God’s Love in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20; Deut 33:2-3)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 19, 2023

I have keys up here, why?

Why do I need keys?

Do you all lock your doors? Why?

The Ten Commandments have been important to us for most of human history.

Author and pastor John Killinger explains God’s purpose in giving the Ten Commandments with a wonderful illustration from literature:

In her novel about Maine, The Country of the Pointed Firs, Sara Orne Jewett describes the ascent of a woman writer on the pathway leading to the home of a retired sea captain named Elijah Tilley. On the way, the woman notices a number of wooden stakes randomly scattered about the property, with no discernible order. Each is painted white and trimmed in yellow, like the captain’s house.

Curious, she asks Captain Tilley what they mean. When he first plowed the ground, he says, his plow snagged on many large rocks just beneath the surface. So he set out stakes where the rocks lay in order to avoid them in the future.

In a sense, this is what God has done with the Ten Commandments. He has said, “These are the trouble spots in life. Avoid these, and you won’t snag your plow.”^19[1]

Let’s read:

Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV)

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

³⁷And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

³⁸This is the great and first commandment.

³⁹And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

⁴⁰On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Now, let’s read:

Exodus 20:3–17 (ESV)

³“You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

⁶but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

⁹Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You shall not murder.

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You shall not steal.

¹⁶“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

My theme today is: God Showed His Love for Us in Giving Us the Ten Commandments

1. These are NOT just rules:
   1. David Jeremiah writes: My wife, Donna, and I began our ministry together in a Baptist church in New Jersey. We had just come from four years of seminary training in Dallas, and we were both avid Dallas Cowboy football fans. To our dismay, when we arrived at our first assignment, we were told that watching TV on Sunday was forbidden, and reading the Sunday newspaper was frowned upon. I am not sure I should be confessing this, but I remember closing the blinds of our apartment so that no one would see us watching the Cowboys.
   2. A bit legalistic? Perhaps, but you should have known the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They actually crunched the numbers of legalism, and came up with 1,521 things you couldn’t do on the Sabbath day. That sounds like the title of a book no one would want to read.
   3. Among the 1,521: no rescuing of drowning people; no wearing of false teeth (reinserting them, should they slip, would be work); no looking in the mirror (plucking a white hair, also work). If your friend grew ill, you could do certain things to forestall the illness, but actually trying to cure him—too much like work. At the beginning of a famous revolt, many Jews stood and let themselves be killed rather than risking work by defending themselves (1 Maccabees 2:29–38).
   4. Men made a bureaucratic nightmare out of Sabbath-keeping, but it wasn’t what God wanted.^[2]
   5. These commandments are about God’s love.
2. The First four commandments relate to our relationship with God.
   1. In the passage we just read we see a person come to Jesus and ask what the greatest of the commandments is.
   2. The first commandment is like the hub of a wheel from which all the others are spokes. This isn’t simply another commandment—it’s the one that brings all of them together.^[3]
   3. This person was a lawyer and seems to be testing him.
   4. That is when Jesus gives the answer.
   5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
   6. That sentence spoken by our Lord sums up the first four commandments:

(1) “Do not worship any other gods besides me” (Ex. 20:3).

(2) “Do not make idols of any kind” (Ex. 20:4).

(3) “Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:7).

(4) “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8).^[4]

1. We love the Lord our God, so we do not have any other gods. Now, that is a sermon on itself which we will save for another day.
2. If we love the Lord, God we are not going to set up idols. That is another sermon we will save for another day.
3. We love God so we are not going to misuse His name. That is another sermon for another day; however, I will say that misusing the Lord’s name happens way more than we realize. We actually do not even know how to properly say the Lord’s name in Hebrew because the Hebrew people thought of His name as so sacred, they would not say it out loud.
4. The fourth commandment is regarding the Sabbath Day. This is referenced in the New Testament but never as a commandment as such. It still fits in relation to God because we see at the end of creation the Lord rested. We are called to cease activity.
5. It is never listed as such a command in the New Testament, but we can easily make the case that we need a day of rest. This does not mean laying on the couch. This means a cease from our normal work. I think working on the house can be okay if it is not your normal work. If your normal job is cleaning houses, you need a break from that. If your normal job is building houses, you need a break from that. If your normal job is teaching, you need a day off. We need rest.
6. The story goes that when Africa was first being explored, native guides were taking their visitors through the region. After six days of pushing through the jungle, the natives refused to walk. They explained, “We need a day to let our souls catch up with our bodies.”^12[5]

• The last six commandments relate to our relationship with others.
  1. This is summed up in Jesus’ words: And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
  2. Jesus Himself said that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
  3. Jesus is saying that the Old Testament law and all of the prophetic writings fall under the commandments to Love God and to Love people.

(5) “Honor your father and mother” (Ex. 20:12).

This “family rule” is well illustrated in the story “The Old Man and His Grandson,” from the collection Household Tales by the Grimm brothers:

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at the table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spit the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they bought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. “What are you doing there?” asked the father. “I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.^13[6]

(6) “Do not murder” (Ex. 20:13).

(7) “Do not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14).

David Jeremiah shares:

Recreational, impulsive sex is considered the norm in our troubled culture. Defending the seventh commandment against the modern world singles one out as a pious puritan stuck in a lost century. However, when we strip sexuality of the restraints God gave it, we create chaos that tears at the very fabric of society. And we place an obstacle that blocks the fellowship God wants to have with us.

God gives us this commandment from love. He is saying, “My child, sexuality is My gift to you. I want you to know that when it’s rightly used, it can bring you joy and intimacy with the spouse I give you, and it can create a legacy of children to replenish the earth.^[7]

(8) “Do not steal” (Ex. 20:15).

I recently read a story about a Soviet factory worker who attempted to steal items from his workplace. Every day he filled a wheelbarrow with cylinders, iron ore, and tools—and every day as he left, he got caught and the stuff was taken away from him.

Finally he was fired, and on his last day the commissar waited for him to come out with the contraband. When he arrived at the door the commissar pulled back the cover from the wheelbarrow, and there was the usual stuff. He confiscated everything and said to the thief, “You are a fool! We caught you every single day. You got away with nothing!”

“Sir, Mr. Commissar,” he answered, “you are the fool. I have been stealing wheelbarrows.”^[8]

(9) “Do not testify falsely” (Ex. 20:16).

(10) “Do not covet” (Ex. 20:17).^[9]

David Jeremiah shares:

Just as the fifth commandment is transitional between love of God and love of others, this tenth commandment is transitional between outer and inner obedience—in essence, between Moses and Jesus. For the other commandments in this group have been about behavior, while this commandment is about the heart. We’ve already seen how Jesus made this connection in the Sermon on the Mount. God looks inside us, so that even if we don’t steal, we can displease Him by our own displeasure with what He has given us.^[10]

God showed His love for us in the ten commandments.

Mystery writer Dorothy Sayers was a follower of Christ. She observed that there are two kinds of laws: the law of the stop sign and the law of the fire.

The law of the stop sign is upheld by the community and enforced with fines. The fine can be increased if too many people continue not to stop. The stop sign could also be taken down. It’s simply up to the city council. You might run that stop sign with no worries, as long as no one is watching.

The law of the fire is a different matter. It says, “Touch me and you’ll be burned.” All the city councils, all the state legislatures and national congresses and the United Nations itself could respond to the dangers of fire by gathering to pass a new law that fire will no longer burn. Every person in the world could vote on this law.

And the first man or woman to put a hand in the fire afterward will still get burned.

God’s moral laws are like the law of fire. It doesn’t matter whether you voted for it or not. It doesn’t matter who’s watching. You won’t break God’s laws; you’ll break yourself upon them. Nor is the penalty negotiable, because it’s bound up in the law itself.^18[11]

Do you know Christ?

Luke 9:23

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

¹⁹ John Killinger, To My People with Love (United Kingdom: Abingdon, 1998), 13–14.

^[1] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[2] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[3] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[4] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ex 20:1–8.

¹² Leslie B. Flynn, Come Alive with Illustrations (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 193–94.

^[5] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

¹³ Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Digireads.com, 2009), 185.

^[6] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

^[7] Ibid.

