Paradise

We'll be turning to this passage that Wayne read for us here, 2 Corinthians 12, 1-6. And this is a passage that I've been looking forward to teaching a long time. I get in trouble if I say this is one of my favorites because that gets, well, it gets overdone.

Anyway, one of the things that Paul's dealing with He's been reckoning with the fact that the believers in Corinth, at least a group of them, a significant bunch, are really chronically fleshly. Very much so. He's having to go to great lengths with these believers. One of the points we've made is this is why we call it 2 Corinthians, because it's the second one that we have. Based on the evidence from the 1st and 2nd Corinthians books, there's actually, this is his fourth letter to them, at least. And looking at this, we're seeing that he's been dealing with very much the same problems with these believers. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he told them, you guys, I'm afraid you're fleshly. You're not spiritual. There are things I need to tell you. There are things that I should be able to tell you, but you're not ready for it.

And these believers, some of them seem to be learning and others not. And so as we saw at the end of chapter 11, first he matched them with Jewish qualifications because they were having some Jewish people claiming to be apostles who were coming and trying to take Paul's place. The way we couched it is Paul was actually trying to deal with identity theft. These false apostles were coming along and saying, hey, we're apostles and we've got all the qualifications. He said, I can match that, but I can go one step further in the trials that I have had.

I've been through far more labors, far more imprisonments. He gives numbers of times that he's been shipwrecked and beaten. Now, Paul carefully in this passage here makes a veiled reference to his being taken up into paradise, the third heaven. Anybody been to heaven yet and come back to tell us? I just thought I'd check anyway. So this is rather unique, isn't it? Paul is telling them, I've been there.

But he does, as we see here, he does so in very careful terms. As a matter of fact, he's rather roundabout in the way he says it. He does so in a way that avoids boasting. because the false apostles that he's trying to contend with and trying to essentially compete with had been boasting aplenty. He did not want to fall into that trap.

Now you might think that Paul has missed a huge opportunity. I mean, after all, wouldn't it be really cool for him to just come flat out and he could say, you know, I've been to heaven. And I bet your other apostles haven't, right? I mean, that would be really a way to score some points, right? So why didn't he do that? It seems like he's missed a huge opportunity by not doing that. He has been in the place where so many hope to be. He has been in the very dwelling place of the Lord himself. He has been where Christ is seated. It's the place where we have our citizenship.

Philippians 3.20.

We have our place of seating, Ephesians 2.6.

That place he's been. He chose to put to sandwich, as we put it here expressively, this huge news by referring to himself as a man he knows. I know a man. Oh, by the way, it's me, but I know a man. who has been to the third heaven, he says in verse two. In verse four, to paradise.

In fact, we know it's really him. Why do we know that? Here's the very next passage we'll be taking a look at. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, what revelations? The one where he was taken to paradise, the third heaven. To keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Well, we'll take a look at that next time, right? But very interestingly, at the end of that, most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

This is about him, but he's being very oblique. He doesn't want to come across as a boast. He couches this claim, I've been to the third heaven, I've been to paradise, I've been there, in such a way that he doesn't want to boast. As a matter of fact, he doesn't reveal it until he's ready to talk about the thorn in the flesh that he has.

And the fact that he asked the Lord to take it away and the Lord says, no, you need that. So maybe he didn't miss it after all. Maybe he didn't miss the opportunity. Paul's assignment as an apostle was not to impress anyone. Not to make points with any of them, right? He must not be like the politicians who are advertising on the television, right? He's not there to make points. He's not there to impress anybody. His assignment as an apostle is to present Christ and to reveal what he had been told to reveal. That's his assignment.

He had written to them in 1 Corinthians, we preach Christ and Christ crucified. Here in Ephesians 3, 8 and 9 that we see quoted there on the screen, to me, This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, the wealth of Christ, the wealth of His grace. And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, and by the way, that's not mystery if something stays mysterious, but a mystery is something that has previously been mysterious and unknown, now revealed, now made plain. Mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. Paul was given, it's very clear, some amazing truths to explain. It was his job.

