{"id":4605,"date":"2021-10-16T20:36:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T20:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=4605"},"modified":"2025-10-28T20:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:59:22","slug":"what-heaven-is-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/10\/16\/what-heaven-is-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What Heaven is Like"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Revelation 7:13<\/strong>| <strong>Rev. Robert D. Preus<\/strong>| <strong>April 26, 1983<\/strong>| <strong>Concordia Theological Seminary Chapel<\/strong>| <strong>Ft. Wayne, Indiana<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: What Heaven is Like: Revelation 7 sermon by Robert Preus\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1sVEwCOAvzcZjWG1Cw6Nak?si=854e886eb2284697&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us all pray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to Thee, O Christ victorious! Thanks to Thee, O Lord of Life! Death hath now no power o&#8217;er us, Thou hast conquered in the strife. Thanks because Thou didst arise And hast opened Paradise! None can fully sing the glory Of the resurrection story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Word of God which we shall read an consider on this occasion, the Holy Ghost has caused to be recorded in the Book of Revelation, the seventh chapter beginning in the thirteenth verse, and I will repeat the text because I want you all to hear it twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are Thy Words, heavenly Father, Sanctify us in Thy truth, Thy Word is truth. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear Christian friends, grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled\u2026 reserved in heaven for us.\u201d [1 Peter 1:3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This magnificent passage from Peter\u2019s First Epistle, has played a profound role in the history of my life. It was first spoken over me at my Baptism. And it served as a commentary on what took place then. I, who had been born dead, was reborn\u2013made alive in Christ, made His child and heir, given a living hope\u2013a living hope, an eschatology, an eternal future. That\u2019s what happened then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This same passage will be spoken again at my funeral; at the time of the committal. And once again, it will serve as a commentary on what has taken place there: proleptically. I have achieved my hope there. I have entered the Church Triumphant. I have come out of the great tribulation. I have washed my robe and made it white in the blood of the Lamb and therefore\u2013therefore, I stand before God\u2019s throne day and night and serve Him, worship Him there in His temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During this Fourth Sunday after Easter\u2013I think \u2013our new series, which has this text as one of the pericopes\u2013is trying to emphasize for us the results of Christ\u2019s resurrection. And here, of course, we hear about the grandest and greatest of all the results: salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what is the nature of this salvation\u2013this inheritance\u2013laid up in heaven for us? No better description could be given than that apocalyptic one in our text \u201cthey shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat\u2026and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s that mean? It means that that great tribulation, that awful, hectic, unhappy\u2013wretchedly unhappy tribulation is over. No more slaughter in Vietnam or Cambodia or Lebanon. No more tragic trips\u2026out hotel windows. No more depressing, awful labor camps. No more crummy rat-infested tenements\u2013homes. No more riots, murders, rapes, polarization among people\u2013even brothers\u2013no more heresy, prejudice, no more injustice, pain sadness, loneliness. What a beautiful picture of heaven, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet all that is only secondary. The essence of heaven is much more. The essence of heaven is this: that God is there. God and the Lamb. Listen to our text. \u201cHe that sitteth in the throne shall dwell among them. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is our inheritance. That is our heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asaph, long ago in the Old Testament (people don\u2019t think they even have a resurrection back then) listen to this eschatology; \u201cWhom have I in heaven but thee?&nbsp; And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.&nbsp; My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.\u201d [Psalm 73:25-26]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now I\u2019m sure that most people don\u2019t make much out of these words. All this doesn\u2019t mean much to most people. They spend their lives on earth fleeing God\u2019s presence: avoiding it, silencing every thought of God; evading, even denying Him, if they can\u2013if not by words, then by their deeds. They look for another heaven than God. Maybe a communist utopia\u2013but an ersatz, a phony heaven. Because there is no other heaven. There is no other heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the sixteenth century, a very hard controversy \u2013a significant controversy, broke out between Ulrich Zwingli and the great reformer of Southern Germany Johann Brenz. The controversy centered in eschatology\u2013on the nature of heaven. Zwingli believed in what he called a <em>coelum impyrium<\/em>: that is, a beautiful, airy, heaven, which God had created on the first day of creation and in which God dwelt with His holy angels and saints far above the universes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brenz rejected this\u2013it was a crass, unbiblical, three storey notion, which confined heaven to a place outside of our universe\u2013and he