Tana City Church Preaching
Kim Midgley | Questions series - Are humans male and female in heaven?
It's a series asking questions, it's related to sexuality, it's nothing graphic, but philosophically or irrationally, intellectually, I want to speak at quite a serious level. I want to talk about things that have weight and substance and meaning, I don't want to trivialize something that is sacred and holy and substantial in our lives. So my question today is will we be male and female in heaven? It's a question that you never care about and you probably shouldn't care about after today. Just take it as it comes, that's what I say, heavens heaven, I don't really mind exactly how it works. It's my one pastor friend who used to always ask to the four beasts around us, try and get on with each other. There are questions that we don't really have to ask. You may think this is one of those questions, will we be male and female in heaven, but I believe it actually has some significant application to us, so stick with me. Sometimes we need to be a little mystical in thundering themes we know are too great for us to actually apprehend. We try to reach for them, but just when we think we have a grasp, we realize we can't grasp these ideas at all. But the stirrings of wonder is something inside our souls, our thoughts that tell us we will one day be hold something awesome and now we see in a glass darkly, that's how it's written in Corinthians, that our understanding is limited now. We just have a dull reflection of what's coming in eternity, but then we shall see clearly. Then we shall see God face to face. And so some of these ideas actually look forward to the great things that lie ahead, that God has already put into motion when it comes to you and me and our lives. So I'm reading from Matthew 22, Matthew 22 verse 23, verse 33, well-known passage where the Sadducees come to try and catch Jesus out. The same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection and they asked him a question saying, "Teacher Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother." Now there were seven brothers among us, the first married and died and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So to the second and third down to the seventh, it's a shocking story I think it's just hypothetical but if it happened in practice, I don't know, that poor woman, she was being traded from men to men and they were totally unreliable men because they just died. Also them all, the woman died, which I'm sure would have been a relief for her at that point. So in the resurrection therefore of the seven, whose wife will she be? That's the patriarchal egliness right there, they think their own girl is property. So they're like, "Who does she, is she actually married too? She married seven guys in this world, now she's in heaven who does she belong to?" And they're really trying to catch Jesus out because they don't believe in the resurrection so they're trying to corner him by creating a problem that probably doesn't exist. So Jesus, when he answers them, they haven't even speculated an answer, just Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, you are wrong," because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. But he does elaborate a bit, he says, "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that what was said to you by God, "I'm the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." He's not God of the dead, but of the living. So Jesus is actually saying, "But by the time God made that statement, Abraham and Isaac they had died, but God said, 'I'm the God of Abraham,' so Abraham must still be alive." This is speaking of eternal life, so Abraham is still Abraham at the resurrection. He's still who he was, God is the God of these living. So when the resurrection comes, we'll be alive and we will be ourselves. I will be Kim and maybe have a new name that God gives me. I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, he's not God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching, because he outmaneuvered these Sadducees. So the question there, there's some light shit on this question. In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Does this mean we are genderless in heaven? Well, we should ask are angels genderless, that means without male or female, using the word gender, but it's actually also speaking about sex, except angels are not biological again, they're spiritual. Well, scripture shows us that angels are not presented or explained to us as being genderless beings. Throughout scripture the angels are masculine. What Jesus means in this text is that in heaven, human beings are not married to one another. So it's not that you could say human beings become genderless in heaven, but what this text is telling us is human beings are not given in marriage, we don't marry one another, we aren't still married when we're in heaven. So what we can see is marriages or earth only. It's a picture of something greater that is still to be seen. So marriage is this idea that God's putting to us on earth, but it's actually speaking about Christ and the church, a greater reality that is yet to be seen, none of us have seen the reality of what Christ and the church will be when we are in glory. But when the greater has appeared the lesser is rendered obsolete, so marriage is only for this life. When you're married until death it's a covenant you enter into until death to us part and then it's over and one of the when parties are in heaven they no longer married. Humans will not be married and will not procreate with one another in heaven, that's also because there's eternal life so you don't have to reproduce in order to repopulate and the world that the nations are currently very worried about repopulating because they've discouraged the family for so long that it's coming full circle now and we have populations in decline and that will lead to a crisis economically and socially. So you need procreation on earth but you don't need it in heaven. But this does not mean male and female ceases to exist. The question of whether we are male and female in heaven is a question about the resurrection of the body. So let's go back to earth then for a moment. And I'll elaborate why it's a question of the body because it's really a question of what God redeems and what God values. And just as a side point for a while now let me tell you that I will use the term 6 because I refer to it as our biological male and female, but sometimes