THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
The Kingdom of Heaven
Sunday, December 24, 2017, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
On Sunday evenings we have been enjoying My Time In Heaven, by Richard Sigmund (1941-2010). Rev. Sigmund was killed in a bad car wreck Oct. 17, 1974. He was dead eight hours. God took him to heaven and sent him back to tell about Heaven.
He describes an auditorium that was an announcement center. This was the theater where Jesus announced that He was going to be born of a virgin. The Lord Himself was on stage there. He was with Richard, but also, he could look down and see Jesus as He was with groups of people walking through the air. In heaven, Jesus is omnipresent. Instantly at the right moment, He was on the stage of that auditorium, which seemed to have seated ten million people. The stage was beautiful. There was a throne on it on which Jesus was seated before he stood. There was an area that was both gold and silver and had precious jewels. There was a fragrance---an aroma that was indescribable and beyond measure---the fragrance of God Himself.
In heaven, there is a re-enactment of the manger scene and the virgin birth to the glory of God---an eternal nativity that declares the miracle: God became man.
Someplace in heaven, you can feel and hear the throbbing heart of God, loving, yearning, churning---you can feel his deep, loving compassion. He will do everything in His Word that He has promised. The sacrifice of His Son indicates that He was and is willing to do everything to redeem us.
Romans 8:32: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all---how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
In heaven, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow; there is only “right now.” The right-now situation needed Jesus there in the auditorium, and that is where He was. He walked onstage to thunderous praise, worship, and adoration that seemed to go on forever. It was glorious.
Jesus spoke in a deep, bass voice---the sound says Bro. Richard I have heard so often---like rushing waters, metallic (Rev. 43:2; Rev. 1:15). He did not remember what Jesus said, but that the topic was eternity and what it means to God and what God has in store for His people.
Bro. Richard writes that he had been driving down the road in his van, but all of a sudden, he was in a veil. It was like a thick cloud. There were gold, purple, and amber colors and a bright light. The cloud pulsated as sound was going through it. He was also going through the cloud. A force was drawing him through a glory cloud, and on the other side the cloud he could hear people singing. There was laughter with great joy, and he was in total peace.
For what seemed like a few minutes, he said he was moving through the cloud, and yet the cloud was moving through him. Then he turned to his right to what appeared to be a receiving area.
Family members, church members, loved ones were in a receiving line to receive their loved ones as they came through the cloud. As he understood it, no one has ever come to heaven without having other people greet him or her (except, of course, for Abel, the first person to die and enter heaven from earth).
According to Bro. Richard, he perceived you can see through the veil from heaven, but you can’t see through it from earth. In heaven, you know when someone is coming through. People in heaven knew they should be at the receiving area when someone was coming. Later he learned there were announcement centers in heaven, and people are notified that their loved ones are about to arrive there.
The veil extended as far to the left and right as I could see. I had the impression that it was hundreds of miles long in each direction. Every few feet there was a path leading into heaven. Everyone who came through the veil had a path unique for him or her. I had a path---the path was for me.
Then from behind me, I heard a voice saying, “You have an appointment with God,” and I felt a familiar touch.
Although I could not see who was behind me, I believe it was the Lord Jesus. I recognized His voice.
Psalm 23:3: He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Richard thought, “I must be in a place called heaven! What a wonderful, wonderful place.”
He describes standing on a golden pathway.
“You must walk on this path.” The voice, gentle yet firm, made it clear that I needed to be on this path. I wasn’t about to argue with the voice, which again, seemed to me to be the voice of Jesus.
On the pathway, I was always accompanied by at least two angels; one on the right and one the left. My impression was that the angel on the right was there mostly to explain things. The one on the left didn’t say much except for reminding me frequently that I had an appointment with God. I believe that he was my guardian angel. We all have guardian angels who are assigned to us at birth. These two angels had separate jobs, but they worked in perfect harmony.
The golden pathway was like a guided tour. It led me in a particular direction in which I had to go. It would take me to things that I was supposed to see before my appointment with God.
In this short message, I won’t be able to cover his full description of Heaven, but there are some points I would like to highlight.
Last Sunday morning I preached on the peace of God that passes all understanding, (Phil. 4:7) from my own experience; through a heavenly visitation; as well as the Word of God in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4. To my great joy, Brother Richard describes this realm of the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Throughout this wonderful experience in heaven, I felt a peace and tranquility such as no human on earth has ever known. Ever.”
“Several times, I glimpsed in the distance what I would call a mountain-sized fountain. There are no adequate words to describe it, but I will try. The fountain was very high; it appeared to about ten miles in circumference at the base. At the top was another living statue of Jesus. He had an altar cup in His hands and was lifting it up before the Throne of God, which was in the distance. His hands were extended toward the Throne of God. The vessel He held up was overflowing with what appeared to be the living blood of our Savior, which was shed on Calvary’s hill. He was standing above the fountain, suspended in midair.
A duplicate of the cross of Calvary was there, too. Jesus was not on it; He was the Master of it. Below Him and the cross of Calvary were seven layers of scenes carved into the stone, which were pure white, almost transparent, and alive.
