I'm going to ask you as we begin this morning to stand with me for just a brief word of prayer before we go to the Word of God this morning. Stand with me, please, for prayer. Father God, we are grateful to you again this morning on this beautiful Lord's Day morning for the opportunity to open the precious truth of the Word of God together. Lord, as always, we are dependent on your Holy Spirit to be our teacher and our guide. Show us the things that you want us to see this morning. about that glorious subject of heaven. We pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Accomplish your will and purposes in every heart today in the truth of the word of God. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you. Well, we're studying heaven. Last week, we got started on the second part of our study on that wonderful subject that I am calling, beginning to understand what heaven is. After working on setting our minds on the things above, we are currently working on an understanding of some general things, some basic things about heaven that need to be established, that need to be nailed down, if you will, before going on to the third part of our study, and probably the longest part of our study, where we will then refine that understanding, and where we will better clarify some important distinctions that need to be made when we think about heaven. Now last week, just by way of review, we spent our time talking about a couple of the most common wrong sources of information there are out there on this subject of heaven and the afterlife. And I do believe that it is important for us to understand these wrong sources of information because all of us at some point in our lives are going to deal with people who are involved in these things. It's interesting, even since last week, I've become aware of several more, two or three more people and incidents whereby people that I know of who have done this thing and gone to these places and interacted with these kinds of people. You see, these things that we talked about last week are very attractive to the unbelieving mind when faced with the ugliness of death, either their own impending death or perhaps the death of someone they love. So, what did we talk about last week? Well, we talked first about channeling last week, people who consult mediums to help them communicate with their dead loved ones. Let me say again this morning that that is a seriously wrong source of information on death and the afterlife and is actually a demonic source of information. Mediums, of course, are not really communicating with anyone's dead loved ones at all. They're communicating with demons who are impersonating those dead loved ones. And you better believe that they're also going to use that opportunity then to lie against the precious truth about Jesus Christ and the gospel. We talked about that. The end of the story is this. Consulting mediums is a practice. That is, number one, strictly forbidden in scripture. And number two, it is a practice that is detestable to God. Bottom line is, don't do it. It is wrong. Do not go there. Don't even think about visiting a medium. From there, we talked about near-death experiences, which has become a very popular thing in our day. Lots of people are supposedly making trips to heaven and back. And then when they get back, they're making lots of money, telling their stories and writing books. One of the most recent books on this subject that has sold over 500,000 copies. Can you believe that? That's a lot. 500,000 copies is a book called 90 Minutes in Heaven. It's written by a man by the name of Don Piper, not John Piper, the respected pastor and theologian. Don't confuse him with John Piper. This man's name is Don Piper. And Don Piper claims to have spent 90 minutes in heaven after a near-fatal automobile accident. In Piper's book, there's nothing really new and different from Betty Eady's older book on that subject or any of the other ones that have come and gone. All of them basically just rehash in various forms the same old demonic heresies about Christ and the Gospel, and of course they always have a little bit of truth mingled in here and there, and yet people who have no understanding of what the Word of God is, no understanding of what the Word of God says, gobble these kind of books up in their desperate attempt to peek behind the curtain of death. And so we spent some time last week talking about that near-death experience phenomenon, coming to the following conclusions. Some of these near-death experiences, of course, may indeed be valid. We looked at a couple of examples that would point to that. Some of them may be valid if they happen to line up with the truth of scripture. If what this person says lines up with the truth, there's no reason to believe that maybe that's not a valid experience. But at that point, what do those near-death experiences become? They also become unnecessary, right? Because we already have that truth in a much more reliable source. And they're even potentially dangerous, even the ones that seem to line up with the truth, because of their subjective nature and because of what I said a minute ago. That is the fact that demons always mingle a little tiny bit of truth in with their air to make it palatable, to make it go down. It's like putting the medicine in the spoonful of sugar, right? The bottom line on near-death experiences is this, we don't need to rely on subjective information, folks, on the subject of heaven, because why? We have The objective truth on that subject revealed for us in the written Word of God, which as I shared with you last week, contains not everything there is to know about heaven, but what? Everything we need to know about that subject is here for us. And in fact, let me also say this, let me add this this morning, and that is the fact that death in the afterlife is one of those subjects over which the Word of God claims exclusive domain. That's important for you to know. So let's depart now. We're not going to talk about that anymore. Let's depart now from our discussion of these wrong sources of information on heaven. And let's go to the only right source of information there is on that subject. Here we go. We're going to start learning about heaven now. We're going to begin to understand now what the Bible says about heaven. And here's the first basic truth that we're going to land on from the word of God this morning. I want to just get one thing across to you this morning, and that is this. The Bible describes heaven. as