the term gender is also used in these discussions and sometimes world wants to completely separate those two ideas but that it's impossible to separate. Sex and gender are connected, our biological sex is chosen by God. It's not assigned at birth but revealed either by an ultrasound or by the birth itself. You're often guessing, you're wondering, do I want a boy, do I want a girl as a child and you know some people their cultural value systems are very distorted and they only want boys like girls and they value boys more than girls and that is terrible, it's an evil. But there's stuff biological sex and there's you tampering at an extremely microscopic level in the lab. You don't choose, you don't separate the DNA between the egg and the sperm and all is in God's hands what child is born. In the Hebrew, the view is that we are body, mind, soul and spirit when we. This is important because it's from Greek thought and Plato and the Gnostics and other wrong thinking that we tend to try to compartmentalize people into your spirit in the body and then the spirit becomes important to the Gnostics and the body doesn't matter and so what you do in the body doesn't matter so you can son grievously be totally debauched and it's okay with the spiritually enlightened people. That's where Gnosticism and Plato's thinking it leads towards destructive outcomes. The Hebrews didn't have that view, they viewed us as kind of a one being but make you and so when you're encouraged to love God with your whole heart and mind and soul and strength what that is not trying to tell you you made up of a heart and mind and soul and strength. It's not to split you up into parts, it's to say love God with the whole person, the whole of your being with all that you are and that's why when you find that crazy scripture it's never consistent sometimes with heart, spirit, body sometimes with mind, soul, strength you know it's different words because it's not a technical definition of the composition of man, it's an encouragement that you as a whole being should love God with everything that you are and so we need to understand we are one thing possibly made up of two or three parts, there's theological debate about whether we are you know body and soul or body soul and spirit but when we say body and soul in scripture that soul actually means spirit that's why it becomes a little bit confusing when you try to stay in the nature of man but most of the emphasis is upon us being one being so we are made by God male and female the Bible does not say in Genesis 1 verse 27 it does not say so God created man in his own image and the image of God he created him tall and not very hairy he created them see when we get described as our created being the thing that scripture points to is that we were made male and female that is what we are and so it's it's not that we just set a part distinctively in our design by being like homo sapiens because we are tall and walk upright not like the apes and we not as hairy as them those are not the distinctive the thing that matters is that you are made male or you are made female so sex male and female is a key marker of who we are and this is why the gender politics is such a loaded field at the moment because it speaks to a person who they feel they are so who we are our very personal being is male or female that's what the Bible teaches this means in every level we are created male or female body, mind, soul really this is about our whole being this is why this whole subject is so important it's not just as theoretical discussion the body embodies the being making seeing what is unseen this is I'm going to absent from the body present with the Lord there's a time where maybe my body will lie in the grave before the resurrection where I is my my spirit will be in the presence of God I'll be with Jesus there's not a soul skip the the the thief on the cross demonstrated that with Jesus said today he will be with me in paradise so so we don't stop existing for a period of suspended reality or deanimation until God reanimates us now we are alive now living eternal life but the point is you wouldn't even know me in this world God created the body to reveal the person if I was like if it was just looking for ghosts I see there could be one there you see it no you don't and neither do I unless it manifests in some way so why are I telling you this because God made the physical world to reveal things that are unseen that are ultimately in his nature and his being so the universe is for the display of the glory of God right down to the design of you and me we are for the display of the glory of God the body embodies the being making see what is unseen thus the female who is female is seen to be female by who female embodiment okay and some of you men can't see past the outside you shallow useless males no I'm joking I've been or not useless but the point I make is don't stop thinking at the exterior the container the body is just making something deeper visible and there's a deeper female mind psyche soul spirit that God has put into a female body it works to get it one being this is why sex isn't assignable by a human we don't decide sex we don't decide it it is right to say God made you male or female both biologically meant to be emotionally spiritually a whole person one person a male or a female there is no chance logically when a perfect God creates there is no chance of the wrong soul spirit being put in the wrong body you know mixing that accidentally like sometimes you know they accidentally put the wrong I don't know trim on a coin the production mind because they had a failure at the factory when God creates he does so perfectly and at conception we understand that God creates life so there's a biological process but there's a supernatural process just like the creation of Adam God breathed into him and he became alive so there's no chance the wrong soul was put in the wrong body there's no reincarnation God creates you at conception he would not accidentally put a female soul in a male body I say that because people have all these weird ideas these days the Bible really isn't very clear on this how exactly it works but it's not difficult to infer by God's will and according to his purpose he creates us male or female that's important to know because if I ever had a problem with being a guy that is between me and God that I should sort it out I should go to God and say why God did you make me male I have an issue with this because