^[8] Ibid.

^[9] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ex 20:8–17.

^[10] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

¹⁸ Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker (San Francisco: Harper & Rowe, 1941), 4.

^[11] David Jeremiah, God Loves You: He Always Has–He Always Will (New York City, NY: FaithWords, 2012).

Will Time exist in Heaven? There will be time in Heaven but we will not be limited by it. (Revelation 8:1; 2 Peter 3:8).  

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, February 12, 2023

Sometimes I get up to preach and I bet you look at your clock. Before he was called as their pastor John MacArthur filled the pulpit at the church he currently serves. He preached something like an hour and a half that Sunday, or close to it. He thought he wouldn’t be invited back. The next Sunday he was invited back, and he noticed they had added a big clock on the back wall. He has been there some 54 years, since 1969 and still preaches about an hour. You can hear his sermons on the radio, or the computer called “Grace to You.” I know I have preached long, but never that long.

We are very mindful of the time; I know I am. I remember as a child being at the orthodontist looking at my watch and they asked if I had somewhere to be. I was in seventh or eighth grade. I had nowhere to be. I began regularly wearing a watch when I was in 1^st grade. My parents and teachers thought it was great that I was very good at telling the time and watching the time. Whether it was good or not, I don’t know, what I do know is I probably became obsessive about time. I am very detail oriented. I still always watch the time. I still plan according to time, a lot. I have this mental plan, based off of the time, in my head.

So, when we think about Heaven, do you think there will be time? Can you imagine existence without time? From birth we are limited by time. Is time evil? Is time part of our existence because of sin?

Let’s talk more about Heaven and time.

My theme:

There will be time in Heaven, but we will not be limited by it.

1. Whether encouraging or discouraging, there will be time in Heaven.
   1. I don’t know whether you hate time or not. If you hate time, don’t be discouraged yet. If you like time, then maybe this is encouraging.
   2. Think about this, without time:
      1. We can’t cook, right?
      2. We can’t play sports because there is time.

• We can’t play music because we must keep notes, right?
• There are other things that we need time for such as planting and harvesting and even assignments that have a due date. How many of us are procrastinators?

1. It appears from certain passages that there will be time in Heaven. Let’s look at a few:
   1. Heaven’s inhabitants track with events happening in time, right down to rejoicing the moment a sinner on Earth repents (Luke 15:7).
   2. Martyrs in Heaven are told to “wait a little longer” when they ask “how long” before Christ will judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge the martyrs’ blood (Revelation 6:10-11). Those in Heaven couldn’t ask “how long” or be told “wait a little longer” unless time passes in Heaven.
   3. Paul spoke of Heaven in terms of “the coming ages” (Ephesians 2:7). He speaks not just of a future age but of ages (plural).
   4. God’s people in Heaven “serve him day and night in his temple” (Revelation 7:15).
   5. The tree of life on the New Earth will be “yielding its fruit every month” (Revelation 22:2). There are days and months both in the present and eternal Heaven.
   6. God says, “The new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure   before me.  .  .  . From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me” (Isaiah 66:22-23). New Moons and Sabbaths require moon, sun, and time.
   7. God said, “Summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8: 22). This wasn’t the result of the Curse; it was God’s original design.
   8. We’re told that “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1).
   9. The book of Revelation shows the present Heaven’s inhabitants operating within time. The descriptions of worship include successive actions, such as falling down at God’s throne and casting crowns before him (Revelation 4: 10). There’s a sequence of events; things occur one after another, not all at once.

• The inhabitants of Heaven sing (Revelation 5:9-12). Music in Heaven requires time. Meter, tempo, and rests are all essential components of music, and each is time-related. Certain notes are held longer than others. Songs have a beginning, middle, and end. That means they take place in time.[1]
• Some think we won’t have time and they think we won’t have time because God does not have time, but remember we will not become God in Heaven.
• God created time in Genesis 1:1, long before sin entered the world.

1. Be encouraged we will not be limited by time in Heaven.
   1. The discouraging thing now is that we are limited by time.
   2. Right now, we have a certain amount of time for rest and a certain amount of time for play and a certain amount of time for work.
   3. We are watching the clock because we want to get our work done in time to play or spend with family before we must sleep.
   4. We are also limited by death. Eventually, we all die. That is another limitation of time.
   5. In Heaven, we won’t have the limitation of death. Death shall be no more (Rev. 21:4).
   6. In Heaven, we will work and not grow weary. Working grew tiresome after sin (Genesis 3:19).
   7. Imagine, not having to think about being tired when we work. If you like cutting down trees you can do that as long as you want without being tired. We will have new bodies.
   8. Imagine having the benefits of time without the weaknesses. Imagine having the ability to MEASURE time, but not feel the negative effects of time?

So, in Heaven, we will have time without the limitations of time.

Rejoice, hallelujah, heaven will be beyond your greatest imaginations.

I have been watching time closely since first grace. But I have had the effects of time on my life for my whole life.

I have been painting a picture of Heaven. I hope your picture of Heaven is getting more focused.

Will you be there?

Grand narrative of the Bible:

Do you know Christ?

Luke 9:23

God created us to be with him (Genesis 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Genesis 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matthew – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).

[1] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 5042-5043). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Mr. Johnson, a businessman from Wisconsin, went on a business trip to Louisiana. He immediately sent an e-mail back to his wife, Jean. Unfortunately, he mistyped a letter and the e-mail ended up going to a Mrs. Joan Johnson, the wife of a preacher who just passed away.

 The preacher’s wife took one look at the e-mail and promptly fainted. When she was finally revived, she nervously pointed to the message, which read: “Arrived safely, but it sure is hot down here!”

Let’s continue talking about Heaven. Let’s talk about home.

Let’s think some random thoughts about home…

What is your dream home? Think about it for a minute. I have seen these shows on television where they show celebrity estates, and they are absolutely huge. I have seen shows where they fix up homes. You might know the show Fixer-Upper which is about a couple who fixed old and dilapidated homes for people.

Most of us can probably think of the way homes have changed over the years. I grew up in a two-story house with four bedrooms. I recently saw pictures of that house online and it has totally changed. The new owners have made the kitchen, dining room, and living room almost like one big room. The fireplace has changed, everything has changed. It doesn’t seem like home to me anymore. What makes something home? Until I was five years old we lived in an old house outside of downtown Dayton. The house had beautiful woodwork and the rooms were so big, I was also so little, so they even appeared bigger! We had an incinerator in the basement. I remember watching my dad burn stuff in it and as a young child it was so cool! We had a front porch and could watch thunderstorms. It was a nice home, but if I went back to that house, it would no longer be home to me. In fact, it has changed, the whole area has changed. We can all think of home. Think of your childhood home. Think of your favorite home.

Are there places that you can go, and you know you are home? When I drive around Dayton, I still feel home because that is where I lived until I was twenty-five years old. But then I was in Cincinnati, and it took a while but then it felt like home. I have now been here for five and a half years, and it also feels like home. I have an intimate connection with this area as it has become part of my life. We moved six times in our first fourteen years of marriage. But this is home.

So, think about Heaven, will we have homes? Will we have our own homes?

I want to say, yes, and yes to an extent.

Theme: Heaven will have all the comforts of this world without the sin, pain, and suffering. In heaven we will have home-sweet-home.

