Is heaven a real place? How can we really know? Is there proof?
Here is another topic about which people have serious misconceptions. It has been portrayed as a place where we all get to sit around on clouds and play our harps all day. How boring! Some say that heaven doesn’t exist. Some say only Believers get there. Some say that if you kill an infidel that you get to go there and 70 virgins are waiting for you. What do you say?
How do you know if you are good enough to get into heaven? Click Here To Read More-
Click Here Again To Close This Box
If you are Jewish and reading this then you may be saying that your sins are forgiven when you go to synagogue on Yom Kippur. Or if you are gentile then maybe it is confession that absolves your sins. But God says there is only ONE way for your sins to be forgiven and it hasn't changed since the time of our ancient ancestors even to this very day.
God’s plan is simple. God showed us at Passover that we had to take the blood of an innocent spotless lamb and apply it to our doorposts in order for the Angel of Death to pass over our firstborn. He again showed us on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that the blood of an innocent animal had to be offered up in payment for our sins. In the Torah, in Leviticus 17:11, God said to Moses,
“For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for ones life.”
But in 70 A.D. our temple and the altar were destroyed so we could no longer offer sacrifices for our sins. So since the temple was destroyed, did God just change His mind? Does He now accept charity and good deeds instead of a blood sacrifice? NO! God knew ahead of time that the temple would be destroyed, so He told us through His prophets in our Scriptures of the substitutionary system of atonement that He Himself would provide. God provided His own lamb; His own and only son Yeshua. He was perfect and spotless and without sin. Now if you are Jewish before you get all in a huff let's see what the rabbis say about this...
Our ancient rabbis wrote commentaries on the different Scriptures. These are known as the Talmud, Midrash, Targums, and Mishna. Here’s an interesting story found in the Talmud. The Talmud (Tractate Yoma 39:b) records in essence that on Yom Kippur (Day of
Atonement) it was customary to tie some red wool to the temple gate. Miraculously, after the lamb died to take away or atone for our sin, the red wool always
turned white as a sign to the people that they had been forgiven. But from 30 AD
- 70 AD, the red wool tied to the temple gate remained red. The rabbis concluded
God was saying, “I will not forgive, I will not forgive.”
Why is this relevant? The
beginning of this 40 year period coincides with God providing His own lamb (Yeshua) to make one-final atonement for all of our sins. Plain and simply... When the rabbis and the people didn’t accept God’s plan for atonement, they were not forgiven.
God foretold of this promise in our Hebrew Scriptures in Jeremiah 31:31, 32 when He
said,
“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah; it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant.”
The ancient rabbis commenting on Jeremiah 31:31, 32 known as the Midrash
Tehelim, fol.3, col.4 said, “When the time of the advent of the Messiah will be
near, then the blessed God will say to Him: “With Him I will make a new covenant and this is the time I will acknowledge Him as My Son, saying, ‘This day
have I begotten Thee.”’ So our ancient rabbis saw in this scripture that Messiah,
who would be God’s own Son, would usher in the new covenant. By the way, the
Dead Sea Scrolls speak about God’s Son in text (4Q246). It says, “Son of God He
shall be called, and they will name Him Son of the Most High…”
Don't All Good People Go to Heaven? Click Here To Read More-
Click Here Again To Close This Box
Don't All Good People Go to Heaven?
Many people do not believe in a literal
heaven so for them, the question “Who
goes there?” is moot. The late Dr. Louis
Goldberg once told of the time that he went
into the store of a Jewish proprietor:
He looked so depressed and dejected that
I asked him what was wrong. He replied,
“I have just attended the funeral of my
favorite aunt.” Softly I inquired, “And
where is she now? Will you see her
again?” “You know what we believe,” he
replied, “When a person dies, the body is
placed in the ground, and this is all there
is to it... All that remains is the
memory of the departed in the hearts of
the living.”