a literal place. Not a smoky place, a wispy place, but a real place, a literal place where believers go when they die. Would you understand with me this morning that heaven is a real place just like Warren is a real place. I'm hoping that heaven is a bit different than Warren, but it's nonetheless a real place like Warren is a real place. Contrary to what many people think, based on what Hollywood portrays in movies, or perhaps what they read in books or magazines, or sometimes even from what they glean from bad theology in some of the hymns and choruses we sing. I hate to burst your bubble, but sometimes the hymns and choruses that we sing contain bad theology. And on this subject of heaven, that's one of the things that we find there sometimes in hymns, the hymns that we sing. Contrary to what many people think, based on all of those wrong sources of information, heaven, people, is not just a phantom place. Heaven is not just a state of mind. Heaven is not just a sort of wispy, ethereal, intangible kind of spiritual experience where people float around on clouds playing carps. I know that's what the cartoon tells us, but the cartoon is wrong. That's not heaven. None of that is even close to the biblical truth about heaven. Contrary to all of those common misperceptions people have, when we go to the Word of God, we find that heaven, which we're going to do this morning, we're going to find that heaven is a very real and very literal place where all true believers go when they die. That is the basic truth that I want to talk with you about this morning. Now let me say that building this case from the scripture That heaven is a literal place is not really a difficult thing to do at all, but it is a necessary thing to do. It is a case that needs to be built. for you and for me. God has already transformed my thinking and my mind with this truth, and I'm trusting him to do that for you today as well. It is a case that needs to be built because of our human tendency of wanting to deny the reality of anything that we can't see. That's just the default way our human minds work. You remember, of course, when we were on the first part of this study, I said to you, that we don't normally just think about heaven by default, do we? And without effort, it's going to take effort, we're going to have to go upstream in order to set our minds on the things above. And now let me say that when we do think about heaven, we generally think about it wrongly. We generally think about it as a wispy, non-literal place simply because we cannot see it with our physical eyes. We want to see it, and we want to touch it. That's just the normal way that humanness perceives reality. Jesus understood that and that in fact is why the resurrected Christ said what he said to Thomas. Do you remember? Doubting Thomas. We all know about him. Jesus said this to Doubting Thomas in John chapter 20 and verse 27. Reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving but believing. Jesus said, it's really me, Thomas. The resurrected Christ now said, it's really me, Thomas. Look at my hands with your eyes. Look at my wounds. In fact, go ahead and touch me with your hand. And then Jesus said, Thomas, do not be unbelieving, but believing. We have a saying that goes something like this, seeing is believing, right? You've all heard that. And that's the way it is. That's the default way it is for all of us who live here in these physical human bodies. If we can't see it, if we can't touch it, our natural tendency will be to deny the reality of it. When we studied the subject of hell a while back, I don't know how long ago that's been now, I guess a year or so ago, I told you that many people, even many professing Christian people today, deny the reality of that literal place as well. In fact, growing numbers of evangelical leaders even are beginning to deny the existence of a literal hell. Why is that? Well, because of what I just told you. Coupled with the fact that they can't see hell yet with their physical eyes is the fact that they don't want to accept the reality of such a horrible place like that with their human minds. And so what do they do? They just sort of block it out. They deny its existence even though If you study the scriptures, as we did, it's pretty clear that hell is indeed a literal place. It's clearly, repeatedly described for us as such in the Word of God. You remember, of course, from our study on that subject, that Jesus, while he was here, said far more about hell than he ever said about heaven. That is true. He said far more about hell while he was here than he did about heaven. Hell is a horrible place, people, without question. A horrible, horrible, horrible place. But listen, you don't have to go there. You don't have to go there. It's unnecessary for any of you to spend eternity in hell away from the presence of Christ. Why? Well, that's what the gospel is all about. You see, as I said a little while ago when we shared around the Lord's Supper, that the very God, the holy God, who first handed down that death sentence on sin, then stepped down from the glories of heaven. He took on human flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he then paid that very death penalty, that sentence that he handed down to you and to me by dying on a cruel Roman cross. Hell is horrible. Hell is real. And hell is forever. And that's why there is the gospel. That's why you need to repent of your sins today. That's why you need to embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord by faith, now before you die, the provision for your salvation has been made. You need to do that now. You need to do that. It's urgent. You need to do that before you die, because as it says in Hebrews 9, 27, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment. Your opportunity for salvation is this side of the grave. Responding to the gospel people is urgent. A responding now is urgent because you do not know when you're going to die. And let me say very clearly that for you to die in your sins apart from Christ is to spend eternity in this horrible place that the Bible calls hell. And that is exactly why Jesus so passionately and so repeatedly warned people about that while he was here. If there's a lost one here today in this room, I plead with you, I beg you from the very bottom of my heart to repent of your sins, to cry out to God for His mercy, to repent of your sins and to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by faith today before it's eternally too late. Hell is