Theme: A Place Called Heaven
In these lessons we look at some of the final instructions Jesus passed on to his disciples, and see how they are also given to us for living godly lives even in the midst of difficulty.
Scripture: John 14
Let me list the things Jesus tells us are a basis for why we should not be troubled. First, there is a place called heaven, and He has gone there to prepare it for us. D.L.
Theme: Christianity Is Christ
In these lessons we look at some of the final instructions Jesus passed on to his disciples, and see how they are also given to us for living godly lives even in the midst of difficulty.
Scripture: John 14
The next thing I notice is that heaven is a home. It is our home. “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,” we sing in one of our gospel songs, and that is true.
Theme: Mercy in the End
In these lessons we focus on heaven as the place where God and his redeemed people will dwell forever.
Scripture: Revelation 21
A funeral service of the Book of Common Prayer is a very beautiful thing—both in its simplicity and in the wise way it uses Scripture. The Old Testament readings have to do with many of the Psalms.
Theme: Jerusalem and Babylon
In these lessons we focus on heaven as the place where God and his redeemed people will dwell forever.
Scripture: Revelation 21
It’s really not possible to come to this chapter at this point in the Bible, right at the end, without realizing that when John has this vision of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, this is in contrast to practically all of the great themes preceding this that have to do with our normal, earthly expectations
Theme: The Throne of God and of the Lamb
In these lessons we focus on heaven as the place where God and his redeemed people will dwell forever.
Scripture: Revelation 21
When John begins to describe this in chapter 21, the thing that impresses him most about Jerusalem is that God dwells there. He writes, “I saw the Holy City,” he says, “the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
Theme: A Description of the City
In these lessons we focus on heaven as the place where God and his redeemed people will dwell forever.
Scripture: Revelation 21
John begins to describe some of the other details, and he talks about this great wall all the way around it. A wall would symbolize protection, and so you have an image there of our eternal security and safety. He talks about the twelve foundations. Why twelve?
Theme: “The Lord Is There”
In these lessons we focus on heaven as the place where God and his redeemed people will dwell forever.
Scripture: Revelation 21
When I read these verses that talk about God being in this city forever, I think to something else that Ezekiel wrote about.
The fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel is great for several reasons. It is great because of its contents, and it is great because of the situation to which it speaks. The chapter begins, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” But the reason Jesus spoke those words is that the disciples were troubled and had every cause to be. As a matter of fact, earlier even Jesus was troubled. He said, “Now my heart is troubled” (John 12:27). Here the disciples are troubled, and Jesus says to them, “Do not . . . be troubled.”
But what I want to say is that heaven will become increasingly precious to us as we live out the course of our lives and that it is meant to be a consolation to us even now. That was the point with the disciples. They were going to be faced with death in just a few hours. Jesus Christ, the one whom they were closest to, the one they loved and had given their whole lives to, was going to die. But He said, “Do not be troubled, because death is not the end. There is life beyond. There is a heaven, and I am only going there to prepare a place for you.”
In knowing Jesus Christ we really do know God. God is not a mystery. God is not that supreme being who stands so far behind creation that we cannot even begin to know what He thinks, what He wants, or who He is. God has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. What is God like? He is like Jesus. How do we see Jesus? We see Jesus in the Scriptures.
When our Lord gets to the end of this chapter, He says in v. 27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Do you see how this comes back to the beginning? What did Jesus say in verse 1? He said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Then, when He gets to the end, He says, “I give you my peace. And because of this you do not need to be troubled.” Jesus did not promise that life will be free of difficulties, but He did promise the means of living in the midst of our difficulties.
Canadian Committee of The Bible Study Hour
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