Let’s read Isaiah 65:17 and 21-22:

Isaiah 65:17 (ESV)

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷   “For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

     and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

Isaiah 65:21–22 (ESV)

²¹   They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²   They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

     for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

1. Yes, we will have homes in Heaven.
   1. Our homes will reflect this life without sin, trouble, hardship, pain, and sickness.
   2. Remember that it seems there is some continuity between this life and Heaven.
   3. If you read the context of that passage some of it could have to do with the Millennial Reign, though it seems evident that it for sure includes the eternal New Jerusalem as well.
   4. As I look at this it seems for sure that we will have homes.
   5. Verse 21: build house, inhabit them, vineyards, and eating.
   6. It seems that we may have land.
   7. Remember that if you read Revelation chapters 21-22, we see a huge city which is the New Jerusalem, but we also see a garden. If you like the city, you got it. If you like the opened country, you have that as well.
   8. In the passage in Revelation, it seems that we will be able to work the soil on our land.
   9. Work is not a consequence of sin. In Genesis 2:15 we see that Adam was placed in the Garden to take care of it and this is before sin entered the world. But because of sin we work and grow weary. In Heaven we won’t. This doesn’t mean we won’t rest in Heaven.
   10. What will our homes be like?
   11. So, in Heaven we have homes, and we have land and we can take care of the land.
   12. Will our homes be big or small?
   13. In Chip Ingram’s book The Real Heaven, What the Bible Actually Says, he has a chapter on our homes. He says that our homes will be a lot like the new bodies we have. Our new bodies are to be like our current bodies and our new homes will be as well, except they will not have all the limitations and illness, etc.
   14. There is only so much we can know, but I do think we can go a little deeper.
   15. Let’s read John 14:1-2: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
   16. Randy Alcorn helps us understand this: The Vulgate, the Latin Bible, used the word mansions in that verse, and the King James Version followed by using mansions. Unfortunately, that rendering is misleading if it makes us envision having massive lodgings on separate estates. The intended meaning seems to be that we’ll have separate dwelling places on a single estate or even separate rooms within the same house.
   17. New Testament scholar D. A. Carson says, “Since heaven is here pictured as the Father’s house, it is more natural to think of ‘dwelling-places’ within a house as rooms or suites.  .  .  . The simplest explanation is best: my Father’s house refers to heaven, and in heaven are many rooms, many dwelling-places. The point is not the lavishness of each apartment, but the fact that such ample provision has been made that there is more than enough space for every one of Jesus’ disciples to join him in his Father’s home.”
   18. The New International Version rendering of John 14:2 is this: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.  .  .  . I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Place is singular, but rooms is plural. This suggests Jesus has in mind for each of us an individual dwelling that’s a smaller part of the larger place. This place will be home to us in the most unique sense.
   19. The term room is cozy and intimate. The terms house or estate suggest spaciousness. That’s Heaven: a place both spacious and intimate. Some of us enjoy coziness, being in a private space. Others enjoy a large, wide-open space. Most of us enjoy both— and the New Earth will offer both. Heaven isn’t likely to have lots of identical residences. God loves diversity, and he tailor-makes his children and his provisions for them. When we see the particular place he’s prepared for us— not just for mankind in general but for us in particular— we’ll rejoice to see our ideal home.
   20. Will we entertain in Heaven? Since we have homes, I think it is likely that we will entertain in our homes just like we do today. This gets into a broader topic of feasts in Heaven, eating in Heaven, relationships in Heaven, etc, but it seems that we will have all of that.
       1. It seems that we will feast with people.
       2. Look at the many times Jesus ate with people.

• Hebrews 13:2 talks about entertaining angels, so entertainment is important.
• We also know about the Marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-9.

Let’s take a moment to apply

1. 1. Why wouldn’t we have nice homes in Heaven?
   2. Why wouldn’t we have dream homes in Heaven?
   3. We will have real, resurrected bodies.
   4. We will have a real city and a real garden that will be paradise.
   5. We will have relationships.
   6. We will eat.
   7. Heaven will be what this life was and is meant to be. There will be no suffering, crying, pain, sickness, or death, but there will be purpose and living.
   8. We can be encouraged that we will have some form of dwelling in Heaven.
   9. We can be encouraged that some things from this life will continue to eternity.
   10. We can recognize that we must live in community now, as we will later.
   11. We can serve and entertain now, as we will in eternity. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13: 2).
   12. We can recognize that we must live for eternity now and be blessed later (Matthew 6:19-20).

Close:

What makes something or someplace home?

Could it be that home is where your family is? Could it be that home is where your community is? Could it be that home is where you belong? Could it be that home is where you have purpose? Could it be that home is where you have memories? I believe you will have all that in Heaven and so much more. You will have memories and make new memories. You will have community and new community. You will have family and more family. You will have purpose. You will belong like you have never belonged before. You will have an estate, land, and house. Oh, you will also have joy. You will have joy like you have never known before.

Heaven will be home! Home sweet home!

Heaven will be home because we will be with Jesus (Rev. 21:3). God is restoring creation. Going all the way back to the Garden of Eden when everything was created good, God is making things good. He will dwell with us. This all happens because Jesus took care of our sin problem when He died on the cross for our sins and rose again.

Do you know Him?

Do Dogs and Animals go to Heaven? (Isaiah 11, 60 and 65)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, January 29, 2023

We have always had a love for animals, haven’t we?

I remember a Twilight Zone episode about a man and his dog.

Hyder Simpson is an elderly mountain man who lives with his wife Rachel and his hound dog Rip in the backwoods. Rachel does not like having the dog indoors, but Rip saved Hyder’s life once and Hyder refuses to part with him. Rachel has seen some bad omens recently and warns Hyder not to go raccoon hunting that night. When Rip dives into a pond after a raccoon, Hyder jumps in after him, but only the raccoon comes up out of the water. The next morning, Hyder and Rip wake up next to the pond. When they return home, Hyder finds that neither Rachel, the preacher, nor the neighbors can hear him or see him; they are under the impression that he has died.

Walking along the road, Hyder and Rip encounter an unfamiliar fence and begin to follow it. They come to a gate tended by a man, who Hyder initially believes to be Saint Peter. Explaining that he is only a gatekeeper, the man explains that Hyder can enter the Elysian Fields of the afterlife. Simpson is appreciative, but disheartened to hear that neither raccoon hunting nor any of his other usual pleasures can be found inside. Told that Rip cannot enter and will be taken elsewhere, Hyder angrily declines the offer of entry and decides to keep walking along the “Eternity Road,” saying, “Any place that’s too high-falutin’ for Rip is too fancy for me.”

Later, Hyder and Rip stop to rest and are met by a young man, who introduces himself as an angel dispatched to find them and bring them to Heaven. When Hyder explains his previous encounter, the angel tells him that the gate was actually the entrance to Hell. The gatekeeper had stopped Rip from entering because Rip would have smelled the brimstone inside and warned Hyder that something was wrong. The angel says, “You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he’ll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”

As the angel leads Hyder along the Eternity Road toward Heaven, the angel tells Hyder that a square dance and raccoon hunt are scheduled for that night. He also assures Hyder that Rachel, who will soon be coming along the road, will not be misled into entering Hell.

The closing narration is:

“Travelers to unknown regions would be well advised to take along the family dog. He could just save you from entering the wrong gate. At least, it happened that way once—in a mountainous area of the Twilight Zone.”

I wonder if our love for animals is because God created animals and He created animals as part of Eden.

Genesis 1:30 (ESV)

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

This passage references animals in the Garden of Eden and also references the “breath of life in them.” Animals were in paradise when God first created it prior to the fall of man. In the eternal Heaven, in Revelation 22 it seems that that Heaven reflects the first Garden of Eden. We will see a Tree of Life again in verse 2 as there was a tree of life in the first Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). We see a river in the eternal Heaven in Revelation 22:1. We see two rivers in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10 and 13. It does seem that the eternal New Jerusalem Heaven is going to be like the Garden of Eden was meant to be, only much better. It would seem that since animals were in the first garden they will be with us in eternity. Let’s talk about this for a moment.

My Theme today:

Animals were created by God as part of paradise and that will continue into the new creation.

I hope this is encouraging for you.