indeed a real, literal place. But we're not talking about hell right now, aren't you glad? We're not talking about hell right now, we're talking about another real place that gets denied because we cannot see it with our physical eyes, and that place that we're talking about is heaven. Let me put it to you like this. I've never been to London. As most of you know, I'm not much of a traveler. I've been to Clarendon, but I've never been to London. I've never seen London with my eyes, and I've never touched London with my hands, but let me also tell you that I do believe that London exists because of other various sources of evidence that's available to me. You see, I've seen pictures of London with my eyes in magazines and on television, and I've heard with my ears reports from people who have been to London. There is enough secondhand information available to my human senses to affirm for me the fact that London is indeed a real place that exists. And you know, if I wanted further first-hand evidence on that, I could actually go out and buy myself an airline ticket and go to London and see and experience that place for myself. Let me say to you now this morning, as we begin on this subject, that heaven is just as literal, heaven is just as real as London is real. Just like I've never been to London, so I've never been to heaven. And so I can't affirm the reality of either place from first-hand experience, but also, just like it is with London, I do have a reliable source of information on heaven that provides me with the evidence I need to affirm it as a real, literal place. There is one disclaimer, however. There is one major difference, however, between the evidence I have on London and the evidence I have on heaven. And that's probably why there are some people who believe in London, although they've never been there, but they still don't believe in heaven. There is second-hand information available on both places, but there is a significant difference, a very significant difference, in that information. You see, I can see the available evidence on London with my physical eyes, can't I? The evidence I have to affirm heaven is a real literal place. On the other hand, is evidence that requires me to employ my other kind of eyes. We've talked about those eyes before, haven't we? Not my physical eyes, but what? My spiritual. We walk by what right now? By faith and not by sight. You see, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have another set of eyes. They're called your spiritual eyes of faith. And those are the ones you're going to need to use. In order to see the evidence on heaven, I will need to use that special set of eyes that I was given when God saved me When He regenerated me, when He made me all brand new, made me a new spiritual creature, those special eyes that are able to see and understand the precious truth that has been revealed for us in the Word of God. Let me give you a verse here, thinking of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.14. But a natural man, what is a natural man? A natural man is an unsaved man. It's the natural man. A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. You know, God saved me when I guess I was around 28 years of age. And I remember thinking the truth of Scripture was foolishness. I say that in shame, but I remember thinking that. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And watch this now, and he cannot understand them. Why? because they are spiritually appraised. You need a truth teacher living within you in order to understand. You can read the Word of God, but you can't really understand the depth of spiritual truth that is there apart from the Spirit's help. And that's why I asked him to help us here a little while ago as we began this morning. If you're a true believer here this morning, you're not a natural man anymore. You're a new spiritually alive man or woman. And along with that new spiritual life comes the ability the spiritual ability to understand, the capacity, if you will, the spiritual capacity to understand the truth from the Word of God when you study it. If you're a true believer, you have these spiritual eyes of faith, and those are the ones you're going to have to use, not only this morning, those are the ones you're going to have to use in the weeks ahead, week after week now, as we continue to study together this precious subject of heaven. Now, as we're talking about these eyes of faith and how they work, At least two things are going to have to come together for you before you'll ever understand heaven in the way that God would have you to understand it. First of all, it begins with that absolutely essential conviction about what the Word of God is. Do you have that? Do you know what the Word of God is? We begin with a conviction that the Bible is what it claims to be. What does it claim to be? It claims to be the Word of God. It claims to be a book full of words that were literally breathed out of the mouth of God for us. Inspired words, as Paul said to Timothy. Inspired words, God-breathed words, literally, that are absolutely true and that are our final authority for all matters of faith and practice. If you're struggling with that, understanding of what the Word of God is, I would refer you to our website. We did a study on that a while back, I don't remember how far back, it was called why we believe the Bible is the Word of God. If you remember that, if I recall correctly, I took you through ten reasons why we believe the Bible is what it claims to be, the Word of God. So we begin with that important conviction, if those spiritual eyes of faith are going to work. And then secondly, we move from that conviction about what the Word of God is to an embracing of the truth in that word. Secondly, then, we believe those words because we know what they are and because we know where they came from. We accept those words and we trust in the truthfulness of those words, accepting the realities of what they describe for us. Again, not because we can see them with our physical eyes, but only because we can see them with our spiritual eyes of faith. You know who's our example for that? The Apostle Paul. He lived his life that way, and I know that we've looked at these verses a couple of times, two or three times in the last weeks, but that's okay. I'm going to remind you of them again here. 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 18, this is what Paul said. I've had these precious verses floating around in my head for over a month now, and that's a good thing. Here's what Paul said. