Lesson 6: God’s Sovereignty in His Victory Over Evil

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

The third thing God has done about evil and suffering is that He has made a way out of evil.

This is the good news of the Gospel. That is what that word means, good news. It is called good news because God sent His very own Son to not only save us from a life of evil and suffering in this world, but to save us from an eternal life of evil and suffering in a horrible place beyond our worst nightmares called HELL. Here we see the total reversal of Adam and Eve's bad decision. They said “no” to God's goodness and to the wonderful world that He originally created, and now we have a chance to say “yes” to God's goodness, the Gospel, and be a part of the perfect place called Heaven. To give us a taste of what that place is going to be like, we look at some Characteristics of Heaven.

The dwelling place of God: (Psalm 2)
The dwelling place of angels: (Matthew 18)
A heavenly country: (Hebrews11)
A holy place: (Isaiah 57)
An eternal paradise: (1 Corinthians 12)
A place with streets of gold: (Revelation 21)
A place with gates of pearls: (Revelation 21)
A place with foundations of precious gems: (Revelation 21)
A place of eternal rest: (Revelation 14)
A place of eternal joy: (Revelation 7)
A place without wickedness: (Revelation 22)
A place without darkness: (Revelation 21)
A place without sin: (Revelation 21)
A place without tears: (Revelation 21)
A place without mourning: (Revelation 21)
A place without pain: (Revelation 21)
A place without death: (Revelation 21)
A place of absolute purity: (Revelation 21)
A place Filled with the glory of God: (Revelation 21)
An everlasting place: (2 Corinthians 5)


Heaven is one place you really do not want to miss. Therefore, here is the point. Who in their right mind would reject God's loving gracious offer to go to a place like that for free, especially knowing you deserve to go to the other place and be tormented for eternity? God, however, has done something totally incredible about evil and suffering! He not only made a way out of it, but now He has gone on before us to prepare a place for us. He has been working on it for nearly 2,000 years. If it took God only six days to create this world, with the beauty and splendor we all see, and remembering this is the messed-up version, then this place is like living in a garbage can compared to what is going on up there!

* Which of the above descriptions of Heaven is most precious to you, and why?