The Hope of Heaven
In 1925 disaster struck a young couple. They were missionaries to Ecuador. During that year, when he was 25, the young man named Ray Edman contracted a deadly tropical disease. Quickly, it took control of his body. His situation grew worse and worse until finally, he was unconscious. Everyone knew that he was going to die. His young wife made funeral arrangements. But while his body was near death, V. Raymond Edman was experiencing the wonderful, overwhelming reality of God. He was lifted out of his death bed into the glorious Presence of Jesus Himself. In that ecstasy, there was nothing he wanted more than to continue ascending into Heaven forever. But then he heard a quiet Voice telling him to return. He began a slow descent, regained consciousness and recovered from the disease.
The young man didn’t know it, but during the time he was so ill, back in the United States, many people were praying for him. That experience of God’s Presence transformed V. Raymond Edman’s entire life. Through all the pain and trials and difficulties that followed over many years, there was peace and joy in him because Jesus Himself was constantly present.
Edman had come to realize on the deepest level that it wasn’t just knowing about Jesus and what He has done for us or even experiencing His work in our lives. All that mattered was truly knowing Him and experiencing His Presence as we live out God’s Will in this dark, troubled and suffering world.
I grew up in Wheaton, Illinois. While I was a child, the president of Wheaton College was V. Raymond Edman. I heard him speak a number of times. In September of 1967 he died of a heart attack while speaking to the student body in the morning chapel service at the college. His topic that day? In The Presence of the King. As he spoke about heaven, suddenly, Dr. Edman entered the Presence of Jesus Christ, his King.
I didn’t know Dr. Edman, but all those who did have agreed that what was so unusual about him was his joy. Yet, during his life he went through much pain and difficulty. He wrote a book entitled They Found the Secret. It’s the story of 20 people whose lives were transformed by a touch of eternity and went on to do things for God that they had never imagined. V. Raymond Edman had found The Secret. And that’s what his book is about. I recommend it.
We don’t need to have a near death experience to understand a lot about the real Heaven, the home of Jesus, the King, because the Bible has a lot to tell us. Some of it is quite surprising. But I want to emphasize that, when we study Heaven, we are really studying about Jesus. Because every square inch of that amazing Kingdom, the gigantic city called the New Jerusalem, paradise that surrounds it and the untold billions of people who live there right now, are utterly filled with the eternal loving and joyful Presence, of Jesus, the Messiah.
Heaven is the physical expression of Jesus’ perfect love for us. The work of an artist is an expression of that artist’s soul. That is what Heaven is. It is the perfect expression of Jesus’ Artistic Soul. He is the greatest artist, the greatest storyteller, the greatest dramatist, the greatest musician in the entire universe. He is the creator of all those gifts and infinitely more.
As we think about Heaven, there is a particular book that has been very helpful to me and I want to point you toward it. It’s entitled Heaven and the author is Randy Alcorn. It is one of the most thorough and thought-provoking studies that I have found.
Someday the Kingdom of Heaven will cover this earth and the entire universe. For that New Creation God is preparing amazing things for his children to enjoy. When the Bible speaks about this New World, in large part it is talking about a transformed human civilization. The word the Bible often uses is redeemed. It means that a person has been bought out of slavery and set free. The history of slavery is one of degradation, hopelessness and sorrow. A civilization of slaves is a terrifying place of emptiness, hate, fear, rage and violence. Does that sound like our world? At this moment, we live in a civilization of slaves owned by the ultimate slave masters Satan and his fallen angels of evil. But that is going to change. There is coming a day when human civilization will be set free.
In our world, the highest expression of civilization is in the creation of culture. We have a need to do things together, everything from growing, preparing and enjoying good food, to inventing mechanical devices, making scientific discoveries, painting lovely pictures, making music, writing novels…all of it. The best of what we humans do is meant to be accomplished and enjoyed with others.