That man was not alone in his belief that death
was the final curtain. Yet there are noted
Jewish scholars and rabbis in all the main
branches who do not dismiss belief in an
afterlife.
The afterlife is a fundamental of Jewish
belief! The creation of man testifies to
the eternal life of the soul. Heaven is where the soul experiences the greatest
possible pleasure—the feeling of closeness to God.
Of course not all souls experience that to the same
degree. It’s like going to a symphony concert.
Some tickets are front-row center; others are back in
the bleachers.
Reform Judaism has shifted in recent years to a stronger
affirmation of an afterlife as well. The Central Conference
of American Rabbis state in their platform:
Several generations of Reform Jews took as a matter
of Reform Jewish faith the denial of any life after
death beyond the naturalist concepts of living on in
memory or in deeds. . . . The culture in which we
live no longer presumes that immortality is
unscientific, irrational or unbelievable. . . .
Regardless of what you may have heard, the promise
of eternal life of the spirit is part and parcel of
Reform Judaism.iii
Dr. Neil Gillman, a professor of philosophy at New
York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, a bastion of
Conservative Jewish thought, gave the following
perspective in an interview with BarbaraWalters:
“For the past 2,000 years, most Jews believed that at
death the body and the soul separate, the body is
interred and disintegrates in the Earth, the soul goes
off to be with God,” he tellsWalters. But that’s not
the end of the story. “At the end of days, God will
resurrect bodies, will reunite body and soul, and the
individual will come before God to account for his
or her life,” Gillman said.iv
Jewish people who believe in a resurrection of the soul
and/or the body after death, have various views on the
final destination of the individual, some of which are based
on passages from the Bible. The Hebrew Scriptures speak
of a place called “Sheol” where each person resides between death and resurrection. The righteous are on one side of
Sheol, the unrighteous on the other, with a wide,
impassable chasm between the two.
The Jewish Scriptures also speak of the Day of
Judgment. The Hebrew prophet Daniel spoke of a
judgment in the world to come: “Many of those who
sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to
everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting
contempt” (Daniel 12:2). What is the basis for that fate?
Traditional Jewish teaching specifies three classes into
which people are sorted on this day: the perfectly
righteous, the completely wicked, and the average
people. The righteous are sealed for eternal life and
dwell forever in a place of extreme beauty called Gan
Eden, the Garden of Eden, distinct from the place where
Adam and Eve were formed. The wicked are destined
for Gehinnom, a place of punishment said to be located
beneath the earth. Those sent there are tormented by a
fire of intense heat, which, according to some, never
ceases. For the third class, the average people, many
scholars teach that there is some type of purgatory
experience, where the person cries out in repentance and
is then released to the Garden of Eden.v
The variety of opinions and the volume of literature
concerning the afterlife attest to one thing: the Hebrew
Scriptures are as true today as when they first declared that
God has “set eternity in their heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Whether or not we admit it, we all long for something
beyond this life, and we sense that God (even if we question his existence) has made us with the possibility of
living with him forever.
But if heaven does exist, how do we obtain it? Who
makes it to heaven? And who does not? How can we be
sure we will go there? Most of us would probably
consider ourselves to be in that average class of people,
not extremely righteous and not terribly wicked. We
probably regard ourselves as basically good. And if
there is a heaven, won’t all good people go there?
The Barna Research Group found that 54% of
Americans believe that if a person is generally good, or
does enough good things for others during her life, she will
earn a place in heaven. This however begs the question of
what is good? Most of us would list things like being kind
to others, giving to charity, and earning an honest living.
We all fall short sometimes, but surely, we reason, God will
overlook those things, won’t he?
To answer this question, it helps to examine God’s character, his nature. The prophet Isaiah said, “For thus
says the high and exalted OneWho lives forever, whose
name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15). The Hebrew word
translated as Holy is kadosh, which means “set apart” or
“distinct.” That which is kadosh is differentiated from that
which is common; the Creator is distinct from the
creation.