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. Watch this now. Verse 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. That's what we're after, isn't it? While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. Do you realize that? Everything you can see here this morning when you look around is very what? Temporary. It won't be here forever. But the things which are not seen, the things that we can learn to see with our spiritual eyes of faith are what? eternal. They're going to last forever. Now with all of that, by way of introduction, with your spiritual eyes of faith all focused in now, let's go to the Word of God together this morning and establish the fact that heaven is not what we commonly perceive it to be, but that heaven is indeed a real, literal place. If you have a sermon outline, You will see that I'm going to give you, there's five places to write something down there, I'm going to give you five words this morning as hooks to hang your thoughts on, if you will, five points of scriptural evidence to establish the fact that heaven is indeed a literal place. On that first line, would you write this word? The first word is location. Location. The Bible describes heaven as a real place that has a real and literal location. And so let's chase that concept of location around a little bit as a starting point this morning. And we're going to begin in the book of beginnings, the book of Genesis. And we're going to begin even in the very beginning of the book of beginnings. And this is so familiar to all of you that I'm not even going to ask you to turn there. I think all of you know the first verse in the Bible by heart. Don't you? Here's what it says. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 tells us this. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Side note. Evolution is a lie from hell. Evolution is a lie from hell. Mark that. Understand that. The Word of God says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The eternal God, I don't care what they teach you in school, evolution is a lie from hell. The eternal God created the heavens and the earth, the Bible says, and that account goes on to tell us that he did that in six literal days. Now, when we think about what happened here, let me say this also, only God can create something out of nothing. Men make things, right? But they start out with raw materials and they make things. Only God can create something out of nothing. Only God can do that. And that's exactly what He did as recorded for us right here in the very first verse of the Bible. And what did He create out of nothing? Look at what it says. He created the heavens and the earth. Now we all know that the earth is a real literal place, right? Because we're here, we can see it, we can touch it, we live on it, we walk around on it every day, we accept the fact that the earth is a literal place by sight. We know that, we accept that, we believe that, all of us do. And so building on that reality that we all readily accept, let me go on to remind you now that here in Genesis 1-1, the heavens are included in that very same sentence. Have you ever thought about that? It says that God created what? The heavens and the earth. Like the earth was created by God in the beginning, so the heavens were created by God. And it would only follow then, wouldn't it, that there is going to be substance to the, if there is substance to the earth, so there will also be, what, substance to the heavens as well. Like the earth, they were created by God, the heavens and the earth. Then let me draw your attention to the fact here in Genesis 1-1 that the word heavens is in the plural. You ever notice that? God created the heavens, plural, and the earth, singular. What does that mean? For more commentary on that, let me have you turn to 2 Corinthians 12.2 and remind you again of Paul's trip to heaven and what he said there. We looked at this last week when we were talking about near-death experiences, and guess what? We will probably land on this verse a number of times yet before we're done with this study. But right now, I just want to land on one thing that Paul said at the end of verse 2, 2 Corinthians 12.2. I know a man, Paul said, in Christ who fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven. Where God took Paul that day on that little trip and back, he's the only one who did have that experience by the way, we talked about that last week, where God took Paul that day was to the third heaven, he said, which would tell us that there must be at least two other heavens, right? If there's a third heaven, there must also be a first heaven and a second heaven, right? And that would be the reason, folks, why God referred to heavens, plural, in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. You see, there are three dimensions to heaven that you can find various descriptions of throughout the Word of God. Let me outline them for you very quickly. And then you will understand why heavens is plural in Genesis 1.1. You'll understand why Paul referred to his trip as one that took him to the third heaven. What is the first heaven? The first heaven is what we would refer to as the atmospheric heaven, would be another way to say it. This is where the clouds are. This is where the birds and the airplanes fly. This is where the air is that we breathe. The first heaven is all of that space immediately above the earth, the atmosphere. That's the first heaven. I could spend a lot of time on this, but I'm not going to. Let me give you just several scriptures very quickly that make reference to this first heaven. Isaiah 55 verses 9-11 mentions the reality of this first heaven along with some other wonderful truths that we'll see in here along the way. As we use scripture to explain the scripture, we go to cross-references, but there's always wonderful thoughts there that are unrelated to what we're, and so we're going to see those, we can't help it. Here's what it says. For as the heavens, plural, are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Verse 10. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, what heaven would that be? where the rain and snow comes from? The atmosphere, right? This is a reference to this first heaven, the atmospheric heaven. