The Hope of Heaven

What do you think about heaven? Here’s what George Bernard Shaw thought:

Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty of people have described a day at the seaside.

Well, I enjoyed a lovely trip to the seaside with the students recently at Foundations, and with the staff at our summer social this week and both were very nice, but right now, you’ll be relieved to hear, I’ll try and explain the end of Joel 3, which I think does an excellent job of describing what heaven will be like. But Shaw has a point, doesn’t he? Because, I reckon, if I asked most of us how much we thought about heaven we’d say “not enough”. And I reckon if I asked us how often we talked about or described heaven we’d say, “hardly ever”. At least, that’s how I’d answer those questions.

As Ian said right back at the beginning of our series, the best guess is Joel was written after God’s people returned from exile. We can’t be certain about that. But it fits pretty well. And if that was the case the exile would have been a lingering memory for God’s people. But what is clear is that, in Joel’s day, things weren’t exactly going well for God’s people. Like the disastrous locust plague in Joel 1 (which God had allowed to happen to bring them back into to proper relationship with him). So, I guess, the thoughtful Israelite at the time would have looked round at the struggling people of God and thought, “is God going to protect us in the future? Has he abandoned us now? Are we going to suffer forever?” And they might have looked at God’s enemies (the other nations) and thought, “they’ve got away with it. What is God going to do about how we’ve been treated? Does he not care?” And Joel 3 addresses those concerns by showing a picture of the final blessed state of God’s people. And this is why Joel 3 is good news for us today, because it’s going to show us a picture of what God will ultimately do about all the troubles of this life and what it will be like to one day be with him forever. And my hope, and prayer, is that gets us thinking and talking, about heaven more.

1. God’s people will experience his ultimate blessing (Joel 2.16-18)

Joel 2.16-17:

The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.

So God was saying to his people, “no matter how things look now, I will protect you. You are still my chosen people”. And that word Zion in Joel 2.17 means ‘Jerusalem’. And Jerusalem here stands for God’s people – from the people back then, through to us today. And so, God was saying, “look, there will come a day when everyone will know, that I am your God because I will dwell with you, and you will dwell with me in heaven forever”. And this is more than a promise to God’s people back then. It is a promise that there will be a day when all of God’s people (through all of time) will enjoy his protection and his presence forever. And that’s a staggering promise for us today, because, even on the very best day of Christian lives, our relationship with God does not free us from the presence of sin – both our own, and the sin of the world around us. So, think of all the rubbish that you’ve said, done, thought, and think of all the effects everyone else’s sin on us, and our world, all the ways we’ve been let down, hurt, mistreated. None of that will be there.

God’s people, Joel 2.17 says, will be holy, i.e. completely pure, like God. That means God is committed to one day ridding of us sin once and for all. And this is where we’re going. It’s the end point. So, sin now isn’t the ‘real us’ and one day it won’t be part of us at all. And that should encourage us to keep going in trying to live like God now. Because if complete holiness is our destiny, we need to ask how are we preparing ourselves now for that? What steps do you need to take? There will be no sin. And no more consequences of sin. And that includes God’s enemies – Joel 2.17:

and strangers shall never again past through it.

That’s the image of an army having conquered Jerusalem and marching through it in victory. And so, God is saying, “One day, that type of thing will never happen again. One day, your enemies will never be able to hurt you. In fact, they won’t be able to come anywhere near you” because God’s perfect rule wouldn’t be perfect, if those opposed him were able to live in his presence and harm his people.

For all of this to happen, it’s going to take God to create a new world – with his rule established and his presence perfectly felt. That’s what our New Testament reading (Revelation 21.1-8) describes as the New Jerusalem. And God will be there (physically in King Jesus) to rule, and to be with his people. Because, you can’t have a perfect world without it being ruled by a perfect King. And God, the King, created us as his people to enjoy the goodness of his presence forever. So, as Revelation 21.3 says:

…the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

So, the picture Joel is painting for us here, is complete intimacy with God, because although our sins are completely forgiven when we trust in Jesus and we enjoy a deep relationship with him, we don’t yet enjoy a perfectly intimate, and unhindered, relationship with him. We can’t see him now, but one day we’ll see him face to face and we’ll physically be with him. And if this year has taught us anything, that will be better by far! Because there will be no feelings of sin, no feelings of wanting to be better, no feelings of, “I wish I could be closer to God”. He’ll be there. And we’ll be with him. And this new world will be some place, Joel 2.18 continues:

And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.

So, flowing water symbolises life, life flowing from the presence of God, i.e. no more death. And flowing milk symbolises abundance, there’s no more need of any kind. C.S. Lewis in his book The Great Divorce writes vividly about what awaits us in this new creation, of grass that remains unruffled under our feet, of dew that remains perfectly intact on it, of flowers that sit perfectly and whose stalks can’t be broken, of everything feeling solider, more beautiful, better, more real than ever before. Nothing in this world will come close to it. And let’s not forget the image of sweet flowing wine. When in your experience does wine flow abundantly? At a wedding, or a party, or a celebration. And that’s exactly what this is: A celebration of God’s goodness and final victory over evil! A celebration that his people get to enjoy him forever! Jesus will be there. And along with every believer from the beginning of time. We’ll delight in him (who he is and what he’s done) for the rest of eternity.

