Roger Marsh: Thanks for joining us today here on Family Talk. I'm Roger Marsh and during the next half hour or so, you're going to be hearing the conclusion of a two-part message given by Anne Graham Lotz back in 2017, a message we've titled "Heaven Is Our Home." Now, if you miss part one event's presentation, remember you can listen to it by going to drjamesdobson.org/broadcast.
Anne Graham Lotz is an international evangelist, the founder and president of Angel Ministries and a best-selling author. She's also the eldest daughter of beloved Reverend Billy Graham, and a dear friend of Dr. And Mrs. Dobson's. Yesterday on the broadcast, Anne shared a little bit about the hope that we have in Christ that this world is not our home. In fact, in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, Jesus says that, "He is preparing a place for us in his Father's house." What a spectacular promise.
Well, we're picking up today's message with Anne Graham Lotz telling us a third attribute of what Heaven is like. Let's listen now on this edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk.
Anne Graham Lotz: And thirdly, Heaven is an actual place. It's not whimsical. This isn't a fantasy. This isn't a Sunday school story. This isn't a dream. And it's emphasized by the fact that an angel comes to John and has a measuring rod and measures the city off. So the impression is given that if you could go there today, you could walk it off. You could touch it. You could feel it. It's an actual physical place. So when we talk about going home and when we talk about going to Heaven, we're going to a place. And the angel measures it off and I won't give you the measurements, but altogether it is a 1500 square mile cube.
If you laid it over the United States of America, it would go from Mexico to Canada and it would go from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean, except it was just as tall as it was wide so it was just this enormous cube. And if there were 20 billion residents of Heaven, every single resident would have 75 acres to himself or herself. And that still leaves plenty of room for public parks and buildings. And the point is this. Heaven is a great big place. Jesus said, "In my Father's house, there are many rooms." Room for everybody.
So, listen to me, feel free to invite other people to go. It's not going to be overcrowded. Amen. So just because you invite somebody and you think "I don't want to invite them because it'll take up room that should have been for me," oh no. There's plenty of room for everybody. Invite everybody on your street and in your neighborhood and in your workplace and your school and your family, and let them know they have a wonderful destiny if they're a child of God. And not only is it a big place, but then that's the first impression John had. And then he looks a little bit closer and he sees the walls. And in verses nine to 12, he describes the walls that are made out of jasper. Jasper was like a diamond, sort of like a yellow diamond. And they were 200 feet thick out of 144 cubits, so that's 200 feet thick.
So, the walls around the entire city are 200 feet thick made out of a diamond-like material. So I don't know exactly what that means, but it's spectacular. We can sort of our eyes are just bug out at some of the diamonds that people have. And I've seen the crown jewels in London. That's nothing compared to the walls of Heaven. Spectacular, but you know something else I think it means? Heaven is a safe place. If you're surrounded by walls that are 200 feet thick, then there'll be no more drive-by shootings. No guns going off. No bombs, no rape, no crosses, no crucifixions, no beheadings, no terrorist, no missiles, no war, no drug dealers, no pedophiles, no kidnappings, no ISIS, no demons.
Actually, there'll be no bad guys in Heaven at all. It's a safe place. You worry about your children walking the streets at night. Of course, in Heaven there no night there, but my daughter doesn't even let my grandchildren walk around the block during the day unless she's watching them. And wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a place where we'll know where we're safe and our children are safe? And so, Heaven is a safe place. The walls indicate that. And then John saw from the walls, his eye went the foundation. 12 foundations, each one different colored semiprecious stone, which right there is beautiful. But then he sees that on each layer of the foundations, one of the name of the 12 apostles and he's an apostle so he's looking. I'd love to see his face where he's, "Oh, my goodness, my name is on it. Heaven is my home."
And John, his persecution. You know he wrote the gospel, he wrote this book. And he wrote this book when he was an exile on Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. And don't you know when he saw his name written there he thought, "Oh, it's all worth it. Everything I gave up, all the persecution. Everything I've been through is worth it a thousand times over to know that my name is written on Heaven. It's my home."
Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. Hebrew says, "Looking for a city whose builder and maker was God, a city with foundations." And I want to see a video of his face when he sees the city he's been looking for ever since he left Earth and that's his home. And the apostles represent you and me and Heaven is your home.
