In the previous study we learned about New Jerusalem. The old earthly Jerusalem is going to be the capital city of the earthly millennial kingdom of Lord Jesus, This was the place where Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world was crucified. This was the place where King Solomon built the magnificent Temple of God. This was also the place where Abraham, the father of living faith was ready to sacrifice his son in implicit obedience to God’s command, and where our loving God spared him of the agony of killing his son. Even as I mention this incident, I remember also that this same God did not spare His only begotten Son from death and that too death on a cruel Roman cross. That is the love with which He loved the world.
Every growing church should have intelligent questions about the topics they study and should provide regular feedback to the preacher.
Every heaven-going believer will have great grief for people whom he knows will go to hell. What is our feeling towards people whom we know for sure will go to hell if they do not change their course? Do we really grasp the implications? What have we done for them? Have we done everything short of falling at their feet and pleading that they accept Jesus?
Death is inevitable
All living beings under the sun above the earth including all human beings— believers, unbelievers, heathen or any one else, for that matter. Psychologists believe that strangely very few think of death consciously because of some inbuilt mechanism in the brain that induces it to avoid such thoughts. The mind repels unpleasant thoughts in general. It is only spiritual people who can overcome such tendencies. The reason for this courage is their faith in the facts mentioned in the Bible. The Bible actually teaches that death is really very fearsome to everyone in this world except to those who are genuine believers. This leads us to the classification of death.
[Feeling that Tamil hymns and lyrics, generally, do not have the depth that English hymns have, GB has, for the EBA church hymnal, identified some good hymns, translated many hymns and choruses from English, and composed some lyrics. He has recorded the accompaniment for all the songs in the hymnal, and these are available in MP3 format. All recordings have been done at home using very simple equipment. These songs may not be copied without permission.]
An old Lutheran song by Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf first published in 1778
(Hymn 18 in our hymnal)
Here is a recording of the song Yesuvae Neer-dhaam sung by GB himself.
Unfamiliarity with heaven makes a believer a dull person spiritually. A spiritually smart person, on the other hand is spiritually active, studious, alert, and bubbling with joy as he engages in fruitful spiritual activities. For instance, the person who is as yet unaware of his brilliant success in his exams, which have just been announced, is worried and restless. But once he comes to know of it, he is no more in that gloomy state of mind, but rather is very busy now planning his next course of action with great enthusiasm.
In the same way the person who was once a natural man, but who has subsequently been transformed into a spiritual man, having become a brand new creation in Lord Jesus with his citizenship changed to that of the kingdom of God, is not dull and lethargic and engaged in all kinds of irrelevant and stupid activities.
Heaven transcends the earthly dimensions of time and space. I have already introduced a term called ‘mysticism’ to indicate spiritual concepts which cannot be measured or evaluated in human terms. The concept of heaven can be classified under this term.
Concepts that are both mystic and in the Bible are not man made. Apostle Paul explains them in this way: “which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words”, 1 Cor 2: 13 (NASB). Heaven is, in that sense a term that can be listed under the classification “mysticism”. We, in this church are familiar with the term “spiritual” which is more or less synonymous with the term “mysticism”.
Before commencing the series of lectures on this subject, I would like to advise you to honestly introspect and see how prepared you are to enter into God’s heavenly kingdom. This self-examination is essential in order to understand these lectures and derive maximum benefit.
The first step is to see how controlled are your earthbound affections.
The next important step is to carefully examine and see how you are affected or influenced by the following:
The terror of death: People from denominational church backgrounds have developed in them dreadful thoughts about heaven due to association of thoughts with funeral houses. In such churches, only during funeral times they talk about heaven. When I went to visit my dying sister, my daughter or son-in-law suggested that we sing a song about heaven. A Pentecostal pastor who was also present, felt that it was too soon to sing such a song, and suggested another song to sing. We, in this church have overcome such a feeling considerably. Nevertheless that association of thought is not that easy to erase from the mind of many. I hope this series of talks will help many to overcome such gloomy thoughts altogether.
In this second and final part of this meditation, we will try and understand the relevance of the Holy Spirit indwelling in people who are walking on the heavenward path. We will also be looking briefly at what the Lord requires of them on this path.
There are many verses in the Bible that speak of Heaven as the dwelling place of God. For example: . . . Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive (2 Chron 6:21). Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven . . . (Deut 26:15)
In that unique and amazing place, the heavenly hosts worship and adore Him.
God planned to take His people to heaven when He placed Adam and Eve in the beautiful garden of Eden. That garden was not heaven as some suppose. God would have taken them to heaven at the right time had they not succumbed to the temptation of eating the forbidden fruit. Man lost that opportunity. Having succumbed to temptation, we have to go to heaven the roundabout way. Does this not remind us of the Israelites of old who because of their sin, took forty years to reach Canaan, undergoing trials and times of testing along the way?
[Feeling that Tamil hymns and lyrics, generally, do not have the depth that English hymns have, GB has, for the EBA church hymnal, identified some good hymns, translated many hymns and choruses from English, and composed some lyrics. He has recorded the accompaniment for all the songs in the hymnal, and these are available in MP3 format. All recordings have been done at home using very simple equipment. These songs may not be copied without 