9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" 13 Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes-- who are they, and where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Revelation 7:9-17
When people talk about heaven it becomes very apparent that we live in confusing times.
On one hand, many people in our culture talk about their dogs and cats having souls and living on in another life after they die.
On the other hand, just as many (or more) people embrace the idea that the human race is the result of millions of years of evolutionary mutations and that we are physical, not spiritual, beings with no existence after death.
It's even more mind-boggling that there are a good number of people who embrace both of these ideas!
The growing secularism of our culture has forced people to find new ways to deal with the deaths of friends and loved ones (and even pets). A casual reading of the obituaries in the newspaper or on-line reveals a number of these coping methods and the myths of heaven that have been formed around them.
Those who see humans as physical beings without souls have crafted a myth that there is no heaven, only nothingness. When a loved one dies, they seek comfort in the hope that the person will live on in the memories of those still alive.
Those who are "spiritual" apart from an "organized religion" promote the myth that heaven is an experience for every person of the human race. Thinking of their deceased loved ones as having entered into a cosmic oneness to which we are all somehow connected is supposed to help them cope with their loss.
The myth embraced by the millions of people in our nation who are culturally Christians, but not committed followers of Jesus, is that heaven is an upgraded and much improved continuation of this present life. Imagining their departed loved ones as newly minted angels who are watching over them is supposed to ease their grief.
As popular as these myths of heaven have become in our culture and in the American church, God's Word about heaven shatters them. The reality of heaven, though only given to us in small glimpses, eclipses all of our myths and brings us genuine comfort in the face of death.
The reality of heaven presented in the image of the saints of God dressed in white robes and gathered in His presence stands in vivid contrast to the myths of heaven crafted by our culture.
The reality of heaven is the fullness of life, not nothingness. It is being in the unlimited presence of the One who created all things, not an ambiguous connectedness to the cosmos. It is being free from the pain, sorrow, and suffering of this world, not condemned to observe it from afar.
Furthermore, it is centered not in us and our limited imaginings, but in the Lamb who is the author and essence of all that is real.
Best of all, the reality of Heaven awaits us and now belongs to those who have gone before us by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ whose blood has washed away our sins and whose righteousness clothes us so that we too may stand in the assembly from every nation, tribe, people, and language in His glorious presence forever.