1. Let’s start by talking about souls. Do animals have souls?
   1. Let me lay my cards on the table. I like animals, I really do. I really like pigs because they give us bacon. I like chicken because they give us eggs. I like a good steak as well. In seriousness, I love to hear the birds in the morning. I love to watch deer. I grew up with tropical fish and I have had aquariums as large as 135 gallons. While serving my last church I had a 55-gallon aquarium in my office with African Cichlids. Even with all of that, as I began this research I was reluctant to think that our pets are in heaven. On that note, let’s continue with this message.
   2. When God breathed a spirit into Adam’s body, made from the earth, Adam became nephesh, a “living being” or “soul” (Genesis 2:7).
   3. Randy Alcorn shares: Remarkably, the same Hebrew word, nephesh, is used for animals and for people. We are specifically told that not only people, but animals have “the breath of life” in them (Genesis 1:30; 2:7; 6:17; 7:15, 22). God hand-made animals, linking them both to the earth and humanity.
   4. Am I suggesting animals have souls? Certainly they do not have human souls. Animals aren’t created in God’s image, and they aren’t equal to humans in any sense. Nonetheless, there’s a strong biblical case for animals having non-human souls. I didn’t take this seriously until I studied the usage of the Hebrew and Greek words nephesh and psyche, often translated “soul” when referring to humans. (Nephesh is translated psyche in the Septuagint.) The fact that these words are often used of animals is compelling evidence that they have non-human souls. That’s what most Christians in the past believed. In their book Beyond Death, Gary Habermas and J. P. Moreland point out, “It wasn’t until the advent of seventeenth-century Enlightenment . . . that the existence of animal souls was even questioned in Western civilization. Throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of living things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans, have souls.”^[1]
   5. So, it seems that they do have some sort of a soul.
2. How will people and animals relate?
   1. It seems that we will relate similarly to the way we were to relate in the Garden of Eden.
   2. Randy Alcorn shares: God created us to be stewards of animals. He holds us accountable for how we treat them. “The godly are concerned for the welfare of their animals” (Proverbs 12: 10, NLT). We are caretakers for the animals, but they belong to God, not us: “For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the field belong to me” (Psalm 50: 10-11, NLT). Some people regard emotional attachment to animals as a modern development. But many cultures’ historical records demonstrate otherwise. The prophet Nathan spoke to King David of the poor man who had a little lamb “who shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him” (2   Samuel 12: 3). There’s no suggestion this man’s affection for his pet was inappropriate. David, unaware the story was told to expose his own sin, angrily responded that the man who stole the precious pet deserved to die. We needn’t speculate how God might populate a perfect Earth. He populated Eden with animals, under the rule of people. God doesn’t make mistakes.

• Will animals praise God:
  1. This is new to me. I never thought of animals praising God.
  2. Consider the psalms. Psalm 148 commands all of creation to praise the Lord, including the animals: Psalm 148:10–12 (ESV)

¹⁰Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds!

¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!

¹²Young men and maidens together, old men and children!

1. If in some sense fallen animals, shadows of what they once were, can praise God on this fallen Earth, how much more should we expect them to do so on the New Earth? “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6)
2. We’re told eight times in Revelation of “living creatures” in the present Heaven: “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’.  .  . The living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (Revelation 4: 8-9).
3. Randy Alcorn writes about this: The word translated “living creatures” is zoon. Throughout most of the New Testament the word is translated “animal” and is used to indicate animals sacrificed in the Temple and wild, irrational animals (Hebrews 13:11; 2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). In the Old Testament, the Septuagint used zoon to translate the Hebrew words for animals, including the “living creatures” of the sea (Genesis 1:21; Ezekiel 47:9). In extrabiblical writings, zoon commonly referred to ordinary animals and was used of the Egyptians’ divine animals and the mythological bird called the Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2-3). In virtually every case inside and outside of Scripture, this word means not a person, not an angel, but an animal.^[2]
4. In the book “Heaven” Alcorn gets into greater detail. It is amazing to think that animals will praise God alongside us.
5. It could even be possible that in a restored creation animals can talk.

• Will animals be resurrected?
  1. I can get into greater detail about animals and pets, but we will stop with this part.
  2. Psalm 104 is all about animals and then we get to verse 30 and it references renewing them. This seems to mean that they are resurrected in Heaven.
  3. It seems that it glorified God more by restoring than recreating. When God makes things right in eternity it is as if God is saying, “I can show you things can be redeemed.” God will redeem all things.
  4. If animals are resurrected this means your pet may be in Heaven as well.
  5. However, this is the part of today’s message I am least confident in.
  6. I am confident that animals will be in heaven, that is clear from Scripture, but I am not as confident that they are resurrected animals.
• A few thoughts:
  1. Heaven will be awesome with or without your pet.
  2. Heaven will be with God in paradise.
  3. Secondly: DON’T discourage people from grieving the loss of an animal. That is appropriate. God created animals for us, and we are sad when they leave us.
  4. I believe the Bible teaches us not to abuse animals. We are to take care of them.
  5. Romans 8 teaches us that all creation is waiting redemption, and this includes animals.
  6. In many of his writings, C. S. Lewis commented on the future of animals. He said, “It seems to me possible that certain animals may have an immortality, not in   themselves, but in the immortality of their masters.  .  .  . Very few animals indeed, in their wild state, attain to a ‘self’ or ego. But if any do, and if it is agreeable to the goodness of God that they should live again, their immortality would also be related to man— not, this time, to individual masters, but to humanity.” In The Great Divorce, Lewis portrayed Sarah Smith, a woman ordinary on Earth, as great in Heaven. On Earth she loved both people and animals. In Heaven she’s surrounded by the very animals she cared for on Earth.
  7. In her excellent book about Heaven, Joni Eareckson Tada says, “If God brings our pets back to life, it wouldn’t surprise me. It would be just like Him. It would be totally in keeping with His generous character.  .  .  . Exorbitant. Excessive. Extravagant in grace after grace. Of all the dazzling discoveries and ecstatic pleasures heaven will hold for us, the potential of seeing Scrappy would be pure whimsy— utterly, joyfully, surprisingly superfluous.  .  .  . Heaven is going to be a place that will refract and reflect in as many ways as possible the goodness and joy of our great God, who delights in lavishing love on His children.”[3]
  8. Heaven will be more amazing than anything we can imagine. Look forward to Heaven.
  9. Now, the greatest of applications, this series is about heaven and heaven is possible for us because of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross.
  10. Whenever we talk about heaven, we must put this in the context of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Currently, we live in a fallen world. We suffer because of the fall, because of depravity. Animals also suffer because of the fall. However, Jesus redeemed us and so we are looking forward for restoration. Someday God will make everything right. This does include animal life. It may or may not be your pets, but it will include animals without suffering. This is all because of God’s grace.
  11. God freely gifts us salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection. That separates Christianity from the other religions. Other religions are about our good works earning us heaven, or a better reincarnation, but Christianity is about what Jesus has done to gift us life in paradise.
  12. The question is will you be in heaven.
  13. 2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)
  14. ⁵Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Do you know Christ?

Luke 9:23

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

^[1] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011).

^[2] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011).

[3] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 7430-7439). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

A cleric found himself wondering whether there were any golf courses in Heaven. He even began to ask the question in his prayers. One day, in answer to his prayers, he received a direct answer from on high. 

“Yes,” said the Heavenly messenger, “There are many excellent golf courses in Heaven. The greens are always in first class condition, the weather is always perfect and you always get to play with the very nicest people.”

“Oh, thank you,” said the cleric, “That really is marvellous news.”

“Yes, isn’t it?” replied the messenger, “And we’ve got you down for a foursome next Saturday.”[1]

 A few years I was running with Mercedes, and we had an interesting conversation. Actually, we have had many philosophical conversations as we run. So, a few years ago she asked me if we will have to go to the bathroom in Heaven. I don’t have a good answer to that, though I understand the question. She was five at the time, she is now eleven, and one of the major stressors of a five-year-old is to make sure she makes it to the bathroom in time. I remember being a child and thinking about how in Heaven I hope that we can have peanut-butter pie. I remember thinking that we could eat as much as we want without getting sick. Some of those thoughts have worn off as I’ve aged. Why don’t we think like children about Heaven anymore? Why can’t we use our imagination?

A common misconception about eternity surfaced in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. A member of the undying “Q continuum” longs for an end to his existence. Why? Because, he complains, everything that could be said and done has already been said and done, and now there’s only repetition and utter boredom. He says, “For us, the disease is immortality.” Finally he’s allowed to end his existence.[2]

Can Christians have fun? Why not?

Is Heaven to be boring?

Theme: Heaven will not be boring, Heaven will be fun. Heaven will have all the blessings of this life without the hardships, pain, and suffering. Heaven will be with Jesus.

WHAT WILL WE DO?

We will worship the triune God.

We will rule and administrate.

We will have different positions of authority.

We may rebuild cities.

