David Jeremiah. Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven. Edited by Robert J. Morgan, Turning Point, 2017.

Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven is a refreshing, inspiring book. The author takes a look at most of the verses in the Bible that deal with heaven. By heaven here he means the dwelling place of God and the future dwelling place of redeemed humans. The book does delineate how the words translated heaven or heavens in English Bibles can refer to the atmosphere, the universe, or God’s abode. Clearly in this context, the book refers to the third.

Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven focuses on what the future in heaven will be like for the redeemed. While the author draws from books of the Bible throughout including Genesis, Daniel, Isaiah, and Matthew, it focuses on Revelation. That has more detail about heaven than any other book of the Bible and speaks of the future in more detail as well.

One chapter deals with a question that we often hear today in our secular culture. We can see the question just in the title of the chapter: “Won’t Heaven Be Boring?” If we understand all the possibilities and promises about heaven, that seems unlikely. Besides, as the author points out, to paraphrase a bumper sticker: Heaven—Consider the alternative. No, the book is not about hell, but when we are speaking of eternity, we cannot overlook that side of eternity.

The author sticks to the subject. While he does mention certain dispensationalist ideas in the book, that is not the focus. This really is written for all Christian believers regardless of their view of the millennium or tribulation. This is what the Bible says about heaven.

One part I would like to share in some detail. The Bible tells us that in the new heaven and earth there will be no more sea (Revelation 21:1). Those of us who enjoy the sea may ask why, or may wonder if we would like a world without oceans.

But the Bible doesn’t tell us there won’t be beautiful bodies of water. When you think about it, the surface of our planet is primarily water—about 71 percent. The oceans hold over 96 percent of all the earth’s water, and these vast wastelands of salt water are essentially uninhabitable. The new earth will be more beautiful than anything we can imagine and more gorgeous than anywhere we’ve ever been. There will clearly be bodies of water…But evidently, there will not be huge wastelands of salty seas.

…Henry M. Morris explained it like this: “There will, in fact, be no need for a sea on the new earth. The present sea is needed, as was the original antediluvian sea, as a basic reservoir for the maintenance of the hydrological cycle and the water-based ecology and physiology of the animal and human inhabitants of the earth.”

The composition of the the planet will be so different—and the nature of our glorified bodies will be so superior—that the very ecology of the new creation will be altered.

…Give God a little credit here, for if He made the seas so beautiful and pleasant in the first place, He will certainly design a new world with even greater levels of marvel and magnificence. (214-215)

Parts of this book, particularly the chapter entitled “Worship in Heaven” seem especially powerful. That has to do with the subject matter. Some of the most powerful songs ever written take songs in heaven from the Book of Revelation and set them to music. An obvious example is the “Hallelujah” Chorus from Handel’s Messiah (Revelation 11:15 and 19:6).

Such songs are particularly powerful because they are the same songs, we are told, that people and angels sing in heaven. Reading a chapter full of such songs and sayings can uplift the coldest heart. Reading a chapter full of such lyrics makes the reader understand a little better that petition from the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”

And perhaps even more will the reader understand the Bible’s last prayer: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20 NKJV).