Christian Living

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BY COMMENTING
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE As A Member OR Visitor
Message Writer
Hire Writer
Report Article

Track Writer

Add to Favorites

by GLENN PEASE
02/05/18
Free to Share

Based on II Cor. 12:1-10

      For 40 years Rev. William Tennent served as pastor of the historic Presbyterian Church at Freehold, New Jersey. As a young man this pastor experienced a remarkable trance. He was in bad health, and one day while talking with his brother he fainted away and appeared to have died. The doctor pronounced him dead and the funeral service was arranged. Friends assembled for it, and then to the amazement of everyone young Tennent spoiled everything by opening his eyes. The funeral was canceled, and for weeks he lingered near death, but finally recovered. It took a long time, but one day his memory was restored, and he told of what he had experienced.

      He said he was in another world being escorted along by a heavenly being. They approached a new environment dazzling with glory and resounding with the most beautiful music. There were innumerable happy beings there, and he longed to stay with them, but he was told he must return to earth. This came as such a shock that it was too much for him, and it took him a long time to recover and face life on earth again. Such a story would be worthless if it had not come from a man of God with such a solid reputation. If some crackpot or fanatic told such a story, who would take it seriously? But this man of strong repute cannot be dismissed, for his experience is similar to that of the Apostle Paul.

         Paul did not see, but he heard, and he too was left with a physical problem after the experience. Going to heaven before you actually die can be harmful to your health. It is not the trip there, but the return trip that does the damage. If you stay, you never know suffering again, but to return to earth is a chock to the human system. If man could actually organize tours to the heavenly Holy City, as he does to the earthly Holy Land, he would have to advertise that this trip may be harmful to your health.

       Paul's experience of being caught up to heaven must have been a marvelous one, but he does not tell us a single thing about what he saw or heard, except that it was so out of this world that he was not allowed to tell of it. All his emphasis is on what the trip cost him in terms of his health. Paul had to pay a heavy price for his peak at heaven's glory. Examining his testimony might convince us that it is better to wait until we die and enter heaven permanently rather than to long for a special preview while we are yet in the flesh.

        Someone once asked G. Campbell Morgan if he thought people still had such experiences, and he responded, "Undoubtedly. I am certain that experiences like that have been granted under certain conditions to certain persons, and always with a certain definite purpose." He went to say that a real and authentic vision would be a very personal experience and one not likely to be shared by the person experiencing it.

        Had there not been a special need for revealing it we never would have known that the Apostle Paul had such an experience. He had been laboring for Christ all over the world, and he had spent much time with the Corinthians, and yet never once did he mention his trip to heaven, but now he feels a need to share it. It happened 14 years ago he says in verse 2. For 14 years Paul had concealed this unique experience, for it was private, and he was fearful of boasting about it. the experience led him to have to suffer with the thorn in the flesh. Any boasting in pride about it to exalt himself could only lead to greater problems, and so he was very cautious. Heaven had already been harmful to his health, and he was not anxious to make it fatal.

        The Corinthians, however, were having so many problems, and there was so much pride among them because of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Paul felt it was necessary to share his experience with them. He was so careful to avoid boasting that he refers to his experience as if it was another man who had it. He was hoping that his humility about such a blessing would give the Corinthians a pattern to follow to guide them away from pride and boasting over their lesser spiritual experiences. The paradox we see here is that Paul is bringing forth his hidden basis for boasting in order to build up his own authority, but to do it in such a way that they will see the folly of boasting.

        Some of them are strutting all over the place boasting of their ability to speak in tongues. Paul seeks to take the wind out of their sales by revealing his supreme spiritual blessing, which was his trip to heaven. This is far superior to anything God has done for them, but Paul does not boast of it. He goes on to explain how it humbled him and caused him to glory in his weakness. What Paul clearly implies in this passage is not only that heaven can be harmful to your health, but that any heavenly experience can be harmful. If any gift from heaven leads you to pride and a show of arrogance over your brother's in Christ, you are allowing a good thing to be used for evil. The only way for God to offset this folly is to use an evil thing for good. That is what God did for Paul. He used the messenger of Satan to keep Paul humble lest he become proud due to his heavenly vision.

        Man can use everything that is good and heavenly in low and negative ways, and that is why heaven can be harmful to your health. As long as we are in the flesh and subject to the temptation to pervert heavenly gifts to earth centered goals, God has to hole back the flesh by means of some thorn in the flesh. The greater your spiritual gifts the greater your danger. Some in Corinth apparently became so proud about their spirituality that God had to bring about their death and remove them from this life. They could not handle heaven on earth, and so God took them to heaven where they would receive a nature capable of handling it. Only this desperate need made Paul reveal his own unique experience, and how it humbled him.

       Opinions vary as to just when this vision took place. The two times most commonly held are at the time of his conversion when he was blinded, of the time when he was stoned at Lystra and left for dead. No one is very dogmatic about it, for it is very uncertain, and really doesn't matter. Paul didn't know whether he was taken up in his body or in spirit only. It could have been either way, and if he didn't know, there is no point in speculating about it.