We may build homes.

Some will compose and write music.

Some will play musical instruments.

We will serve.

Some will farm.

Some will cultivate orchards.[3]

1. It seems that the New Heavens and New Earth will be a reflection of how earth was to be before the fall.
   1. Things God created that have been distorted by sin will be made right and perfect.
   2. We live in a fallen world, but I believe the Bible shows that Heaven will be as God intended the Garden of Eden to be before sin entered the world.
   3. We can read Revelation 21 and 22 and see the comparisons with the Garden of Eden. In the eternal Heaven, in Revelation 22 it seems that that Heaven reflects the first Garden of Eden. We will see a Tree of Life again in verse 2 as there was a tree of life in the first Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). We see a river in the eternal Heaven in Revelation 22:1. We see two rivers in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10 and 13. It does seem that the eternal New Jerusalem Heaven is going to be like the Garden of Eden was meant to be, only much better.
   4. We have purpose now and we will have purpose for all eternity.
   5. Just think for a moment about your best moments on earth. Think about your most exciting times.
   6. Think about how you felt when you first found out you were going to be a dad or a mom. Think about how you felt when you were first engaged or newly married. Think about the joy, comfort, and excitement on a vacation. Just think about how excited you were to get a new job or do a certain job. Just think for a moment about how much you love a certain hobby. Now imagine that joy, those feelings, that excitement going for all eternity. Imagine for all eternity doing what you love to do, but without being tired, without sickness or pain. I wouldn’t limit eternity though. You may get bored fishing for all eternity, but why would you do the same thing? What if you fished for a while and then played golf and then accomplished a task? It does seem that we will have purpose.
   7. Look with me at Isaiah 65:17–25 (ESV)

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷   “For behold, I create new heavens

and a new earth,

     and the former things shall not be remembered

or come into mind.

¹⁸   But be glad and rejoice forever

in that which I create;

     for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,

and her people to be a gladness.

¹⁹   I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in my people;

     no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

²⁰   No more shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

     for the young man shall die a hundred years old,

and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹   They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²   They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

     for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³   They shall not labor in vain

or bear children for calamity,

     for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,

and their descendants with them.

²⁴   Before they call I will answer;

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

²⁵   The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;

the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

and dust shall be the serpent’s food.

     They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,”

says the Lord.

1. Isa 65:17: God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth.
2. Former things shall not be remembered or come to mind… This is likely just an expression. This does not mean we will not have any memory. We will talk about that on another Sunday.
3. Verse 18 references Jerusalem.
4. Verse 19 talks about God rejoicing in Jerusalem and God being glad with His people. There will not be any more weeping. Verse 20 is interesting. On one hand it is saying there will be infants, but people will live very long. An infant will not only live a few days. Even the person who dies at 100 will be thought accursed… Why is there death? This is because this passage seems to be blending the Millennial Reign with the eternal New Heavens and new earth. This is called a merism which is blending the New Heavens and Millennial Reign together. This is a figure of speech taking two extremes like I searched night and day.
5. So, we can conclude that Isaiah is writing about both. The Millennial reign and the New Heavens and New Earth. They are both a renovated state.
6. Isa 65:21-22 references houses and inhabiting, as well as vineyards and eating of the fruit.
7. Isa 65:23 references labor and bearing of children.
8. Mixing Isaiah 65 with Revelation 22 shows the details of a city and a garden alongside the details of a vineyard.
9. Isaiah is called the fifth gospel. Isaiah prophesied about the future of Israel and he prophesied destruction, but then in Isaiah 42; Isaiah 49; Isaiah 50; Isaiah 52:13-53:12 we have the four servant songs. These are all about the Messiah. We see the suffering Jesus would go through. Then Isaiah chapters 56-66 are prophesies about the future times until the end. Isaiah 65 even anticipates the spread of the Gospel in Acts. Then, this passage. This passage looks to Heaven.
10. Why? Because of the Suffering Servant. This is still all about Jesus.
11. When we talk about Heaven, this is all about Jesus.
12. Randy Alcorn writes: Isaiah 65:21 suggests that we’ll build houses and live in them on the New Earth. If so, we’ll no doubt decorate them beautifully. Buildings on the scale of the New Jerusalem reflect extensive cultural advancement. Human builders will learn from God’s design, just as Leonardo da Vinci learned by studying the form and flight of birds while working on his flying machine. What will clear-thinking human beings— unhindered by sin and the barriers that separate us— be able to design and build? What would Galileo, da Vinci, Edison, or Einstein achieve if they could live even a thousand years unhindered by the Curse? What will we achieve when we have resurrected bodies with resurrected minds, working together forever?[4]
13. It is quite likely people will continue to compose music, write stories, discover things.
14. Suppose people continue to explore, but now they can explore all these new oceans. Suppose people can explore outer space and go even further than ever before.
15. A major point to be made is that we will have resurrected-perfect bodies. In 1 Corinthians 15, the great chapter on the resurrection, Paul writes about our resurrected bodies. I don’t know if we will be able to, but Jesus was able to walk through walls (John 20:19), Jesus was not limited by gravity (Acts 1:9). That could be because Jesus is God, but who is to say that our resurrected bodies will not have more capabilities than we have now.
16. The Bible does NOT give any indication of a disembodied boring state. No, on the contrary, the Bible shows an embodied existence in a real place of activity.
17. We will also be with all of the believers who have gone on before us, and they will NOT be boring.
18. Hebrews 12:22–24 (ESV) ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
19. David Jeremiah writes quoting Jonathon Edwards: As the famous American theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote, “No inhabitants of that blessed world will ever be grieved with the thought that they are slighted by those that they love. Or that their love is not fully and fondly returned …. There shall be no such things as flattery or insincerity in Heaven, but there, perfect sincerity will reign through all in all. Everyone will be just what he seems to be and will really have all the love he seems to have. It will not be as it is in this earth where comparatively few things are what they seem to be and where professions are often made lightly and without meaning. But there, every expression expression of love shall come from the bottom of the heart, and all that is professed shall be really and truly felt.”[5]
20. The greatest reason heaven will NOT be boring is because we will be with Jesus. Revelation 21:3. Jesus is NOT boring.

• Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
• ¹¹  You make known to me the path of life;

• in your presence there is fullness of joy;
• at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

1. Let’s apply this.
   1. Look with me at Revelation 14:13: And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
   2. Did you notice that? Their deeds will follow them. What we do on earth will follow us, so it is best that we store up treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-20).
   3. Hebrews 6:10 tells us that God will not forget the good things we do.
   4. We can look forward to Heaven. Heaven will be greater than anything we can imagine.
   5. We can share the Gospel knowing that we are inviting others to paradise.
   6. We can also know that if we have extra suffering here and now, we won’t have that for eternity.
   7. Some of us would love to do certain things, but can’t because of health. You can do all that and more in Heaven. If you can’t go fishing anymore, you can in Heaven. If you can’t run anymore, you will be able to in Heaven. If you can’t play golf anymore, you can in Heaven. If you can’t read anymore, or travel, or hear, in Heaven these things will be restored. In Heaven you will be able to be active without pain. In Heaven you will be able to have energy which you cannot imagine now.
   8. I am amazed by the energy of children. They can move so fast! I am amazed at my young age how sore I can feel in the morning. I cannot imagine life without having to think about energy levels, but in Heaven this will be fixed.
   9. However, our experience in Heaven is determined by our faithfulness to Christ now.
   10. Remember we are saved by grace, but we will have rewards for faithfully serving Jesus.
   11. So, just like how in this life the mistakes we make now catch up to us later, it is true for all eternity. Serve Jesus faithfully now and you will have more opportunities to serve Him forever.
   12. This whole message, this whole series is contingent on us knowing Christ.
   13. We must know Him. God came to earth and took on flesh. He lived the life we could not live and died the death we could not die. He did this for His glory, and He did this to welcome us into Heaven. These passages are all about Jesus.
   14. We talk about what we do in heaven, but what is most important is that we are with Jesus.
   15. Are we living with Jesus now?

Close:

I love C. S. Lewis’s profound perspective in his book Mere Christianity, when he writes,

The Christian says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that country and to help others to do the same.”[6]

We are created for eternity. We are created for Heaven and it will not be boring.