What he saw in paradise, what he saw in the third heaven, was not on the list of things for him to reveal. It's not his job. He wasn't to talk about it with the saints in Corinth. He wasn't to talk about it with anybody else. It was not permitted. Paul did reveal a number of phenomenal things.

We have a short list here. Believers have the adoption of sons, which by the way is not like a baby adoption now. It was a phenomenal place of privilege and honor. He revealed the body of Christ. We who are believers are of the body of Christ. He revealed here in these letters to the Church of Corinth, believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Believers have all been identified and united with Christ.

You'll find that in a few other places just made reference to. Paul, however, explains what it means for us to have been united with Christ. united with Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding, and all the consequences of that. He listed and explained the spiritual gifts, several times as a matter of fact, including in our study here in 1 and 2 Corinthians. The other thing, and it is relevant to what we're studying here today, is he was the one that explained what has come to be called the rapture, that is, the taking up of the church to be with the Lord.

He was the one that explained it. He was the one who gave it detail. So Paul did have specific things that he was told to reveal and to explain. He even says that it was given to him directly by the Lord himself. And perhaps this time in paradise, the third heaven, was one of those times. But he can't tell us.

One of the things that Paul starts off with in this passage is he's doing what's necessary, but it's not desirable or profitable. He would rather be doing something else. Have you ever had that experience? You're doing something, but you'd rather be doing something else? That's Paul's experience here.

He says, I'm writing to you about this to get finally to grips with this false apostle problem, but you really need to know that I'd rather be doing something else. I'd rather be doing something more productive than trying to deal with this identity theft problem that we're having. He would prefer to be putting the focus on Christ himself and not on himself. He would prefer to tell them who they are in Christ and who Christ is in them. Both of those truths, marvelous truths, far more profitable, far more desirable.

But he has to deal with this problem. the problem that there are those who are trying to steal his identity. He has to focus on correcting the problems in this letter instead. Why would he do that? Why does he just say, you guys, I'm just going to write you off? Well, he spells that out.

Second Corinthians 2.4, he said this, that you might know the love which I have especially for you. 2 Corinthians 12 15, which we'll get to.

I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. That's a self-giving love, isn't it? He would rather go through all the trouble and all the hassle because he knows in the end it's going to be better for them. It's because he loves them. That's why he'd go through this.

You have here in the bottom of page one what I've kind of laid out as a poetic pattern. And you can see some of the patterns that come in place. There's a section there that starts off with, I know a man, and then that continues. And you can see the repetition that's in there. In addition to what you have in your handout, also kind of color highlighted some portions of those that have some repetition or rhyming. And so there's that.

There's also a section in here, on behalf of such a man I will boast, and then he goes the reverse, but on my own half I won't boast. Isn't that interesting? It's him, but he says, I don't want to boast. He says, that's not my point. And he says what he will do and he will not do. Spells that out. And finally, although he uses the word me three times in the last section there, He doesn't want any credit coming to him. He doesn't want to draw attention to himself. There was a fellow, it's funny, he didn't say a whole lot.

I'd go over and help him with his sheep from time to time. His name was Al Lytle. And so this was many years ago. And Al's home with the Lord now. But I learned a number of very interesting insights from Al. And one of the things that Al said, he said, humility is just giving credit where credit is due. See, humility isn't being self-denigrating and going around telling everybody how bad you are. Humility is simply giving credit where credit is due.

And that's what Paul's wanting to do here, isn't it? He's saying, I don't want to boast. Why? Because I'm not the one due the credit. If I went to paradise, if I went to the third heaven, is it because I bought a ticket? No. There's no credit to Paul. Could he use it to gain points and to get people impressed? Yeah, he could. But is it really his merit that got him there? No. It's all by grace. And the Lord's the one that deserves the credit. The Lord is the one that deserves to have the focus of attention, not me.

