THE KING’S BUSINESS
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did not blame circumstances, companions, or environment, but himself. Indeed, he singled himself out as the chiefest of sinners, just as the Pharisee had singled himself out as the chief est of saints. And so it comes to pass that “every one that exalteth him self shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
2. Heaven is above. God looks down from heaven. Christ ascended into heaven and shall descend from it (cf. John 3:13; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:16). 3. Heaven is not far away. But a veil separates (cf. Heb. 6:19). - John, Stephen, Daniel caught a glimpse of it. Probably if our eyes were not holden we too, like them and Elisha, might catch glimpses of that heavenly land. Heaven is what God is. Home is where mother is; so heaven is where God is. It is His dwelling place. God is everywhere, in a spiritual sense, but in heaven in a particular sense (1 Kings 8:30). II. What is heaven? Is it a state, an emotion, a condition, or a place? How does the Bible describe it? In many ways? as a banquet, a paradise, a kingdom, an inheritance, a palace, a sanctuary, etc. 1. It is a city. Ofttimes it is so called. It has foundations, dimensions, gates, walls, streets, rivers, trees, towers (cf. Revelation 21:10). It is an _ exceedingly large city (Revelation 21:9-17). London and New York are villages compared with it. The Old Jerusalem was thirty-three stadia; the New Jerusalem, four thousand eight hundred stadia. It is an eternal city. We look for Babylon, Rome, Nineveh, and all we see are their ruins. The pyramids and obelisks speak of/ Perishing civilizations. Heaven is a city that hath undecaying foun dations, a city that never decays, not built with hands, nor hoary with the years of time. 2. Heaven is a place of rest. It was cheering news to the tired children of Israel in the wilderness to be told that Canaan was the land of rest. So is it with us when we
Theme: Heaven. I ntroduction .
A practical subject—for experience and observation show that he who makes most of the future makes most of the present. A vitally interesting subject. The emi grant is. interested in the country to which he expects to migrate. If heaven is to be our future home, it is natural that we should be interested in it. A knowledge of heaven is necessary to a desire for it. When the children of Israel saw the grapes of'Eschol, they longed for the country where the grapes grew. “I have tasted Canaan’s grapes, and now I long to go To where the Lord His vineyard keeps, and where the clusters grow.” Our knowledge of heaven is necessarily limited, but, after all, enough is said about it to invite our interest and assure our faith. I. Where is heaven? Can we locate it ? Is it above, or below? On the globe? Has it a
geographical boundary? 1. It is not here below.
We are in no heavenly or millennial period. The conditions now and those in Revelation 21 and 22 are vastly different. , The “kingdom of God” and the “kingdom of heaven” áre not “heaven.” The grave is not heaven. We have a better hope than that. For the believer, to depart this life is to be “with Christ” (Philippians 1:21).
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