I am a novelist and screenwriter. Creative people understand the joy that work can be. When we are creating something that has captured our imaginations and the process is going well there is such pleasure in it. But too soon we find ourselves battling our limitations. For me by the 25th rewrite of a chapter, all joy has been sucked away. It is donkey work. Or when I was running TV series, and the next set of idiotic network notes on a script arrived. It was enough to make you tear out your hair and go bald. Yet we continue creating because we have a thirst to do so. My favorite quote that is not in the Bible is by the poet Robert Browning. “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s a Heaven for?” Almost always, my reach has exceeded my grasp. But someday it won’t. So let’s take a look inside the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Bible has many passages that speak about the unchained world that is coming. Isaiah chapter 60 gives us a view of the New Jerusalem and the heavenly world of which it will be the capitol. Listen to these words, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
To you the riches of the nations will come. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night… No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”
You can go straight from there to the Book of Revelation chapter 21 where the Apostle John wrote this: “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Then John is carried away to a high mountain and shown the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. He says, “It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel… The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb, (that is Jesus Christ), is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.“
Hidden in Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21 are facts about the world that is coming. The first is that there are great similarities between the new one and the one we are living in right now. In that new world there are nations. Over and over the New Testament speaks about Jesus ruling the nations. If there are nations, that means there is civilization. There is organized activity. There is culture. Overseeing all of it are kings and magistrates and officers. In an organized manner, the nations of the earth bring gifts to the New Jerusalem and her King.
Where do these nations come from? Who lives in them? It isn’t just anybody. In that new world, the only people on earth will be God’s redeemed people from every tribe and nation of the past and present. In that day we will be gathered and live in nations. And all of those nations will have their own unique cultures. It’s clear in nature that God loves staggering diversity. He didn’t make all of us the same.
Imagine redeemed nations from all periods of history. People bringing their cultural creations from all of time to blend in the Kingdom of Heaven. Clearly, the wealth of a nation is not only in silver and gold. Its riches are the fruit of its entire culture. And that includes many things that we grow and build and create. Certainly it includes artistic expressions. The best of all of it will be taken to the New Jerusalem.
Creativity in the Kingdom of Heaven is not just the shabby shadows that we cobble together today. It is the fruit of unchained creating. Creating that is constantly filled with the Presence, Power and Love of God Himself. The best of what we do today, the finest works by the greatest artists in music, and painting, and writing and filmmaking, all of it, is like the scribbling of children on a wall compared to what will be possible then.
I spent my career in Hollywood. When the work was going well, what joy there was in it. When it was going badly, what absolute misery. So much of that misery was caused by broken, enslaved people in positions of authority. Some of them were conscious servants of evil. Is that an overstatement? One man I worked for creating a television series became one of the most powerful executives in all of world media. Long after I worked for him, he was fired because, for many years, unknown to almost everyone, he had been sexually abusing women who came to his office for meetings. He was so powerful that they feared telling anyone. Beyond sexual abuse, that man consciously worked to destroy the careers of people he hated. I know this is true because I was one of them. He was a powerful slave of Satan. And there are many others who have not yet been revealed. All such people will be gone forever.
Could there be a film industry in that new World? Absolutely there could, with people inventing new and utterly amazing technologies beyond anything possible today. Imagine filmmakers working across the entire universe. And not the pitiful, shabby Star Trek and Marvel ideas of the universe, which are nothing but projections of our enslaved world. Imagine a universe overflowing with amazing creatures all living to the glory of God waiting to be discovered and have their stories told. And from our world incredible stories of redemption from all of history. A great writer, I can’t remember who, once said, “There is only one story to be told, the redemption of a person.”
Redemption was the heart of everything I wrote for the original Equalizer television series back in the late 1980s. My first script had a scene that talked about the redemption of an evil man through the power of forgiveness that was so strong it made him believe in the Love of God. The title of that episode is Reign of Terror. Edward Woodward, the wonderful star of our series said of that script, “This is what our series is about.” If God has given people the ability to tell stories in our world, why shouldn’t that creativity continue in the next, except in unbelievably advanced un-enslaved forms?