Here's the timeline. You'll see this on the top of page two on your handout. Paul had this first missionary journey recorded for us in Acts 13 and 14. Some very exciting times there. 46 to 48 AD, he went up after a trip through Cyprus They're up into southern Galatia. The cities of southern Galatia made a return loop. He and Barnabas appointing elders in the cities there.

And then in his second journey, that's when he actually went over into what is actually the European continent, went across the body of water there from what is now modern Turkey over into the area where he established the church at Philippi. And then he went down to Corinth. That's where the church at Corinth was established.

So that was his second missionary journey. The third missionary journey is the one that he is on now as he is writing this book. He is also going to be going through Corinth as well. And so he went to Corinth on his second and third missionary journeys. The second missionary journey was the first time. And the third missionary journey is the second time.

Now, he's on this third missionary journey writing this letter that we call 2 Corinthians. And so he wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians while on this third missionary journey. And he makes reference here in this passage, 2 Corinthians 12, that it was 14 years before. So if it's about 57 AD when he's writing this letter, that would put him There are 14 years earlier where he's caught up into the third heaven or paradise. Some 14 years prior to this time.

He hadn't been on any of his missionary journeys yet. This was a time when the Lord was still training him up. The Lord had not said, okay, now it's time for you to go on these journeys. No, he says, I'm still working with you. And to do that, the Lord decided, we need to bring you up to heaven. Let's have a little chat in heaven. Right? Or whatever took place there. So that's the timing of it.

Now Paul makes, in verse 2, reference to the third heaven. And just to step through the Bible's three heavens. Ever hear the term seventh heaven? That's not biblical. That's Islamic. But three heavens is biblical. The pattern is this you have the first heaven is the heaven where the birds fly and you have the atmosphere and the clouds Book of Revelation three times calls that mid heaven Okay, so that would be the the first heaven and by the way, if you look up first heaven in the Bible, you won't find it it's simply that's the It's called heaven and it's referred to in Jewish understanding as the first heaven the second heaven is the solar system and the astronomical universe.

I will greatly bless you, he says in Genesis 22, 17, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens. This is the second heaven. So we have the first heaven, the atmospheric heaven. The second heaven is the solar system and the stars. And then the third heaven is the place where the Lord dwells, the place where Christ is seated, the place where you are right now seated with Him, the place where you have your citizenship as a believer. And it's here where we see Paul making reference to, such a man was caught up to the third heaven, paradise. 2 Corinthians 12, 2 and 4. So this is the three heavens of Scripture.

Now, this word paradise, hmm, is that just a town in California? Probably not. Paradise is a word that's only used three times in the New Testament, and it's very significant where those three times show up. And we're looking at one passage right now. It was a word that was from the Persians, and it literally means pleasure garden. So this is the term that Paul is using here, and just the second of three times.

The first time, it's used by Christ when he told the thief on the cross, the one who believed in him, today you will be with me, where? In paradise. Today you'll be with me in paradise. Luke 23, 43. Aside from this passage, the 2 Corinthians 12 passage we're looking at, it's also used in Revelation 2.7. To him who overcomes, I will grant you eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. It's the promise for you and me. Paradise, we're going to be there. Paradise, you will be there.

And unlike Paul, you will be able to talk about it. Okay? In fact, I'd even encourage that. But what I say probably won't matter by then, right? One of the things to recognize is the apostles had different assignments. And this is one of the things that fascinates me about this passage.

Here's Paul, he says, I've been to the third heaven to paradise, but I can't talk about it. I can't talk about it. You see, only four of the apostles were granted directly to author scripture. Those are Matthew, John, Paul, and Peter. Only four of them to directly author scripture. Now you say, what about the others? How about those other books? Well, all the other books were sponsored by an apostle. Sponsored by an apostle.

So those four authors, Matthew got to write the Gospel of Matthew. It is the most Jewish in flavor of the four Gospels. John wrote the Gospel of John, the three letters towards the end of the New Testament and the Book of Revelation. Paul wrote the 13 books that we have, mostly letters to churches except for the ones to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. And then Peter, writing 1 and 2 Peter. And by the way, Peter was the sponsor for the Gospel of Mark. What they were to write about was not at all the same in character and content. Isn't that interesting?

