Heaven Class #3 - Our Eternal Home

God’s Divine Plan

What Happens When We Die?

Heaven: Our Eternal Home

God’s Eternal Plan

matthew 5:16

Man’s Devastating

Choiceromans 5:12

God’s Redeeming Solution

ephesians 1:8-10

Life & Death

Sheol / Hades

matt 12:40

Resurrection

John 5:28-29

John 20:11-17, 26-27Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

vv26-27 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Recognizable, but not completely

Physical, but not completely physical

Walked, talked, and ate with friends

Had memories and continued relationships

1 Corinthians 15:35-44 NRSV

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body

as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and

another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body,

it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Acorns_small_to_large.jpg

http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pic%5CO%5CA%5COak%20tree.jpg

Time lapse video of an acorn sprouting into an oak sapling: http://youtu.be/ZK4LjURtaDw

1 Corinthians 15:20 NRSVBut Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

...[Jesus] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Philippians 3:21

Recognizable, but not completely

Physical, but not completely physical

Walked, talked, and ate with friends

Had memories and continued relationships

Alcorn’s theory:Heaven will be

located on earth in a

union between a new heaven and

a resurrected earth

Revelation 21:1-7 NRSV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the

throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trust-worthy and true.”

"[Heaven] is not an ethereal realm of disembodied spirits, because human beings are not suited for such a realm. A place is by nature physical, just as human beings are by nature physical. (We are also spiritual.) What we are suited for — what we've been specifically designed for — is a place like the one God made for us: Earth." p. xviii

It comes from a very literal understanding of the text.

The “new heaven” and “new earth” refers to the beginning of a better

situation.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NRSV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you

by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will

be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Genesis 1:31 “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very

good.”

renewed and resurrected bodies

Ephesians 1:10 “...to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under

Christ.”

Christ wins!

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/8267957_f520.jpg

http://www.smart-petguide.com/sites/smartpetguide.com/files/Pet_Adoption_-_Dog_article.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/gajamieson/441651588/in/gallery-

44936347@N02-72157626860551535/

Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden

to till it and keep it.

Genesis 2:20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and

to every animal of the field....

Matthew 25:21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!

You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s

happiness!’

Romans 14:10 For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

v12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

GenesisRevelatio

n

entrance of death and sin

end of death and sin

promise of a Savior and Redeemer

return and victory of the

Savior

Paradise lost Paradise reclaimed

God has never given up on his original creation. Yet somehow we've managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear. Reconcile. Redeem. Restore. Recover. Return. Renew. Regenerate. Resurrect. Each of these biblical words begins with the re- prefix, suggesting a return to an original condition that was ruined or lost. For example, redemption

means to buy back what was formerly owned.Similarly, reconciliation means the restoration or re-establishment of a prior friendship or unity. Renewal means to make new again, restoring to an original state. Resurrection means becoming physically alive again, after death.

These words emphasize that God always seesus in light of what he intended us to be, and healways seeks to restore us to that design. Likewise, he sees the earth in terms of what he intended it to be, and he seeks to restore it to its original design. p. 88

What difference does Heaven make for life

on Earth?

Does your current life bring Heaven down to

Earth?

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and

therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for

themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Hell

Rapture

Judgment

Douglas Douglas JacobyJacoby