“It doesn’t get any better than this!” Have
you ever thought or even said those words?
Maybe you were with family or friends.
Maybe in the city or in nature or maybe you were sitting at the dinner
table at my Mama’s house. I would sure
believe that! Maybe it was some chicken
fried steak and mashed potatoes and gravy.
That’s pretty good right there.
Not long ago, I went with my two
sisters and their husbands down to Port Aransas. We rented a little place not far from the
beach and we spent the days swimming and laying on the beach and eating good
seafood. It was so relaxing just
watching the waves roll in. Then in the
evenings after dinner we would go back to the hotel and play board games or
card games and we would give each other prizes for no good reason and every
night we would end up laughing so hard at something or another. You know, it was the kind of laughter where
you can’t breathe and your side hurts and your head hurts and your saying, “Stop it.
Stop it.”
The older I get, the more I enjoy
spending time with family and friends just doing nothing but laughing and
joking and visiting. That’s about as
good as it gets with me right there. We
don’t have to be spending money. We
don’t have to drink alcohol or do drugs.
All we have to do is be together and we start having fun. Sort of like the party our church had at the
RV park a couple of weeks ago. I felt
like I was hungover the next day just from laughing!
You know, I think God is laughing
right along with us at times like that.
I say that because in lots places in the Bible, God is referred to as
our Father and is there a better sound for a typical father to hear than his
kids laughing? Sure, God gets glory when
we worship Him in church but I think He gets a kick out of watching His kids
sing karaoke or play a game that makes them laugh. He loves us and enjoys it when we are happy
because He is a good God.
Now, while we live here on this old
earth, God is not as concerned about our happiness as He is about our
holiness. Again, going back to our
earthly fathers, does a good parent give his child everything that child wants
to try to make him happy? Of course
not. A parent’s goal is to raise
children into fully developed adults capable of making good decisions on their
own so that they live happily as adults.
God works in a similar fashion.
He allows or even causes difficult
things to come into our lives so that, as James
1 says, we become mature and complete, not lacking anything. But…can you imagine…when these trials and
tests are over…and our work on this earth is done and we finally get to see
Jesus and He welcomes us into Heaven with “Well
done, my good and faithful servant! I
know it was hard, my precious one, but you did it and I am so proud of
you! Now, let me show you around. You are going to love this!”
I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure
there’s going to be a line over here that starts the chicken fried steak buffet
with mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits and all the other fixins. Then over here is the Mexican food buffet and
there’s the chocolate swimming pool and the…okay, I need to quit or we’ll spend
all morning talking about food.
But when we get to Heaven that’s when
we can truly say, “It doesn’t get any
better than this.” But from here, it
seems like we are a long way off from that life sometimes, doesn’t it? Sometimes it’s hard to imagine but God wants
us to imagine it. He gave us information
about it in His Word and even commanded us to keep our hearts and minds set on
things above, like we looked at last week. Also last week, we talked about how
if we were going to go on a trip to Australia or somewhere far away that we
would prepare for that trip. We looked
at why we should go and basically how to pack for the trip by storing up our
treasures in Heaven. This week, I want
us to think about how we are going to get there.
If you were going to Australia, you
would get there by plane, most likely. I
guess they might have a ship that you could get on somewhere but at some point,
a plane will most likely be involved.
Well, similarly, if you are going to Heaven, did you know that there are
two ways to get there?
Now, these two ways are only for those
who have a ticket and our ticket is by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ
as our Lord and Savior. But once you
have that ticket, there are two ways to get there. Paul tells us about it in a beautiful passage
in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This passage makes me happy. It gets me excited so if I get a little loud
or do a little happy dance, don’t be surprised.
1 Thessalonians is in between
Colossians, where we were last week and, obviously, 2 Thessalonians in the New
Testament. The church in Thessalonica
had written Paul because they had some questions for him and he is writing this
letter to answer some of those questions.
One of their concerns was about their loved ones who had died. Paul had taught them that Jesus was going to
come back and get them soon and so they expected it to be while they were all
still alive but now some of them had died and they were worried that they had
somehow missed the rapture that Paul had talked about.
So, let’s read Paul’s response to them
as he describes the rapture in 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed
about those who fall asleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest of
mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According
to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until
the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen
asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will
come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore
encourage one another with these words.
All over the Northeast, half a million
Adventists -- disciples of New York
evangelist William Miller -- awaited the rapture on April 3, 1843. Journalists
had a field day. Reportedly some disciples were on mountaintops, hoping for a
head start to heaven. Others were in graveyards, planning to ascend in union
with their departed loved ones. Some high society ladies clustered together
outside town to avoid entering God's holy kingdom amid the common herd.