       The third heaven where Paul was caught up to is the heaven of the presence of God. The clouds of heaven represent the lowest and first heaven. The stars of heaven are in the second heaven, and our Father in heaven is in the third heaven. In verse 4 Paul calls it Paradise, and so the two are equated. When Jesus promised the thief he would be with Him in Paradise He could have said, "This day you shall be with me in the third heaven." Heaven has the idea of glory and the presence of God as its main image. Paradise carries the idea of the place of pleasure and delight. We can only wish Paul would have said a few things about it, but in verse 4 he says he heard things that cannot be retold. We want to ask why that is, but there is no answer.

       It is possible that man cannot tell what he experiences of heaven because there is no human vocabulary to describe it, and also because any attempt would only vulgarize it. There are some experiences even in this life that are too personal and precious to describe. Paul could no more share what God revealed to him in heaven than a man can share with others what has been revealed to him on his honeymoon. Paul didn't want to share the experience in the first place, and now that he does, he makes it clear that any request for details will be offensive. He can share no more than what he has.

        Paul did not hesitate to share his marvelous and miraculous conversion experience. He told of that every chance he got, and three times it is recorded in Acts. He gladly shared the details of this, for all the glory of it was Christ's. Personal testimony is powerful for good when the glory goes to Christ. Being caught up in heaven, however, is a spectacular experience, which would have a tendency to lead to self-exaltation. Paul knew this and that is why in verse 5 he says that he will boast for the man caught up, but not for himself, even though he was the one caught up.

         This is Paul's clever way of saving that this was an experience worthy of boasting, but I refuse to exalt myself. It was the Lord's doing and no credit goes to me. I will boast of the butterfly, but not of the caterpillar is about what Paul is saying. They are the same, but in two different stages, and so the one caught up and Paul are the same man, but also in two different stages.   Paul is the caterpillar-the un-glorified Apostle in the flesh. The one caught up was a glorified version of his future self. He has not yet reached that stage, even though God gave him a preview, so he does not boast as if he has attained that state.

         Try explaining a marvelous thing that has happened to you without seeming to boast and you will see why Paul is so complex in his description of this experience. He already had one thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. He is not anxious to add another by boasting. But in verse 6 he admits that his experience is so worthy of boasting that he would not be a fool to do so, for he would only be speaking the truth. He refrains, however, because he wants no one to think of him on the basis of anything other than what they see or hear from him. Paul was a very wise and realistic man. He did not want to get a reputation as the man who went to heaven. He didn't want to be put on display like some unique character in a sideshow. People would look up and say, "I don't' see that he is any different than anyone else." They would only be disappointed because they would expect to see someone divine, or at least super superior.

       Men who do make great claims for them selves usually end up as a laughing stock because they cannot escape the flesh and their fallible human mind. If they claim to be divine and infallible, they become a joke because they are so obviously human and fallible like the rest of us. Paul didn't let himself get suckered into anything like that. If he would have boasted of being in heaven, and of having heard the wisdom of God directly, he would then have to exalt himself to a level of infallibility. He clearly took no such position. He even told the Corinthians that some of his opinions on the questions they put to him were his own and not divinely inspired.

        Paul wanted to be judged on his actions and his preaching, and not on the basis of his trip to heaven. But what a trip it was, and what revelations he received! They were so great he says in verse 7 that God had to do something to keep his head from swelling. It is possible to be too happy about heaven, and to be so elated, and so God had to allow Satan to afflict Paul in some way to keep him humble. Paul calls this messenger of Satan a thorn in the flesh. The Greek word for thorn can also mean stake. Many commentators point this out in order to make clear that whatever Paul's problem was, it was not a mere minor irritation like hangnails or chapped lips. It was a serious problem that plagued Paul and kept him in a state of constant remembrance. There have been many guesses as to what Paul's thorn was.

        Calvin thought it was strong temptation to give up his duties as an Apostle, and the pangs of conscience he suffered when he was tempted. Luther felt it was the constant persecution he had to endure from those who opposed him and tried to undo his work. The Catholic view is that it was temptations of the flesh. Some are convinced it was his physical appearance, and they suggest that he had some disfigurement. Other popular guesses are epilepsy, migraine headaches, eye trouble, insomnia and malaria. No one can say for sure what his problem was, but whatever it was, he got it because of his trip to heaven. He didn't like it and prayed to get rid of it, but God would not pull out the thorn. His heavenly vision made it a necessity for his own good.

       Heaven can be harmful to your health. Any blessing of God can bring with it some handicap or problem because human nature has a tendency to pride that is so strong that if the blessings of life are not balanced off with some kind of burden they can actually lead to evil rather than to good. Jacob wrestled with God and got a blessing, but he also got a limp. Uzziah was the king of Judah, and he was greatly blessed of God and became famous for his skills and inventions. It went to his head, however, and in II Chron. 26:16 we read, "But when he was strong he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was false to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of his Lord to burn incense on the alter of incense." He was so blessed of God that he got proud and took the law of God into his own hands. If a godly king could do this, and if the great Apostle Paul was in danger of doing it, who are we to think we could handle heavenly vision and not end up worse off for it because of pride?

       In our study of heaven we need to recognize the blessing of our ignorance. If God showed us more and even gave us a preview as He did Paul, we would need a serious problem to keep us from self-exaltation. Therefore, let us be thankful there is much we do not know, and be content to wait until we can see it all without it being harmful to our health.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR

Reader Count & Comments

Date

Read more articles by GLENN PEASE or search for other articles by topic below.

Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)

Read more by clicking on a link:
Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You

...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19

Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38

LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE

FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.