Preparation for Heaven
a sermon by the Rev. Kenneth J. Alden
1. "And Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.'" (Mark 10:39-40)
2. James and John had just approached the Lord and said, “Teacher, we want You to do whatever we ask.” (Mark 10:35)
A. They were taking steps to secure a desirable place for themselves in the Lord’s kingdom.
B. Although the other disciples were greatly displeased with James and John, we can appreciate why they may have been so bold as to ask.
1 First, they felt close to the Lord.
a. James and John were chosen, along with Peter to go up a mountain with Jesus and saw Him transfigured. (See Mark 9:2)
2 In addition, they must have heard Jesus teaching the multitudes, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find.” (See Matthew 7:7)
3 If you felt particularly close to the Lord, and knowing that He taught, “All things whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them,” (Mark 11:24), might you not feel free to ask for something that meant a lot to you–especially if it was connected to your happiness in heaven?
3. What James and John asked was for Jesus to grant them to sit on His right hand and left in His glory.
A. While Jesus never denied their request, He questioned whether they could undergo what He must undergo.
1 Remarkably, what He did deny was that it was His position to grant their request.
2 He said that what they asked was “for those for whom it is prepared.” (See Mark 10:37-40)
3 The main question we will address this morning is how heaven is prepared for us, or how we prepare for heaven.
4. Have you ever had specific hopes for heaven?
A. Perhaps you thought you would like to live in a particular part of heaven or maybe to simply get into the lowest heaven.
B. Maybe you wanted to live with a particular person or do a certain activity.
C. If you had such a goal, perhaps you have also wondered how you might realize your hopes.
D. Maybe you have wondered “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”–a question asked earlier in the 10th chapter of Mark by a man who had great possessions (Mark 10:17)
1 Or maybe you have asked, as did James and John, for the Lord to give you what you ask.
E. As with these men, the Lord does not deny us the good and heavenly things that He longs to give to us, but He does direct our minds to the preparation that is necessary for us to receive them.
5. What is the preparation that is necessary but appears to be beyond Jesus’ control?
A. Why did He say to James and John “But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared,” and adding in Matthew, “by My Father”? (Matthew 20:23)
6. We know that Jesus is God Himself, and that “the Son” and “the Father” are not names of different persons, but of different qualities of one and the same person.
A. In this incident with James and John, as recorded in Mark, the two disciples had addressed Jesus as “Teacher.”
1 This title, along with the mention of glory, or bright light, indicates the subject in the spiritual sense is truth.
2 Perhaps their affirmation that they could drink the same cup and undergo the same baptism as Jesus indicates in the spiritual sense an assumption that matters of eternal life are an intellectual exercise.
3 We, too, might think that the chief thing that we must do to be ready for heaven is to learn and accept certain teachings, or master a set of ideas.
a. Although “drinking a cup” can mean taking in truth, and “baptism” involves water which also represents truth, the Heavenly Doctrine explains that this “cup” means “temptations” and “baptism” means being regenerated by means of temptations. (See Arcana Coelestia 5120:12; Apocalypse Explained 893:5, 960:9)
B. When we look at what the Heavenly Doctrine says about the incident following the exchange between Jesus, James and John, we see further evidence that the subject, here, is truth.
1 We are told that Jesus’ calling Himself one who came to serve means His state as Divine truth in the world, for as the Divine truth He “served in the world, and serves all to eternity by teaching.” (Apocalypse Revealed 3:2; Arcana Coelestia 3441:4, 8241)
a. Still, the Lord did not remain in a state of Divine truth, alone.
b. He went on to glorify Himself, by uniting the Divine truth to the Divine good by living according to it, so that His Human became the Divine good as well.
1) To this end, the Lord underwent most grievous temptations–meant by the cup He must drink–and was glorified by means of them–meant by the baptism with which He was baptized. (See Arcana Coelestia 5120:12; Apocalypse Explained 893:5, 960:9)
c. It was in this context that Jesus was speaking when He said that James and John’s request was not His to give.
1) He was speaking of His state of Divine truth, not yet united to the Divine good and thus glorified.
2) Truth alone–even Divine truth alone–does not put us in the light of truth at the Lord’s right and left hand.
3) To be enlightened by the truth we have in our memory or in our understanding, we also need to be in the goodness of some heavenly love–love to the Lord or love toward the neighbor.
A) This goodness comes, not from knowing the Divine truth, but from receiving love from the Lord’s Divine good.
B) To receive this goodness or love, we must repent of our inclinations to love ourselves above all and the world more than heaven.
1. We do this as we undergo temptations and are regenerated by means of them.
2. A temptation is an attack on some heavenly love that we are in the process of adopting as our own.
a) We are victorious in temptation when we persist in that good love in spite of doubts and falsities that call our good purposes into question, and when we acknowledge that goodness and love–and the victory in temptation–to be from the Lord alone.
3. Although we follow the truth and cling to it in times of temptation, it is actually the Lord’s joining of goodness to that truth that brings victory in temptation and with it, regeneration.
4. So Jesus, the Teacher who came to be a Servant, said that it was not His to give their request, but it was for those who are prepared by His Father, that is, by the Divine love.
7. How does the Divine love prepare a place in heaven for us?
8. The preparation was actually the drinking of the cup and the baptism that Jesus had just spoken of.
A. In speaking of the need for preparation beyond what He as Divine truth could do in granting their request, He was emphasizing the fundamental change that must take place by means of temptations and regeneration–a change in our very loves.
