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Introduction:
Man instinctively is inquisitive about the future.
With irrepressible longing he craves knowledge not only of tomorrow, but also of the life that lies beyond “time’s allotted span.”
Even the preoccupations of a materialistic age and the sarcastic protests of intellectual superiors do not seem to affect man’s hope of heaven.
He is convinced that if there is a heaven to gain, then there must be an assurance about the loved ones who have passed on.
If there is a heaven to gain, then there must be a prospect for the Christian.
He is convinced that if there is a heaven to gain, then there must be a purpose in living for God while here upon earth.
No doubt this is why Thomas Carlyle once said, “He who has no vision of eternity will never get a true hold of time.”
So it is with some justification that I call your attention to the passage before us, and ask you to notice:
I.
The Surety of Heaven
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” (14:1).
If you will examine these words in their context and in light of other Scriptures, you will find that they teach that the surety of heaven is:
A. Is Understood Because of the Need of Fallen Man
“Let not your heart be troubled” (14:1).
The heart trouble that the Savior speaks about here is homesickness.
The Lord Jesus had been telling the disciples, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.
Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” (John 13:33), and the thought of His departure had made their hearts sink.
They just could not imagine what life without Him would be like.
He was their heaven, for “where Jesus is, ‘tis heaven there.”
These men were witnessing to the fact that heaven alone could satisfy their longing souls.
And so it always has been.
Man was made for heaven and will never rest until he finds his rest in the Christ of heaven.
Thousands upon thousands have expressed this restlessness or homesickness in many ways, but none has ever risen to the simplicity and certainty of the apostle Paul.
Listen to his words, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:” (Phil.
1:21-23).
Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all – except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died.
One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world.
Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it.
If people really learned to look into their own hearts, they would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be found in this world.
There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give you “heaven,” but it never happens.1
The sureness of heaven is understood in the need of man.
That sureness of Heaven is also:
B. Is Undeniably Only Through Faith in a Holy God and His Only Begotten Son
“You believe in God,” says Christ, “believe also in Me” (14:1).
In effect, the Lord Jesus was saying, “Belief in God, means belief in me; and belief in me, means belief in heaven.”
Speaking as Son over the Father’s house (Heb.
3:6) He surely could talk with authority on the certainty of heaven.
So He adds, “If it were not so [that heaven were not a certainty], I would have told you” (14:2).
Remember, also, that the Lord Jesus was speaking those words in the shadow of the Cross.
What weight, then, would His teaching have carried if death were but the end?
No, Jesus saw heaven through the gates of death and, therefore, steadfastly set His face to lead the way to the glory land, leaving us this assurance: “Where I am, there ye may be also” (14:3).
Illustration
Now We Are Small Enough
William Beebe, the naturalist, used to tell this story about Teddy Roosevelt.
At Sagamore Hill, after an evening of talk, the two would go out on the lawn and search the skies for a certain spot of star-like light near the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus.
Then Roosevelt would recite: “That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda.
It is as large as our Milky Way.
It is one of a hundred million galaxies.
It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.”
Then Roosevelt would grin and say, “Now I think we are small enough,[down to the right size]!
Let’s go to bed.” ~ Source unknown[2]
So we see that the sureness of heaven is not only understood in the need of fallen man, but is also undeniably through faith in a holy God and His only begotten Son.
II.
The Satisfaction of Heaven
“In my Father’s house are many mansions” (14:2).
What a glimpse of Heaven in a single phrase!
“Home” is one of the tenderest words in our English tongue, and I know why!
It is the word which best describes Heaven.
A. Home Is Where We Can Rest
This will not mean inertia or inactivity, but the blessed and eternal:
1. Rest from Sorrow
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more ...sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
(Rev.
21:4).
2. Rest from Separation
“There shall be no more death” (Rev.
21:4).
3. Rest from Shadow
“Having the glory of God: and her light was…clear as crystal” (Rev.
21:11);
“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:” (Rev.
21:23-24)
“And there shall be no night there” (Rev.
22:5).
4. Rest from Sin
“But there shall by no means enter it [Heaven] anything that defiles” (Rev.
21:27).
Illustration
The story is told of the great Richard Baxter, author of the “Saints Everlasting Rest,” that as he lay dying, he was heard to whisper in response to an inquiry as to how he felt, “I am almost well.”
For him, entry into heaven meant the saint’s everlasting rest.
How true are those words written to the Hebrew believers long ago, “There remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people of God” (Heb.
4:9).
B. Home Is Where We’re Reunited
That is just what heaven is going to mean.
For next to the unutterable joy of seeing our Savior, heaven is going to include the happy reunion with, and the recognition of, loved ones and friends who have gone before.
Paul sums up the anticipation of reunion and recognition in heaven in words that were first addressed to his precious converts at Thessalonica, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”
(1 Thess.
2:19).
Some one once asked George Macdonald the question, “Shall we know one another in Heaven?”
His pertinent reply was, “Shall we be greater fools in paradise than we are here?”
C. Home Is Where We Will Find Rejoicing
Some one has called it “the place of laughter,” and so it is, for remember that heaven is the place where there are thousands of little children; and where children are there is laughter.
But even in a deeper way we are told that for the believer heaven is the place of “exceeding joy” (Jude 24).
What a home heaven is! Paul described departure for heaven as, “Absent from the body . . .
present with the Lord” (2 Cor.
5:8).
Look again at our Scripture text and learn of:
III.
The Sufficiency of Heaven
“I go to prepare a place for you” (14:2).
A little reflection makes it clear that the preparations for heaven had to do with:
A. Sufficient Preparations for Heaven
When Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (14:2), He had before Him the infinite cost of introducing sinful men and women to His Father, God.
Such introductions incurred the price of blood.
He died that we might be forgiven,
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