It was to happen on April 3rd but what do you think
happened? Nothing happened, of
course. April 4th came and
has come and gone many times since. It’s
foolish to try to guess the date when Matthew 24:36 says, 36"But about that day or
hour no
one knows, not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
We don’t know
when and we don’t need to know when. All
we need to do is be expecting it.
Paul tells us
there are two ways to get to Heaven; either through death or through the
rapture. Now, when I say the word
“rapture” you may notice that this is not a word that Paul used. We get the word “rapture” from the Greek word
“harpazo” which means to snatch away.
Some of you
may remember playing jacks as a kid. I
remember you rolled the dice and bounced a ball and before the ball hit the
ground you had to pick up a certain number of playing pieces and so you
snatched those pieces off the ground real quick. That’s “harpazo”. That also makes me sound ancient, talking
about playing jacks. “Harpazo” is the
same word used to describe a wolf snatching a sheep in John 10:12. In Acts 8:39
it speaks of Philip’s being snatched away from the Ethiopian eunuch. It is a strong, almost violent act that is
irresistible.
In verse 13, Paul says, “We don’t want you to be uninformed” and
I think he is speaking for himself but also for God. God doesn’t want us to be uninformed so He
revealed some things to Paul so he could tell us. In verse
15, it says, “According to the Lord’s
word…” and I believe Paul has been given this directly from God in some way
or another. The Lord has given this to
Paul to share with us. He wants us to
know and doesn’t want us to grieve. So, Paul
is saying it but he has the authority of God Himself.
Now, I want
to get to the really good stuff. This
passage is used to comfort people at funerals all the time and it is perfect
for that but that’s not our focus this morning.
Let me just tell you that we are also not focusing on all the Bible
prophecy that is mentioned. This sermon series is focused on Heaven. We went through a series on Bible prophecy in
general a while back and we saw what happens to the unbelievers after the
rapture but I’ll be honest. Most of that
stuff is not going to affect us as Christians.
In fact, most
of the book of Revelation is not written to us nor will it affect us because I
believe that the Bible clearly teaches that the rapture will happen before the
Great Tribulation that is so prevalently talked about in Revelation. We can argue about that later if you want to –
and you can be wrong later if you want to - but this series is not meant to
deal with all that. This is meant to
help us prepare for the trip. So, if we
are going to be prepared for the trip, we want to know how we’re going to get
there.
Paul says in verse 16, “For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven.” At the
rapture, Jesus is coming for us who
are still alive. He is not sending His
angels or drawing a map and hoping we get there. He’s coming to get us. Now, don’t mistake the rapture for the Second
Coming of Jesus. That comes later. You can tell the difference because at the
rapture, Jesus meets us in the sky and at His Second Coming, He actually comes
all the way back to earth but we will talk about that a little later on.
Since His ascension back into
Heaven after His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus has been sitting at the
right hand of God (Heb. 1:3) but when the Father says it is time, Jesus will
leave Heaven with a loud shout; a command like He gave to Lazarus when Jesus
stood at the tomb (John 11:43) and called Lazarus out. When Jesus gives the command it will be like
a military commander calling his troops to fall in.
Now, I wish I could see this. Can you imagine the scene? The King of all kings, the Creator of the
universe, God the Father is sitting on His throne and one day He is going to
look to His right at His beloved Son, Jesus, and say, “It’s time!” Then Jesus will
stand up from His throne and say, “Michael! Let’s go get my bride!” Then the archangel will shout the command
and a trumpet will echo over all the planets in the universe and at the sound
of that trumpet, graves all over the world will burst open and the Christians
that have already died will rise first with their glorified bodies joining with
their glorified spirits to make them into the image of Christ. (John MacArthur,
Jr. commentary)
1 John 3:2
says, “2Dear friends,
now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is.” Romans
8:38 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even
death. So, those that have died will go
first.
Now, that’s
another picture. Can you imagine what
that’s going to look like? Some gardener
is going to be weedeating around the graveyard and all of the sudden every
casket holding a Christian is going to blast apart and the dirt and headstones
will go flying leaving those graves empty with just the word of the Father.
Now, let me
throw this in really quick. I know some
people are concerned because their loved one has been cremated or they were
lost at sea or dismembered in an accident of some kind. They worry that God won’t be able to put them
all back together again at the rapture and I have to say that’s almost
funny. You mean to tell me that you
don’t have a problem believing that God can restore to a glorious new body
somebody that died naturally and whose body is now dust but since Aunt Becky
lost her foot in a car crash, she’s gonna limp for all eternity? C’mon.