Heaven will not be boring; Heaven will be fun. Heaven will have all the blessings of this life without the hardships, pain and suffering. Heaven will be with Jesus.

Do you know Christ?

Luke 9:23

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

[1] http://jokes.christiansunite.com/Heaven/Golf_in_Heaven.shtml

[2] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 7599-7602). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[3] Enns, Paul P. (2011-03-01). Heaven Revealed: What Is It Like? What Will We Do?… And 11 Other Things You’ve Wondered About (p. 153). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[4] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 7599-7602). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[5] Jeremiah, David. Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven (pp. 70-71). Turning Point. Kindle Edition.

[6] Ingram, Chip; Witt, Lance (2016-02-23). The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says (Kindle Locations 1380-1388). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Where are They Now (present Heaven versus future Heaven)? (Deut. 26:15: Heaven is where God resides; Revelation 21; Phil. 1:23; Luke 16:19-31; Rev. 6:9-11)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, January 15, 2023

Today, I want to talk about the present Heaven versus the eternal Heaven.

Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher, often spoke of Heaven. He said, “It becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven . .  . to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end and true happiness?”[1]

So, let’s look at Heaven.

It is really difficult to talk about Heaven without looking up a lot of passages, but for flow I only want you to have to turn to one passage. In Revelation 6:9-11 we see a scene of martyrs interceding in Heaven. This is a scene in Heaven, and we can draw some conclusions from it.

Today, my theme is to teach on the present heaven versus future heaven with a goal to help us meditate on our eternal home.

Revelation 6:9–11 (ESV)

⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. ¹⁰ They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

1. Context of Revelation 6:9-11
   1. In a minute, we will draw applications from Rev. 6:9-11.
   2. This passage is the last book of the Bible and there is a lot going on here. There are differing views of Revelation. But let’s put this in the narrative of the Bible.
   3. In Genesis 1-2 everything was created good.
   4. In Genesis 3 sin entered the world. Ever since sin entered the world things have been fallen, depraved, messed up.
   5. So, that is the state we were left with all through the Old Testament.
   6. Then Jesus came and He died on the cross for our sins and rose again. That is the New Testament.
   7. Now, we are in the end of the Bible and also the future consummation of all things.
   8. Rev. 6 takes place during the tribulation period and that is the period when God is pouring out judgment on all the world.
   9. The tribulation period will be followed by the Millennial Reign and then the New Jerusalem which will be the new heavens and the new earth.
2. Now let’s differentiate between the two Heavens.
   1. We find in Scripture that the future Heaven is not until the end of the Bible. In Revelation 21 we find the reference to the future Heaven and that is the new Jerusalem. We find other references throughout the Bible to the New Jerusalem and that is the eternal Heaven.
   2. We also find through the Bible references to the millennial reign. We find this in Rev. 20:2-6 as well as Old Testament passages. This is not the New Jerusalem, nor is it the current Heaven.
   3. When we think of passages concerning the resurrection of the body, that will be for the new Jerusalem and maybe the millennial reign. When we think of passages about Jesus wiping every tear from our eyes and no more crying, etc (Rev. 21) that is the New Jerusalem. A lot of what we will talk about in the coming weeks will concern the New Jerusalem and eternal Heaven, so today I want to talk more specifically about the current Heaven.
3. For the rest of the message, I want to draw on 5 encouraging applications about the current Heaven. I will substantiate these applications from the Rev. 6:9-11 passage and a few others.

1. We can be encouraged that we go straight to Heaven when we die (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23).
   1. Heaven is where God resides, and we will go straight to Heaven. We can know that we go to be with God because those saints are with God, and they are interceding for others.
   2. We also know in Luke 23:43 Jesus told the thief that that very day he would join Jesus in paradise.
   3. In 2 Cor. 5:8 Paul wrote about being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
   4. In Phil. 1:23 Paul also wrote about departing and joining Jesus.
   5. We go to be with God in Heaven when we die.
   6. Now, where is Heaven? Scientists at Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, among others, postulate that there are ten unobservable dimensions and likely an infinite number of imperceptible universes.[2]
   7. I find that fascinating. Heaven is in a realm that we are imperceptible to, but God is there.
   8. We see it happen in Scripture, such as 2 Kings 6:17 when Elisha’s servant’s eyes are opened in order to see God’s angels all around him.
2. We can be encouraged that we will have consciousness in the immediate Heaven (1 Samuel 28:16-19; Luke 9:31; 16:19-31; Rev. 6:9-11).
   1. We see in Scripture that we will be conscious. If we simply think about this passage in Revelation, they are conscious and they are actually interceding for the persecuted church.
   2. We also see consciousness in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.
3. We can be encouraged that we will have contact with those who have gone before us (Luke 16:19-31; Rev. 6:9-11: they worship, not one merged identity.
4. In the Rev. 6:9-11 passage they are worshipping together. We see the people together again in Rev. 7:9-10.
   1. We see a group of people together.
   2. There is no reason to think that when people die they are not reunited with their loved ones as well.
   3. By the way, these Scriptural examples are specific cases, it seems that Heaven is far greater than anything we can think or imagine.
   4. Worshipping Jesus is exciting, standing before His throne, but Heaven will be more than worship.
   5. Heaven will be fellowship; we see that indicated in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.
   6. Paul desired Heaven more than earth so it must be greater than we can think of.
   7. In 2 Cor. 12 Paul wrote of some type of near-death experience and said that he saw things that he was not permitted to speak of. He also did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body.
   8. Now, is a good time for me to also say that it seems that the immediate Heaven is physical, not purely spiritual.
   9. Listen, the physical body is not bad, it is good. It is Christoplatonism to think that it is bad. Remember I shared that last Sunday. Greek philosophy, Platonism, impacted Christianity to think the physical is bad, but it isn’t.
   10. These descriptions in Rev. 6:9-11 and in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus give physical descriptions. They had voices to cry out. They were wearing white robes.
   11. “The rich man and Lazarus are depicted as having physical forms. The rich man had a tongue and a thirst that he wished to satisfy with water. Lazarus had a finger, and there was water available to him in Paradise, into which he might dip his finger. Of course, these references may be entirely figurative. But they might also suggest the possession of transitional physical forms, existing in a physical Paradise, to sustain and manifest human identity between death and resurrection.”[3]
   12. These bodies and this physical realm are still different than the New Jerusalem and the bodies are not our resurrected bodies, they may be temporary bodies, but it does seem physical.
   13. The physical can go in and out of the spiritual. We see that all throughout the Bible when God interacts with humanity. Of course, God is spiritual (John 4:24), but the angels are physical and they interact with our realm (Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 18; the Lord’s appearance to Abraham; Genesis 19 the angels visiting Lot).
   14. We also know that God is unchanging, that does not mean that Heaven is unchanging. God can change Heaven as He sees fit. This means Heaven can be a certain way now, but then transition when the New Jerusalem comes down from earth.
5. We can be encouraged that in Heaven we will have a memory of life on earth, otherwise we would be a different person. (Luke 16:19-31).
   1. In the passage in Luke 16:19-31 the rich man and Lazarus had memories of their life on earth.
   2. I like how Randy Alcorn points out that without our memories we would be different people.
   3. Also, in 1 Samuel 28:16-19, Saul wrongfully tries to bring up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel and Samuel remembered Saul and really was alert to what was going on.
6. We can be encouraged that it is likely our past family members and friends are interceding for us now (Rev. 6:9-11).
   1. We see this in Rev. 6:9-11. They are interceding for the Christians on earth.
   2. Actually, their intercession is more valuable than our prayers because they are with Jesus and so they are righteous. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, and they are righteous or they wouldn’t be in Heaven (James 5:16).
   3. This means they are interceding for us, but that does not mean we should pray to them. We can pray straight to Jesus, why pray to anyone other than Jesus Who is Lord and God (Hebrews 4:14-16).
   4. Just imagine that your friends and family are in Heaven interceding for you, isn’t that amazing?

Conclusion:

So, we go straight to Heaven and then eventually to the New Jerusalem.