According to Jewish thought, heaven is where people
dwell in God’s presence. If this is the case, then we can
only approach this set apart God on his terms. In so doing, we begin to sense that God’s definition of “good”
may be a bit different than ours.
When Isaiah had his vision of God on his throne in the
Temple, his response was “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I
am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of
unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord
Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Throughout the Hebrew
Scriptures, whenever God revealed himself to an
individual, that person was overwhelmed with the
awesomeness of God’s presence, and usually expected to
die from the encounter. It is almost as if God has a
problem. He wants to have a relationship with his
creation, but if we attempt to draw too near to him, we
will be destroyed!
The Scriptures teach that man and woman, made in
the image of God, were tarnished by the fall in the
Garden of Eden. Before they listened to the serpent,
Adam and Eve had free and open communication with
God. After giving into temptation, they hid from God
due to their shame and the sense that they deserved his
punishment. Could it possibly be this same sense of guilt
that makes us afraid of death, since we sense that
judgment awaits us as well?
The perfectly righteous God has to judge
unrighteousness. Bible scholar, J. I. Packer explains:
. . . part of God’s moral perfection is his perfection
in judgment. Would a God who did not care
about the difference between right and wrong be a
good and admirable Being? Moral indifference
would be an imperfection in God, not a
perfection. . . . The final proof that God is a
perfect moral Being, not indifferent to questions
of right and wrong, is the fact that he has
committed himself to judge the world.vii
What is the proper judgment for each of us whose very
nature, according to the Scriptures, falls cataclysmically short
of the perfect holiness of God? The prophet Ezekiel states in
the Scriptures, “The person who sins will die.”viii Ezekiel is speaking of spiritual death, eternal
separation from God. But don’t all of us sin, don’t all of us
do wrong? If so, none of us, the Scriptures seem to indicate,
will go to heaven.
Are we really that bad? Certainly not in our own
eyes. But we need to remember that we see ourselves
through a distorted lens. Only God sees us for what we
really are, compared to himself, the true standard of
goodness. If heaven were a gathering place for people,
we might safely compare ourselves to our neighbors and
conclude we are good enough for them. But if heaven
is the presence of our absolutely holy God, none of us is
good enough.
But although the Bible observes that God would be
justified in rejecting us forever, it also reveals that he has
made a way for us to be with him now and throughout
eternity. God is holy and just, but he is equally merciful:
“The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives
iniquity, transgression and sin.”ix
The key to a right relationship with God is forgiveness
of our sins. If our sins are forgiven, God can see us as just
and connect with us again. However, God cannot merely
overlook sin. The sin must be acknowledged and the
penalty must be paid. The sacrificial system was instituted
with just that purpose.
On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high
priest took the blood of the animals killed on the altar
and sprinkled it in the Holy Place: “He shall make
atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities
of the sons of Israel, and because of their
transgressions, in regard to all their sins.” x God had
already told the Israelites that blood was required for
the forgiveness of sins: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the
blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason
of the life that makes atonement.”xi
God has always made a way through sacrifice for us to
return to right standing with him both for now and in the
life hereafter. However, if God had intended the Jewish
sacrificial system to continue, he would not have allowed
the Romans in 70 A.D. to destroy the Temple, where he
had commanded his people to offer those sacrifices. Nor would he have allowed us to remain without the Temple to
this very day. God had offered a new way for all people, Jew and Gentile, to enter into the promise of redemption
and eternal life.xii
In the New Testament, we read of how God revealed
that new means of handling sin: “. . . not through the
blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he
entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption.” xiii
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Yeshua
declared, “No one comes to the Father, but through
me” (John 14:6). This is a bold claim, but it makes
sense, if Yeshua dealt with the sin that separates us from
God. There are plenty of people who resent that
claim. Plenty of relatively good people who are
insulted by the idea that without Yeshua, God will bar
them from heaven.
