scripture on this and that is when David lost a son. His son died and while the child was sick and the child was sick for a number of days David fasted and prayed and mourned and wept for his son, his small infant son. The child died. David took a bath, washed himself, his face, he put on clean clothes, robe and the people didn't understand it. His friends didn't understand it. They said David while the child was alive you wept, you mourned, you prayed but now the child is gone and you put on this happy face.

What? And that's when David said in second Samuel 12 33 I can't bring the child back but I can go to the child and with that succinct promise there is to me the conclusion that yes the little ones are with him. Jesus said let the little ones come to me for such is the kingdom of heaven.

There are mysteries regarding the future of children both born and unborn that we will understand in the sweet by and by. You're listening to powerpoint with Jack Graham and today's message the community of heaven. No matter what struggles you're facing today you have hope in the promises awaiting you in heaven and God calls you to share that hope with others today. That's why we want to encourage and inspire you today by sending you pastor Graham's book heaven. This exciting book takes you straight to scripture to help you see all that awaits you in the life to come and how it impacts your life today. You'll find hope for today and courage to share that hope with others. So don't wait to request your copy heaven is our special thanks for your gift to help boldly proclaim God's word through powerpoint. So request your copy when you call today call 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627.

You can also text the word powerpoint to 59789. And don't forget to visit Jack Graham.org where you can shop our e-store give a gift online or sign up for Dr. Graham's free daily email devotional. Our website again is Jack Graham.org. Pastor what is your powerpoint for today? We're told in the scriptures that we are to encourage one another and build one another up.

That's right out of the word of God 1st Thessalonians 5 11. And it's amazing in our times we have social media to help us build one another up and encourage one another to use social media in a very positive way. And so I want to invite you to connect with us at powerpoint on Facebook and Twitter. Let us be a part of your daily life so that together we can point one another to Jesus and encourage one another in our faith.

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Call 1-800-795-4627 that's 1-800-795-4627. You can also text the word powerpoint to 59789. On the next powerpoint Dr. Graham brings a message about what you will do in heaven. That's next time on Powerpoint with Jack Graham. Powerpoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by Powerpoint Ministries.