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, now watch the thought, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be, which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to be empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I There's a beautiful comparison being made there, which for us is just a side note this morning. It's a great thought though. Just as, did you see it? Just as the rain, Isaiah said, just as the rain and the snow always accomplish God's sovereign purposes for which he sent it, to water the earth and to make things grow, so will his word also accomplish his sovereign purposes for which he sent it. to save the lost and to sanctify the saved. I'm so thankful for that truth as I stand up here and proclaim the truth of the Word of God week after week after week. I can trust in a sovereign God to accomplish His purposes with that in my heart as well as in yours. Let me give you a couple other references real quick on this first heaven. Acts, I'm not even going to read them, I'll just reference them. Acts 14, 17 speaks of the rains that come from heaven. That would be the first heaven. And then 1 Kings 21-24, I gave you a long list, but I'm going to stop. 1 Kings 21-24 would be just one more reference on this first heaven, a verse that refers to the birds of heaven. So everybody understand what the first heaven now is? It's atmosphere. It's where the birds fly, the airplanes fly, the air is that we breathe, and so forth. That is the first heaven, the atmospheric heaven. So let's move on to the second heaven. What is the second heaven? Well, the second heaven we might refer to as the stellar heaven. This moves beyond the region of atmosphere now into the area where the stars and the moon and the planets move around. As that creation account continues there in Genesis chapter 1, it says this in verses 14 through 18. Then God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also. What do you have there then? You have the sun, the moon, and the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth and to govern the day and the night and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. By the way, when it says good, that means good. That doesn't mean good, better, best. That means good. Ultimate good, when God says good. If you wanted to take the time, you could find many other references to this second heaven throughout the Word of God. I'll give you just one more example from Isaiah 13, 10. It says, for the stars of heaven, that would be now this second heaven. where the stars are, and their constellations will not flash forth their light, the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light." So there you have another reference of the second heaven. Through the space program, of course, over the years, man has been able to venture a little ways, just a very little ways, into this region of the second heaven. But on his own, mark this, man will never make it into the third heaven. God's going to make us go to the third heaven, but man's never going to get there on his own, into this third heaven. There is an area now, there is a very real and literal place, presumably somewhere beyond the second heaven that Paul referred to as what? The third heaven. The third heaven. Beyond the atmosphere and beyond the solar system, There is this third heaven, which is the place where God dwells. Just another thought to kind of connect with what I said earlier, if God created the heavens, plural, they're in Genesis 1-1, and the first and second ones are real and literal, then why wouldn't the third one also be real and literal? Well, I believe it is. And we're going to continue to build that case now this morning from the Word of God. Now, it must be said, that we can't be sure, we can't be 100% sure that the third heaven is located just beyond the borders of the second heaven, but that certainly would be a reasonable assumption, wouldn't it? Based upon the fact that the second heaven is just beyond the borders of the first one. And then going right along with that, there are also a multitude of scriptures that we're going to look at in the days ahead that refer to heaven as being in the upward direction, heaven is up. At any rate, according to the Bible, there is indeed a third heaven that God created, just as surely as there is a first heaven and a second heaven, and it would be only reasonable for us to believe that the third heaven is up there somewhere just beyond the second one in terms of location. Our space vehicles can't get there, and our telescopes can't see it. But that doesn't mean that it isn't there. God created it along with the earth and along with the first heaven and along with the second heaven. It's there somewhere, people. And I know that because the Word of God says so. This third heaven now that we're talking about is the one that will be a major focal point for us in this study. This is that very real and literal place where God dwells with his holy angels and that place where Believers go when they die. Let's go on now to a second key scripture. We started in Genesis. Let's go on to a second key scripture under this category of location. I love this section of scripture. I want you to turn with me please to John chapter 14. And look with me at the first three verses. Again, you probably know them by heart. Very well-known section, very precious scripture. And again, it's one that I'm sure that we will visit a time or two more before we're done with this study. For now, I just want to take you there for evidence that heaven is a real, literal place with location. Pick up with me, please, in John 14, 1. If this scripture doesn't warm your heart, Then you got a cold heart, believe me. This is precious, precious truth from the Word of God. John 14, 1. The disciples were troubled and confused because, as you know, Jesus, while he was here, had repeatedly told them that he was leaving them. They didn't understand that. He knew that they didn't understand that. And here he is in this text consoling them. And here's what he says. Do not let your heart be troubled, guys. Don't let your heart be troubled, guys. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Then he said this in verse two. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. What does that mean? It means that it really is so. