Most of us spend half our time reading the book of Revelation scratching our head. Bowls of wrath? What are those? All those creatures in heaven? What are they doing there? And a dragon with seven heads and ten horns…how does that even work?

I completely get it. If you give up by chapter 6, I understand. It seems strange and mysterious – hidden, almost. Which is a shame, because the word “Revelation” literally means unhidden, uncovered, revealed.

The question should be asked, what is being revealed?

The inner workings of the spiritual realm? Maybe.

The final destination for believers and unbelievers? That’s in there.

The end of the world? Sure does sound like it.

But more than anything, the book of revelation is Jesus Christ revealed. The whole book is about Jesus. And if you’ve tried to read it and shut the book and put it away, can I challenge you to take another try at it? This time, remember that it’s all about Jesus. Try to see him peeking through the pages at you. What does he want you to see?

John the Revelator saw Jesus. And in chapter 7, as we talked about this week, we see one of the most amazing things that he saw.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.” (Revelation 7:9)

We talked about how this verse – and the ones just after it – reveal something about those who belong to the body of Christ, including us! It changes how we live our lives. It affects how we see our neighbor, how we see those who are different than us. And maybe it changes how we view heaven.

I want to back up a few verses in chapter 7. I think there’s something going on at the beginning of verse 9 that is interesting. John says, “After this…” Well, after what? Let’s look.

“I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” (Revelation 7:4)

He’s counting. Or rather, an angel is counting and he’s writing down the numbers. 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel. Do the math…carry the one…you get 12,000 from each tribe. Nice, round number. There’s a lot of numbers in Revelation. Until there aren’t any at all.

And that’s what happens in verse 9. The perfectly numbered, the carefully counted, the select few, become a sea of people that John can’t count. It’s as if the angel is making a record of all the people invited into heaven. He’s numbering them one by one as John writes them down…and then John turns around. He sees this vast multitude and he just gives up.

“I can’t count that high! There are too many of them!”

He tosses his pen aside in frustration. The sea of people coming into heaven appears to be endless!

The best estimates for the population of the world when Revelation was written are just under 200 million. And the church was anywhere from 40,000 to 320,000 by this time. Those numbers are small in comparison to the current population and worldwide estimates for the number of Christians.

Their world was smaller than ours. About forty times smaller. But their view of heaven? Multitudes. Vast. Every tribe, tongue, and nation. No number.

I wonder if we have too small of a view of the church? I wonder if we’re guilty of thinking too little about God’s kingdom, Jesus’ church? I wonder if we need to take on a wider perspective?

This is the part of the book where we get a sneak peek at heaven. Like the curtains have been pulled aside and we get a glimpse of it. A snapshot. So many that we can’t even count.

But I know some Christians – too many, actually – who are glad to keep that number down. You don’t agree with me on one of my pet doctrines? You’re out! You voted for that person? Gone! You go to a church that I don’t like? See ya later!

Instead of dwindling down more and more, the church is alive and active and growing. Even in the places where it’s under the most pressure, the church is seeing amazing numbers of new believers. Why? Because heaven’s door is wide open, accepting more people than you can imagine or ever count. Let’s get a wide angle view of what it means to be a believer. Let’s allow God to increase our numbers, not keep them down. And let’s do everything we can to live out that reality by truly embracing our neighbors – both the saved and the unsaved.

Heaven. What’s it mean to you? What do you think about when you think about heaven?

Most of us think of heaven as the place we go when we die. It’s the afterlife. It’s eternity with God. Maybe you imagine floating on a cloud with a toga and a harp. Or streets of gold. Or some other vision of delight. Like retirement but with unlimited funds.

But is that what heaven really is?

The word “heaven” shows up in the Bible a lot. In fact, it’s right there at the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Basically, the heavens are everything that isn’t earth. The sky? That’s heaven. Clouds? Heaven. The stars and sun and moon and all the outer space you can see through the Hubble Telescope? That’s what the Bible means when it first talks about heaven.

And what do the heavens do?

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalm 19:1

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.

Romans 1:20

So the heavens above, as part of God’s creation, glorify him and testify to his existence, his character, his holiness and righteousness and grace. When we look up at the skies at night, we are reminded of God’s vast love for us. Or at least we can.

But what else about heaven? Is it just the naturally created space…up there? It’s more than that. In the Hebrew Bible especially heaven is the place where God dwells. Solomon proclaims this in 1 Kings 8:49, but a couple dozen verses earlier he makes it clear that “the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you” (v. 27). And Jesus even tells us the same, that we should pray to “our father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

So heaven is the literal, physical realm of the skies. It’s also where God lives, whether that is an actual space, another reality, or just an interpretation of how God is not contained by the same boundaries of science that we are.

Jesus once told his disciples that he would go away and prepare a place for us (John 14:3). That means that we will one day live with God forever, and it seems that means it will be in heaven. Of course heaven and earth will pass away and be made new (Revelation 21:1). The place Jesus is preparing for us is brand new!

But more than that, heaven is a place where holiness and righteousness rule. Where sin has no place. Where everything is perfect.

And here’s the kicker. When we talk about heaven, and when we think about how great it is, we usually think about a time in the future, someday, if we’re good enough, where we get to live. But Jesus doesn’t want you to think of heaven like that. He wants us to believe that it’s a reality for us right now!

Right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer you’ll see it. “On earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, don’t wait! Bring heaven down here! Start living like you’re already living in heaven. Start treating others how you would treat them in heaven. Start acting like you would act if everything were righteous, if every person was caring and loving, if every decision was made with a holy intent.

Don’t wait. Do it now!

The message of Christ making all things new is one of those “already but not yet” things. He has already done it. There’s not another thing we are waiting for. But it hasn’t happened fully, not yet. One day it will. But until then, we need to live like it already has.

That’s the tension we hold as followers of Jesus. This world is old and dying. Our bodies may be wasting away. And one day we will be rescued from death. But until that day…we live like it’s already happened. We pray like it’s already happened. We live heaven now.