Visions of Heaven considered hallucinations in a world which has no belief in what lies beyond the grave

2 Corinthians 12:1-13

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• We talk about Jesus Christ because boasting about ourselves is not profitable.
• Paul focuses his vision of Heaven on Christ, not himself.
• Heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace.
• Humility exalts Christ and keeps us from boasting to be above others.
• Our thorn in the flesh humbles us as we continue to exalt Christ.
• The strength of God is made perfect in our weakness.
• Our Christianity is proven by the life we live in the Spirit of Christ.

We talk about Jesus Christ because boasting about ourselves is not profitable. “ It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast.” 2 Corinthians 12:1a. In the previous verses (2 Corinthians 11:16-33), Paul was boasting about how much he had suffered for the sake of sharing the testimony of Christ. It was necessary to demonstrate that his devotion to Christ was sincere and not just words. At the same time, he said it was foolishness to boast in that way because it’s more important to talk about what Jesus Christ has suffered for us. It’s not profitable to the ministry of Christ to talk about ourselves. From here, Paul returns to talking about the ministry of Christ, ‘”I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord:” 2 Corinthians 12:1b.

Paul focuses his vision of Heaven on Christ, not himself. “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.” 2 Corinthians 12:2 I think of the third heaven in this way, there is the blue sky we see from earth, the first heaven. There is the blackness of space beyond the blue sky, the second heaven. And there is the third heaven, beyond the blackness, which is Heaven itself, the Paradise of God.

Paul is talking about himself as the one who was brought to the third heaven, but he doesn’t want to boast anymore about himself. He wants to put the focus squarely on the ministry of Jesus Christ. Paul had this experience 14 years before, which was several years after his conversion. Whatever we are given through God, it is not so that we can boast about ourselves but so that we can boast about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace. “And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” 2 Corinthians 12:3-4

There were many things about having an experience in Heaven that was against the Jewish law. They decided to sentence Jesus to death after He said this, “Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.” Matthew 14:62-64

We know Heaven is a wonderful place, but even today, like in the day of Paul, there are hostilities to believing and talking about Heaven in the life beyond the grave. Paul heard inexpressible words in Heaven, and to say what he saw would probably bring verbal and physical hostility towards him.

To speak of visions of Heaven nowadays puts a person on the grounds of having hallucinations and being detached from reality. I’m sure there are some major psychological diagnoses for someone who claims to have seen visions of Heaven. Today, society has no belief in anything beyond the grave and discards anything beyond human rationale. In other words, someone who has visions of Heaven is not grounded in reality.

We live in a society which embraces humanism rooted in the thing which forms what a person thinks, speaks, feels, and does. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people and what they say and do is hostile towards belief in Heaven. By what they say and do they are groomed to the mark of the beast. They deny God, reject Jesus Christ, and blaspheme the holy Spirit.

Christianity is being persecuted and the churches have tossed out the Gospel of Christ to form a partnership with the “democratic” society.

Humility exalts Christ and keeps us from boasting to be above others. “Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.” 2 Corinthians 12:5 We should never boast about our Christianity in a way which exalts us over other Christians. We are weak because we have been born into sin, but Jesus Christ is strong because of His Holiness. Only in Christ is there anything to boast about.

“For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.” 2 Corinthians 12:6 It’s a good idea to consider boasting about ourselves to be foolish, but to always speak the truth of Jesus Christ. That includes talking about Heaven, eternal life, the remission of sin, and the death and resurrection of Jesus. We never want to put our place above Christ nor for others to think we are above them in any way.

Our thorn in the flesh humbles us as we continue to exalt Christ. “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul had an abundance of revelations to share concerning the testimony of Jesus Christ, but there was a thorn in the flesh preventing him from sharing them. He calls the thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan. I think of his thorn in the flesh being his inability to connect with the people of his day, many did not trust him nor believe in his sincerity.

Paul was a Roman Citizen on his Father’s side, a Jewish Pharisee on his mother’s side, a persecutor of Christians, and eventually he gave his life to Jesus Christ. That explains why he boasted about how much he suffered for Christ at the hands of the Pharisees and Romans, even to the point of death. At the same time, he knew the only boasting that really matters is in Jesus Christ.

With so much more revelation Paul could have written as scripture, he was limited to what needed to be said to the people he was ministering to. Even then, what he did write has had more of an impact on Christianity than what Paul could ever have imagined. Whatever thorn is stifling us in sharing the Gospel, there is a very simple and humble message, Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. That simple message has more impact than all the revelations that come to us.

The strength of God is made perfect in our weakness. “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 To be able to confess that we are a sinner in need of Jesus Christ humbles us and exalts God. In the weakness of our sinful flesh, the strength of God is perfected in His grace to redeem us through Jesus. As followers of Christ, we gladly boast how weak we are in this world of sin so that God is exalted. By boasting of our sinfulness and the remission of sin, the power of Christ rests on us.

Today, self-esteem and self-confidence is relied on as the need for Jesus Christ is thrown out. The idea of sin is considered belittling, derogatory, hateful, unloving, non-supportive, bigotry, undemocratic, etc. Boasting of weaknesses so someone else can be exalted is ludicrous to them, and Christianity is a “door mat” to them. We are afflicted for living by the teachings of the Bible. We live in a world where communities embrace humanism rooted in the thing which forms what they think, feel, do, and speak.

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10 As followers of Christ, we have no problem accepting our shortcomings, nor of being a reproach to the social network, nor of being needy, nor of being persecuted, nor of suffering distresses. We are not the ones boasting, “Who is like the beast, who can make war with it?” Revelation 13:4 In contrast, in our weaknesses we are strong in the strength of God through Jesus Christ.

Our Christianity is proven by the life we live in the Spirit of Christ. “I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.” 2 Corinthians 12:11

Paul kind of had his arm twisted to boast about how much he suffered and lost in this world for the sake of Jesus Christ. The Corinthians should have accepted the Spirit of Christ flowing from him while he was sharing with them the Gospel. Not only should they have accepted him as a Christian, but they should have been among those who spoke well of him as a dedicated minister of the testimony of Jesus. Although Paul was nothing in the eyes of some of the Corinthians, he was the Apostle to the Gentiles, with the same authority as the other Apostles.

“Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” 2 Corinthians 12:12 Paul did things in the presence of the Corinthians which confirmed the power of God in his life in the name of Jesus Christ.  “For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong!” 2 Corinthians 12:13 Paul is using “tongue in cheek” speech again when asking forgiveness for not asking anything from them while he was with them. In the other churches, the Christians were contributing to Paul everything he needed to live day by day, and even gave him resources for his next visit. The Corinthians were inferior to the other churches in the sense that the self-motivated kindness, goodwill, charity, and love of Christ was not evident.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11