{"id":1145,"date":"2019-05-26T21:08:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T02:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2019-06-30T21:10:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T02:10:58","slug":"what-is-heaven-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1145","title":{"rendered":"What Is Heaven Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6th<\/sup> Sunday of Easter<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29; Re 21: 10-14, 22-23; John 14: 23-29<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Just what is heaven like? \nWell, the Book of Revelation tells us something about that.  Amongst all the unfamiliar symbolism that\nJohn uses a good portion of the book of Revelation describes the indescribable\ntranscendental state of heaven in the only words that John could muster that\nsomehow did it justice.  Part of that\ndescription is in our second reading.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I invite you to reflect for a moment without distraction\non what we just heard.  First, John sees\nthe holy city of Jerusalem, which descends down from heaven.  Later on John says that God will make his\ndwelling place with us, so the holy city of Jerusalem is our heaven.    Next, John says that the city gleams with\nthe splendor of God.  He describes the\nsplendor of that gleaming in terms of the reflection we see from a precious\nstone, like jasper; and he says that it is clear as crystal.  The glory of God is dazzling, sparkling,\nclear as crystal, and bright.  It will be\ncaptivating!    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, John describes four walls.  The walls are sturdy, built on stone\nfoundations; and they are tall.  This\nmeans that heaven is protected; that it is isolated from darkness and outside\ninfluences; that it is impregnable.  There\nis no devil; there is no war or bickering; there is no pain, no deception, no\nmisery in heaven; only peace, joy, and the glory of God.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the walls also mean that entry to heaven is limited.  One has to enter through one of the 12 gates\nguarded by angels, with 3 gates on each of the four sides.  John identifies the twelve tribes of Israel\nand the 12 Apostles with each of the gates, signifying that both the chosen\npeople, Israel, and the converts of the New Testament may enter.  One has to be a believer and must have\nsurvived a period of trial and judgment.   \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next we find out there is no temple in this city, no\nchurch within it.  There is no need for a\ntemple, because God himself is there.  And\nthere is no need for the light of the moon or the sun or the stars because the\nglory of God illuminates the place.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we get there, to heaven?  Jesus tells us in today\u2019s Gospel that \u201cWhoever\nloves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him\nand make our dwelling with him\u201d.  That is\nhow we get to heaven- by loving God and keeping His word.  For then God will come to us, like the holy\ncity Jerusalem descending from heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus then goes on to offer us the help of the Holy\nSpirit in our crusade.  He calls the Holy\nSpirit the \u201cAdvocate\u201d.  He says the\nSpirit will teach us everything we need to know.  Indeed, those who love God and sincerely\ndesire to follow him will be moved by God\u2019s advocate, the Spirit.  He will inspire us to know and serve God.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jesus offers us peace.  But it is not the peace of this world.  Rather, it is peace in the heart.  It is the kind of peace one has when they are\ntotally reconciled with God- satisfied that they are doing the right thing, satisfied\nthat they have resisted the temptations of self-gratification when they are\ncalled to serve; feeling in harmony with God\u2019s will for them no matter what\nmight be going on around them in a tumultuous world.  That is the kind of peace that Jesus wishes\non us.  It is the kind of peace that\ncircumstances and time cannot take away from us.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easter is still upon us. \nWe first experience the Easter joy of knowing that the resurrection is\nreal; and that we have the opportunity to be resurrected just like Jesus.  In its wisdom, the Church uses the later part\nof the Easter season to describe the coming joy in the Kingdom of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have all experienced just a little bit of that today    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6th Sunday of Easter Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29; Re 21: 10-14, 22-23; John 14: 23-29 Deacon Larry Brockman Just what is heaven like?  Well, the Book of Revelation tells us something about that.  Amongst all the unfamiliar symbolism that John uses a good portion of the book of Revelation describes the indescribable transcendental state of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[586],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}