Michael Youssef - The 9 Blessings of Heaven
A producer wanted to produce a series about heaven and hell. And so, the first in the series, they were interviewing a clergyman from England and they asked him the question, "How do you know that there is a heaven and there is a hell"? The clergyman thought for a minute and he answered with one word, just one word. He said, "Die". Well, that's certainly true, but there is a humongous problem with the answer. And that is, if you have made the wrong choice here on earth between heaven and hell, when you die it will be too late to change your mind. There is no do-overs when it comes to eternity. The book of Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed," it is appointed. Say it with me, "for everyone to die once after that, the judgment". And that is why God's Word tells all of us who love Jesus, they tell us all that we need to know about heaven, our eternal home.
Today, I want to point out to you the nine blessings of heaven. The first blessing of heaven, there will be no more temptations. Amen, we're going to be free, truly free, truly free. Free from temptations, free from opposition, free from Satan's fiery darts that he's constantly throwing our way, free from the attack on our relationships, free from suspicion and resentment and misunderstandings, free from all sin and guilt. In this life we face all sorts of these painful, all these painful temptations, we face them every day. And yet, with the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, with the strength of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, we can say no to temptation.
But nonetheless, we struggle against these evil and spiritual forces as long as we live in this flesh, as long as we live in this body, and that is why we pray constantly. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, because the evil one is the one who bring us temptation. And therefore, the two are, so, go together. But praise God, praise God a day is coming when all of Satan's temptations and attack will come to an end. The day is coming when our ultimate victory is going to be permanent and forever.
So, the first blessing of heaven is what? The second blessing of heaven, no more losses. No more losses. I think, from the oldest among us to the youngest among us, everyone at the sound of my voice have experienced some sort of losses. People whom we love are taken away from us. Again and again we encounter partings, separations, losses of all kinds, but not in heaven. Listen to me, to arrive in heaven is to arrive home where we will live not only in unity, but in community. Do you know what the keynote of heaven is? Joy, joy. Losses, sorrow, bereavements, these are all we left behind in this world. Loss of marriage, a loss of reputation, loss of dreams, loss of friendships. And when we suffer losses of any kind, it is easy for us to tumble into despair and hopelessness, but beloved, listen to me. The resurrected Jesus will conquer all losses. The resurrected Jesus will restore all losses. The resurrected Jesus will give us himself.
And the third blessing of heaven, no more tears. The day is coming when in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, all my tears will be wiped out, all of our tears. We know that this life is a valley of tears. This life is a valley of weeping. In fact, the shortest verse in the Bible, even kids know that in Sunday school, the shortest verse in the Bible is in the gospel of John chapter 11, verse 35. "Jesus wept," and it always gives me comfort. "Jesus wept," two words, and yet they have profound meaning. They have profound meaning.
Jesus, when he went into the village of Bethany after the death of his friend Lazarus, the Bible said Jesus wept. Please listen carefully, those tears of Jesus spoke volumes to the people who heard him weep. They said, "Oh, see how he loves him. Oh, see how he loved him". Now, Jesus knew he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead, that's not just because of sorrow or anything like this. Jesus's tears were far more important, they're far more significant, than just grieving over his friends. To be sure, yes, he loved Lazarus, but these were the tears of grief over what sin has done. These were the tears over death which resulted from the sin of Adam and Eve.
Also at the cross, you remember the women were weeping and Jesus said, "Tell them not to weep," he said. They were weeping because, from a human perspective, Good Friday and the cross of Christ looked like they did end, but praise God, on the early hours of Sunday morning, the cross became an open door to the Resurrection and our redemption. The death of Christ was not a loss, but a victory. The cross of Christ was not an end, but the beginning. The cross of Christ was not a setback, it was a breakthrough for all of eternity. Discouragement and despair, which we all go through at times, but they cannot survive, they cannot survive in the presence of the hope of heaven. They cannot survive.
And so, the third blessing of heaven, all tears would be wiped away. The fourth blessing is there'll be no more death. I know that death is frightening, I know that. Death is a mysterious prospect. Death lies in wait for all of us, for all of us. Christian believers cannot escape his shadow, but once we pass through death and enter into heaven, death loses its terror, death loses its sting, because Jesus pass through death so that those of us who know him, those of us who love him, can know with certainty that death is not the end of life. Once we cross over to heaven, death vanishes into the past, death itself dies, death is vanquished, death no longer has power over us, and the fear of death is also vanquishes in heaven. Death is powerless, completely.
The fifth blessing of heaven, no more regrets. No more regrets. I don't know about you, but I find regrets to be one of the worst feelings in the world. I think we all have regrets. You have them and I do. Beloved, our words and actions have consequences. Even the secular world tells us they have, and these consequences cannot be undone. But thank God, thank God, thank God he can give us the power and the strength to let them go, to let all regrets go. Why? Because Jesus offers us total forgiveness and grace for all of our sins, even the things we regret. Jesus overrules all of our failures and all of the self blame in this life. All of the selfish and sinful deeds that we will remember no more, God has expunged them and expunged all of our records and he wiped them away, all of our guilt and all of our regrets.