Consider this statement:
In the end God will judge fairly. The very nature
of God prevents him from being unfair. Genesis
18:25 asks, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth
do right?” xiv
People are not separated from God because they do not
put their trust in Yeshua. They are separated from God by
their sin. If you step off a cliff, you will fall, probably to
your death. This is the law of gravity. If you die without
the penalty paid for your sins, you will pay the penalty—
eternal separation from God, in a place the Bible calls hell.
This is as certain a law in the spiritual realm as is the law of
gravity in the physical realm.
Some might ask, “Doesn’t sincerity count for
anything?” Sincerity counts for a lot as a character trait,
but it does not solve the problem of sin. If someone is
drowning in the ocean, they can sincerely wish to be
saved, but without a rope or a lifeboat their sincerity will
die with them. Or consider this illustration provided by
Jeff Cummings:
A man is sitting in the airport. His destination is
Chicago. Because of a computer error he and
several other passengers are misinformed regarding the departure gate. He is unaware of this and
sincerely believes the plane he is about to board is
headed to Chicago. Unfortunately it is headed to
San Francisco. . . . Just because a person is sincere in their beliefs, doesn’t mean they’re going where
they think they are. We can be sincerely wrong.
Sincerity doesn’t relieve us from the consequences of
our misinformation.xv
The Hebrew word for sin means “to miss the mark.”
With God, a miss is as good as a mile, because he can have
nothing to do with sin. “But surely, for something as
important as one’s eternal destiny,” one might reason,
“there have to be alternate paths?”
John Ankerberg notes:
Did Buddha die for our sins? Did Mohammed die
for our sins? Did Lao Tze, the founder of Taoism?
Did Moses? Did Zoroaster, the founder of Parsism?
Or Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism? None of
these men ever claimed to do this. . . . Only Yeshua
solved the sin problem and conquered death, so
logically, only Yeshua is the way of salvation and the
way to God and eternal life. xvi
Aspirin may be helpful for some heart problems, but
it won’t destroy a deadly tumor. The radical problem of
sin requires a radical cure. Yeshua claimed to be that
cure. Are you willing to use the prescription with his
name on it?
If You Are Jewish and reading This... Click Here To Read More-
Click Here Again To Close This Box
If You Are Jewish and reading This...
Here is an excerpt from my book
When my youngest son was 18-years-old and read my book "I Have a Friend Who's Jewish... Do you? he was indignant! He asked if I was actually so narrow minded that I was saying people who believe in God, but not in Yeshua, would not enjoy this “peaceful” time or be welcomed
into heaven? “How about the non-Messianic Jews, the Hindus, the Buddhists?”
he asked, with a serious chip on his shoulder.
So as only a good Jew can do so eloquently, I answered his question with my
own questions. “What kind of a God would we have if He allowed us to choose
from man-made religions that all disagree with one another? How could you ever
really be sure? Does this sound like a loving God?” You’re in college. Go ask
some of your Hindu, or Muslim, or Buddhist friends this question. Ask them if
they are absolutely sure they will achieve nirvana or go to paradise when they
die. What you will find is they will all say something about their hope, and their
imperfections being a barrier. They have no assurance because their salvation
depends upon their own merit. I asked him as a Jew, was he sure he would make
it to heaven. And you know what he said to me? “All Jews go to heaven, we don’t
need a mediator. We are the chosen people!” Do you believe that too? If so, ask
yourself who’s being narrow-minded. We’ve always had a mediator such as
Moses and all the high priests. And if you don’t believe all Jews go to heaven,
then how do you know if you’re going to make it?
Before I go any further let me first share with you what Yeshua said:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and
only Son.”
Now I know this sounds like the only way is through belief in Christianity, but that is NOT what it says! OK, let’s start over. Is it OK to believe in or be a practicing atheist, Buddhist,
agnostic, or whatever religion you choose and still be considered Jewish? Yes, of
course it is and we all have family members who have been there, done that. Is it
OK to believe that all well meaning, sincere Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc.
who worship from the depths of their hearts will all get to heaven? Yes, of course
it’s OK to believe that. So what’s the problem then?
