Grant Jeffrey: Heaven - Grant Jeffrey : Part 1 of 3

What does the Bible really say about heaven? In this powerful conversation with Bible prophecy teacher Grant Jeffrey, discover the truth about our eternal home and why heaven is more real than we’ve ever imagined.

Key Topics Covered:

• What the Bible teaches about heaven as the believer’s eternal home
• The promise of resurrection bodies—immortal and incorruptible
• The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19)
• Crowns, white linen, and rewards for faithful service
• Riding with Christ in His victory over the Antichrist
• Ruling and reigning with Jesus during the Millennium and beyond

Far from being a vague concept, heaven is a real, tangible place of joy, fellowship, worship, and eternal purpose. It is the believer’s blessed hope and greatest adventure.

“So shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

#Heaven #BibleProphecy #GrantJeffrey #EternalLife #Resurrection

Heaven - Grant Jeffrey : Part 1 of 3

We’re going to be talking about an incredible subject the Bible teaches about—this place where those who know Christ are going to go when it comes to spending eternity—and that’s heaven.

What I want to know about heaven is from the perspective of being just a layman. I have so many questions, and I’m so happy that I’ve got on the phone live with me Grant Jeffrey. Now, Grant is a leading Bible teacher regarding Bible prophecy, and I’m going to try to keep him pigeonholed to the subject called heaven. I know you’re going to enjoy it, so stay tuned.

Grant, it’s a great pleasure and an honor to have you with us on It’s Your Call.

Grant Jeffrey: Well, thank you.

You know, Grant, I’ve got a question—actually lots of questions—but I want to begin with this particular one. Growing up in the church, even as a little boy, I heard the word heaven so many times. You hear about heaven in connection with salvation, and people would teach and preach about this glorious place where we’re going to end up. But nobody ever really explained to me what heaven was.

So here’s my question, Grant: what is heaven?

Grant Jeffrey: Well, you know, I had a very unusual experience, perhaps because my brother Bruce, who preceded me by about five years, had died the year that I was born. And so because my brother had died, I talked to my mom and dad—especially my mom—and as I grew up I would ask them, “What was Bruce doing? Was he playing? Did he have toys? Did he have friends in heaven?”

And my mom and dad would open the Scriptures and reveal to me the reality of heaven. And so, unusually, I think, for most people, I grew up with an understanding of the reality of heaven that was as real to me as New York City. I hadn’t been there, but I knew it was real.

Throughout my life, I’ve come near death five or six times, and I’ve never feared death because I’ve always known that heaven is absolutely real. My parents showed me from the Scriptures the biblical passages that reveal the reality of heaven.

You know, Rob, I’ve had pastors say to me, “There’s not really much in the Bible in detail about heaven.” They’re wrong. The Bible is just full of passages from the Old and New Testaments—but you have to dig to pull them together. That’s why I wrote a book called Heaven that pulls together all the different passages to show what God has revealed about the reality of our eternal life.

I believe that when Christians come to a full understanding of the reality of heaven, they will not fear death at all. They will understand that heaven is going to be the greatest adventure we could ever possibly imagine.

Rob: Mmm. Well Grant, as a layman—which I am—I want to approach this in layman’s terms, because I want to get a real in-depth understanding. Personally, deep down inside, I’m excited. I mean, I could go to heaven right now—that’s how excited I am. And I mean that realistically.

But what is heaven going to be like? What does the Bible teach us about it?

Grant Jeffrey: Well, the Bible tells us that heaven is absolutely real, and that it is really the original of all the good things on earth.

For example, we’re told there are animals in heaven. Revelation 19 speaks about horses in heaven. We’re told about the temple in heaven, the Ark of the Covenant—the original. It appears to me that all the great things we see on earth actually have their original in heaven.

Heaven has existed from the beginning of God’s creation. It is the ultimate home of the Bride—the Church of Jesus Christ.

When we as Christians die, we are promised by the Apostle Paul that in a moment, in an instant of time, our spirit will be taken to heaven while our body rests in the ground or in the sea. Our spirit will be present with Jesus—consciously, joyfully—waiting for the resurrection, what we call the Rapture.

At that time we will receive a body like the body Jesus had when He rose from the dead. His body after His crucifixion and resurrection was absolutely real, but it was immortal, incorruptible. It was a body that could not suffer death, disease, or danger. In that body, Jesus ministered for forty days.

That’s the kind of body we are promised in the resurrection.

Now, Jesus wanted us to really understand the reality of heaven, so after He had risen from the dead, He appeared in the upper room. He supernaturally appeared to the disciples, sat down, and ate broiled fish and honeycomb with them. He showed them that not only was the resurrection real, but that in His resurrection body He could still eat and enjoy fellowship.

We’re told in Revelation 19 that at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we will partake of the wine and the feast with Christ—a celebration of our resurrection and union with Him.

We’re told we will wear crowns based on our faithful works for Jesus Christ. We’re told we will wear white linen representing the righteousness of the saints.

We’re told that after seven years in heaven with Jesus during the terrible Tribulation period, we will return with Him, riding on heavenly horses. We’ll witness His defeat of the Antichrist and the armies of the world that seek to destroy Israel. We will see His enormous victory over the forces of evil and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

We’re told that in our resurrection bodies—which will be as real as ours are today, but immortal and incorruptible—we will rule and reign with Christ during the thousand-year Millennium. Even after the Millennium is over, we will rule and reign forever.

Our “home base,” in a sense, will be heaven, the New Jerusalem above. But we’ll also have access to this earth. And this earth—once sin is removed—will be the most beautiful place God ever intended it to be, like Eden before Adam and Eve rebelled.

We will rule and reign with Christ over the billions of people living on the earth, making it the most glorious Kingdom of God.

So, what we’re told about heaven in the Bible is that it is absolutely as real as life is today—only without sin, without evil, without rape, pillage, war, starvation, or the litany of suffering that has afflicted mankind for thousands of years.