I seriously would rather you know maybe have been female and not had to be the provider and protector of my house office is a heavy burden I'm not saying my wife has a lesser burden it's probably a greater burden just being married to me but can you see that it's possible for a person really to feel unimpressed with what God chose you could be unimpressed if God chose to give you birth in Madagascar he has destined you to some degree destined you to poverty I'm not being too cruel or do you not ever have that thought why couldn't I have been born in Switzerland well I'm a South African and I would love to have been born in Switzerland I mean except for all the pressure I'm having to perform at such a high level I'm glad I'm not actually are you destined to be poor because you're born in Madagascar no God can bless you in any context but in general yes there are unique challenges to being born let me say it black unique persecutions you would face if you lived in America or South Africa or maybe you were born Sakalava and you living in the land of the manna and now it's high I don't know why did you give me birth here God why did you make me male these are things God chose and God creates this male female out of interest God brings justice because he says blessed are the poor in his word in other words he's got a unique plan and he says the rich in this world have already received their reward what do you who are rich scripture says so you think poverty was all God giving your reward deal but in fact being born in Madagascar could be setting you up for the biggest success in eternity because the rich have received their reward in this life in the age to come God's gonna make right just stick with God if you're not with God he's still gonna make right but it won't work out in your favor but if you hold on to God he will wherever you feel you've been robbed and there's been injustice God will actually make right and so if you think God why did you make me a woman one day you'll see that God gave you the best deal and if you think God why did you make me a man one day you'll see that God gave you the best deal he doesn't do wrong so my God's will and according to his purpose God creates this male or female however human candy confused about who he or she is there's such a thing as gender dysphoria treatment of gender dysphoria involved psychologist because a person's mind is in a state of incongruence with their body it must be a horrible position to be in it to actually not feel like you are right in yourself I think there's a there's a great deal of genuine compassion one should have for someone who is genuinely in that position it happens and in fact a lot of teenagers go through a stage where they go through angst about who they are and they they deconstructing everything about their identity and we need to love people and affirm them right through but it's not simply a matter of self identification or bowing to some social construction gender perception is a means of identification and sex as a biological means of identification are not independent of one another they are not one and the same but psychologists know they're not separate either the world's trying to make them into separate things and say you can be whatever you want in your identity and it's got nothing to do with your biology that's a lie that is not true even atheist psychologists know it's not true gender and biology are intertwined and it's not a simple thing to separate but without trying to untangle every societal position on the subject let it be clear that the bible teachers god made a human being mailed in his entirety or female in her entirety and that is done by god for the display of his glory this will not change not even in heaven you see jesus when he took on flesh he came born you know as as a human into this world and he was male he he was a boy child mary's boy child we sing in the you know christmas songs that we wish the supermarket wouldn't play bony him if you live in south africa you want to like break the speakers off the ceiling because you're so sick of hearing bony him at christmas time will eventually move past the 80s jesus was raised bodily in the same body he ate and he showed himself to thomas as himself so the point that i'm making is that god redeemed and raised the whole body it is possible that even our ethnic uniqueness is carried over at the resurrection because that too is a very strong part of who we are and we see in the pictures in revelation that gathered around the presence of god there are gods people from every nation tribe and tongue so it seems to imply that your identity is so preserved into eternity that i will recognize you and you will be you and if you were male on earth you'll be male if you were male gazee maybe you still met a gazee but i doubt you care what i mean by that is i don't think there will be patriotism dividing nations we won't be you know new zealand is saying the huck out the rat we came and i was he's saying i was he i was he already boy boy that's going to be over because it's just going to be praises to god for what he has made praises to god for everything that he has made praises to god for every nation tribe and tongue praises to god for every man and woman so the idea that being male or female continues in heaven is significant poverty does not continue in heaven sickness does not continue in heaven sorrow and suffering do not continue in heaven there is no injustice in heaven there is no unfairness or discriminatory inequality yet there we remain who god made us male and female and personal Kim and Sue but then more like brother and sister in heaven no longer husband and wife so she is now my wife and then to be my sister now there is sex but then there is no sex but there's still male and female male and female are not problems to be done away with gender differences are not problems to be fixed by mixing male and female into some kind of a suit we have if we have problems in this world it is not because men are men and women are women it is because men and women are sinners that is why we have problems so men won't become better men by becoming less masculine or more feminine women won't become better women by trying to be more like men those are not the solutions and yet the world is proposing those ideas in this generation saying let's call everything fluid and you can be what you want to be and masculine these toxic and men should become more feminine and gentle and that is not the