Vision of Heaven

I. Introduction
A. Paul has just finished chapter 11 with his list of his sufferings on behalf of the gospel, ending with the story of how he was lowered in a basket to escape from capture in Damascus. And now he begins chapter 12 with the story of how he was raised to heaven in a vision. And thus he encapsulates his life of ministry: a life punctuated by severe hardships and supreme privileges.
B. 2Corinthians 12:1-10 is one passage, but we’re covering it in two weeks.
1. The point Paul is driving at is in v.7-10, but it’s such an important point — really the climax of the whole letter — that I couldn’t bear to take a lot of time away from it explaining v.1-6.
2. So, I’m preaching on v.1-6 today and v.7-10 next week. But, let’s keep their connection in mind.
3. This means that today’s section is important not only for itself, but for next week.
C. 2Corinthians 12:1–6 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
D. 2Corinthians 12:7–10 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
II. 2Corinthians 12:1–6 — Let’s walk through these six verses in five steps:
A. 1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
1. History is replete with con men who have seduced and deceived others by claiming to have some divine mission stemming from a supernatural vision.
2. And this is exactly what had happened to the Corinthian church. They had been taken in by men who claimed to have had mystical experiences which proved they were apostles.
3. We know from 1Corinthians 12-14 that the Corinthians were enamored with the more electrifying displays of spiritual inspiration. This is probably why the congregation was so impressed by the false apostles’ claims of thrilling visions.
4. But mystical experiences can so easily be used for manipulation and deception. How can you evaluate them? How can you disprove them?
5. Instead of trying to disprove the experience of the false apostles, Paul describes his own experience — after 14 years of silence about it — but only for the purpose of making a point.
6. He is still very apprehensive about boasting. So, first, he says, "I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it" to reaffirm that boasting has no spiritual value, reminding them again that his boasting is not to be taken as an example for anyone else to follow.
7. “I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.” In other words, if I must boast, I will move from my pedigree and my ministry hardships to my visions and revelations. And then he briefly tells his story.
B. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.
1. “I know a man in Christ” — Verses 1 and 7 make clear that Paul is referring to himself, not some other person. But he speaks in the third person and refers to himself as “a man in Christ” as if he’s talking about someone else. Strange. Perhaps he is trying to avoid the appearance of boasting.
2. 14 years ago — He tells us he was caught up to heaven 14 years before he penned this letter (56-57AD). This places his vision around 43AD, around the end of his time in Tarsus and just before Barnabas recruited him to help in Antioch.
3. Paul was caught up to “the third heaven” — What does that mean?
a. In the beginning, God created the heavens, plural.
b. A number of verses speak of the highest heaven (1Kg.8:17, Ps.148:4) or the heaven of heavens (Deut.10:14, Neh.9:6).
c. The first heaven, it seems, is the clouds.
d. The second heaven is the sky above the clouds, which contains the moon and sun and stars.
e. The third heaven, the highest heaven, the heaven of heavens, is the one beyond the clouds and the sky, the heaven we can’t be seen from earth, the heaven where God lives.
f. In the next verse, he refers to this “third heaven” by using the term paradise.
4. “Whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows” — Most visions people are given by God are in a dream. Their bodies don’t actually go anywhere. And when the person comes out of it, he knows it was a dream.
a. But Paul,’s experience was so tangible to him that he couldn’t tell whether it was a dream or whether he had actually been transported to heaven.
C. 3-4 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
1. This is the same paradise where Jesus said he would be with the thief on the cross (Lk.23:42) — though obviously Paul was there in a different way than the thief on the cross was there.
2. So, Paul was caught up to paradise & saw amazing things, but he couldn’t tell what he saw.
D. 5-6a On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6a though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth;
1. Here it gets a little strange, for Paul is contrasting himself with the man who had the vision — even though he was the one having the vision!
2. What Paul seems to be doing is not contrasting himself with some other person, but contrasting Paul in himself with Paul the passive recipient of God’s visionary blessing.
3. He won’t boast in himself — except in his weaknesses — but he is willing to boast in the undeserved experienced God allowed him to have.
4. He seems to be contrasting boasting in something you have been given and boasting in something you have achieved yourself.
E. 6b but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
1. Paul refrains from boasting because he doesn’t want people thinking more highly of him than they ought to.
2. He doesn’t tell people about his mystical experiences because he doesn’t want that to exaggerate people’s view of him. He wants their view of him to be based on what they see in him and hear from him.
III. In spite of the fact that there are some strange things going on here, I would like to address five important truths/principles we can learn from this: the first three about heaven, the last two about us.
A. There is another reality, another world, which we can’t see.
1. There is a veil between this world and that, like a cloak of invisibility.
2. But the fact is, there is a place, a real place — actually a place more real than this place — a place no vehicle can take you to and no GPS can direct you to.
3. And if we were given even a glimpse of this place, it would change who we are and how we live (Is.6:5).
4. Just knowing that this place exists, and knowing that one day not only will we see it but we will live in it, gives us much fuel for hope and faith. In fact, knowledge of this place is one of the main means by which God encourages and strengthens His people.
5. What is so special about this place? It’s not just how beautiful it is: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, etc.
6. The thing which makes this place so special is that it’s where God lives. It’s the place where His glory is vividly seen and not hidden. It is the place where His reign is manifest and unmistakable.
B. God gives some people glimpses of that world.
1. The vast majority of us won’t see this place during our lives on earth.
2. But every once in a while the veil is pulled to the side and someone is allowed to see into heaven.
a. “The sky opened up” Acts 10:11
b. “The heavens opened up” Acts 7:56
c. “I saw heaven opened” Rev.19:11
d. “The heavens were opened” Lk.3:21; Ezek.1:1
3. Even when this happens, it is not always supposed to be publicized, as we see with Paul. But many of them are.
4. Jacob was given a vision of heaven, along with Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micaiah, Zechariah, and Stephen. All these – and others – had visions of heaven and recorded what they saw. We even have one in Job 1:6-12.