rejected it. \u201cNo,\u201d he said, \u201cthat\u2019s not heaven at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The heaven, in which God dwells, is God\u2019s own majesty. The heaven, which you and I inherit, is God\u2019s own in expressible glory. In heaven we don\u2019t require food, or drink, or sleep, or place, or time. The heaven which we will inherit transcends all that\u2013time and space and every other earthly condition. That\u2019s what Brenz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What will it be like then? Well, Brenz said, you can describe it as the Book of Revelation does, more in terms of what it is not than what it is. But, one thing is certain: God will be there, and He will be our all and all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I would like to quote him, \u201cGod,\u201d he says, \u201cwill be our all and all. God will be our heaven our earth, our place, our food, our drink, our life, our righteousness, our strength, our wisdom. our moderation, our happiness.&nbsp; And \u201cwhat more is there?\u201d he asks, than that. God will be everything to us. And this is far more wonderful. Far more divine than anything the human mind could devise or anything that human words could express. And then he goes on and he quotes Isaiah, who Paul quotes in the New Testament. For he says, \u201cfor since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, what thou hast prepared for him that waiteth on God.\u201d [Isaiah 64:4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now why will God and His presence mean everything to us in heaven? Why will all our glory consist entirely in His dwelling among us? Have you ever wondered?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s clear. It is because we will love Him so much there. This whole chapter of Revelation\u2013this&nbsp; apocalyptic picture shows that all the activity of heaven\u2013the singing, the praise, the psalms, the service day and night in the Temple. All the activity is an activity of love. Love and joy in the presence of God. And the Lamb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You see, when you love someone, you desire nothing else, nothing more than simply to be with him. That\u2019s\u2019 your pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The person I love most in this world\u2013you might expect it\u2013is my wife; I never, never get tired of her. I want to be with her all the time. Every now and again, Trudy, my secretary, scolds me for not coming to school at eight o\u2019clock in the morning when I can get the best work done. Well, I\u2019m home\u2013talking, drinking coffee with my wife. That\u2019s the way it is when you love someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s the way it is when you love God. You crave and you enjoy His presence. And if you do \u2013He comes to you. He comes to you, He wants to and He will. Listen to Jesus, \u201cIf a man love me, he will keep my words:\u201d (he will hang on to those words of promise, concerning that eternal hope) \u201cIf a man love me, he will keep my words: the Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will make our abode\u2013our dwelling place\u2013permanently\u2013our dwelling place with him. [John 14:23]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now there\u2019s nothing figurative about that. It happens. If I love Christ, He comes to me. And He\u2019s present with me\u2013He and the Father. And they dwell in me in a beautiful, inexpressible, <em>unio mystica<\/em>; actively, graciously dwelling with and in me. The Divine Godhead dwells in me. And this is not something just ontological. God isn\u2019t just there. It\u2019s something dynamic\u2013operational . He dwells in me and with me, helping me helping me strengthening me, upholding. He forgives me, comforts me. He <em>leads me<\/em> as our text says\u2013right now, and also in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And He leads me here out of this great tribulation to heaven. To the heaven where He is present in all His glory. Where He loves me and I love Him. Love Him not with a failing, faltering, flagging love, but with a perfect love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that is my living hope. That is my future. And that is my constant and confidant prayer\u2013for myself and for every one of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Luther so beautifully puts it in his <em>Little Catechism<\/em>, \u201cThe prayer that God, our Father in heaven will deliver us from all evil of body and soul, property and honor, and finally when our last hour is come, take us from this vale of sorrow\u2013this vale of tribulation to himself in heaven.\u201d Amen&nbsp; Glory be to the Father, etc. Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Robert Preus died and went to heaven on November 4, 1995.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Robert-Preus-sermon.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revelation 7:13| Rev. Robert D. Preus| April 26, 1983| Concordia Theological Seminary Chapel| Ft. Wayne, Indiana Let us all pray: Thanks to Thee, O Christ victorious! Thanks to Thee, O Lord of Life! Death hath now no power o&#8217;er us, Thou hast conquered in the strife. Thanks because Thou didst arise And hast opened&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/10\/16\/what-heaven-is-like\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,8,246,17],"tags":[586,588,587],"class_list":["post-4605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-saints-day","category-latest-sermons","category-papers-by-rev-dr-robert-d-preus","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","tag-all-saints","tag-revelation-7","tag-robert-preus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6751,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4605\/revisions\/6751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}