So the wealth of the nations, the very best from every area of unchained human culture is brought to the New Jerusalem. According to the Book of Revelation that city exists right now and is a gigantic cube, 1400 miles in every direction. When it comes to earth its beautiful gates will always be open. The music and light of Heaven will stream out and vast numbers of people bringing gifts will stream in.
And what do you find filling its streets? Every fascinating, lovely thing that glorifies God. Going on in that city right now is the greatest never-ending festival in the universe where worship and creativity blend in an endless outpouring of love. In every street and every hall, there are brilliant performances, by untold thousands of singers and actors and dancers and painters and filmmakers and storytellers. Artisans line the avenues, displaying what they have made for the King. And there is food and drink from a thousand cultures. Imagine unchained real Chicago Pizza in the New Jerusalem. And not a single slice of what Californians call pizza covered with pineapple and broccoli gunk. Well, why not?
Is all of this fantasy? In Episode Seven of Patterns of Supernatural Phenomena, I told the story of a woman who was a Jewish believer in Yeshua, Jesus. For decades her mother, an atheist, had mocked her faith. But as her mother lay dying, she had an amazing experience. Suddenly, she left her body and found herself outside the most beautiful city that she had ever seen. And there was a gate leading into it, but it was closed to her. She said that from inside that gate came the sounds of the greatest party in the universe. Such joy. Such music and laughter.
Then suddenly she was taken from there and shown a dark horrifying door. From inside came the most awful sounds of weeping and wailing. When she awakened, she told her daughter it was the most real experience that she had ever had. Before she died a short time later, that woman asked Yeshua to forgive her sins and be her Messiah. She is in that amazing city right now.
The greatest never-ending party, the greatest festival of light and music and joy in the universe. That’s what the New Jerusalem is at this very moment and that is what it’s going to be even more when it comes to earth. I firmly believe that I am going to be there telling stories, maybe showing films that I could never get made in Hollywood. My artist wife, Carel, is going to be there with exquisite paintings, probably 16 stories tall. It will take angels to move them. And around her paintings will be thousands of lovely flowers from her gardens.
Will you be in the Great City of the King? What will you bring to offer to Him? I believe that, for those who love Jesus, this world is a preparation for the next. In this world, we are being trained and prepared for our eternal vocations that will bring us joy forever.
What can you take to Heaven from this world? Nothing? If you think that, you’re wrong. 1 Cor 3:9-15 says “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
So there are things that we can build here that will last forever. What are those things? It is work that is not done just to advance ourselves, but is built on the foundation of Jesus and His work on the Cross dying for our sins. It is done to advance His Kingdom in this world. And it’s not hard to do. Remember He said that even a cup of cold water given to one of His little ones in His Name would not be without its reward.
In Hollywood, I knew a number of people who were vastly wealthy and powerful. Almost every one of them was a haunted, miserable human being. All of their wealth means nothing. It will be gone literally in a heartbeat. And the humble person who has been cleaning toilets with a heart that is doing it for Jesus and His Kingdom will be wealthy forever. In the world that’s coming, the humble, the rejected, the least important in this world, are going to rule. That’s what Jesus promised in Matthew 20:16 when He said, “The last will be first and the first will be last.”
Our whole lives should be dedicated to doing things that we give to the King right now. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Doing all includes everything, writing, driving trucks, acting, waiting tables, painting, selling real estate, repairing cars, plumbing, sweeping streets, bookkeeping, you name it. If it is clear that we can’t do something for the glory of God, we should not do it at all. That is the test. There are many things in Hollywood that I could not do.
When I was a child, my mother taught me a little saying that has guided my life, “Only one life, it will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” So we should examine ourselves. There are things we may think we are doing for God’s Glory, but it’s really for our own glory. I’m afraid that’s been true for me far too many times.
But the most important question is, are you going to be in that Kingdom? Do you know Jesus, the King at all. Have you asked Him to forgive your sins and be your Savior and Lord? If not, my friend, isn’t now the time? All it takes is the faith of a child. Talk to Him. He loves you and He is listening.
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