McGee_Homesick_ND-WM.pdf

McGee_Homesick_ND-WM.pdf

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C°HARLESL

· FEINBERG

Homesick for Heaven

A Sermon by

J. VERNON McGEE, Tu.D.,LL.D.

Pastor of the

CllUROH OF THE OPEN DOOR

Los Angeles 17, California

558 South Hope Street

Mr. and Mrs. William C. Blackburn have made possible the publishing of this a second message in loving memory of their father and mother Mr. and Mrs. William P. Blackburn

Homesick for Heaven Revelation 14:13; 21 :9-22:7 D o YOU RECALL your first experience of being away from home at Christmas? Do you remember the paroxysm of pain which seized you as you thought back on home and loved ones? If your experience was similar to multitudes of others it was a gnawing feeling of indescribable homesickness and dreadful loneliness. You went back over memory's highway to the familiar scenes about your natal fireside. You could picture your father and mother and all the family seated around a festive table ladened with delectable food such as only your mother could prepare. As you thought on that familiar scene, far from home and loved ones, you would have given a "king's ran­ som" to be back there and participate in the happy event. You may have attempted to erase the joyful occasion from your mind, but to no avail. An awful ache and sorrow of soul overwhelmed you as you brushed a tear from your eye. No other experience quite compares to homesickness on the first Christmas away from home. Christ and Christmas Have you ever paused to consider what the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as a baby in a manger at Bethlehem implies? That was His first Christmas away from His home in heaven. The tragedy was not in the fact that there was no room for Him in the Inn at Bethlehem, rather that His "room in heaven" was vacant. It was not the surrounding dreariness of the stable that gave His birth a tragic note, but the absence of that joy He had known in His Father's House. It was 3

not the cold indifference of men and the lack of wel­ come which made His coming a story of pathos. It was not that He was homeless down here, but that He had departed from the home over there. The adora­ tion of angels and praise of the heavenly hosts were His rightful portion in heaven; the adoration befitting His person down here was secondary. Clear thinking would bring us to know that the absence of heaven's glory only accentuated the gloom of the stable to which He had come. The tinge of tragedy which sur­ rounds His birth does not lie in that to which He came, but in that which He had left in heaven. Another View of Christmas To us the familiar scenes of Christmas are Bethlehem, an Inn, a stable, a manger, oxen and straw. Actually, these are incidental to His birth. They afford only one half of the story, and we lose its beauty when we dwell upon the earthly environment and attendant cir­ cumstances; these are but trifles. Since His home in heaven is the one to which every Believer is going, let us lift our eyes from the earthly to the heavenly scene -from Bethlehem to the home in heaven. We are not tourists looking at the sights of Bethlehem-we are pilgrims on the way to our heavenly home, and it is time to examine the other side of the Christmas story­ that heavenly home. What Does Scripture Say1 We are confined to the pages of Scripture for all the knowledge we have about heaven. Anything beyond the pages of Scripture is pure speculation, a fantasy. The facts are that Scripture does not have much to say on this engaging subject. If man had written the Bible -unaided by the Holy Spirit-he would have elaborated on this theme. As has been stated, "Man having said so much could not have said so little." The silence of Scripture on some subjects is as much a proof of its inspiration as what it does say. There is a reverent 4

reticence here born only of the Holy Spirit. The pro­ pensity and curiosity of man would have run unbridled. But what the Scripture does have to say about heaven is enough to cause a longing within each human heart to go there. From the Old Testament The Old Testament has practically nothing to say about heaven. There are some veiled Scriptures such as, "... In thy presence is fulness of joy; ..." (Psalm 16:11). (ASV) The reason the Old Testament does not dwell on this subject is self evident: The hope of the Old Testament is earthly; its promises largely confined to this earth, and its theme having to do with the glori­ ous future of the earth. From the New Testament It is from the New Testament that we draw all of our information about heaven. The reason that the subject of heaven seems far removed from our thinking is because the average person loses all reality of "heaven as a place" since they do not believe this fact to be substantiated by eyewitnesses. The skeptical mind thinks that no one has "spied out the land." It is startling when we assemble facts that we have long known as individual instances and find that, jointly, they round out a magnificent body of truth, for we do have eyewitnesses to the glorious reality of heaven -there are three to be exact. These three are quali­ fied to speak on this enigmatic subject,. they speak with authority for they have been there and have returned, and we have been given thrilling reports. The three who have brought us first hand accounts are: 1. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST-"... I came forth from the Father" (John 16:27). 2. PAUL THE APOSTLE-"! knew a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God 5

knoweth), such an one caught up even to the third heaven" (II Cor. 12:2). 3. JOHN THE REVELATOR-"After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne;" (Rev. 4: 1, 2). The Witness of Christ THE LORD JESUS CHRIST assures us that heaven is a place: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). He mentions, for the first time, that a place is being prepared beyond this world for His own. Likewise His own are being prepared for this place: "giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;" (Col. 1:12). John Newton expressed the thinking of the Christian in this connection: "I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I want to be; I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am." At the World Council of Churches-August 1954 in Evanston, Illinois-the Rev. E. Clifford Urwin of Lon­ don, England stated, according to a newspaper reporter, "Where heaven, hell and purgatory are, I don't know. No one can say." This contradicts the clear statement of Christ. The fact that I do not know the direction of Pocatello, Idaho, that I have not seen it on the map, neither have I been there, does not prove-in any re­ spect-that it is not a place. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples something new when He pointed them to a place beyond the smog and suffering of this earth. 6