answer and in fact god separated things on purpose because he wants to produce a unique display of his glory so quoting from someone called in all writing on an article I read on the internet in the biblical account sex differentiation is not imagined to be absent in the resurrection and indeed its absence would be unimaginable and implausible if the resurrection life is indeed bodily as it is vigorously claimed to be in all New Testament texts that explore the question to be human and bodily means to be male or female both in this age and in the age to come but we also need to note that in the age to come sex differentiation is seen in the New Testament to have lost its primary significance because of lots of interest in procreation and therefore the loss of interest in both sexual intercourse and marriage in other words those things are no longer necessary this is why all sees the spirit the holy spirit at work in the whole of the early Christian communities regardless of sex identity strikes as saying something profound Paul was not completely a proponent of marriage and he wasn't completely a proponent of singleness but he saw that god's work had nothing to do with whether you may or female that he would work in each of us as saints and every one of us and therefore this is this to me is profound because it leads you to a high view of the individual irrespective of their marital status in other words getting married does not promote you in God's order getting married simply displays some mystery about Christ and the church it is a right order to get married but a single person scripturally is not incomplete and the person goes on to write it is therefore not possible to dispense with sex difference in marriage without actually dispensing with marriage itself they are inextricably linked and then a quote from C.S. Lewis just talking about how heaven transcends earth when it comes to this idea of marriage and sex difference male and female he says I think our present outlook might be like that of a small boy who, on being told that the sexual act was the highest bodily pleasure should immediately ask whether you ate chocolate set the same time you have to ponder that a small boy who knows nothing he hears grownups talking about sex as being awesome he says but do you have chocolate then at the same time on receiving the answer no he might regard absence of chocolates as the chief characteristic of sexuality in vain would you tell him that the reason why lovers in their carnal raptures don't bother about chocolates is that they have something better to think of the boy knows chocolate he does not know the positive thing that excludes it in other words he he doesn't know what could be better than chocolate and he was a grown up a high you don't know anything because we know about sex now C.S. Lewis is implying that when you get to heaven in the same way sex is no longer relevant because you've seen the thing that is better the thing that is greater that is powerful because that takes something holy and sacred but subjugates it to God who is all glorious so this thing should not be an idol neither chocolate nor sex should be an idol both have huge temptation we're in the same position we know the sexual life we do not know except in glimpses the other thing which in heaven will leave no room for it so male and female aren't only about sex and marriage if they continue in eternity marriage ends procreation ceases but male and female continues a husband and a wife exists as a representation of Christ in the church but sex is not in the end in itself it is part of joining of male and female and the demonstration of giving and receiving and forming of intimacy and oneness as a picture of Christ and the church therefore if that all ceases in eternity but male and female you and I continue as brother and sister you aren't incomplete without a husband you aren't incomplete without a wife single man single woman but you are incomplete without Christ you see marriage only points to Christ in the church but the eternal reality is not marriage it's Christ and the church can you see that we all end up as singles we're not married to each other in eternity so I can't make an idol out of marriage marriage is something to serve God it serves a purpose of revealing something greater but also we all end up married now you're wondering how can you be both single and married now I've told you before I believe both in egalitarian and complementary independence for marriage that we are equals but we are not the same that we do have different roles that there is a complementary nature well in eternity you are both an individual and you are one with Christ you are both single in relation to one another in heaven there's Abraham there's me there's my sister Sue no longer my wife but there we are we are the bride of Christ I think it's like there's a separated world that we live in and a together world that we're going to live in and I have to use those two more casually now separated world and together world because I don't have definitions for this in creation this day and night there's the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night God separated day from night in eternity there's no more sun but God himself is eternal light in the eternal city and there is no night and we are all together in creation there is the sea and the land and there is a division and the sea is not loud past that boundary and the sea must not become the land the land does not become the sea but in eternity there's no more sea although that might be some other imagery in on earth people are scattered from the time of Babel to many cities but in eternity we're all together in the new Jerusalem so we're living in a separated world and we're coming towards the together world we start out separated and we join together in holy matrimony as a union to speak of a future togetherness and the whole universe God has made these separations but they speak of joining this is deep and profound stuff right into the Old Testament law you find weird laws about traits not being allowed to mix if you have cotton and you have something else you're not allowed to weave one fabric out of two different threads why on earth because there is a right framework in which two different things are supposed to weave together male and female weave together in marriage you don't join outside of that covenant and so the law revealed through even things like fabrics that there are unholy unions and