Believing something doesn’t
make it true any more than failing to believe truth makes it false. If you step out
onto an ice covered pond and the ice is too thin, no matter how much you believe,
you had better wear scuba gear. But if you step out onto very thick ice, it doesn’t
matter how little belief or faith you have, that ice will hold you. When
God told the Israelites to put the blood on the doorposts of their homes, this was
the ONLY way to save their first-born sons. Do you think they all believed it? Of
course they didn’t. You can be sure some of them thought Moses was nuts. Yet
all who did it were saved! Even the Egyptians who believed and obeyed God saw
their first-born sons live.
Truth is truth, regardless of how many people agree or disagree. After all, wouldn’t
you have to have been an idiot not to agree with everyone when they said the
sun revolves around the earth, and that the earth was flat. I mean come on, who
couldn’t see that! Yet everyone believed something that was false. Did that make
it true? No of course not.
Islam says that Yeshua did not die and come back from the dead. Christianity
says He did. One of these religions is wrong. Buddha, contrary to popular belief,
never claimed to be deity. In fact, he was agnostic about the question of whether
God even existed. Hindus believe in literally millions of gods. Jews and Believers
believe in one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So who is right?
But you say we live in a world that demands tolerance. You are right. However,
tolerance must be clearly understood. Truth, by its very nature, is quite intolerant of error. As an example, gravity is a truth whether you believe in it or not. You can
take all the opinion polls you want about gravity. In fact you could get everyone
on the planet to agree to suspend gravity for one hour, but I’ll bet you still
wouldn’t take just one step off a tall building. We all know deep inside there is
only one truth and everything else is false. Yes, we should be tolerant of other
points of view, but not to the point of being forced to agree that all points of view
are equally valid, especially those that are contradictory. That would be nonsense.
There is no issue of greater importance than where you will spend your eternity.
But you may still be asking, “How could a good God send someone to hell?” In a
sense, don’t we really send ourselves? Hasn’t God done everything necessary
for us to be forgiven, redeemed, cleansed and made fit to enter heaven? All we
need to do is accept His free gift of salvation! There is only one way and one
truth, God’s truth, as He has said so clearly.
Open your heart to truth and God Himself will tell you what is true. He has done it
through His Scriptures, He has done it through His verifiably fulfilled prophesies
about Yeshua, and He will speak into your life if you’ll just be honest and open
your heart.
Yeshua Himself said:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who
seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
By the way, my son accepted Yeshua as his Messiah 4 years later and has helped me make this website.
Hell - A Reality or a Metaphor? Click Here To Read More-
Click Here Again To Close This Box
Hell - A Reality or a Metaphor?
The word Gospel means good news, and it’s not good news to tell people that they are going to hell. However, there is a hell for those who don’t accept God’s offer of grace, and I believe it’s important for people to understand this.
I’m always emphasizing the unconditional love and grace of God. I make no apologies for that. That’s what changed my life. I’m excited about God’s love for me. But understanding the justice and wrath of God against sin makes me appreciate my salvation even more. Trivializing sin blocks us from receiving a full revelation of God’s love (Luke 7:47). So, here goes my teaching on hell.
God didn’t just look the other way or change His attitude toward sin. He paid for our sins in full through the sacrifice of His Son (2 Cor. 5:21). Anyone who rejects or ignores such a great sacrifice will spend eternity paying for that.
Sin has to be judged (Rom. 6:23), and it was judged, in the flesh of Jesus (1 Pet. 2:24). But those who don’t make Jesus their Lord will have hell to pay for the greatest sin of all—rejecting Jesus’ sacrifice (John 16:8-9).
The sacrifice that Jesus made was infinitely greater than we have ever imagined. Not only does the Bible teach that He was not recognizable as a human being (Is. 52:14) while hanging on the cross, but it also teaches that He actually became sin (2 Cor. 5:21).