To illustrate, imagine you lived in a homeless shelter in Miami. One day you inherit a beautiful house overlooking Santa Barbara, California, and are given a wonderful job doing something you’ve always wanted to do. Many friends and family will live nearby.

As you fly toward Santa Barbara, you stop at the Dallas airport for a layover. Other family members you haven’t seen in years meet you. They will board the plane with you to Santa Barbara. Naturally you look forward to seeing them in Dallas, your first stop.

But if someone asks where you’re going, would you say “Dallas”? No. You would say Santa Barbara, because that’s your final destination. Dallas is just a temporary stop. At most you might say “I’m going to Santa Barbara, with a brief stop in Dallas.”[4] Similarly, the Heaven we will go to when we die, the present Heaven, is a temporary dwelling place, a stop along the way to our final destination: the New Earth. Another analogy is more precise but difficult to imagine, because for most of us it’s outside our experience. Imagine leaving the homeless shelter in Miami and flying to the intermediate location, Dallas, and then turning around and going back home to your place of origin, which has been completely renovated— a New Miami. In this New Miami, you would no longer live in a homeless shelter, but in a beautiful house in a glorious pollution-free, crime-free, sin-free city. So you would end up living not in a different home, but in a radically improved version of your old home. This is what the Bible promises us— we will live with Christ and each other forever, not in the intermediate, or present, Heaven, but on the New Earth, where God will be at home with his people.[5]

This heaven is all possible because of Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

[1] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 352-354). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[2] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 997-1005). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[3] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 1443-1447). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[4] http://www.epm.org/blog/2015/Apr/22/present-heaven-future-heaven

[5] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 978-981). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Heaven is for Real and you were Created for It!  (2 Cor. 5:6, 8; 2 Tim. 4:8)

Prepared and preached for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, January 8, 2023

Years ago, I moved to a different city from Cincinnati, though I am originally from Dayton. One day I walked in a barber shop, it was a small barber shop that a local recommended, but when I walked in, I felt like I stood out like a Steelers fan in the Dawg Pound. I saw a few guys shootin’ the breeze there and one of them asked me, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I said where I was from and they made me welcome, but I will never forget walking in there. The realization hit, “No, I am new in town.” It has only been 16 years since I lived in the Dayton area, but everything has changed. Sometimes I like to go to the website of the school I graduated from or check it out on Facebook because it has all changed. Nothing, absolutely nothing, stays the same. In 2015, they tore down my high school and built another one. I attended the same school district from kindergarten through twelfth grade and it is all different. I like to think back; I think I do that more as my daughters get older. I think about what it was like when I was eleven and what my dad was doing, though my dad was younger than I am now when I was that age. Everything changes. So, having moved just less than four hours from home, I am amazed at people who move overseas. I am amazed at people who left Germany, or Ireland in the late 19^th century to begin a new life in the states. Where are you from? Do you long to think back to the area you came from? Or, maybe you long to think back to a different age? Are you longing for something, or somewhere, or sometime?

We may long for a place, a time, or something else, but what we are really longing for is Heaven. God created us for Heaven.

I have homework for you. Today, I begin a sermon series on Heaven. I would like to ask you to think about your questions about heaven and submit the questions that you have. If they are not covered, I will try to cover them on the last sermon in the series. You can write them down and give them to me, or you can email the office at bethel2771@gmail.com.

Theme:

My theme is simple: Heaven is real, and you were created for it.

My application is hopefully encouraging: Long for Heaven, Heaven is paradise.

1. Heaven is real and you were created for it:
   1. Randy Alcorn: Heaven:
   2. The sense that we will live forever somewhere has shaped every civilization in human history. Australian aborigines pictured Heaven as a distant island beyond the western horizon. The early Finns thought it was an island in the faraway east. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed that they went to the sun or the moon after death. Native Americans believed that in the afterlife their spirits would hunt the spirits of buffalo. The Gilgamesh epic, an ancient Babylonian legend, refers to a resting place of heroes and hints at a tree of life. In the pyramids of Egypt, the embalmed bodies had maps placed beside them as guides to the future world. The Romans believed that the righteous would picnic in the Elysian fields while their horses grazed nearby. Seneca, the Roman philosopher, said, “The day thou fearest as the last is the birthday of eternity.” Although these depictions of the afterlife differ, the unifying testimony of the human heart throughout history is belief in life after death. Anthropological evidence suggests that every culture has a God-given, innate sense of the eternal— that this world is not all there is.[1]
   3. The Roman catacombs, where the bodies of many martyred Christians were buried, contain tombs with inscriptions such as these:              
   4. In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives.                
   5. One who lives with God.                
   6. He was taken up into his eternal home.
   7. One historian writes, “Pictures on the catacomb walls portray Heaven with beautiful landscapes, children playing, and people feasting at banquets.”
   8. In AD 125, a Greek named Aristides wrote to a friend about Christianity, explaining why this “new religion” was so successful: “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.”
   9. In the third century, the church father Cyprian said, “Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom. Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land.  .  .  . We regard paradise as our native land.”[2]
   10. Our native land is not here, nor is it overseas. Our native land is Heaven. We were created for it.
   11. S. Lewis wrote: If our deepest desires cannot be satisfied in this world, then we must have been made for another world.” He pondered this and other truths, which led him to Christ.
   12. But, today we do not long for heaven do we?
   13. There’s cartoonist G. Larson’s “Far Side” which shows a guy strumming a harp on a cloud in heaven saying: “Wish I’d have brought a magazine.”
   14. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain portrays a similar view of Heaven. The Christian spinster Miss Watson takes a dim view of Huck’s fun-loving spirit. According to Huck, “She went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it. . . . I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
   15. The pious Miss Watson had nothing to say about Heaven that appealed to Huck. (And nothing, if we’re honest, that appeals to us.) What would have attracted him was a place where he could do meaningful and pleasurable things with enjoyable people. In fact, that’s a far more accurate depiction of what Heaven will actually be like. If Miss Watson had told Huck what the Bible says about living in a resurrected body and being with people we love on a resurrected Earth with gardens and rivers and mountains and untold adventures—now that would have gotten his attention!
   16. When it came to Heaven and Hell, Mark Twain never quite got it. Under the weight of age, he said in his autobiography, “The burden of pain, care, misery grows heavier year by year. At length ambition is dead, pride is dead, vanity is dead, longing for release is in their place. It comes at last—the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them—and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness.”
   17. What a contrast to the perspective that Charles Spurgeon, his contemporary, had on death: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”^[3]
   18. Part of the problem is that we have an inaccurate view of Heaven. Let’s begin to change that.
2. Heaven is a place
   1. I am beginning a series on Heaven, so I don’t want to spoil the series today, instead I just wish to set up the series.
   2. I will talk about several passages, and you can look them up at home.
   3. Sometimes we think things in Heaven are only spiritual. This is not true.
   4. If things in Heaven are only spiritual then why does God use so many material objects to illustrate what we’ll have in Heaven, like “house, dwelling, clothed, rooms (Jn. 14), white robes (Rev. 6:10-11), rivers, gardens, and the tree of life in Heaven. Both Rev. 2:7 and 22:2 refers to the SAME Tree of Life that was physical in the Garden of Eden in (Gen. 2:9).[4]
   5. Randy Alcorn writes: Christoplatonism: Plato was “the first Western philosopher to claim that reality is fundamentally something ideal or abstract.” “For Plato . .  . the body is a hindrance, as it opposes and even imprisons the soul (Phaedo 65– 68; 91– 94).”
   6. But according to Scripture, our bodies aren’t just shells for our spirits to inhabit; they’re a good and essential aspect of our being. Likewise, the earth is not a second-rate location from which we must be delivered. Rather, it was handmade by God for us. Earth, not some incorporeal state, is God’s choice as mankind’s original and ultimate dwelling place.
   7. To distinguish the version of Platonism seen among Christians from secular forms of Platonism, I’ve [Randy Alcorn] coined the term Christoplatonism. This philosophy has blended elements of Platonism with Christianity, and in so doing has poisoned Christianity and blunted its distinct differences from Eastern religions. Because appeals to Christoplatonism appear to take the spiritual high ground, attempts to refute this false philosophy often appear to be materialistic, hedonistic, or worldly.[5]
   8. But Heaven is a real place. Jesus reminded His disciples to pray, “Our Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).
   9. In the Bible it will refer to multiple heavens: 1) the atmosphere, the universe and where God resides.
   10. There are many scriptures on heaven, but consider just a few. Look at these Scriptures:

