Introduction
      I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven recently. Partly, this is due to the circumstances of the last year with Lorie’s mother’s death in late October and my own mother passing away a year ago. Staring into an open grave is a sobering experience, and it causes one to think about what happens after we die.
      We said goodbye to Mom Wallace on a beautiful, crisp fall day in early November. The leaves were still changing on the trees in western Pennsylvania, and the fall colors were vivid. The extended family had gathered together from all over the east coast, but the Barneses were there in full force from the west. Jason even flew in from Spokane, Washington. Looking at the picture that was taken on the steps of the Highland Presbyterian Church after the memorial service, I marvel at the collection of souls in this special family. I am so fortunate to have married into it. I also realize that it might be the last time all of us are together. Two of our great aunts are in their nineties.
      Recently, I’ve been reading a book by John Eldridge titled The Journey of Desire where he writes at length about our hope of heaven. It has stirred in me an awakening and a hunger. Also, I suppose moving firmly into middle age myself has me coming to grips with my own mortality, and I’ve begun to think more about legacy. What might God want me to accomplish for the kingdom and leave for future spiritual generations in this church and beyond?
      So, I want to talk to you today about the Christian’s hope of heaven. It’s one of those doctrines of our faith that brings perspective and keeps us going – especially in hard times, especially when someone you love dies. As we consider these things, I will address three aspects of the subject: our longing for heaven; the truth about heaven; and preparing for heaven.

I. Our Longing for Heaven
     A few weeks ago, Jerry Sittser talked to us about the fact that you and I live in an in-between time. There is so much about life that is good and wonderful and beautiful, but life is also filled with pain and disappointment, struggle and death. 
     God has given each of us special memories that will last a lifetime. And in those memories we are given a glimpse of just how wonderful life can be on this earth and what God intended from the beginning for the human family. And yet, life isn’t always like that, is it? We experience pain and suffering, sadness and loss. Our bodies get older, they start to fail us, and our minds aren’t as sharp as they once were. 
     A child grows wayward, a marriage ends in divorce, the doctor tells us we have cancer, a son goes off to war, a loved one dies. All of a sudden, our world comes crashing in, and we come face to face with the reality that we live in a fallen world. We feel the brokenness in our own lives, for even we don’t measure up to the people we want to be. This isn’t the way it was supposed to be. 
     And then there’s death. The Bible says that death is an intruder, an unwelcome guest which forces its way in on us. It ravishes our flesh and robs us of our dignity. It takes away our physical life and leaves an empty shell. It is an enemy of every single person. 
     Nicholas Walterstorff writes poignantly about these things in his book Lament for a Son which chronicles his own loss. He writes:

     A couple of weeks ago, I called my brother Bill on the telephone. I dialed what I thought was his number, but when the person answered, I realized I had dialed my mother’s old number, which has the same area code. A year after her death, punching the numbers in on the phone was still instinctive. I apologized and said I had the wrong number and hung up. The hole we feel does not heal easily.
     There is something in each of us that hopes, longs, and even at times truly believes the way things are in the world are not the way they were supposed to be. Deep down we know something is amiss. The longing leads us on a crazy search to somehow transcend the pain we experience. In our hunger for adventure, we look for the golden moment. In our quest for love, we look for the golden person. In our desire to possess, we reach for the brass ring. We think, “If I can just get the right job, find the right person, live the right life, then this pain will go away, and I will be happy.” But the happiness we find only lasts for a short while. Eventually, we’re lost in the search all over again.
     The Bible teaches that this world is not all there is to our existence. The brokenness of our lives is not the way it was supposed to be. You and I were made for something more, something greater, and we will never be completely at “home” in this life. This world is only a prelude to an even greater world that is to come, and death will never have the last word for the Christian. That’s why we all have a longing for heaven.