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. We're going to read verse three, but stop right there for a minute and note a couple of significant things with me. Jesus told these guys that he was going somewhere to prepare what for them? A place. He was going to prepare a place for them. In my father's house are many dwelling places, Jesus said, and I go to prepare a place for you. Let me ask you, what is it again that we're trying to establish this morning from the word of God? That heaven is a literal what? A literal place. I don't think we can get that point any clearer than this, do you? Jesus said to his disciples, guys, I'm going to prepare a place for you. Just to be sure, I took the time to look up the meaning of that Greek word for place. And you're going to be surprised to know what it means. It means a place. It means a place. That's what it means. It means a portion or a space that is marked off and distinguished from other places. Or the word can even refer to an inhabited place or a city or a village or a district. That's the word that Jesus used here when he talked to these guys to console them. When I go, Jesus said to these guys, I'm going to a real place and I'm going to prepare that real place for you. And by the way, that you also means us, doesn't it? Yes, it does. And then notice some other terms there in verse two, that would have been very familiar terms to these guys. There's a house there in that real place where Jesus is going. It's the Father's house. And in that house, there are many rooms. I know the King James Bible says mansions. That's not really correct. And there are many rooms there, many dwelling places there, apartments, if you will, living quarters, however you want to think of it. That's what it means. And all of this serves to further affirm for us the fact that heaven is a real, literal place. And not only is it a real, literal place, it's a real, literal place that has some features that Jesus saw fit. to describe for his troubled disciples with some very earthly terminology, houses and dwelling places. They knew about houses and they knew about dwelling places. Listen, one of the things that I think we're going to come to realize about heaven as we continue to study it more and more is that heaven, folks, is going to be far less wispy and far more literal and familiar to us than what we had previously imagined. Oh, it's going to be different for sure in many ways for which we can be thankful. But at the same time, I think we're going to find more familiarity there than what normally comes to mind when we think about heaven. Jesus is going to this place. He's going to this location. He tells these guys to prepare dwelling places for them in the Father's house. Places where we are going to live together with them and with him. And then we have this promise in verse 3, we have to read that. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Heaven has a very real location, doesn't it? I think it does. Jesus is there right now, and someday, He's made a promise, someday, maybe very soon, He's coming back for us. to take us there to be with him. What is verse 3 referencing? Verse 3, of course, is making reference to the rapture of the church when Jesus Christ comes as far as the clouds to catch his church away and meet her in the air. Another subject for another day. Let me show you two other verses here real quick on this subject of location. And then we need to move on. Let me take you next to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1, and I'm going to read four, again, very familiar verses there. Verses 21 to 24. Philippians chapter 1. Paul said, for me, for to me, excuse me, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. There's a thought to chew on for a while. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I'm to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose, but I'm hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." It's pretty hard to just breeze over a rich text like that, and we will come back to it someday. But all I wanted you to see here this morning It's the clear distinction that Paul makes between the here and the there. Did you notice that? Heaven has a location. That's what we want to talk about this morning. It's a real and literal place, and here's the point now. For Paul, from Philippians 1, for Paul to be with Christ in that place where Christ is would require him to do what? Would require him to depart from this place where he now dwells in his fleshly body and moved to a new location, that new location being heaven. All I want you to see here in Philippians 1 for now is the fact that there is a here and there is a there. Heaven is a very real, literal place, and by the way, we'll talk about this again more later, but to depart and be with Christ there, in that place, according to Paul is, note these words, very much better. Think about that. Very much better. Whatever you think about here, there is what? Very much better than anything here in this location. And then one final verse on location would be Luke 23, 43. While hanging on the cross, you know, the thief that was there next to Jesus. Jesus said to that thief next to him, truly, I say to you, Today, you shall be with me in paradise." Now, what is Jesus saying to him? Well, basically this, saying to the thief, we're both here right now in this real location, but before this day is over, we will both be together in another real location that Jesus refers to here as paradise. A word that literally means a walled park or a garden. We'll talk more about paradise on another day for now, but just understand paradise to be the equivalent of heaven, a synonym for heaven. So we have this concept of location in the scriptures as our first word this morning that gives evidence to the fact that heaven is a real, literal place, and I already know what you're thinking. Dinner is in the oven on time bake, and he has four more words to go. Well, not to worry, I promise they're going to go quicker, they really will. But I do want you to see these other words because they will help sort of fill out our understanding of what I've already said. The second word I want you to write down this morning is the word resurrection. Location. The second word is resurrection. I'm not going to preach the doctrine of resurrection this morning. We've done that before and we'll do that again, I'm sure. But I am going to cite the resurrection here now as further evidence of heaven being a real, literal place. That's our target this morning. That's what we want to establish this morning. You all know about the resurrection chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where Christ's resurrection from the dead is first cited as the basis and guarantee of our own future bodily resurrection from the dead. Believers who have died are now in heaven without their bodies, what is referred to as the intermediate state. Yet another big subject for another day. But one day, there's so many subjects. So many subjects, believe me, that's another one. But one day, when the trumpet sounds, those believers who are there now without their bodies will be reunited with their bodies, bodies that will get resurrected and glorified somewhere on the way up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, a fraction of a fraction of a second. And we who are alive and remain at that time will be caught up together with them, the Bible says, to meet the Lord in the air, at which point we will also get our resurrected bodies, maybe we will be that blessed generation of believers who get to bypass the valley of the shadow of death and get raptured into heaven and get our new bodies in a moment and a twinkling of an eye. 