When We All Get to Heaven

We do appreciate Tyler so much for leading our songs this morning. He does a great job, and it’s good to see you, and we’re going to be talking about this song that we just sang this morning, When We All Get to Heaven, and so you might want to keep your songbooks opened to that song, and just to remind us, I’ll go back a little bit so we can get the number here, but I don’t have them all memorized, believe it or not, but it’s song number 853.

So you might want to take a look at that in your songbook while we are studying through. We’re not going to have a PowerPoint slide this morning for the lesson, so we’ll just set it on our invitation song and get ready for that when it is time.

But let’s think about Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20 real quick in relationship to this hymn when we all get to heaven. Philippians 3 and verse 20 says, “…For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our citizenship is in heaven.

You know, we may enjoy the blessings of being here on earth, but heaven’s blessings will outweigh them all. We may enjoy citizenship here in the United States of America, but citizenship in heaven outstrips any blessing that we might receive as being a citizen of the United States.

Maybe sometimes we need to make some sacrifices, undergo hardships here while we are on the earth, but heaven’s glory will outweigh all of those hardships and sacrifices. If we aim at earth and miss heaven, we will lose everything. But if we aim at heaven, we get everything.

The song, When We All Get to Heaven, was written by E.E. Hewitt from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1898. This lady was an English teacher and then served as a superintendent of a primary school. She began writing poems because she had some health issues and she wanted to continue to use her mind to reflect on Jesus Christ and on spiritual matters and she ended up writing some 2,000, over 2,000 poems and many of them became Hymns, even hymns that we continue to sing today, such as, Sunshine in My Soul, More About Jesus, Stepping in the Light, and Will There Be Many Stars in My Crown.

She was a prolific writer, and she gave us and inspired many hymns to be sung as a result of her writing. Well, then we’re going to look at one of her hymns this morning, the one we just sang when we all get to heaven, and we’re going to notice four things as we study through each one of these stanzas.

First of all, that heaven is a prepared place. Second, that heaven is a perfect place. Third, that heaven is a pure place. And finally, that heaven is a prized place. And I believe that as we look through this hymn this morning, we’re going to find some very good scriptural things to think about.

Well, first of all, we want to understand that heaven is a prepared place. Look at that first stanza. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing His mercy and His grace. In the mansions, bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place.

Now, heaven is a prepared place because Jesus was a prepared person, and He prepared Himself by undergoing a tremendous amount of suffering and enduring the temptations of this life, but He always gave forth love and mercy and grace, and His love and mercy and grace makes heaven possible.

So we sing the wondrous love of Jesus. We sing His mercy and His grace. Think about the words that the Apostle Paul writes in Titus chapter 3 and verses 3 through 7. He says this, For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Love, mercy, grace, kindness, that’s what Jesus exhibited within His life, and that’s what we need to exhibit in our lives, but Jesus did that for us so that we might get to heaven one day. Mark 10 and verse 45 says, “…For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” And so we sing the mercy and grace and love of Jesus.

And He left this earth to prepare a place for us, and that place we call heaven. John 14, 1-3, Jesus says, “…Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.”

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. And so, in those mansions, bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place.

That’s what heaven is, a prepared place that Jesus prepared, because He was prepared, and He’s preparing us so that we can be in heaven one day. John saw a vision of that wonderful place in Revelation 22, in verses 1 and 2, and he said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And so the New Jerusalem, prepared. It’s a prepared place. And we, through Jesus Christ, are a prepared people ready to enter that heavenly place.

Seeing the wondrous love of Jesus, seeing His mercy and His grace, in the mansions bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place. Let’s look at that second stanza. A perfect place. Heaven is a perfect place. While we walk the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky. But when traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh.

And this verse focuses on the contrast between the problems that we have in this life versus the eternal blessings that we’ll receive one day in heaven. Yes, we’re going to have troubles in this life. Clouds will overspread the sky sometimes. In John 16, in verse 33, Jesus said, “…These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”

In Acts 14, in verse 22, it was said that Paul and Barnabas had gone through the churches, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, We must, through many tribulations, enter into the kingdom of God. Many tribulations. Yes, clouds will sometimes overspread the sky while we walk this pilgrim pathway, But when the traveling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh, because heaven is a perfect place.

In Revelation 21 and verse 4, there it says, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. No more cloudy days, no more troubles in this life, no more tribulation from the world, no more trials that we must face. No, heaven is a perfect place that’s going to be free from all troubles and trials.

In Isaiah 25, and verse 8, it says, “…He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

And so heaven is going to be a wonderful place where there’s no more tears, no more crying, no more pain, no more suffering, no more problems. It will be a perfect place. But then notice the third stanza. Heaven will be a pure place. Heaven will be a pure place. I pressed the wrong button. I got into thinking I needed to do the PowerPoint again.

Got that mindset going on, but anyway. A pure place. Let’s look at that third stanza. Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day. Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay. And so now we’re encouraged in this stanza to live faithful lives, to be a pure people so that we can enter that pure place one day.

