The Good Things About Heaven. First, I would like to point out that one of the good things about heaven is that there will not be any bad things there. But the Bible has a lot to say about the good and wonderful things about heaven, and I would like to share those with you.

The first and best thing is that God will be there, and we will be with Him. Rev. 21:3: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

Rev. 21:22-23: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.”

Throughout all time, God has provided men with reminders of His influence among them: –the tabernacle of Moses, –the temple of Solomon, –the temple rebuilt after the return, –and the Herodian temple of Jesus’ day. In heaven there will be no need for a reminder of God’s presence and influence, because men will be in His actual presence, and in the presence of the Lamb.

1 Tim. 6:15-16: “Which in its own times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen.” God lives in a very nice place, and we shall be with Him (John 14:1-6).

We shall be fully equipped to be in the company of God. To his readers, Peter said, “And the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you” (5:10). We shall share the eternal glory of God.

1 John 3:2: “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, when he shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Heb. 12:14: “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.”

1 Thess. 5:23: “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rev. 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” There will be absolutely no sin in heaven.

I believe that a large part of the reason is that those who go there will have been transformed by the renewing of their minds (Rom. 12:2). But just as by our own efforts here we cannot achieve sinless perfection, so neither can we in heaven. Therefore I believe that there will be a further perfecting, establishing, and strengthening by God.

We shall have put on immortality. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” “The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52a).

“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53). “But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (15:54).

“O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law: but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (15:55-57).

I really believe that in heaven the ideal, and the ultimate purpose of God from the beginning will be accomplished. Through intimate association with God men were to be taught, trained, and sanctified to be like He is. But men were not prepared for this.

Throughout the ages God taught these lessons, relating our holiness to His holiness, encouraging us to seek holiness through His example. In heaven this prepared people will be so intimately associated with God, that the goal of God in the garden of Eden will be achieved, and we will live in holiness with Him without sin.

We shall have full and constant access to the river of the water of life, and to the tree of life. “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof” (22:1).

“And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (22:2).

Compare Ezekiel 47:12: “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing.”

The river that watered the garden of Eden was the river of Paradise. The tree of life grew in the garden. Ezekiel’s point was that, in Jesus, during the gospel age, there would be spiritual sustenance for His disciples, provisions for their faith, for their instruction, for their transformation.

In heaven we will have abundant access to the river, and to the tree. I believe these are figures for the idea that we shall be spiritually sustained by the God in whose glory we shall dwell.

It will be Paradise. Not one of the things that now give us pain or displeasure will be there. Therefore no weeping (Rev. 21:4). No mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away (Rev. 20:4).

Death will not ever again happen: “and death shall be no more.” Death and Hades will both be gone (Rev. 20:13-14). When Lazarus died, and Jesus was reassuring Martha that “Thy brother shall rise again” (John 11:23), She replied, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (11:24).

Jesus answered, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25a). The meaning of this blessed fact is expressed in two statements. “He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live” (11:25b). This statement was Martha’s assurance that she was correct in believing that her brother would rise again at the last day.

“And whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die” (11:26). This statement points out that one who commits his life to the Lord shall never die spiritually. Therefore, even when physical death comes, the saints will not be “even as the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).

When the saints at Thessalonica were worried about their dead loved ones in Christ, Paul reassured them that their dead would not be forgotten or overlooked. The obvious reason for their concern, was the same as Martha for Lazarus – love and grief and concern for their dead loved ones.

Paul told of the events that will occur at the resurrection, and concluded: “So shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). He concluded: “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18).

Clearly, one of the things involved in the joy of heaven is reunion with dead loved ones in Christ. The whole tenor of the passage in 1 Thess. 4 is that our dead loved ones will not be lost or forgotten but shall be restored to us. Remember that David said of his dead child, he will not come back to me, but I shall go to him (2 Sam. 12:23).