Why Study Heaven?

This is Part 1 of a series by Paul Dowling  on the subject of Heaven.

Why Study Heaven?

Rev 22:1-6  

Glory, Paradise, or Heaven..  we are not studying the atmosphere, the universe or space, but God's dwelling place.  Why study heaven?  Because life in this world distracts us and blots out thoughts of heaven.  Things closer to us are seen to be bigger than eternity but they are not.  

Another reason is that through misunderstanding heaven it doesn't appeal to as many people as it should.  You may say "How could heaven not be appealing"?  Some may find it boring, they suppose it to be like a church service that goes on and on, while sitting on a marble seat.  Such a view has limited appeal and is childish.  Some are apathetic about heaven, clumsy at understanding its beauty.   But that is not the biblical view and that is another reason why believers should study heaven from the bible and look at the true biblical portrait.

Another reason is because we can know about it.  1 Corin 2:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him"  Some people use this text to say we don't know about heaven, you can't picture it, you can't hear it, you can't imagine it so why consider it.  But they need to read the next verse, 10 .  "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."   Natural man can't imagine the things that God has prepared, but God has revealed them to believers by his Spirit through his word, the bible.  That is the limit that God has told us about heaven and we can know what he wants us to know.   We are duty bound to study heaven because God has revealed it and whatever God has revealed, we are to study.  

We should study heaven because it is a powerful evangelistic weapon.  Look at the world around you, there is a dis-satisfaction with materialism.  Look at people's faces, are they happy?  They are not happy at all, most of them.  There is no joy in materialism, it does not bring happiness or contentedness.  If this life is it, and all we have and we live and then we die and it is over, that is depressing.   How appealing in that situation is heaven..  time is just a vapor but your soul lives forever and can live forever with God securely in heaven, satisfied in a place of indescribable beauty.  A new Paradise where every lie, deceit and wrong has been purged.  What a powerful evangelistic weapon therefore, heaven is.  God offers sinful human beings an eternity of happiness, what a glorious possibility. 

The Blackness of Darkness

Speaking of the unsaved Jude 13 "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

What a fearful thought, a lost soul experiencing the blackness of darkness for ever.  Living in a populated area one does not often see true darkness mostly because of city lights brightening the sky.  Where we used to live you could hardly see the stars because of city lights.  Now our home is in the country, night skies are darker, the stars are more visible.  When there is a full moon the glow lightens the land even more.  It is beautiful, and the blackness of darkness is not experienced here either.

Two times in my life I have experienced this extreme darkness.  Once many years ago we visited the Lewis & Clark Caverns in Montana.  The way through the cave had electricity, but at one point the guide turned out the lights and the black cloak of darkness fell. Literally like a cloak that you could feel.  It was not a welcome feeling and I was very happy when the lights went back on.