that there are right unions there everything is sex is a quote from the book Mr. God this is Anna it's not quoted like that it was like a paragraph heading I'm going to quote from Mr. God this is Anna all the universe has got a sex like quality about it it is seminal and productive at the same time the seeds of words produce ideas the seeds of ideas produce goodness knows what in other words there's a speaking forth and it gets planted and life comes the whole blessed thing is male and female at one at the same time in fact the whole thing is pure sex and that really does become the case if you study engineering and you start seeing that there are male plagues and female plagues and this and that and everything and even we speak about mating surfaces in engineering when two surfaces come together and they use the term you offer this part to that part and the one part offers and the other part receives goodness me it is so central but we've taken one aspect of it and called it sex and made it self-conscious and given it a capital it is but that was our fault wasn't it in other words the rights are finned you wrote Mr. God this is Anna he's trying to point out that this is something of a message that God put into the whole universe and we've gone and distorted it into one little subject that we've made kind of taboo and got all weird about instead of actually stepping back and saying what is the wonder of what God is doing so everything is sex but sex isn't everything it is the driving force to pull people together but the goal is being won when Christ has lifted up we are drawn to him we become one in heaven we are one but we are still male and female but we have no need for sex on earth we are being driven apart this is what the devil wants sex consummates he celebrates the union of marriage marriage depicts a union of Christ in the church it teaches us becoming one with Christ who gives us his life and his word and we learn to receive what we truly need from him so God in his transcendence reaches us and he comes and we represent the feminine side of that encounter so now I need to continue this will be a long sermon five more minutes I want you to hear these thoughts today I can't build this platform again the three things now let me speak about ultimate fulfillment the three things we're most dressed in with on earth many sex and power they don't seem to exist in heaven we say hallelujah yes no more corruption no more greed no more perversion no more distortions they don't seem to exist in heaven think about money sex and power this is the stuff that the world is obsessing over but what they represent does exist see money is supposed to teach us value and God is of ultimate value money is nothing compared to him but he is precious and you wouldn't know precious if you didn't have something of value on earth to caretake Jesus said money is the little thing the great thing is the value of eternity the kingdom of God the treasures of heaven and God himself God is of ultimate worth Christ is our ultimate husband we find our deepest need to be chosen loved and accepted made in Christ in his freely given grace he pursued us he is the fulfillment of our deep longing to be the one loved completely loved chosen I am you and you and me one with Christ so all those longings you find between men and women or the mystery of the way of a young man with the young woman and how he pursues her is actually about Christ pursuing love for us and the destiny of us being one with him because we receive him Christ is our ultimate husband and God is our ultimate head all dominion all power and all authority is his so everything that money sex and power represent on earth are supposed to point us to the greater realities of heaven when you realize money sex and power only foreshadows of the heavenly realities they will not become idols so easily very important things to be put in the right place so that they bring glory to God so now money is used to do good to bless others to serve love leads us love leads us to use money to build others up God doesn't hoard he shares himself if God had ordered we would never have been created he created us to share in his goodness as God is monogamous and faithful we should be monogamous and faithful because we're depicting in marriage something that is fulfilled in God God rules benevolently and completely on earth now no one should lord himself over another man no one should lord it over someone in their authority because there is a greater authority beneath who all of us must bow in the end i would want for every one of us to conclude like Psalm 139 says you formed my inward parts united me together in my mother's womb i praise you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful are your works my soul knows it very well my frame was not hidden from you when i was being made in secret intricately woven in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my informed substance in your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when is yet there was none of them how precious to me are your thoughts oh god how vast is the sum of them this is not to be exclusively a man's declaration but should be the craft every one of us our lips giving praise to god for making us as he saw fit our sexuality should not be built around how you see yourself but rather woven around how you reflect the glory of god as you bear his image male or female if you're a woman you will stand forever praising god for making you a woman if you're a man you will stand forever praising god for making you a man because you are made in his image and you actually for the praise of his glory the band you can come up let's steal a few minutes from the french meeting we still have reach quoted to you so why don't you stand i'm going to pray for us Heavenly Father as we stand in your presence we are people who have been made male and female in the image of god and lord god we will forever bring you glory for revealing yourself to us and in us lord you've called us and commissioned us to reveal your life to this world your nature your goodness but you are vastly towards and long vastly too complex for us to know how to get that right but you've woven it into us by making us male and female in your image god may we praise you for we are fearfully and wonderfully made your new earth lord intimately you created us perfectly lord god for the display of your glory help us lord god to worship you and praise you for what you've done in any way