Heaven: Divine Reunion
John 14: 1-10
January 26, 2025
This month, I’ve been preaching on heaven. The past three Sundays you have been sharing your thoughts about what heaven might be like. Would others like to share this morning? Before I share my thoughts, let me hear what you think. What do you think heaven is like?
This month I’ve been sharing from two resources that are filled with the latest research on near death experiences. The two books are: Life after Life by Raymond Moody and After by Bruce Greyson. They are based on interviews of people who clinically died but came back and told stories about their experiences.
Here’s how Greyson summarizes that research. He says, “Almost without exception, people who have had near-death experiences hold a firm belief that some part of them will live on after death…. They say that we continue to exist in some identifiable form with our own thoughts, feelings and personality traits….Most of the people participating in my research said that the afterlife is a blissful state of peace and tranquility, with no pain or suffering. Over 90% reported feelings of peace.”
Therefore, as a result of hearing this research and my understanding of a loving God, I, Mike Tupper, want to be clear that I don’t believe there is a hell. We don’t need to be afraid that we will be sent to some hell of physical torment. Because I don’t believe there is a place like that in the world to come. I do believe unfortunately, for some people, this world here can be hell. God, help us and them.
Everyone’s near death experience is different, but there are things that happen that are common to many of the people. Often it starts with hearing oneself being pronounced dead. Then there can be loud ringing or buzzing followed by moving through a dark tunnel. The person finds themselves outside of their physical body but still in the immediate physical environment.
The person can see their own physical body as if they are a spectator. Eventually, the person is met by other people who come to help him. There are relatives and friends who have already died. Then, a loving, warm spirit – a being of light – appears.
This is what our focus is on today. Meeting God in heaven.
This divine reunion is highlighted in our Scripture reading today. Jesus is talking to his disciples soon before his crucifixion. He’s preparing them for what is to come, the loss they will experience. He’s also preparing them for what comes after this life is over. Jesus says in these words I often use at funerals: “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in God’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.”
In the culture of Jesus’ day, these are the words a young man would say to his fiancée. Once the groom had secured the hand of his bride, he would return to his parent’s house and build the additional room that would be their bridal suite. Couples usually moved into the home of the groom’s parents back then. He called doing this: ‘preparing a place for her’. When all was ready, he would come for her and take her to be with him. They would be together from then on.
We are the beloved, engaged to be married to Jesus, the Bridegroom. He’s preparing a place for us – so that someday we will be together – forever.
That’s one biblical description of this divine reunion. But what about the personal accounts of people who have died. Do they see God? How do they experience God?
This is how Raymond Moody tells about it in his book:
“What is perhaps the most incredible common element in the accounts I have studied is the encounter with a very bright light. It’s also the element which has the most profound effect upon the individual.
Typically, at its first appearance this light is dim, but it rapidly gets brighter until it reaches unearthly brilliance…
Despite the light’s unusual manifestation, however, not one person expressed any doubt whatsoever that it was a being, a being of light. Not only that, but it is also a personal being. It has a very definite personality. The love and the warmth which emanate from this being to the dying person are utterly beyond words. The person feels completely surrounded by it and taken up in it. They feel completely at ease and accepted in the presence of this being.
Here’s one account by a man named Rudy who at 26 was involved in a rollover accident which caused him massive brain injuries. This is part of his near death experience story:
‘As soon as the Light became present, I felt as if I were merging or communing with this Light of Love. … As I came closer to the Light, it became brighter, pure white. The Light of Love was the totality of all the richness of all the good qualities like peace, tranquility, harmony, oneness, well-being, unconditional love and acceptance: everything I had thought of God and so much more.’
Interestingly, while the description of the being of life is the same for everyone, the identification of the being varies greatly. It’s largely a function of one’s religious background. Christians often refer to the light as Christ. Many Jewish persons identify it as an angel. Those without religious beliefs simply call it a being of light.
Shortly after its appearance, the being begins to communicate with the person who is passing over. Soon the question comes: What have you done with your life?
The question is not asked in condemnation. The being of light doesn’t direct the question to them to accuse them or threaten them. Everyone still feels the total love and acceptance coming from the light. Rather, the point of the question is simply to make them think about their lives, to draw them out.
This is all a prelude to a moment of startling intensity during which the being of light presents to the person a panoramic review of their life. This life review is extraordinarily rapid. The memories are said to follow one another swiftly in chronological order. The remembrance is instantaneous, an instant of earthly time.
Yet, despite its rapidity, everyone agrees that the review is vivid and real. It uses a display of visual images. In some cases, they are in vibrant color, three-dimensional and moving. Even though they are going by rapidly, each image is recognized. Even the emotions associated with the images may be re-experienced as one is viewing them – almost like you were there the first time.”
Most talk about seeing only the highlights of their lives, not every moment. The overall tone of this Life Review is always one of grace, not judgment. It’s not at all like the traditional view we have of standing before the Judgment Seat of God where God critically examines every moment of our life.
God is not a Harsh Critical Judge. Instead, God is a loving parent encouraging us to see how we can better love each other.
Three weeks ago, I started out this series sharing a story of a swimmer who gave up close to the end of her swimming goal because of the deep fog. She couldn’t see the shore. I said:
Can you see that shore? For us, the shore is heaven. If we can see through the fog of this world and picture our eternal home, it will energize us to complete our journey.
I referred to heaven as our home, our eternal home. I believe that. It’s a place of peace and bliss. It’s a place where we will meet those loved ones who have died before us. It’s more importantly a place where we are embraced by that loving being of light, by Christ, by God themself.
As a child I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood. There were about a half dozen boys that would hang out together during our elementary years from that neighborhood. One of the games we’d play is something we called, “War”.
For this game of War, we had a house on stilts that acted as a fort. We had our hands which acted as guns.
My friends and I would wander through the neighborhood, hiding behind trees and bushes and people’s garages. There was a narrow grass alley we’d travel up and down. We’d play for hours and hours on summer afternoons.
But then around 6:00 in the evening, I’d hear in the distance, “Michael, come home.” It would be my mom, calling me home for supper. “Michael, come home.”
Someday God will call to me, “Michael, come home.”
Someday God’s going to call each of you,
“Margot, come home.
Butch, come home.
Betty, come home.
Lori, come home.”
We can look forward to that day. Let’s reflect on God’s love and the possibilities of heaven as we listen to Brenda sing for our special music