Heaven is being prepared for you. And I think the 12 foundations also mean it's very stable. It's not going to move. Stable, safe place. And then in verse 21 it says, "The streets are paved with gold. And I thought about this, of course, I think that looks beautiful. But gold down here is one of our most precious commodities, right? It represents our money. And if we get more money, we think we'll be happier. We'll be more secure. And so we work hard for more money, more gold. And we can sacrifice our children to go back to work to get more gold or we can betray a coworker or we can cheat on our income tax. And we just want more and more and more. And it seems like we're never satisfied. We have to have more and more gold and money.
And in Heaven you can see what God thinks of gold because He just paves the streets with it. It's just asphalt. So that makes me think down here on Earth that we need to re-examine our priorities. Because we give a lot of time and a lot of attention and we make a lot of sacrifices for things that in Heaven have no real meaning at all. They're insignificant, just asphalt. And could it be that we're ignoring and neglecting things down here that will be of preeminent importance in Heaven?
So, think about your priorities. Think about what you're spending your time on, your money on. What you think about the most, where you put all of your efforts and does it have eternal value? Because when we get to Heaven, Jesus said, "You lay up your treasures in Heaven where moth and rust won't corrupt and thieves won't break through and steal." And somebody said, "You can't take anything to Heaven." But yes, you can. In a sense you take your own Christ-like character that you've surrendered to Jesus. And you're allowing Him to mold you into the image of Himself. And you can take sort of a fullness in your Christ-like character that you've grown up into maturity and your faith.
And I think you can take other people with you. You can't make them make that decision, but you can share the gospel with them and you can take your children in the sense that you share the gospel. And you pray with them and they've received Christ and you helped grow them up into disciples. And how much time and effort are you spending in sharing the gospel with others and letting them know that Heaven is prepared for them if they would put their faith in Jesus and your own children? Don't leave your children to the church to bring to Christ or to some other Christian ministry or organization. That's your responsibility and privilege as a parent and as a grandparent to share Jesus with our children and our grandchildren in such a way that they put their faith in Jesus. And then we can take them down Heaven with us, so to speak.
So, streets were paved with gold, getting me to rethink my priorities. And then the last thing that he really zeros in on as far as the physical place are the gates. In verse 21, "Each gate is made of a single pearl." Think about it. "And the pearls hang in a wall that's 200 feet thick." So how gigantic would that pearl have to be? And do you know how pearls are formed? They're formed when a little grain of sand gets inside of an oyster from what I understand. And then as long as the oyster feels that irritation, it covers it with a layer of mother of pearl. So it just keeps coating it and coating it and coating it until they can't feel the irritation anymore.
So, to form a pearl that's so big, it serves as a gate and a wall that's 200 feet thick. What kind of pain did the oyster have to experience? And so I wonder are those gates of pearl symbolic of the cross and the pain and the suffering and the death and the blood of Jesus that makes it possible for you and me to even think about ever living in a place like this? And you know people who say that, "There are other ways to God beside Jesus and you don't have to come through Jesus and you don't have to come to the cross. That we all have our own religion as long as you're sincere and you just do what your religion requires. It's okay. God loves everybody."
Every time we walk into Heaven and we go through those pearly gates, we're going to be reminded that the only way we enter into Heaven is through the blood and the death and the cross of Jesus Christ. Praise God. Praise God that He has opened Heaven for you and made through the shed of blood of His own son. What a precious, priceless aspect of a physical place of Heaven, and as John sees how big it is and he sees the walls and sees the foundation, he sees the streets and he sees the gates.
He must've looked through the gates and he gets a peek on the inside and he sees who's living inside of Heaven. And he sees inside the Lamb of God in verse 22, Jesus is there, our savior. The one who has been showing up in dreams in the Middle East. And do you ever get jealous and think, "I want Him to show up in my dream. I want to Jesus."? One day when we get to Heaven, He's going to be there. We're going to see Him and God, the Father, our Abba, our daddy, the dear Holy Spirit who lives in us. And all of the loved ones who have put their faith in Jesus since the beginning time are going to be in Heaven with us.
Tom said this morning there were two forms of suffering, one that's temporal, one that's eternal. There are two places being prepared, two destinies. Let me just read in verse seven once again. It says that, "He who overcomes will inherit all this and I'll be His God and He will be my child." So, I think I want to inherit Heaven as my home, so how do you inherit all of this? What do I have to overcome? And I think one of the things I have to overcome is not doubt that this is true, that there actually is a Heaven being prepared for me. And I have to overcome my pride that thinks I can do anything to earn it. More good works than bad works. You come to church every time the doors open or say a certain creed or pray a certain prayer, that I can do anything at all to deserve this.
