Light for the Journey: 10.20.08 A Glimpse of Heaven (3)

	Light for the Journey Online Bible Study Lesson 3 10.20.08
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

A Glimpse of Heaven

Welcome to Light for the Journey!

We are on the same journey. Sometimes the road seems dark, the directions confusing and the destination questionable. Light for the Journey is an online bible study that exists to bring the light of God's Word into the darkest places of your heart and equip you to apply the power of God's truth in your daily life.

I am very excited about this new series, A Glimpse of Heaven. Several years ago, I lost three very special people in my life. All three were believers and I was certain I would see them again one day in heaven. Then the thought hit me that I knew very little about the place where I would be reunited with friends and family. I had never really thought about the details of heaven before but the fact that friends and family were waiting for me there peaked my interest. This study is the result. The more I learned about heaven, the more excited I became about going there. A Glimpse of Heaven not only changed my perspective of heaven itself, but brought new meaning and perspective to my daily life. I pray God uses this study to change your life as well.

Need Prayer? We have an awesome team of women who are prayer warriors and love to pray! Simply email your prayer requests to Ginger Meador, our Prayer Team Director, and she will call the prayer team into action! gjmeador@comcast.net

Here's the Plan: Light for the Journey can be completed in one day or over a period of five days ... or even ten days - whatever best fits your schedule. Each day is numbered (ie: Day 1. Facts for the Journey). After completing each day's assignment, proceed to the next day.

Also included are several "extra" sections such as Joy for the Journey, Let's Talk About It,

and Resource of the Week. From time to time, you will also receive special announcements from Mary, coupons for the online store, etc. Below is a brief explanation of each section.

Mind-Set for the Journey: choose to discard distractions and focus on this special time with God

Facts for the Journey: study the main biblical facts and principles of the lesson

Prayer for the Journey: learn how to pray simply, effectively, powerfully

Steps for the Journey: make a specific plan to put feet to or apply the truths you have learned

Truth for the Journey: pinpoint the one truth that stood out and impacted you most this week

Power for the Journey: memorize one power verse each day

Mindset for the Journey

Pray, thanking God for His written Word. Ask Him to reveal the unique message He has for you in the primary passage of Scripture for each study. Read the mindset passage 2 or 3 times. Make the deliberate choice to fix your thoughts on each word and each phrase as you read it. Don't let your mind wander. Focus only on God's truth and let everything else fall away. Your mind is set and you are ready to begin.

Philippians 3:20 But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.

Day 1. Facts for the Journey
A Glimpse of Heaven

Heaven is a real place, a beautiful place that God has prepared for you and me. Let's take a closer look at what heaven looks like inside ... as described by the apostle, John in Revelation 21:10-25.

And the angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.It was shining with the glory of God and was bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. The city had a great high wall with twelve gates with twelve angels at the gates, and on each gate was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. The walls of the city were built on twelve foundation stones, and on the stones were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod made of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city was built in a square, and its length was equal to its width. The angel measured the city with the rod. The city was twelve thousand stadia long, twelve thousand stadia wide, and twelve thousand stadia high. The angel also measured the wall. It was one hundred forty-four cubits high, by human measurements, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundation stones of the city walls were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, the fourth was emerald, the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate having been made from a single pearl. And the street of the city was made of pure gold as clear as glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city's temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light, and the Lamb is the city's lamp By its light the people of the world will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. The city's gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there.

Wow! What a place! John first describes it from the outside. Surrounding the city there is a wall 216 feet high made out of jaspar and sits on twelve layers of stone foundation. Each side has three gates and each gate is made of a single pearl. Every foundation is decorated with a different colored jewel:

Jasper - gold
Sapphire - blue
Chalcedony - blue with stripes of other colors
Emerald - bright green
Sardonyx - red and white
Carnelian - ruby red; sometimes with a honey color
Chrysolyte - golden
Beryl - sea green
Topaz - transparent yellow-green
Chrysoprase - green
Jacinth - violet
Amethyst - purple

John then takes us inside this enormous city that was measured by an angel using a measuring rod of gold that was about ten feet in length. Heaven's length is as great as its width and height, 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles. It is as large as from the farthest point of Maine to the farthest tip of Florida, as large as the area from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains and as large as all of western Europe and one half of Russia.

Each street is one half the length of the diameter of the earth. The levels rise one mile above the other equaling eight million miles of beautiful avenues. Architects have calculated that the enormous size of the New Jerusalem would easily provide a mansion of over a half mile in length and width to every believer from Adam to today!

Each street is made of pure gold like transparent glass. In John's day, this description would seem impossible to conceive but today, in nearly every major city, great skyscrapers are built with walls of glass that transform the building into pure gold as the sun shines on them. One modern construction device is to apply a very thin sheet of gold to the outside glass and metal of these buildings so that when the sun hits it, the whole building appears to glow with gold. But when you look through the windows from the inside, they are transparent glass. Builders do this for beauty and for heat control and conservation.

If man can create such beauty, imagine what God can do!

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