We must be faithful to get to heaven because nothing impure will be in heaven. In Revelation 2 and verse 10, there Jesus Christ said to the churches, He said, He said, Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. They were exhorted to be faithful, to not turn away from their commitment to Jesus Christ while this life is ongoing. And that’s the same exhortation that we have in this hymn.

Let us then be true and faithful. And we need to be faithful so that we can enter that pure place, which is heaven. Now think about this in relationship to another scripture, Revelation 22 and verses 14 through 15. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, And may enter through the gates into the city, but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. Notice the separation. The separation between those who are faithful and those who are not faithful. Blessed are those who do His commandments. That’s what blessing we want.

That’s the blessing that we are searching for. But outside, what are those who are not going to enter heaven? You see, heaven is a pure place, and those who are outside are not pure, and they’re not going to be there. And they’re the ones who are going to be separated from God from all eternity.

Look at Revelation 21 and verse 27. What does it say? It says, “…but there shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

And so again, heaven is a pure place. Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day. And then this, “…just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay.” And, you know, sometimes I think we can kind of get down on ourselves and say, well, you know, it’s kind of tough to live the Christian life. There’s things I’ve got to give up. There’s things I can’t participate in because those things are very worldly and I don’t want them corrupting me.

And there’s a lot of things that we could do, you know, if we weren’t Christians in swallowing up all the pleasures that the world has to offer. But you know what? As Christians, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to be involved in those things. We are instead going to be true and faithful, trusting, serving, and then one day we will be rewarded for the toils of this life, for the things that we suffer here.

Here, for the things that we’ve given up, the things that we’ve sacrificed, one day we’ll be rewarded for those things. Think about this, Romans chapter 8 and verse 18 says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

And so all of the privations, all of the sufferings, all the toils, all the trials that we undergo here to be faithful to the Lord, they’re going to be as nothing one day. For the glory that will be revealed in us is going to swallow them all up. And it’s going to overcome all of the negative things that we experienced here.

Paul compares those things in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17, and he says, they’re just a light affliction. He says, our light affliction, which is but for the moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

And so the weight of glory is going to be what outweighs those light afflictions that we experience in the here and now. And heaven is a pure place. Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day. Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay.

And then finally, heaven is a prized place. A prized place. Onward to the prize before us. Soon His beauty will behold. Soon the pearly gates will open. We shall tread the streets of gold. You know, heaven should be prized. A prize is something that you get as a reward for accomplishing something great, you know, like running a race. You may get a prize at the end or doing well on a very difficult assignment. You may get a prize for that. A prize is something that you look forward to receiving and enjoying, and you want that prize.

And we, you know, sometimes we motivate our kids with prizes, right? Some teachers may have a prize box. And in that prize box, they have all kinds of fun little things that kids love. And if the kids are good, you know, throughout the week, then they’ll get to go to the prize box at the end of the week and get something out of the prize box. And they look forward to that all week long.

It’s something that they anticipate, something that they want, something they enjoy. And, you know, that’s what heaven is to us. It’s the prize, a prize of heaven. Paul says in Philippians 1 and verse 14, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

It’s a prize, he says, that we can attain one day. Paul writes also in 1 Corinthians 9 and verses 24 through 25, he says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run? But one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to attain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Do we prize heaven? Are we looking forward to it? Are we ready to attain it? Are we like a little child who at the end of the week gets to go to the prize box?

I hope we are, because that’s what heaven is for us. It’s the prize to be won. In 2 Timothy 4, 7-8, Paul wrote, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, Which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me in that day, and not to me only, but unto all those who have loved His appearing.

And so there is the prize of heaven, the crown of righteousness that awaits for us there, and we need to look to heaven as a great prize. And we need to prize it above all else, onward to the prize before us.

Soon His beauty will behold. Soon the pearly gates will open. We shall tread the streets of gold. We prize many things in this life. We may prize winning a sporting game of some sort. Someone may enter the publisher’s clearinghouse and win a million dollars and prize that.

You may win a new car from The Price is Right, and you get a prize. But you know what? If we do not win heaven, if we do not receive the prize of heaven, none of the things that we received in this life will be worth anything at all. We must prize heaven above all else.

And yes, we have some things in this life that we enjoy, that we prize, but they must take second place always to the prize of heaven itself. When we all get to heaven, what a great song. What a wonderful song. Look at the chorus of that song. Let’s just look at it together.

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory. Victory in Jesus. That’s surely something that we can prize. It’s something that we can be pure for. It’s something that we can prepare for. It’s something that is perfect.

But heaven is a wonderful place, and we want everyone to go there. It’s a prepared place, a perfect place, a pure place, and a prized place. Do you prize heaven? Maybe you need to prepare yourself to get to heaven by hearing the Word of God and believing it, repenting of your sins, confessing Jesus as the Son of God and being baptized for the forgiveness of God.

You can then start being faithful each and every day so that one day you may enter that pure and perfect place that we call heaven. If you need to respond to the invitation of Jesus Christ this morning and get ready for heaven, you can come right now while we stand and while we sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!