And blessing number six, no more separation. Now, this is different from losses. I'm going to explain to you in a minute. No more separation. Revelation 21, verse 1 John writes, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and the first earth had passed away," and here it comes, you ready for it, here it comes, "and there was no longer any sea," S- E- A, no sea. I want you think about this, okay, because you need to put yourself in John's place, John the Revelator.
Think of why, when he looked at the new heaven and the new earth and he saw no sea, he becomes ecstatic. He becomes thrilled about that. Why? Because here he is, in exile, in an island separated, surrounded by water, surrounded by sea in the island of Patmos. The sea represented a separation from his loved ones across on the mainland, across the sea. But when he sees the new heaven and the new earth, he said, "Praise God, I'm not gonna be separated". See, wouldn't have thought when he thought there will be no sea anymore, it became synonymous for him with no more separation, no more separation. Beloved, we are waiting for Jesus to come and take us home. We will have glorious fellowship with our Lord, but we're also gonna have glorious fellowship with our loved ones who went ahead of us. No more separation.
The seventh blessing of heaven, no more dreaded schedules. I think the greatest curse of the 21st century, life is, we are overstressed, we are over committed, and we're over scheduled. Hurrying, scheduling, can be ruthless masters. Really can and, certainly, they can mess up our spiritual life. I promise you that, I've experienced that, I know that. It can mess up with our devotional time with Jesus that we need to spend with him in intimacy with him. Beloved, if there's one thing Christian believers need to learn it is this, listen carefully, learn to develop greater alignment with heaven where you will be forever and for all of eternity. Don't let the troubles of this world and the issues of this world take your eyes off where you'll be forever.
Revelation 21:23 John writes, "Heaven does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of the Lord gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp". We will no longer live our lives by the rising of the sun or the phases of the moon. All of the illumination we need will come from the throne of God. It will come from the throne of God. And I told you before, the throne of God doesn't mean a piece of furniture where God is sitting, when the Bible talks about the throne of God, that is the center of the universe. It's the center of the universe. We will be freed from enslavement to times and clocks and schedules and deadlines, we will be free from endless meetings and phone calls, we will not be running from one appointment after another. We will live unhurried life and there will be plenty of time to do everything that God will give us to do, that God has for us to do.
So, I come to blessing number eight, no more darkness. No more darkness, no more darkness. In Rome, you can visit the dungeon at the Mamertine Prison. It was originally dug to be assistant as a natural spring. There was no possibility of escape. The prisoners were lowered through that hole in the ceiling and that is it. Food and water was lowered through that same hole through which they threw the prisoners.
Here he is, in the midst of his darkness, Paul never lost hope because he knew that he was going to a place of infinite and eternal light. But you know and I know there are other kinds of darkness than just physical darkness. There is the darkness of ignorance, there is the darkness of misunderstandings, there is the darkness of anger, there is the darkness of hate, there is the darkness of resentment. They will all vanish when we get to heaven. Ah, in heaven there will be no more human darkness, no more human darkness, for there we will see the revelation and the depth of the human motives and behavior. It will all be exposed to his marvelous light.
The ninth blessing of heaven, no more disillusionment. No more disillusionment. One of the most difficult realities of life is the experience of disillusionment and disappointment. Please listen, even though we know and love Jesus, even we know his redeeming grace, even though we live in gratitude and thanksgiving for saving us, and yet sometimes we find ourselves questioning God. "Lord, why is this prayer had not been answered? Year after year after year. Lord, why does my life seem to be meaningless right now? Lord, I'm trying to follow you, I'm trying to obey you, and yet everything seems to be falling apart in my life".
But again, praise God, all of that will disappear the moment we enter heaven. Then, in heaven, far from life being empty and meaningless, we will be busy reigning and ruling the universe with Christ. When Jesus asked us to pray, when the disciples said, "Teach us how to pray," and he said, "Pray this way: our Father," who's where? Why did he say that? Everybody knew that the Father is in heaven. But what Jesus is doing in the very first sentence of what he taught us to pray is because he want us to elevate our vision to heaven. He wanted us to lift up our eyes to see the greatness, the majesty, and the power of God. He wanted us to focus on the infinite resources of heaven that satisfied all our needs.
Yes, our Father is in heaven, listen to me, our Father is in heaven, but he's closer to you than your beating heart, is closer to you than your beating heart. He is watching over you here and now on earth, at the same time he's preparing a place for you in heaven. Now, you would think that all believers would be more concerned about investing in heaven as Jesus said. Focusing on heaven produces godliness here and now, focusing on heaven brings us joy and comfort here and now in the midst of trials, focusing on heaven places our earthly pain and suffering on an eternal perspective, focusing on heaven will empower us to live in victory over sin, over temptation.