5. And so God gave Paul such a vision, though he only mentions it reluctantly – and only here in 2Cor.12.
C. This place is actually the control center of the universe.
1. Though it is hidden from us on earth, and though Paul doesn’t give us any details about his vision, a central feature of heaven in these visions is usually the throne of God.
a. 1Kings 22:19 I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left.
b. Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
c. Daniel 7:9–10 As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (See also Ezek.1:26; 10:1.)
2. Why a throne? To communicate that there is a great King ruling over everything. To remind God’s people that when you pull back the curtain and see what’s really going on in the universe, there is God on His glorious throne, ruling all things in might and in wisdom.
D. Unfortunately, visions and revelations can easily lead to boasting.
1. It even had this effect on Paul (or would have, if God hadn’t sent a thorn in the flesh - 2Cor.12:7).
2. It doesn’t really make sense – boasting in God’s gift – does it?
a. What sense does it make to boast in something you have been given as a gift?
b. What sense does it make to boast in your good looks? Or your intelligence? Or your nationality? Or your parents? Or to boast in your good genes?
c. In 1Corinthians 4:7 Paul asks, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
3. And yet, one of our real struggles is boasting in things God in His grace has given us.
4. And not only do we boast, but we exalt others who are the recipients of God’s gifts.
a. We exalt the beautiful, the athletic, the ones born into royalty or riches, etc.
b. And in the church, many times the ones who get exalted are the ones who have had spectacular experiences.
E. But there are also important lessons to learn from Paul’s concern that they not think more highly of him than they should.
1. Generally, we are starving for affirmation and attention. We want people to think highly of us.
2. I love praise so much that it’s easy for me to accept praise even that clearly belongs elsewhere. (Ultimately, of course, all praise belongs Elsewhere.)
3. But Paul tells us in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
4. We should strive to have a sane estimate of who we are — and for others to have a sane estimate of who we are.
5. Like Paul, we should desire that no one think of us more highly than they should.
6. We shouldn’t want to be esteemed above what is accurate.
7. It’s the way we live and the way we talk which should form people’s assessment of our spiritual state, not the gifts God has given us. And that’s how we should evaluate others as well.
8. We shouldn’t judge people by how eloquent they are, or how humorous, or how clever, or how good-looking. Judge them by how humble they are, and how loving, and how patient and how joyful and how generous and how willing to help and how repentant they are when they sin.
9. We should also want to have an accurate estimate of each other.
10. Perpetually, there is a great problem in the church of misreading and misunderstanding others, and of undervaluing and overvaluing. The Corinthians overvalued the false apostles and undervalued and misread and misunderstood Paul.
11. We need to be devoted to resisting all these tendencies.
12. Some are more afraid of being gullible; others are more afraid of being judgmental.
a. But we ought to be afraid of both.
13. It requires a lot of humility and openness. It requires not taking our impressions – and intuitions – too seriously.
14. Paul’s nuanced and gracious view of the Corinthians in this letter is such a good example to us.
IV. But let me leave you with one final thought from this passage.
A. Paul says that he “heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”
B. I have a theory I want to share with you as to why Paul couldn’t tell us about his vision.
C. But first, some background. In the visions of heaven we’re given in the Bible, there is a lot of overlap. And probably Paul’s vision bore a resemblance to them.
1. It’s very possible he saw things which were unique, but probably, what he saw and heard bore some similarity to the other visions in the Bible.
2. In particular, it is likely that what he saw bore a resemblance to the vision John saw 50 years after Paul’s vision and recorded in the book of Revelation.
D. And, of course, John’s Revelation is the supreme vision for us as NT believers.
1. Instead of pining over Paul’s revelation of heaven we can’t find out about, we should cherish the revelation of heaven which has been given to us and for us.
E. In John’s vision in the book of Revelation, he beholds a sovereign God in full command of the course of human events as things dramatically move toward their spectacular conclusion. From an earthly perspective it sure looks like Christ’s church doesn’t stand a chance. There are all these beasts and dragons and monsters after them. Mighty kingdoms & rulers have set themselves against them. Judgments are being poured out upon the earth left & right. They appear incapable of resisting all the hostile forces against them. But, BUT, the course of history is not directed by human powers or demonic powers. It is all under the sway of the almighty One who is sitting on that throne. And, as things unfold, God exercises His power in such a way that in the end the enemies of His church are crushed/vanquished. And the people of the Lord see that although He allowed them to endure many tribulations, He rescues them before things become too much to bear and plants them in a new city: a city of healing, a city of righteousness, a city of peace and rest, a city of love, the city where He lives.
F. Well, Paul was given his revelation about 50 years before John’s Revelation, just before he begins his life of ministry — perhaps to fulfill the same purpose for Paul as the book of Revelation was designed to fulfill for the early church: to help him though a time of severe persecution by reminding him that God is on His throne and ultimately ruling over all things, and that in the end He will display His power and conquer His enemies forever.
G. Perhaps Paul’s vision of heaven was designed to help him face his long list of sufferings – and the even more intense persecutions which were to come – which amounted to, in Calvin’s words, a thousand heartbreaks.
1. Maybe Paul was caught up to heaven and shown things which increased his faith and changed his life because he didn’t yet have the Revelation of John. And maybe that’s why WE don’t need our own personal vision. We have our Revelation!
2. Revelation 21:2-5 I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
3. One day we will be there — if we have put our hope in Christ.
4. Why would we resist a God so tender and compassionate, so mighty and majestic?
5. Let nothing hold you back from coming to Him this morning, yielding to Him, accepting His embrace.