B. He had emphasized that fundamental change, as well, when He spoke to the man who had great possessions.
1 In asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, the man had evidently been thinking he needed to do some great deed.
2 When he found out that what he needed was to keep the commandments, he was very pleased with himself for having kept them from his youth.
3 That was when Jesus said there was more.
a. Selling all that he had and giving to the poor meant doing good deeds, not for himself, but for others.
b. Taking up his cross and following the Lord meant undergoing temptations and doing all of this for the Lord’s sake.
4 In this man’s case, as well as in that of James and John, we see Jesus emphasizing a fundamental change from either doing good deeds or learning the truth for one’s own sake, to doing good deeds or learning the truth for others’ sakes.
9. Inheriting eternal life or being in heaven is being in the Lord’s life.
A. Sitting on His right or left hand is being close to the Lord by being in a state of life that is a likeness or image of His state of Divine life.
B. What did the Lord say about His life?
1 He said that He came not to be served, “but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
2 As this testifies to the Lord’s love for our salvation, it suggests that if we are to be like the Lord–if we are to inherit eternal life or be in the state meant by sitting on His right or left hand–we, too, need to have as our purpose to serve out of a love for other’s salvation.
10. Let us reflect for a moment, on the implications of this.
A. Instead of asking what we must do to inherit eternal life, or instead of being concerned with how we can have a place with the Lord prepared for us, our chief concern should be for how others can inherit eternal life and how we can help them have a place with the Lord.
B. This kind of love is close to the Lord’s own love.
1 To receive this love from Him is to inherit eternal life and to be with Him in our life’s very purpose.
C. Putting it another way, the angels are not concerned with getting to heaven or what place they have there, and this, not because they are already there.
1 They are not concerned with these things because they are in the Lord’s love of others.
2 Our best preparation for heaven, then, is to think and act like the angels from a love like theirs–a love which is all about serving others and bringing them the happiness of eternal life.
3 How did they come to have a selfless love like that?
a. They did it by aspiring to such love, fighting in temptations that called that purpose into question and cast doubt upon it, and turning constantly to the Lord with the hope and prayer that He would remove selfish and worldly ends from them and grant them the heavenly love they aspired for.
b. As we read in our lesson from Arcana Coelestia sitting on the Lord’s right hand means being in celestial love which is love to the Lord, and sitting on His left hand means being in spiritual love which is love toward the neighbor. (See Arcana Coelestia 9511; Apocalypse Explained 600:9)
1) These loves are prepared for us when we keep the Lord’s commandments and perform uses, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the Lord and our neighbor.
2) So the Lord said, ‘You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared....and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'" (Mark 10:39-40, 44-45)
3) Amen.
Lessons: Genesis 26:23-33; Mark 10:35-45; AC 9511, 9305
Arcana Coelestia 9511. ...[The Lord’s] 'right' means the good of celestial love, which is the good of love to the Lord, and His 'left' means the good of spiritual love, which is the good of love towards the neighbour. So it is also that everything in the right side of a person corresponds to celestial good, and everything in the left to spiritual good; for everything in the human being corresponds to heaven. People who are governed by those two kinds of good are meant by 'to sit on the Lord's right and left' in Mark,
To sit at My right and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Mark 10:40.
'Giving to those for whom it has been prepared' means granting it in mercy to those who are governed by good in life and faith, 9305, thus who are governed by celestial good and by spiritual good.
Arcana Coelestia 9305.'To bring you to the place which I have prepared' means being brought into heaven by Him according to goodness of life and of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to the place', that is, into the land of Canaan, as bringing into heaven, for 'the land of Canaan' means the Church, and also heaven,... and from the meaning of 'preparing', when it refers to heaven, meant by 'the land of Canaan', as granting it in mercy to those with whom goodness of life and of faith is present, for it is they for whom heaven is said to have been prepared, as in Matthew,
Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, take possession, as an inheritance, of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt. 25:34.
In Mark,
To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Mark 10:40.
And in John,
I go away to prepare a place for you. And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:2, 3.
'Preparing heaven' means preparing those who are to be brought into heaven; for heaven is granted according to their degree of preparation, that is, of their reception of good. Heaven exists within a person, and the place a person has in heaven is determined by the state of life and faith that is his. For people's place there corresponds to their state of life, and therefore also a place seen in the next life is in accord with a state of life, and in itself is a state....
Through The Week
Recall the Story
✦ James and John asked to sit on Jesus’ right and left hand in His glory.
✦ Jesus asked it they were able to drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism that were before Him.
✦ Jesus said they would undergo these but that sitting on His right and left were for those for whom it is prepared.
✦ Jesus said that those who wished to be great must be servants and those who desire to be first will be slave of all, as the Son of Man came to serve and give His life a redemption for many.
Reflect on the Message
✦ Preparation for heaven goes beyond what knowledge of truth can do for us.
✦ Preparation involves changing what we love above all and is accomplished by victory in temptations and regeneration.
✦ The Lord prepares for us a love for serving others so that they may have heavenly happiness.
✦ We prepare for heaven by preparing to act as angels do, from a love that images the Lord’s love.
Take Action
✦ When praying to come into heaven, pray that the love angels have from the Lord may replace your concern for self.
✦ Ask how an angel would approach a job you are doing.
✦ Shun those motives that do not image the Lord’s love of others’ salvation and eternal happiness.