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15 are the chapters where you can read all about that. My simple point this morning is to say this, as we think about resurrection now, however it is for believers who are there right now in heaven during this intermediate state, and by the way, the Bible just doesn't say a whole lot about that. However it is for those believers right now, there is, I can tell you for sure, that there is at least one resurrection body in heaven right now. And you know who that is, don't you? Jesus Christ is there right now in his real, physical, resurrected and glorified body, the very same one that he lived in here for 40 days after his resurrection, the same one that Thomas touched, is there right now in heaven. And we will all be there in our glorified bodies, not before, but after the rapture of the church. And why did I say all of that? I said all of that to say this. It's only reasonable to assume, as we build this case this morning, that real, physical, glorified bodies would inhabit what kind of a place? A real, literal, and even mark this now, and even in many ways, physical kind of place. Mark this down as a second word. The whole concept of resurrection points to the reality of heaven being a real, literal place. Let me give you a third word. See, I told you they would go quicker. Third word. The third word I want you to write down this morning goes right along with the second word, and that is the word ascension. Location, resurrection, ascension. Turn with me to Acts chapter 1, and we'll just spend a couple minutes here as well. I'm going to read down through a text that will pretty much speak for itself on this subject of heaven being a place that has a very real location. I'm going to read the first 11 verses of Acts chapter 1. The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Until the day when he was taken up to heaven, and by the way, Right there you have an example. Remember I mentioned to you that we're going to look at lots of verses in the days ahead that point to heaven being where? Up, in an upward direction. Here's one of them. Until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit, verse 2, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen, to these he also presented himself alive after his suffering, by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together now, verse 4, The resurrected Christ, we go to verse 4, the resurrected Christ is there now on the Mount of Olives with his disciples 40 days after his resurrection from the dead. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said you heard of from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. What is he talking about? Jesus there, of course, is talking about the day of Pentecost and the birth of the church So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? Remember we talked about that? We studied the Olivet Discourse. Here he is, very interesting, 40 days after the resurrection. He's already died, risen from the dead. 40 days has gone by while he was here at his resurrection body, and these guys still don't get it. They still don't get it. They still think he's going to set up his kingdom now. They don't know that he's leaving and coming back a second time to do that. They still think he's going to set up his kingdom now. They still apparently didn't think he was leaving. But you know what? They will realize that here in just a couple of minutes as we go on here. He said to them, verse 7, it is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. Verse 9, watch this now. Here's where we were going. And after he had said these things, he was lifted up. while they were looking. Can you imagine that? He was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight. These guys watched the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection body get lifted right up and off the Mount of Olives and they continued watching him go right on up through the atmospheric heaven until a cloud received him out of their sight. How far did he go you say? Well, he went all the way. through the first heaven. He went on through the second heaven and he went into the third heaven where he is now seated at the father's right hand in his resurrected glorified body. And so once again this morning I will say to you that heaven is described for us in the word of God as not a phantom place but as a real, literal place that has location. Rearrange your thinking. That's the way we need to think about heaven. And let's finish reading down through verse 11, and then we're going to move on. Verse 10, And as they were gazing intently into the sky, while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? Are you kidding me? If I'd been there, I'd probably still be standing there with my head tilted back and my mouth hanging open. Why are you just looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go. How he went is how he's going to come back. Again, let me say that heaven is a real, literal place. Jesus came from that place when he was born in Bethlehem. He went back into that place here in Acts chapter 1. In some glorious day in the future, He's coming back here from that place a second time to establish, to judge the nations and establish His Millennial Kingdom. Two more words, quickly. The fourth word is description. Throughout the Word of God, we are given various descriptions of heaven that clearly define it for us as a literal place. I'm only going to mention some of these to you in passing this morning so that you can think about them A couple of them are ones we've already talked about this morning and some of the other ones are ones that we will talk about more in the weeks ahead. Descriptions. Descriptive terms that define heaven for us as a literal place. In John 14, of course, we've already seen heaven described as the Father's house with many dwelling places. Those are descriptive terms describing heaven as a place. Luke 23, 43, we've seen heaven described already. as paradise, which we will talk about more later. Abraham's bosom is another one you can add to that list of descriptive terms. Identifying heaven as a place, that one comes from Luke 16 in the Rich Man and Lazarus account. 