II.  The Truth About Heaven
      Many people have misconceptions about heaven. Hindus speak of the bliss of Nirvana. Radical Muslim men dream of a harem of women in heaven. Buddhists conceive of heaven as getting past all our earthly passions. But none of these perspectives has anything to do with the truth of the matter and a biblical notion of heaven.
      Even Christians have misconceptions about heaven. I heard about one man who said his idea of heaven was getting to play a different golf course every day for eternity. I even recall thinking early in my Christian life that perhaps in heaven I’ll have a full head of hair, or that I will be able to dunk a basketball there! Still other people have negative misconceptions and think it’s only going to be one, long, boring worship service where the dominant instrument that is played is a harp, or they conceive of it as a place where we all grow wings and just sit around on clouds. 
      Even the humor of our day reveals the misconceptions people have about heaven. Jokes abound, but few of them correlate to the truth about heaven. For example, did you hear the one about the 85-year-old couple who had been married for over 60 years who died in a car crash together? They had been in good health the last 10 years of their lives, largely due to their interest in health food and exercise. 
      When they reached the pearly gates of heaven, St. Peter took them to their mansion, the championship golf course in the backyard, and the lavish buffet lunch at the clubhouse with the cuisines of the world laid out. The old man asked, "How much does all this cost?" Peter replied, "This is heaven; it's all free!" At this the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, shrieking wildly. Peter and the man's wife tried to calm him down and asked what was wrong. The old man looked at his wife and said, "This is all your fault. If it weren't for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here 10 years ago!"
      The Bible presents a very different picture of heaven if we study it closely. We don’t have time today to do an exhaustive study on the subject, and what I hope to do is merely summarize the Bible’s teaching on heaven in a way that will perhaps whet your appetite to dig deeper on your own. 
      The images of heaven we read about in Scripture are varied. We read of a great city, the New Jerusalem, with gates of pearl and streets of gold. We read of strange angelic creatures gathered around the throne of God praising Him day and night. We read of a great wedding feast and a river of life. They are images and metaphors intended to convey to us that heaven will be greater than anything we have ever experienced here on earth. It is beyond our imaginations to fully comprehend, and words fail us. For example, the images of gates of pearl and streets of gold are simply used to indicate that heaven will be so great that the most precious jewels and the most precious metals here on earth will be so common there that they are used as basic building materials.
      More than anything else, the Bible says heaven will be a place of joy. There is the joy of restoration. Our text in Revelation 21 promises that the old order of things will pass away, and God will make a new heaven and a new earth. What you and I lost in the Fall will be completely restored, and the problems which plague humanity today will be forgiven and forgotten forever.
      There is also the joy of reunion. We will be reunited with Christ as well as loved ones who have died in the Lord. The greatest family reunion on earth will pale in comparison to the Great Reunion of heaven. The embrace will last for eternity.
      Then there is the joy of celebration. The Bible tells of a Great Wedding Feast that will take place when Christ, the bridegroom, claims His bride, the Church. In John 14, we read where Jesus said, “I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:2,3). John Eldridge[2] reminds us that in the culture of Jesus’ day, these are the very words a young man would say to his fiancée. Once the suitor secured the hand of his bride, he would return to his father’s house and build the additional room that would be their bridal suite. Couples moved into the home of the groom’s parents. It was “preparing a place for her.” When all was ready, he would come for her and take her to be with him. This is the picture Christ paints of His return. When Jesus returns as the bridegroom, He will take the Church, His bride, to heaven that we might be with Christ for eternity. The party will never end.
      There is also the joy of reward. Several biblical writers, and even Christ Himself, mention this. It appears that you and I will be rewarded in heaven in some measure for the faithfulness we have demonstrated in living for Christ here on earth. We are not certain what form this reward will take, but it will be wonderful. Whatever sacrifices you have made in this life for Christ will be more than compensated. As we said during our stewardship campaign, you can’t take your wealth with you, but you can send it on ahead!
     Finally, there is the joy of the Lord Himself. As Revelation 21 promises, every tear we have ever shed, every pain we have ever known, every failure that has ever plagued us will be wiped away and forgotten forever. Peace will reign in our hearts, and we will live with God in happiness for eternity. 
     That is the joy into which my mother-in-law Marian has entered. As we stood by Marian’s grave in the cemetery that morning, we said our goodbyes. We cried tears of sadness. We bid her farewell. It reminded me of the experience of people who take trips on ocean liners and go on cruises. When they leave the port, people stand on the docks and wave goodbye and say, “Farewell!  We will miss you so!” However, on the other side of the ocean, there are people waiting for them at the next port of call. When the ship arrives, folks stand on the dock and wave again, but this time they say, “Welcome! Welcome! We’ve been waiting for you!” Marian has arrived home on the other side, and she is welcomed into the arms of Jesus. What joy she must be experiencing today.