Just before He died, Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). God forsook Jesus. He could not look upon the sin that Jesus had become. And if He forsook His only Son, what chance would any of us have? That is why, for those who foolishly ignore this great sacrifice, there is a real hell.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word she’owl was translated “hell” thirty-one times and “grave” thirty-one times. Nearly every time it’s translated “grave,” it’s talking about where the godly go after death, and when it’s translated “hell,” it’s talking about the destination of the ungodly.
Before Jesus’ resurrection, everyone went into the center of the earth when they died. It was separated into two compartments. One was called “Abraham’s bosom,” or “paradise,” while the other was called “hell,” a place of torment (Luke 16:23-28).
In the story about Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man spoke to Abraham from hell, the place of torment. Luke 16:22-26 says,
“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou are tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.”
There is so much that we can learn from this passage. For one, it makes it clear that in she’owl, or hell, those who were in torment could see those across the gulf. They could hear, thirst, feel pain and sorrow, and even communicate with those in paradise. But the one thing that the people in hell will never be able to do is die.
After the Resurrection, things concerning hell changed. Jesus went to hell, took the keys of hell and death (Rev. 1:18), and set the captives free—those who were in Abraham’s bosom.
Ephesians 4: 9-10 says,
“Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.”
After defeating the devil and setting the captives free, Jesus took those in Abraham’s bosom to heaven with Him, where all believers go now. But we will not live in heaven forever. We only live in heaven until the end of the age. Then God is going to make a new heaven and a new earth, and all the believers will live there with Jesus in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-4).
After that, hell will no longer be in the center of the earth, but it will be cast into a place that the Bible calls the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14), a place that was prepared for Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
In Matthew 25, we read the story of the nations coming to the Lord on His throne where He divides the sheep from the goats.
In Matthew 25:34, He said to the righteous,
“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
But to the unrighteous, He said,
“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).
Although it was never intended for man, hell is an awful place where those who reject so great a sacrifice will join the devil and his angels for eternity (Rev. 20:10).
The Scripture, in Luke, also shows that the people God honors are not necessarily the same people the world honors (Luke 16:15). This rich man had a beautiful home, fancy clothes, and the best of everything. He had it all, but he never showed the beggar any mercy. When he died, I guarantee you he had a fancy funeral. Thousands of people may have gathered, all talking about how great his accomplishments were.
Yet the Bible says only that he was buried, left to rot in the grave. On the other hand, the beggar who was most despised on earth was carried away by angels. Which of the two would you rather have been? When you see this from an eternal perspective, it makes the suffering of this earth pale in comparison to what God has prepared for us (Rom. 8:18).
We can also see from Scripture that there are no second chances. There is no purgatory, as the Catholic Church teaches. There is no ultimate reconciliation. On earth, the rich man rejected God and went directly to hell. When the rich man pleaded for mercy, Abraham could do nothing. There will be no mercy, no hope, and no goodness of any kind in hell, ever.
There isn’t a single person on this earth who deserves anything good from God. And there is absolutely nothing people can do to gain His favor. If that offends you, then you have just experienced the offense of the cross (Gal. 5:11). In comparison to God’s standards, man’s righteousness is no better than filthy rags (Is. 64:6). But God loves man so much that He sent Jesus, a Lamb without spot, to be a sacrifice for sin.
If Jesus died for past, present, and future sins—which He did—then what determines whether we spend eternity with Him or in hell? The Bible makes it clear that the Holy Spirit convicts us of one sin, and it’s the only sin that will cause people to go to hell. That is the sin of rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
“And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin [singular], and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me” (John 16:8-9, brackets mine).
To say the least, avoiding hell is big. However, what Jesus accomplished on the cross is far more than the avoidance of hell.
What Does the Bible Say Heaven is Like? Click Here To Read More-
Click Here Again To Close This Box
What Does the Bible Say Heaven is Like?