1 Corinthians 5.8, Paul uses a descriptive term for heaven that we all understand. He refers to heaven as home. That's another descriptive term. We have good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Do you go into some sort of limbo at death? No. To be absent from the body is what? To be at home with the Lord, Paul said. And then finally, I would mention to you that heaven is described in the Word of God as a city. Another descriptive term, a subject that we will take up again at greater length another day in Revelation 21 and 22. By faith, it says in Hebrews 11.10, Abraham was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God, that of course is the final heaven. And let's go now to one last word this morning, a fifth word, as we build the case from scripture that heaven is a literal place, and that is the word redemption. The word redemption. We began this morning in Genesis 1-1, where God created the heavens and the earth, but by the time we get out of Genesis chapter 3, you know what happened, don't you? Before we get out of Genesis chapter 3, the tempter had come on the scene, And man had disobeyed God and fallen into sin. The entire human race was plunged into sin that day. And along with sin came its resulting death. And along with the sin and the death came the curse. A curse that was not only brought upon men, but a curse that was brought upon the whole of creation. Certainly there is much to talk about when I open up a door like this one. And we will do that more another time. I only mentioned, I said that a lot this morning, haven't I? I only mention it now to remind you of this one thing, and that is the comprehensive nature of God's plan of redemption. That's what I want you to think about now. The comprehensive nature of God's plan of redemption. We're establishing the fact that heaven is a real literal place this morning, and so let me remind you now that God's plan of redemption is broader than just that of redeeming lost and sinful men and women. God's plan of redemption, people, includes all of creation. While we're eagerly waiting for that plan to be completed, We groan within ourselves, Paul says in Romans chapter 8, and you know what else he says? The whole of creation groans right along with us. Is heaven a real, literal place? Let me take you to one more scripture this morning with that word redemption in mind, and then we're going to quit. Turn and follow along, please. The last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 21, and I'm going to read the first four verses of that chapter. This now is the future and final heaven, not the present heaven. a distinction that we will clarify later, but there is no question about the fact that what God is showing the Apostle John in this vision is the picture of a real, literal place where we will dwell with God, people, forever. Here's what it says, Revelation 21, verses 1-4, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, this is interesting, something for you to think about. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people. and God himself will be among them. That's where we are going to be. That's how it's going to be for us forever and ever and ever. Verse 4 goes on to say, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death. No cemeteries in heaven, folks. None. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. And you know that, I can't take any more time with that now this morning, but that glorious description of the final heaven goes on from here all the way through the end of chapter 22. So I read the beginning of it now, I read the last part of it earlier when we shared around the Lord's table. The final heaven, the eternal heaven is all about, here's the point I'm trying to make now for you this morning as we conclude. The final heaven, the eternal heaven that I just read a little bit about for you here in Revelation 21, is all about the consummation of God's great plan of redemption. See, as we step back and see the big picture, what Adam and Eve knew in the garden before sin, and by the way, the garden, paradise, the word paradise means a walled garden, sort of points to Eden, doesn't it? Just throwing that out there for you to think about. What Adam and Eve knew in the garden before sin and the fall and the curse is what we will all know forever in the newly redeemed and completely recreated heaven and earth that is described for us here in Revelation 21 and 22. That's where God's plan of redemption is going. And so, let me say in closing, again, rid your minds this morning of all those wispy, ethereal thoughts about heaven. The Word of God describes heaven as a very real and a very literal place where Christ is now and where believers will go when they die. If you get a chance to think about these great thoughts, if you get a chance before you go to bed tonight, just walk outside and put your eyes to the sky. And when you do that and when you're looking up, realize that there is something very real out there. Many, many light years beyond what you're able to see. Paul referred to it as the third heaven. where he heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. And on another occasion, he described that place as a place that is very much better than anything we could ever know of here. Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful to you for the precious truth of the Word of God that has so clearly revealed heaven for us this morning as a real, literal place. You are there, Father, on your throne, Christ is there seated at your right hand, angels are there and many of our loved ones are there right now and we are going there someday when you take us from here. Father, I ask that you would transform our thinking, transform our minds with the precious truth that we have studied in the word of God this morning and then help us, God, to understand so many more things yet about heaven in the weeks ahead. We love you and we thank you and we praise you for this opportunity to gather together and open the precious truth of the word of God. We love you in Jesus name. Amen.