Omaha daily bee., 1884-10-06
WHERE AND WHAT is HEAvENq
Rev. A. X. Bates Attempts to Answer
the Query.

At the Opera House yesterday morn
ing, the Rev. A. X. Bates, pastor of th'
Presbyterian church of this city, present
ed his hearers with The subject of "Fu
ture Existence" taking for his text tn,
11th verse of the 10th chapter of Revel
atoms, "And l saw heaven opened"
l call your attention this morning tt
he statements of the of scripture respect
ng our future, subject concerning
which we have hot great deal of inform
alton given us in the Bible, yet as much
is given as it is wise for us to know.
The book of Revelations is book writ.
ten separately from the other books in
the Bible, and although not written by
the holy spirit, it is dictated by the Lord
Jesus to his servant John, and concerns
itself entirely with future events after the
fourth chapter.
John has given to his writer's as they
were inspired to prepare this wonderful
book, some information with regard to
heaven. Now In the first place, | will
show that heaven Is place. 1t is a
place differ ent from this state of exist.
ence. 1t has been observed and argued
by some, that what we call heaven, is
simply refined state of the human
heart and condition of being.
This is not so at all. 1t involves that,
but 1t is simply place. "Thus saith
:he Lord, heaven is my dwelling place."
The Lord Is said to have said by those
who watched him in his ascension,
"This same Jesus whom you have seen 90
into heaven, shall come in like manner"
Now in all that can be understood by the
English language it is impossible to con.
ceive of heaven being any other than
place seperate and distipguishable from
the earth. 81 60 to prepare place for
you" The place which he has prepared
for us is the place where he is now. In
the book of Hebrews we read of Jesus
sitting at the right hand of God and
crowned with glory. 1t Is a place, not a
state of being. l make mention of this
fact simply because it Is statement of
scripture, and it is very beautiful for the
mind to associate thought with state of
being, but also very difficult and almost
impossible to conceive of being exist
Ing without reference to place.
1t is important to bear in mind that
God has given US no limited ideas at all.
What information He gives us is clear.
He definitely tells US that heaven is a
place. 1t is certainly place of absolute
holiness and purity. In Luke, 10th
chapter and 18th verse, we find the pas.
sage: ~ beheld Satan fall from heaven"
AS far as have any information, Satan
was one of the children of God, high and
exalted, but not keeping his first state,
but to usufp authority, therefore, sin.
ming against God and ..heaven, he was
cast out of the place.
HeaYen is a place of glory. The
brightness of Gods glory becomes man
ifest in the flesh. According to the
Jesus Christ was God man.
ifest in the flesh. When he was crucified |
there was darkness over all the earth. |
Then the light of God was turned away
from this earth, but as soon as death oc. |
Cured the darkness disappeared
Again we find "There shall by no
merns enter into this city of the great |
King anything that msketh lie." How
many people are then cut out from any |
possibility of ever seeing Gods face. |
Again, "There shall be no more cursing.
There is only one thing that ever pro.
duced cursing in this world. That was