I have to overcome my religiosity that substitutes a religion, instead of a personal relationship with Jesus. And I overcome all of these things and I put my faith in Jesus, trust Him and His death on the cross alone to be sufficient to take away my sin and open Heaven's door for me. When have you done that? Only those who overcome. Whatever the resistance is. And in a moment, I'm going to give you an opportunity to make that choice. I'm just going to prepare you, but don't let pride, don't let your religiosity, don't let your doubts keep you from claiming Heaven as your eternal home.
Because look at verse eight, there's a Heaven and there is a Hell. This isn't politically correct, but this is what the Bible says. "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur." This is the second death. The first death is when you die physically. The second death is when you step into eternity separated from God and you go to Hell. And listen to me. God doesn't condemn anybody to Hell. Did you know that?
When we're born into the human race, we're already condemned because we're sinners. Every single one of us, the Bible says, "All of us have sinned." We were born in sin. We were born with a tendency of sin. And as soon as we have opportunity, we commit sins. So we're all sinners. And so we're condemned. If we don't do anything about it, we are headed straight to hell, which is why God so loved you that He sent His only begotten son. That if you would put your faith in Jesus, you would not go to Hell. You would not perish, but you would have everlasting life that includes Heaven when you die. Praise God for Jesus.
Let me in the event there's somebody here who's not for sure that Heaven is your home. And this is also for those of you who know that Heaven is your home, but you're sharing the gospel maybe with somebody who is resisting. People can choose to go to Hell and that's okay, that's their choice. I'm not going to force this on anybody. You couldn't anyway, but I don't want to be forcing the gospel down anybody's throat. I just want people to have information so they can make an informed choice. Okay? So, I'm going to tell you what the Bible says about Heaven in contrast to Hell. I won't take the time to give you the verses, but this is from the Bible.
Heaven is a place that we've seen has no more suffering or death or mourning or crying or pain. Hell is described as a place of great suffering, weeping, gnashing of teeth. The only time I gnashed my teeth was in childbirth because it hurt. And Hell is a place of that kind of pain. And we're not talking temporary. We're talking about forever and ever and ever. Heaven is described as a place that's safe and secure with 200 foot walls that surround it. Hell is described as a bottomless pit where you always feel like you are unsafe, always falling, always grasping, always trying to save yourself and never feeling safe.
Hell is described as a lake undulating, changing, never the same. Heaven is described as stable, unshakable with 12 foundations. Hell is described as a place of total darkness where the sun never rises and it never shines. And you know people, they're so misguided when they say, "It's all right, I want to go to Hell because I want to be with all my family and my friends who are there." Well, your family and friends may be in Hell, but you'll never see them. It's dark. You can hear them, but you won't see them. Heaven is a place, there's no more night, no darkness at all because Jesus is the light of Heaven. The light of His glory permeates every little corner and crevice.
Hell is a place where you're all along. It's a place of solitary confinement. Heaven is a place, and by the way, when you're suffering, if you've had the flu this year or a bad cold or. The worst time is in the middle of the night, right? When there are no distractions, when you can't see anything. And you're just so aware of your pain and your misery and that's Hell, forever. Just aware of your hatred, your meanness, your jealousy, all the hurt, all the scars you've ever born or inflicted, or they all come back and it's just hell.
Heaven is a place that's described where the kings of the nation's bring their glory into it and God's children gathered and we have a wedding banquet and we fellowship with each other with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hell is described as a fire, which is a place of intense thirst, dissatisfaction, torment. Always feeling like you're created for something, but never having that fulfillment. Always feeling like you need some. You never get it. And Heaven is described as a place where the river of life flows continuously bringing healing to the nations and always satisfied.
Best part of Heaven is that we will serve God and we will see His face. Worst part about Hell is that people there are separated from the one for whom they were created. The one who loved them to distraction. They're separated from Him forever. So, who do you know who's going to Hell? Would you tell them about Heaven? Tell them about our Father's love. Tell them that Heaven is a free gift. It's their inheritance. It's their destiny when they put their faith in Jesus and surrender their lives to Him.