The Witness of Paul PAUL THE APOSTLE records his experience of being translated to heaven in II Cor. 12:7: "And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revela­ tions, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be ex­ alted ovemmch." The experience to which he refers here was probably the occasion when he was stoned at Lystra and dragged outside the city and left for dead as we find in Acts 14:19: "But there came Jews thither from Antioch and Iconium: and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead." Paul knew what he was talking about when he said, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Obviously, God raised him from the dead. He speaks of the third heaven in II Cor. 12:2, "I knew a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such an one caught up even to the third heaven." Scripture knows nothing of the "7th heaven" but it does speak of the three heavens:

1st-Clouds of heaven 2nd-Stars of l1eaven 3rd-Throne of God

Paul was forbidden to speak of the things he heard, that is a revelation in itself. You cannot put into words the glories and wonders of heaven. Earth's tape meas­ ure is of no value there. You cannot reduce the infinite to finite terms. Heaven cannot be placed on the draw­ ing board and charted with a slide rule. No adjective is adequate to describe heaven. Men have exhausted adjectives in their advertising of man made products. The billboard reads: "stupendous, fabu­ lous, amazing, gigantic, incredible, colossal, unbeliev- 7

able, tremendous, sensational, spectacular and super." These are poor words to describe heaven. It is all but impossible to express the deepest feelings in our own experience in human verbage. You cannot describe accurately and adequately your love and joy. Paul was so filled with inexpressible joy that God had to give him a thorn in the flesh to keep him anchored to this earth. He was filled with ecstasy which would have been unbounding and unbridled. The Witness of John It is JOHN on the Isle of Patmos who gives us an extended account of heaven. He used symbolic language to convey to our feeble minds and lim­ ited understanding, something of the wonder and splendor of heaven. It is enough to make us hunger and thirst for more. It likewise corrects the wrong . views we have entertained of heaven. Some of us are relieved to know that we shall not have to wear long white robes and have crowns on our head~; twang on a harp and wave palm branches continu­ ously. If this is your view, then literature and art have been your tutors, not Scripture. Here are a few of the Scriptural truths about heaven: (1) Heaven is a place of inexpressible beauty-Rev. 21:1-22:7. Read this passage carefully and you will see how John exhausts symbolic language in order that we may probe our finite boundaries and gain a glimpse of heaven. The stones in the foundation of the New Jerusalem reveal every color of the rainbow and more besides. There is light, life and color in heaven. How little we really know about color down here. R. A. Weale gives the following report in the Scientific Review Section of the British Magazine, INTELLIGENCE DIGEST: Colour means light, and light means life. At night we can see, yet we see no colour and the world is drab and cold. Infuse colour into it, and it is transformed. Do we take 8

colours for granted? Are they just part of things in general? How do we come to see them? To what is colour blindness due? 'What happens when we see red? Such questions have occupied philosophers and poets for thousands, and scientists for hundreds of years. And yet we are still very much in the dark. The merest tip of the curtain is now being lifted from the stage of the problem. In the meantime, here are some of its essentials. Why Does a Tomato look Red Three factors are responsible for the colour which every­ day objects present to us. In the first place, there is the illuminating light. Just as a musical note is characterised by a frequency of vibration as shown by a tuning-fork, so light is made up of radiation-each of which has a special frequency due to vibrating atoms. But, in the case of light, the frequency is measured in­ directly, by determining the wave-length of the light--the dis­ tance between two crests of the minute waves which go to make up the radiation. Thus, a tomato vvill be visible only if the right amount of suitable frequencies will strike it. In the second place, the chemical constitution of the struck surface plays an important role. In the case of the tomato, it is such as to reflect light consisting largely of longer wave­ lengths. In connection with the leaf, however, light of medium wave-lengths is the principal portion reflected, and in the forget-me-not the reflected light consists mainly of short wave-length radiation. An Attribute of the Mind This brings us to the third point-the eye. Obviously, a colour is not just "there," it must be seen to be called a colour: colour is an attribute of the mind. Thus, when light of long wave-lengths reaches the eye, a signal goes to the brain which, in a manner as yet unknown, interprets it as "red". Similarly, medium wave-lengths give rise to a signal which produces the sensation of "green," and short wave­ length light evokes one of "blue". We will need glorified bodies to see and appreciate the glories of heaven. The Christmas lights on Holly­ wood Boulevard will pale into a dim light in a dark alley in the slums of New York compared to the light and color of heaven. (2) This is not the best part of heaven, however. Heaven is a.place of perfect rest-Rev. 14:13: "And I heard 9