III.  Preparing for Heaven
     I saw a bumper sticker once that said: “Life is not a dress rehearsal. Live it to the fullest.” As I reflected on the message of that bumper sticker, I thought, “What a set up for a loss of heart. No one ever gets all he or she desires; no one even comes close. If this is true, we are all lost.” 
     But what if life is a dress rehearsal? What if the real production is about to begin? The apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Corinth, “Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised…” (1Cor. 15). Mom Wallace, who starred with her high school sweetheart Wally in the school play before they were married, entered the real production upon her death. The great drama of heaven has welcomed her into the cast, and it’s a drama with a cast of millions! All that came before in her life was only a dress rehearsal.
      How are you and I to prepare ourselves for eternity, for the drama of heaven? How do we ready ourselves for that day? The Bible says that we should always live with an eye on eternity and make the most of every opportunity we have to prepare for the day when we will reach heaven. Mom Wallace did just that throughout her life.
      At Marian’s memorial service, Lorie’s brother Don gave one of the most memorable eulogies I have ever heard. Don is a wonderful story teller, and he was on the top of his game that day. He told about how many years before, when Don was a small boy, he remembers the way in which Mom would regularly feed the hobos, the homeless people of the day, whenever they came by the house on their way into town from the railroad tracks nearby. She would make them a sandwich while they sat out on the porch, and she would talk to them about their lives and what they hoped to do. After they’d eaten, she would send them on their way. Others spoke about Marian’s love for geography and her interest in missions. She was always working on some project to help other people half-way around the world.
      But there was one story Don told that painted the best picture of them all for me when I think about Mom Wallace. Marian grew up on a small farm in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania border. When she was 10-years-old, she helped her father Larimer and her brother Russ at harvest time. One of her jobs was to stand on the hay wagon and guide the horses with the reigns in her hands while Larimer and Russ loaded the hay which had been cut and threw it onto the hay wagon. Eventually, the hay would stack up 12 to 15 feet high around Marian so that you couldn’t see her buried down inside it.
      One day, as they were gathering in the hay, one of the men scooped up a pile that had a hornet’s nest in it. At first, the hornets tried to attack Larimer and Russ, but they were effective at shooing the hornets away, and they jumped off the wagon and dashed around in a variety of directions. So the hornets, still angry at having their nest disturbed, focused their attention on the next thing they could find. Marian was buried down in the hay, so they ignored her. Instead, the hornets attacked the next best thing – the rear end of the two horses pulling the hay wagon. They bore down and lit into those horses like there was no tomorrow. 
      You can imagine what happened next. The horses took off across the field as fast as they could run, hauling the hay wagon behind them with little Marian hanging on for dear life. Hay was tossed to and fro, and things were flying off right and left. Larimer and Russ took off after the run-away wagon, trying to catch up, fearing the worst of what might have happened to Marian. When the horses finally came to a stop at the other end of the field, Larimer and his son ran up to the wagon, wondering if Marian was even alive. Much to their surprise, there she was, still hidden under some of the hay, wide-eyed and shaken, but standing at her post with the reigns still in her hands.
      That, said Don, is a picture of Mom throughout her whole life. She was always at her post, with the reigns in her hands – to the very end. She was a quiet servant of Christ who was willing to do the unspectacular in her service for Christ – whatever it took, wherever it was needed. Marian prepared herself for heaven by remaining at her post with the reigns in her hands. What about you? How are you preparing for heaven, my friend? 

Conclusion
     In 1991, Eric Clapton lost his only son, five-year-old Connor. The little boy tragically fell from a window of their Manhattan apartment, plunging 49 stories to his death. Clapton channeled his grief into writing the heart-wrenching song “Tears in Heaven.” In it he puts words to one of our deepest questions in life:

     Oh, how much hangs on the word if. 

     Do you know that you’re going to heaven? Do you have the kind of confidence Marian had in her relationship with God? Like the apostle Paul, she could say: "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day" (2Tim. 4:6f).
      When a loved one dies, it is a profound occasion for each of us to ask the deeper questions of our existence. It affords us the opportunity to think about what’s important in life and what our beliefs about life and death really are. Marian was ready for the day of her death. She was prepared to meet her Maker, who was also her Savior and Lord. She had given her life to Christ and settled the matter of her salvation long ago. Have you? May this be a day for such clarification for each one of us. I for one look forward to seeing Marian on the other side, and I’m grateful for the love of God poured out for us in the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. It provides the assurance for everyone who trusts in Christ with the hope of heaven.  Amen.