Is there somebody here who's going to Hell because you never made that choice? Let me explain something to you. I know in this church that you've heard the gospel message multiple times. When did you respond to it? And several years ago I was invited to the White House and I got the invitation in the mail that said I was invited. And I thought, "Well, whoa, that's interesting." So I called the White House and said, "What's this about?" And they said, "Well, you've been invited to an ecumenical prayer breakfast. Would you like to come?" And I said, "Oh yes, I would."
And they said, "Well, you have to RSVP." And I said, how do I do that?" So they said, "Well, they want my Social Security number, my license number, you know all that." So I RSVPed and when the time came, I went up to Washington, I got to the White House gate and I stood there and the guard said, Yes." And I said, "Well, I've been invited to have breakfast with the president." And he said, "Did you RSVP?" And I said, "Yes." And so they looked down the list and they said, "Oh yes, Mrs. Lotz, here's your name. We see that you RSVPed and you can go right in." And so I went in and I had breakfast with the president, but if I had shown up at the White House and I had had my invitation in my hand and said, "Look, I've been invited to breakfast at the White House."
And they would say, "Well, look down the list. Well, we don't see your name." "But look, I have the invitation. I know the president wants to have breakfast with me because here's my invitation. I've been invited." And they said, Mrs. Lotz, did you RSVP? "Well, no, I was too busy and I just didn't have time, but here's my invitation." And the guard would say, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Lotz, But you must have RSVPed. You can't come in."
God so loves you and you and God loves you and God loves you. And God loves you and you, and He loves you so much. He invites everybody here to live with Him forever in His Heavenly home. But you must RSVP to the invitation. And you do that by coming to the cross by faith telling God you're a sinner, you're sorry. You're willing to turn away from your sin. You ask Jesus to forgive you, to cleanse you with His blood. You open up your heart. You invite Him to come in. You surrender your life to Him.
And when you do that, the Bible says that you're born again into God's family. You're God's child. And you say, "Anne, I just don't think that's fair. It seems like God did love everybody. And we all make mistakes and fail. And God will let everybody in." Well, that's not what the Bible says. And I'll tell you something. My daddy lives in a house that's surrounded by a fence and it's my father's house. And because it's my father's house, he can decide who comes in and who stays out. So he was famous in some of his meetings to invite everybody to come see him. My mother would say, "Oh, my goodness." But of course, they couldn't. They would have to make prearrangements to come or that have to be invited to come.
And you say, "That's not fair, but it's my father's house. He can keep people out and he can let people in." When I go up to my father's house, there's a fence and there's a big gate. And I come to the gate and push the button. And I say, "Daddy, this is Anne. I've come home." And the gate is flung wide open. And I go right in, you know why? Because I'm the father's child and it's my home too. And the wonderful thing about Heaven is that when you put your faith in Jesus and you claim Jesus as your savior and your Lord, and you surrender to Him and you live your life for Him. It doesn't mean you have to be perfect. You know that.
But the Holy Spirit comes into you and you want to be perfect. And you begin to live your life for Him, then you can look forward to that day. Whenever that day comes, you step into eternity. You step right through those pearly gates into your Father's presence to a place that's been prepared for you. A place that's perfect. A place that's physical. A place that's populated by the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and those of us who have put our faith in Jesus. And you're the Father's child and you've come home.
So, I want to challenge you. Would you tell somebody about Heaven? Would you tell somebody how they can be sure that Heaven is their home? Somebody who doesn't have a nice home or good home or a loving home down here, tell them that there's one that's prepared for them. Invite somebody to go with you to Heaven. Don't show up by yourself.
Dr. James Dobson: You've been Listening to part two of a message from Anne Graham Lotz that we've entitled "Heaven Is Our Home." I'm your host, James Dobson. The Apostle Peter said in Acts 2:39, "For the promises to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." As you just heard in Anne's concluding thoughts, we've been challenged to tell as many people as we can about the hope of Heaven. That hope is reserved for those who know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And we pray that if you don't know Jesus in a personal way, that you would ask Him into your heart today and find the peace and the hope of Heaven as your eternal destination.
If you have questions regarding this message and are just not sure about where you stand eternally, we're here for you. You can call us at (877)732-6825. We have people here who would love to pray with you or talk with you. Again, that is number (877) 732-6825. As always, we appreciate your prayers and support for the ministry of Family Talk. We could simply not do what we do without you. Thank you for joining us today and be sure to tune in again tomorrow for another edition of Family Talk. I'm your host, Dr. James Dobson wishing you a blessed rest of the day.
Announcer: This has been a presentation of The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.