a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow with them." a) There is a rest which Jesus gives now: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). It is only a foretaste of heaven. Many saints have bodies wracked with pain, in­ firmities, disease and weakness--many are groaning in agony, fettered with a physical handicap­ "And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (3) One of these days this old aching body will be laid in its grave and the soul will take its flight into His presence where there is no more pain and death­ "And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4). At that time in the graciousness of the matchless love of our Father we shall lose three things: 1. Corruption and gain incorruption (4) Another cause of heartbreak and disappointment down here is that we must deal with unscrupulous people-some who actually scheme and connive to hurt us. In His presence there will be no more envy, malice or hatred. A minister, who has long been a friend of mine, was having difficulty in his church, and he remarked to me that he would be so grateful to get to heaven because he would love everyone there. I told him that was great, but that to me the best feature about heaven is that everyone will love me. 10 2. Dishonor and get glory 3. Weakness and get power

Oftentimes your friends misinterpret and misconstrue your actions. There you will know and be known. Much of our misunderstanding here is due to the fact that we have a lack of knowledge: "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is per­ fect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away" (I Cor. 13:8-10). Then we have the blessed knowledge that we will know our loved ones. Not even the tone and timbre of their voice will be altered. Isn't that what happened to Mary when in the cold grey dawn of the morning she saw the shadow of a man whom she thought was the keeper or gardener? Then the Risen Christ said, "Mary," and she recognized His voice though she could not see Him for it was still too dark for her to see her Lord. Many folk have a doubt lurking in their minds to mar their thinking about heaven. They are not sure they will know their loved ones. The old Welsh min­ ister settled that for his wife when she, in some tone of doubt said: "John, do you think that you and I will know each other in heaven?" To which he replied: "To be sure Maggie, and do you think we will be greater fools there than we are here?" My friends, your love and memory will be perfect there for there will be no sin to mar them. Heaven is a cosmopolitan place for we see in He­ brews 12:22-24, "But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of, the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus u

the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel." Then we will have the glorious experience of coming to know the teeming millions of saints whom we have never met-those of the Bible's Hall of Fame who have been a benediction to our lives though countless cen­ turies have divided us. But then the years will have been bridged and time will be no more and we shall live in the infinity of fellowship. We have but to look at the nearness of God's saints when we read of Moses and Elias as they met with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. In heaven our new bodies will not become weary and we shall ever be in the service of our Father whom we love and adore for in Rev. 22:3 we find, "And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him." Scripture is bountiful in sharp and clear state­ ments of the great joy of those who are gone on to that home in the glory. And to those of you who have given loved ones back to the Lord--doesn't it take some of the sting from your sorrow when you focus your thinking upon the supreme happiness of their condition in which they are with their Saviour in joys which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre­ pared for them that love him" (I Cor. 2:9). , And the final and crowning truth which needs to flood our hearts is that we shall have fellowship with Christ in heaven. We shall be with Him. Rev. 21:3 "... Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall he his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God:"

John 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." I Tbess. 4:17 "Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Just to see the One who died for us adds anticipation and expectancy to the joy, wonder and worship of heaven. •·

"I shall know Him, I shall know Him, By the print of the nails in His hands."

"Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is" (I John 3:2). On that first Christmas morning-Oh, how homesick our Lord must have been. Let me direct your thinking to that heavenly home from which He came. The Lord Jesus Christ came down here "bore the feeling of our infirmities" that He might lead us to that heavenly home. He was homesick that you might have an eternal home! No more parting-no separation! He gave His life that He might redeem you-"The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." "It was Christmas Eve. Mr. Sankey, the sweet singer of Gospel songs, was traveling up the Delaware River on a steamboat. Many passengers had gathered on the deck. They asked Mr. Sankey to sing. He asked God what song to sing. Then he raised his eyes to the starry heaven and began to sing:

"Saviour, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care!" 13

There was deep silence as the words floated out over the deck and the quiet river. Every heart was touched! When the song was ended, a man came up to Mr. Sankey and asked, "Did you ever serve in the Union Anny?" Mr. Sankey said "Yes." Then the man asked, "Do you remember doing guard duty on a bright moon­ light night in 1862?" "Yes," replied Mr. Sankey. "Well," said the stranger, "I was serving in the Con­ federate Army. I, too, was out doing guard duty that night. I saw you standing at your post. I raised my gun and took aim at you. I was hidden in the shadows. You were standing with the full light of the moon fall­ ing on you. I was ready to pull the trigger when you raised your eyes to heaven and began to sing: "Saviour, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care!" When I heard that song, I couldn't shoot you!" My friend, the Saviour came from heaven's glory to redeem you, and then in love and tender care to lead you to that wonderful home which He has prepared for you. Is there a "Bethlehem" in your heart and life to which the Lord Jesus Christ may come? If He has come, then are you letting your Shepherd lead you in tenderest care that your pilgrimage may redound to His .honor and glory, and you may one day enter with joy and rejoicing into that home in heaven?

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