Hi pastor John,
I’ve been thinking about chapter 6 of the Father & Son book – there is too much there to take in at one sitting, but it felt so good going over it last weekend. As you mentioned on Wednesday night, it really seems almost preposterous to even attempt to contain an account of the revelation of God and His Son in a single book. The content of the book so far is so meaty and full that if God’s people out there read it – I mean really read it and humble themselves to it and to Jesus – it is going to change them, and try them. I know it’s probably going to be a long time before it is finished, but I can hardly wait to see what God does with it. Maybe it’s not even meant for this generation. Is there even anyone out there now who can take in some of the things Jesus has been showing you in this work? It seems they can hardly take in just the basic milk of the New Birth. Well, God knows, and that’s His business!
Anyway, I had just a couple questions as I was reading back over chapter 6:
Regarding the part on “wheat and tares” in heaven: How is it that God would allow sin in His presence, if “sin can never enter there”? Could it be that in heaven (before the Son was revealed), when angels, cherubim, Satan, and other heavenly beings were speaking with God, that they were actually speaking to God through an “Angel of the Lord”, similar to how God spoke to men on earth? It just doesn’t seem possible that evil-hearted beings could possibly be in the very presence of God, and that perhaps God was in His own “upper chamber” of heaven (so to speak) until heaven was purged.
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Oh, we need not be concerned that God will be polluted. The prophet Habakkuk felt that way, and said to the Lord, “Your eyes are too pure to look at sin!” (1:13a), but Habakkuk’s real point was what came next, when he asked God, “Why do you do it?” (1:13b).
As you know, Vince,”Sin Can Never Enter There” is the name of a song, but it was not a law that was always in place in heaven. It has, however, become the law of heaven that “sin can never enter there” since the Son was revealed and took his place at the Father’s right hand and set all things, everywhere, in order.
The Psalmist said that God condescends to even look at things in both heaven and earth (Ps. 113:6), and it is said that “the heavens are unclean in His sight” (Job 15:15), and since we now know that when the Father glorified the Son, He “made him higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26), there must be somewhere beyond heaven where God dwells. After all, He must have been living somewhere before the Son created these heavens and the earth, right?
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Is the heaven that exists now (the one that was purged and now includes paradise) going to be destroyed and a new heaven created at the same time the new earth is created (Rev. 21:1)? Or is it the new heaven now?
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No, this is not the new heaven that John saw in Revelation 21. This is the one that will be destroyed, just as Peter said in 2Peter 3.
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And if it’s not now the new heaven, what is wrong with it that God still plans to destroy it (seeing that now there is no evil there)?
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Sorry. That’s not my department. 🙂
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My next question is, what exactly is a throne? I’m thinking particularly about thrones in heaven. I know that John saw physical thrones in heaven, (and they even live and speak!) but what are they? Do they simply represent a position of power and authority or are they something more?
I think that’s all for now. Thank you,
Vince
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Of course, the word “throne” can be symbolically used, but what John saw was real, and the thrones he saw represented some kind of authority that he did not explain, and may not have been told. Beyond that, all we can do is wait and see what we see when we see Jesus! Then we will not only understand the things you mention, we will also learn whether or not if the “thrones” we will receive when we reign with Jesus (Rev. 20:4) are symbolic or real. Either way, we are going to be happy.
Good hearing from you, brother Vince!
Pastor John