The Lord didn't just say, how about you guys just kind of write about something? You know, just kind of go out there and write things. and whatever you want. No. What's very interesting is the Lord seemed to be very specific about what each one was supposed to write. It's almost like it was designed that way. And so here we have the four apostles who authored scripture writing very different things, different content. They had different assignments from the Lord as to what they were to write, even to the point of The Lord telling Paul, now Paul, I know you've been here to heaven. You've been here to paradise. We don't know how much time he spent there, if time means anything at all. But Paul, I don't want you to tell anybody about what you've seen here. I don't want you to repeat it. Don't write about it. Don't talk about it.

Though we can see evidences of the identification truths, That is, that we were identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating. And the rapture in the writings of Peter and John, it seems that only Paul explains these truths and their consequences for the life of the believer. Paul is given to explain certain things that others are not. But when it comes to describing the third heaven and paradise, Paul is not supposed to talk about it. Very interesting.

Paul was granted to go up to paradise where the Lord himself reigns and is even now. Paul would write about our being seated with Christ in the heavenlies and having a citizenship there. You know, when he wrote, we have a heavenly citizenship, he wrote as someone who had been there.

Can you imagine that? It wasn't all just theoretical. When he said, you're seated in the heavenlies, it wasn't just theoretical. It wasn't hypothetical. He'd been there. He could have written, you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I know I've been there, right? But he didn't do that. here in Ephesians 2, 4 through 7, but God being rich in mercy, and you could translate that being wealthy in mercy, because of his great love, now notice it isn't just love, but his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Seated us in the place where he had been. And here's an interesting insight, verse 7. I love verse 7.

So that in the ages to come he might show, and that word show means to demonstrate. It was used in the Greek Old Testament where Pharaoh was shown the Lord's power in the plagues. He's going to show grace. You're going to see grace demonstrated on into eternity.

That's in paradise. That's the third heaven. Philippians. Our citizenship is in heaven. And he had been there when he wrote this. From which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus. Colossians 3, 1-3. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, and if you're a believer, you have. That if is not casting doubt, but it's inviting you to think along. Keep seeking the things above. That paradise place, that third heaven place, that place where the Lord is, that place where you have your citizenship, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and you're there with Him. Set your mind on the things above. Set it there. Ever put something down and you can't find it? I can't tell you how many times this happened this last week. You put something down, you walk away, and, where did I put that?

Don't do that with your mind. Set your mind on things above and remember to keep it there. And remember where it is, right? This isn't one of these empty-headed ditzy things. Not on the things that are here. Now notice he's explicit. Set it there, not here. There, not here. For you have died. Oh. How'd that happen? You were crucified with Christ. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. Where? Third heaven. Paradise. That's where your life is. That's where your life is.

Paul was not permitted, he was not allowed, regardless of what he saw, to write or speak about the things he had seen in paradise. You can imagine Paul, man, I can't wait to tell the people when I get back, this is so cool, this is phenomenal, I'm gonna just...

No. What? No. No, you can't tell them about that. You can tell them that they're seated there, you can tell them to set their mind there, you can tell them they have a heavenly citizenship, but don't tell them what you heard and saw here. That's not your job. Why not? Oh, because that's John's job.

John was told that he must write about the things on the heavenly scene. Paul was told you can't write and you can't speak about the things that you've seen here. Isn't that interesting? The Lord was very deliberate and specific about which apostle he appointed to write about what. Even though Paul could have written a great deal, he was not permitted. He wrote there, at the end of verse 4, which a man is not permitted to speak.

At least that man, right? John, however, was required to write. Revelation 119, therefore write, that was an imperative, write, John, the things you have seen, the things which are, the things which will take place after these things, including 150 verses there on the heavenly scene. What we find is, as you go through the book of Revelation, here's John who was told to write, there is a syncopation eight times back and forth between heaven and earth.