Psalm 2:4

The One enthroned in heaven laughs…

2 Cor. 12:4:

I was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

2 Cor. 5:6, 8:

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Tim. 4:8:

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

1. Heaven is a destination,
2. It will not be boring,
3. It is paradise.

• Significance of Heaven
  1. Have you lost loved ones, you’ll see them again if they were in Christ.
  2. Are you having trouble walking or maybe you cannot walk, you will have a perfect body someday.
  3. Maybe your eyesight is failing, you will have renewed vision.
  4. Maybe your memory is struggling, you will know more and remember again (1 Cor. 13:9-13).
  5. Maybe you are watching a loved one suffer through something, know that this is not how God intended it. This is because of our sin-filled world. Your loved one will live again without these sufferings.
  6. Do you have trouble getting up and facing each day? Do you experience pain constantly? This will end and you will have a perfect body.
  7. Do you experience depression or mental illness? In Heaven this will be gone.
  8. Do you have a loved one that you cannot talk with because of Autism or something else? You will have conversations with that loved one in Heaven.
  9. Jesus reminded His disciples to pray, “Our Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).
  10. Have you ever been at a family reunion, and you wanted to see and talk to so many people, but there just wasn’t time? There will be in Heaven. And you will be able to talk to Jesus, and Moses, and Elijah and all these other people.
  11. Do you want to see your parents again? Your grandparents?
  12. In Christ Alone: No guilt in life, no fear in death…

 A few years ago, a family of five died in a car accident. They were young parents, 29 years old, with three children. They were soon going to Japan as missionaries. The youngest was 2 months old. Their car was hit from behind by a semi and they died at the scene, all of them. That broke my heart. But upon further reflection, this is cause for praise. They all went to Jesus together. They could have experienced 80 years of suffering in this life, but instead they are in Jesus’ presence. They are in Heaven.

What are you longing for?

When Meagan was pregnant, both times, we longed for the day of our daughter’s birth.

But you know what we all, all of us as humans long for? We long for Heaven. We try to duplicate Heaven in our homes, malls, amusement parks, vacation destinations. We desire Heaven because we were created for Heaven.

Prayer

[1] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 265-274). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid, Kindle Locations 287-288.

^[3] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011).

[4] Ibid.

[5] Alcorn, Randy (2011-12-08). Heaven (Alcorn, Randy) (Kindle Locations 8723-8724). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

NOTE:

This is a different type of sermon titled “A Story Told.” I am giving the sermon as Joseph.

Good morning, you’ve probably heard about Jesus’ birth from Mary, at least I hope you have. My beloved Mary dictated her thoughts to Luke, the beloved physician and Luke has written them in a scroll. You know what I am talking about, right? Luke wrote a scroll, you might call it a hmm, hmm, what is the word? A book. Luke wrote a book about the Gospel of Jesus.  I’ve read how Luke wrote Mary’s account. He did a good job, a real good job. Mary is very detailed. She has quite a memory. It doesn’t appear like she left anything out. Well, almost anything, because of space, and the obvious fact that Mary is not me, there may be a few blanks to fill in. I am Joseph, stepfather to Jesus, Immanuel, in case you didn’t realize.

Occupation: I am a man who works with my hands. I know it has been said that I am a carpenter; to be a carpenter simply means “one who works with their hands.” I actually do all types of jobs. I work with stone, I work in the fields, and many other jobs. Rarely do I work with wood. As Jesus grew up, He learned my trade, or should I say, He learned the many trades that I do. Well, I suppose you want to hear about Jesus’ birth.

Mary and I, we were engaged. Engagement in our day and in our country was a little different than it is today.  Please, allow me to explain. You see many times our parents would arrange our marriage long before it actually happened. Our engagement was a very important event. There was an actual Jewish betrothal period. This period would last about a year. During this time, we were not to be married, nor were we to have marital relations. To break off an engagement was a big deal, it meant a divorce.

Okay, so we were engaged, I was so excited the day this betrothal period started. I was, let me think, I was seventeen years old when we were engaged. If my memory serves, Mary was thirteen years old. I couldn’t wait, I tell you, I couldn’t wait to be married to Mary. It was not only about being married. Mary was a great young lady. Mary was smart; she was a very smart young woman. No, she had very little education. But she knew the books of the law and the prophets. She knew what you would call the Old Testament.  She grew up listening to her father tell her about the books of the Law. She grew up learning how to keep the law. She knew them and believed them. She was eager to see an anointed prophet come and deliver Israel from the yoke of Rome. Oh, but she didn’t realize that she would be mother to the deliverer. Mary was very resourceful. She grew up learning from her parents how to keep up a house, and how to provide for the needs of survival. Also, Mary was a beautiful young lady. I was eager to be married to her. I was eager to start a family with her.

In my eagerness to be married to her I was preparing a place for us to live. I was preparing a small home for us. I was building some furniture for our home. I was saving some money for some animals to provide milk and other needs.

Imagine my surprise one day when Mary told me she was pregnant. Actually, Mary didn’t have to tell me, I could tell as she walked towards me. Mary had been away for a while. When she returned, she came to see me. As she walked towards me, I was working. I looked up and saw her, beautiful as ever, but pregnant. My heart sank. I thought, “How could she have done this? We are in a betrothal period.” Then I thought, “Maybe it wasn’t her? Maybe someone took advantage of her, she was traveling.” Sooner than those thoughts raced through my head Mary was in front of me. We exchanged hellos and then through tears she told me how an angel visited her and told her that she was favored. She was to have a baby. She was to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. She was to have a baby who will be the Son of God. He is to be King, an everlasting King.

I was shocked, but you know, I believed her. Mary was an honest woman. Even though I believed her, I was going to divorce her. Remember how I said that to break an engagement meant an official divorce. This could mean public humiliation for Mary, so I decided to do this quietly. Even though I believed her, others didn’t. I went to work, and I was talking with a friend, David was his name. We were working in the field. David said, “What is going on with Mary, I notice she is pregnant. You are going to divorce her, right?” I said, “Yes, but I am going to do this quietly.” David said, “quietly! Humiliate her! She had an affair in your betrothal period!” I replied, “Well, David, she says that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she is to give birth to the Son of God who will be king.” David replied, “Joseph, Joseph, I know that you really like this woman, she has been all you’ve talked about, but pregnant by the Holy Spirit!!! I guess when you’re in love, you’ll believe just about anything!!! Divorce her! She is not pregnant by the Holy Spirit but pregnant by another man.”

I thought about that conversation. But not long. That same night I had a dream. In a dream an angel appeared to me. The angel said to take her as my wife. She is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. I am to name Him Jesus which means “The Lord saves.” He will save His people from their sins. I was excited after that dream. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the betrothal is to stay. I had been raised being taught about the prophesies of a future King, a time when God will save us from our sins and save Israel from the other countries. What an honor, the Savior is to be born and I am to be His stepfather and Mary is to be His mother. Mary was telling the truth. 

 Soon after the dream Mary and I had to leave to my hometown of Bethlehem because of a census. Mary was greatly pregnant and the four day journey was difficult. We made it to the small city of Bethlehem just in time for Jesus’ birth. But there was no room for us to stay at anyone’s house. All of the guest rooms were full. Someone let us stay the night in the cave where they kept their livestock. Jesus was born and laid in a feeding trough. That same night shepherds came and worshipped this baby, our baby, God’s son.

Later on, we were able to get a small house in Bethlehem, then wise men from the east came to worship Jesus. Soon after that, He was about two years old, and I had another vision from God. We were to take Jesus to Egypt. Herod sought His life. We went to Egypt for several years and then came back and raised Him in Nazareth.

It was a hard journey, raising Jesus. But it was worth it. We didn’t know what was in store for us or humanity. Mary didn’t know, I didn’t know. But Jesus saves us from our sins. Amen