1. Heaven is the dwelling place of God (Deut. 26:15; Matt. 6:9).
2. Heaven is the dwelling place of God's angels (Luke 2:15; Matt. 28:2; Heb. 12:22).
3. Heaven is the dwelling place of God's believers from earth who have died and now live there in his presence (Rev. 4-5; Luke 16:22, 25; Heb. 12:23).
4. At death, the human spirit leaves the body (Ec. 12:2) and goes either to heaven or hell (Luke 16:22ff).
5. There is immediate conscious existence after death, both in heaven and hell (Luke 16:22ff.; Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11; Phil. 1:23). There is no "soul sleep" or period of unawareness preceding heaven. ("Fallen asleep" in 1 Thes. 4:13 is a euphemism for death, describing the spirit's departure from the body, ending our conscious existence on earth.)
6. Heaven is an actual place, to and from which Messiah (John 1:32; 6:33; Acts 1:2), angels (Matt. 28:2; Rev. 10:1) and in rare circumstances people, even prior to their deaths, have traveled (2 Kings 2:11; 2 Cor. 12:2; Rev. 11:12).
7. Heaven is consistently referred to as "up" in location (Mark 6:41; Luke 9:51). We do not know whether it is a place "in the heavens" (the universe beyond the earth) or entirely outside the space/time continuum. We do know heaven is someplace, and presently that place isn't earth.
8. Heaven is where Messiah came from (John 6:42), where he returned after his resurrection (Acts 1:11), where he now is and from which he will physically return to earth again (Acts 1:11; Rev. 19:1-16).
9. Heaven is described as a city (Heb. 11:16; 12:22; 13:14; Rev. 21:12). The normal understanding of a "city" is a place of many residences in near proximity, the inhabitants of which are subject to a common government. "City" may also connote varied and bustling activity.
10. Heaven contains for believers a permanent inheritance, an unperishing estate specifically reserved for us. (1 Pet. 1:4).
11. Heaven is the Believer's country of citizenship (Heb. 11:16; Phil. 3:20). Messiah is our King. We are his ambassadors, representing his agenda on earth (2 Cor. 5:20). While on our brief stay here, we are aliens, strangers and pilgrims (Heb. 11:3). Ambassadors, aliens and pilgrims identify themselves and plan their lives with a focus on their home country. Should they become too engrossed in the alien country where they temporarily reside, they can easily compromise their allegiances to their true King and true country.
12. God's people should long for heaven. This pleases our Lord, who has prepared a place there for us (Heb. 11:13-16; 2 Cor. 5:2). We should be ever-motivated by the anticipation of heaven (Phil. 3:14; 2 Tim. 4:8).
13. Heaven and all that it represents should be a central object of our attention in this life. Our hearts or minds are to be continuously set on these "things above" where Messiah is in heaven, not on "earthly things" (Col. 3:1-4).
Note: The popular notion of Believers being "so heavenly minded they're of no earthly good" is a myth. On the contrary, most of us are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly or earthly good. C. S. Lewis said, "It is since Believers have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one." God commands us to be heavenly minded, and doing so will give us the perspective and motivation to live on earth as he has commanded us (Heb. 11:26-27).
14. There is a sense in which believers are currently in heaven with Messiah (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:3). Our intimate link with Messiah in his redemptive work somehow makes us inseparable from him. As we walk with him and commune with him in this world, this reality makes it sometimes possible to experience a faint foretaste of heaven's delights and wonders.
15. Heaven will provide us delivery from the present conditions of material decay and corruption (Matt. 6:20).
16. Heaven will provide us delivery from the current sinful human condition (Rom. 7:24).
17. The redeemed in heaven are described as "shining" and wearing "white robes," indicating their moral purity and righteousness (Dan. 12:3; Matt. 13:43; Rev. 3:4; 6:11).
18. Heaven is a place of great joy and pleasures for the redeemed (Psalm 16:11).
19. The names of Messiah's redeemed are written in heaven (Luke 10:20; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 20:15).