So, how does all that sound? Inane? Miserable? I don’t think so. A fair few of us here will have had a tough week, or a tough year, or longer. And we’ve wondered, frankly, whether God is ever going to do anything about the state of our world? And one of the unsettling things about this pandemic has been a greater awareness that nothing is finally holy, nothing is finally safe, nothing is finally abundant. Locust plagues, pandemics, the ravages of sin. It’s all far more normal than we care to admit. And that’s why we need this picture of Joel 3, to remember that ultimate blessing lies beyond this life. It lies beyond history itself, in a new world, ruled by King Jesus. This world can’t, and never will, offer us enough even at its very best.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an airport where you have to walk for miles to get to your gate? You know, where you’re told in advance it’s a 25-minute walk?! There are long walkways and you get on those strange moving escalator-like platforms, and you walk, and walk, and walk, and you feel like you’re getting nowhere. It goes on. And on. But the truth is, you’re moving towards your destination, and you’re being carried there even though you don’t really realise it. As Christians, we are going to a place where there will be no pain. And where Jesus will be enjoyed forever. And, even when we don’t realise it, we are going in that direction. And we have a certainty and a clarity about this that Joel could barely have imagined. Because at Joel’s time the people related to God through the temple where his presence was felt, but today through Christ’s work on the cross, we the church, are the temple – the presence of God is among us and within us. So, we have a small taste of what heaven will be like in church life at its very best. But, like Revelation 21 shows us, there is infinitely greater to come.

And all that stands between us today and that is Jesus’ return to wrap up history forever. Each new day is a good day because it’s a day closer to that. So, God, through Joel, wanted a troubled people to fix their eyes on a picture of his ultimate blessing. Because when life was tough, that’s what he wanted them to bank on. And that’s exactly what he wants for us too. But he also wants us to see that:

2. God’s enemies will experience his ultimate judgement. (Joel 2.19-21):

Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion.

So, if you’d been an Israelite at the time of Joel and Egypt or Edom has been mentioned it would have provoked a strong reaction because they were traditional enemies of God’s people. And they’re mentioned here, representatively really, to stand for all the enemies of God. And what have these enemies done? Joel 2.19 – they’d harmed and killed the people of God. And it’s on that basis that God judges them. Because the Bible is clear, how people treat God’s children is ultimately how they treat God. And how they respond to him is what really matters.

We might think of nations today with governments hostile to Christianity – both in terms of legislation, and in terms of ideology. Or, we might think of the many believers around the world who have experienced violent persecution. Some of you will remember a former member of our church family who came from Iraq. His family left everything behind and fled the country never to return, as their city was destroyed and Christians were slaughtered at the hands of Islamic State. How do you even begin to process that? A few of us here have had to take a stand at work for our faith and that has brought us further trouble. One of us, who became a Christian in their 30s, was abandoned by every single friend they had, their friends just didn’t want to know. I remember a student from a while back who became a Christian. Their parent’s reaction? To put their Bible in the bin. He bought another one. But that’s not really the point, is it?

These things are small in comparison to what some believers have to suffer, and in this country our lives are not routinely under threat, but they are still painful. And we are living in an increasingly anti-Christian world, where things like this will become more frequent. And that’s why we need Joel 3, because in these verses, God is reminding a suffering people that he cares about how he’s treated, and he cares about how his children are treated. And one day, he’ll do something about Islamic State, and Boko Haram, and the persecution of Christians in China, and anti-Christian legislation in this country. One day he’ll bring justice for every mistreated Christian. One day he’ll sort it all out. And on that day, nothing that is against God will be able to harm any Christian any further. We will be safe and secure in him, Joel 2.20, we’ll be with him.

There is nothing more important than being a follower of Jesus. Following him, and him alone, gives us this eternal safety. And, whether you’ve been a Christian for years, or you’re still looking into the Christian faith, you need to know that. Nothing but faith in Jesus will save you on that final day. And, once again, we see that those who are God’s enemies will be excluded because they’ve chosen to live without him. And God won’t just let evil and injustice be swept under the carpet. He will judge, and these verses point to Jesus’ final, once and for all, judgement at the end of time. And he won’t get it wrong. He will judge perfectly. And fairly. And that gives us something to hold onto. It gives us hope, when we face trouble for our faith or when we hear of brothers and sisters around the world who have, and are, living through atrocity because they’ve kept following Jesus. And the fact that one day Jesus will judge is freeing because it means that we can get on with living our lives as God has called us to. We leave the judgement down to him. And we don’t hit back. And so, we hold out the good news of the gospel to everyone, no matter what, even those who persecute us because God wants to save people, and he wants people to hear about him. We have a role in that. We don’t choose who he saves, he does.And without his mercy towards us, where would we be?

Life this side of heaven can be tough, but Joel 3 reminds us that, as Christians, we are on the path to ultimate blessing which lies beyond this world, and God will get us there. So let’s prove to each other that those old, and cynical, words from Shaw are wrong. Don’t you see? Heaven will be better. So let’s live, speak, and be captivated by this vision of the final blessing to come.