Paul wrote like a logician. Because of this, therefore this, since this, if this, then that. Paul wrote like a logician. John wrote like a musician. He starts off and then he builds up the crescendo and he brings it down and he goes back up eight times. John wrote like a musician. Paul like a logician.

One of the questions as people read through The book of Revelation is the rapture. Where is it? And people pick all sorts of timings for the time when the Lord will take the believers in the church home. They say, it must be here. Maybe it's there. It sounds like it's over here.

But describing the rapture is not John's job. It's Paul's. Paul is told to describe and explain how the Lord takes us up to be with Him. John's not given that job. Paul is. Paul, on the other hand, is told, you may not say anything about what you've seen here in paradise. Not a thing. That's John's job.

John's going to write 150 verses. See that syncopation in heaven? 150 verses in 8 passages, basically. 150 verses about the heavenly scene. Paul is not allowed to say a word. So John writes the book of Revelation. He's not writing about the rapture. He only writes the evidences of it, the consequences, the outcome of it. when the Lord takes His church to be with Him. He doesn't explain it. That's Paul's job. That's Paul's job.

This pattern of words and phrases here will be available as a supplement on the website. You can download it. And it includes the syncopation between heaven and earth. So anyway, that's available if you want to have it and print it out in color here.

Now, so what are we to do with this? This interesting passage where Paul says twice, very carefully, that he's been to heaven. He's been to paradise. So what are you supposed to do with that? Go there too? Norm will be handling the ticket sales, so just see him afterwards.

No, Paul and John each had an assignment to write in different ways about this place called Paradise. Both of them went there, but they were each told to say and explain different things. But whether you look at it by Paul's description of what's true, or whether you look at it in John's description, here's what it looks like.

That's our home. That's our home. That's our home with the Lord. That's our home in our heart of hearts. The homes we have here, I hope you have a nice home. I hope you enjoy it. You might have noticed you've got to do things like paint it and wash it and fix things. And oh, I hope the toilet doesn't overflow again. Things like that. You've got to do things with it and take care of it. And it has problems from time to time.

But that's our heart's home. That's home, home, home with a capital H. It's there where we're seated with Christ. It's there where we have our citizenship. Paul wasn't allowed to describe what he saw and heard, but he did tell us that our citizenship is there. Our life is there. Christ, who is our life, our life is there.

Have you ever noticed that people are constantly searching for life? You want to have life? Oh, well, you just got to turn on a certain channel and watch between this hour and that hour. Then that's life. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's not life. Life is when you buy this certain car this year. Life is if you eat at this restaurant. That's how the world defines life. Life is things that you buy and eat and do and things of that sort.

But this passage is talking about the place where we have our life. Christ, who is our life. And we can set our minds there. And don't forget about it, right? We can set our minds there. There where we have our home. There where we have our life. There where we're seated. There we are, where we are with Him.

In Philippians chapter 1, Paul talks about their behavior, and most of the time people can overlook at it, when they look at the passage, they overlook. He uses a particular word. He talks about the behavior of citizens. The behavior of citizens. Do you realize that our behavior here comes from the place where we have citizenship? That's what he's calling them to. He isn't just saying behave yourself, right? He's saying let your behavior come from the place where you have citizenship.

Wow. The things I do, the things that I say, the things I don't do and don't say come from that place where I have citizenship. And I left my mind, oh, I left my mind up there, right? That's where we're to set our minds. And that's why the behavior here can come from there. That's where it comes from.

Oh, and by the way, you can't buy life contrary to what comes off the TV screen. You can't buy life. Christ already bought it for you. It's His life. Our life, where Christ is. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, we thank you. This is awesome. This is amazing stuff. You've given particular assignments to each of these apostles. Are they apostles? Yes. But they each have different assignments.

And we, too, have different assignments, too. But we look to you to live your life out in us and through us. And we pray that Our living here might be done by your very life as we live with you there. We thank you for the ways you've amazingly and awesomely and richly blessed us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.