I don’t know
how but if God can speak the universe into existence, I’m pretty sure He has
this little problem figured out as well.
Philippians 3:21 says, “God will transform our lowly bodies so
that they will be like his glorious body”
and 1 Corinthians 15:52 says we will
be changed “in a flash, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet.”
We will be rescued from Satan and
sin and temptation. We will be snatched
up out of this nasty old world and away from all of the greedy and corrupt
politicians, the impure and cowardly leaders, the hurt and the pain that so
many live with every day physically, mentally and more. Our lowly, weak and impure bodies will be
transformed into glorious bodies in an instant.
Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you have computers? Now, on these computers, does there ever come
up on the screen a notification that an app or a program or a system of some
sort needs to be updated or upgraded?
Sure, those things happen all the time, right? Now, do you ever wonder while you are
downloading that update what the new system is going to look like? Are you ever afraid that it might not be
recognizable or that you aren’t going to be able to use it?
No, not usually. Most of the time those programs are updated
and the changes are nice. It may have
some new features but the overall system is very familiar and easy to use. Our glorified bodies will be very similar to
getting a much-needed upgrade. When we
get our glorified and resurrected bodies, we will, no doubt, have some
unexpected surprises but we will certainly recognize our new bodies as being
ours. (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p. 116)
Do you know how I know this? We’re told in scripture that our bodies will
be like the glorified body of Jesus. I
read that verse in 1 John 3 that
says, “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like
him.” We are also told in several places in scripture what His
body was like. After Jesus was
resurrected, it says He appeared to hundreds of people and they all recognized
Him. Mary had a hard time at the tomb
for a few minutes but even through her tears she finally took a good look and
knew right then.
The disciples
saw His scars. They touched Him and He
ate with them. He called to them and
they recognized His voice. Yes, He
walked through a closed and locked door in the upper room and that will be
pretty cool if we are able to do that but we don’t know for sure. We aren’t told explicitly that we will be
able to walk through walls but if so, I bet after a few thousand years we will
get used to even that.
1 Corinthians 15:49 says, “And just as
we have borne the image of the earthly man”, (speaking of Adam) “so shall we bear the image of the heavenly
man.” (Speaking of Jesus) My point
is that, while we don’t know everything about these cool and glorified new
bodies we are going to get, they will be familiar to us and to others.
Now, with all
that being said, “glorified bodies” is not the main focus of this passage. The rapture, with all its power and glory is
going to be great and awesome but bodies flying up and around is not the main
point of this word from God through Paul.
Paul tells us at the end that these words should be encouraging and what
does he say just before that? The words
at the end of verse 17 are the
encouragement. Look at them again with
me, if you would.
“And so we will be with the Lord
forever.” Now, there’s your encouragement!
I don’t know about you but that makes a lot of people say “Amen!” I don’t know everything about our glorified
bodies or everything about what Heaven is going to be like. We have some ideas and that’s good but this
is the best news of all. We will be with
Jesus. We will share as co-heirs with
Him to all the good things Heaven has to offer.
That is truly when we will say, “It doesn’t get any better than this!”
I was driving around the other day
sort of in the middle of nowhere when I saw something on the side of the road
in the tall grass. I couldn’t tell at
first what it was but it was moving around and so I kept my eyes on it as I
passed that spot. When I got up to it, I
saw that it was a young dog laying on his back scratching his back in the grass
and just enjoying life to the fullest.
He jumped up about the time I got
to him and tried to race me for a second, gave up on that and found something
obviously incredible to sniff in the weeds.
It made me laugh at first how much this dog was obviously enjoying
himself there on the side of the road with no plan and nobody else around him
like only a puppy could do.
Now, being a preacher, everything
I see is filed into my “Future Illustrations” file in the back of my mind and
so that puppy illustrates so perfectly the typical unbeliever. They are having fun, running free and wild
with no plan for the future and no care about anything but right now and the
fun they can have in this field of so-called dreams.
I’ve been there. I’ve had fun running free and living
easy. The problem is that this is a mean
and nasty world and it’s full of problems that hit all of us. How much is peace and joy worth to you in
this world, plus the assurance of eternal life in Heaven if we get hit by a car
and die today?
Do you know for sure that if you
died that you would go to Heaven? The
Bible, God’s Word, tells us plainly that all we have to do is believe that
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father
but through Him. (John 14:6) That belief
will be proven in our lives by changed lives that every day look more and more
like Jesus.
Repent of your sins today. Turn away from that lifestyle and ask Jesus
to be Lord and Savior of your life today and to forgive you of all your sins
and He will. Today is the day of
salvation. Don’t wait. We aren’t guaranteed another day.
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