The scenes were about the price paid at Calvary and the redemption of the lost souls. In the lower layers were scenes that told the redemptive story of mankind. Again, the carved scenes were alive and were playing over and over the complete life of Christ on earth. I can’t explain it any better than this.
The blood pouring out of the altar cup became a torrent of pure crystal clear water that seemed to be alive. It sparkled like jewels in the sun. There was a glory cloud of---I was told---the peace of God. It was the peace of His presence which surpassed all understanding (Phil 4:7). It was the third most beautiful and glorious place in heaven. The first most glorious place I saw was God’s Throne, with God sitting upon it. The second, and equal to it, was the Lord Jesus. The third was fountain of all peace.
There were what seemed like millions of people simply shining in its glory. The glory of it reached to all of heaven, and to all existence. In times of trouble, I think about the fountain of God’s peace, and I am totally at peace once again.
I was told that I was expected at the meeting place. The angels seemed anxious for me to get there. There was an excitement that was vibrating all over my body. I noticed that the people around me were as excited about it as I was, way down deep inside.
Then Jesus was there again, and he said to the angels, “Take him by the way of the living ark.” And as fast as the blink of an eye, we were there.
I found myself standing in front of a raised platform, with an exact duplicate of the original Ark of the Covenant. Another living statue of Christ was suspended above the ark, with His precious blood dripping down on the area around the ark. Nothing else needed to be said. I was weeping with gratitude, and thousands of others were doing the same. It is a living memorial to the love of God.”
Psa. 132:8: Arise, O LORD, into thy rest, you and the ark of your strength.
Rev. 11:19: The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament; and there were lightning, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Just as all of the Old Testament was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the New Covenant sealed by His Blood is the presence of the Ark of his Testament in Heaven.
Jer. 3:16: It shall come to pass, when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, the ark of the covenant of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall the be done anymore.
Brother Richard confirmed this in His visit to Heaven. Jesus Christ, His Blood and His Word, are the New Testament and the fulfillment of the Covenant of the Old Testament.
HEAVENLY REWARD DEPARTMENT:
The angel who accompanied Richard on his right told him about a rewards department in heaven. It is a huge records building. This is where records are kept of the rewards that we do not receive on earth for some reason or other. An example would be the reward for giving to others or almsgiving to the LORD. Because f the love and compassion we have in our hearts, we give to the greater need. What we give here, we will receive back in heaven.
He was taken to a large building---large even by heaven’s standards. There were many rooms inside, and the rooms were beautifully decorated. The furniture was extraordinary---beyond description. People in the room were planning heavenly events in store for people who have been a blessing to others on earth. God had made it known and had it written in a book.
The good things we make happen to others on earth will happen to you in heaven. The building reflected the fact that God desires to bless us even more than we desire to receive from Him.
I was told that those who don’t seek rewards on earth receive the biggest rewards in heaven. The people in the room were planning others’ rewards from books that were spoken, written and recorded by the LORD.
I will only take time today for one more story about Heaven because we are going to read Luke, Chapter 2, the Nativity scene of the birth of Christ Jesus. May our reading of the Word come into union with the nativity being replayed continually in Heaven.
CHILDREN AND BABIES IN HEAVEN:
Matthew 19:14: Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
Bro. Richard wrote: “No child who dies is ever lost. Every one of them is with Jesus and enjoys His presence. In heaven the children have special abilities.” One of the children he described was an eight year old girl who has the most beautiful, powerful soprano voice you could imagine. Heaven’s ambassador was singing and the choirs of heaven joined in. “This was the most beautiful song I had ever heard.”
He wrote of a young boy sitting before a piano that seemed to extend a hundred feet in very direction. He played the most beautiful music. It was a little like Bach, a little like Brahms, and little like Beethoven. There were words to that song. People joined in. While this child was playing the piano, the angels were standing at attention. The notes of the song that this little boy was playing were reverberating throughout heaven. Choirs were joining in. It was unbelievable. It was glorious. This little child was leading all of it.
Isa. 11:6: And a little child shall lead them.
Of the many children he saw in heaven, some were newborns---as if they had died during childbirth or shortly afterward. These babies had the power of speech and were completely responsive.
The babies were carried by angels or by other people. There was a nursery in heaven where he saw thousands, maybe millions, of children of that age. Remarkably, they grew up at a tremendous rate---they were not babies for very long.
In heaven, since everything is perfect, children experience perfect childhoods. They are welcome everywhere and around everyone---everyone loves the children, and the children love everybody.
The children were 100 percent healthy, with rosy little cheeks---cherub-like---and they could run and play.
As the children grew older, they began to attend school, just as they do on earth. The schools were amazing. A child in heaven is far above the highest level of intelligence here. Children would learn things that geniuses on earth could not possibly know or understand.
The children were called by their first names and were called by their first names. They also called the angels by name.
One of the most beautiful features of heaven is the children.
The intent of this message is not to establish doctrine; but to share in part the beautiful experience of Richard Sigmund in heaven and to encourage you to press into the realm Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of Richard Sigmund (1941-2010) My Time In Heaven, Whitaker House, 1030 Hunt Valley Circle, New Kensington, Pa. 15068.