20. When in his presence, Messiah will give new names to the righteous, known only between him and them (Rev. 2:17). This implies some level of privacy.
21. The wicked, those whose sins remain uncleansed by the blood of Messiah, will be excluded from heaven (Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Rev. 22:15).
22. Heaven's central draw is our anticipation of being with Messiah (Phil. 1:23).
23. Another draw of heaven is our anticipation of continued and unhindered life, and ultimate reunion with Believer loved ones who've gone before us and will come after us (1 Thes. 4:14-18).
24. Heaven has not remained the same since its creation, but has undergone several phases, and will experience future change as well. At least five distinct phases of heaven seem identifiable. There was the pre-sin heaven, before Satan fell (Is. 14:12-15), apparently taking a third of the angels with him (Rev. 12:4). There was the Old Testament heaven of Paradise or "Abraham's bosom" ( Luke 16:22), which was then one of two compartments of Hades, "the place of the dead," the other compartment being Hell. Then came the current post-resurrection-of-Messiah heaven, where Paradise seems to have been relocated from Hades, and where believers now come directly into his presence at death (Eph. 4:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:8). The millennial kingdom, where Messiah rules over the earth with his redeemed seems to be a phase of Heaven (Rev. 20:14). Then there is the Heaven still to come after the final judgment, the New Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21-22).
Similarly, what we now refer to as Hell (the only compartment of Hades left since the relocation of Paradise to Heaven) will, after the Great White Throne judgment, itself be relocated in the eternal lake of fire, the ultimate hell (Rev. 20:14-15).
Note: Heaven is not yet as it one day will be. There is still sin and suffering in the universe which will not be relieved until after the present heaven and earth pass away, and the heavenly city is established (Rev. 21:4). There are said to presently still be "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:12). This may explain the apparent incongruity of the already-fallen Satan's coming before the presence of God (Job 1:6) and the future "war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7) in which Satan is cast down in some further or final sense. He is not finally defeated until a thousand years after he is bound in the pit and then after one last rage of evil, thrown forever into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:2,7,10).
The resurrection of believers has not yet occurred, and will not until just prior to the new heavens and earth (Rev. 20:15-20). Hence, though the present heaven we enter at death is a wonderful place, it is not yet complete, not in its most glorious form.
25. Heaven contains an actual sanctuary which served as the pattern for the earthly tabernacle (Heb. 8:5; 9:11,23-24). Yeshua currently "serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the LORD, not man" (Heb. 8:2). In heaven there is a temple that contains the prototype ark of the covenant (Rev. 11:19, 15:5). (This violates the popular notion of a "spiritual" heaven with no physical form, suggesting heaven is a more tangible reality than we often imagine.)
26. Messiah promised his followers they would live with him in heaven (John 12:26; 13:36; 14:2-3).
27. Yeshua described heaven as having many rooms or dwellings, and promised that he himself would go there and prepare a place there for us (John 14:2-3).
28. When we are in heaven, it may be possible for us to welcome others into our dwelling places. After speaking of the shrewd servant's desire to use earthly resources so that "people will welcome me into their houses," Yeshua tells his followers to use "worldly wealth" (earthly resources) to "gain friends" (by making a difference in their lives on earth), "so that when it is gone [when life on earth is over] you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings" (Luke 16:9).
Note: Our "friends" in heaven appear to be to those whose lives we've touched in a significant way on earth. They will apparently have their own "eternal dwellings." This fits the Bible's portrayal of heaven as a city. In a nonparabolic context, Messiah promised to prepare for us dwelling places in heaven (John 14:2-3). Luke 16:9, then, may literally mean these eternal dwelling places of friends could be places to fellowship and/or reside in as we move about the heavenly kingdom.
29. Some believers will receive a "rich welcome" when they enter heaven (2 Peter 1:11). It seems possible, and in keeping with Luke 16:1-9, those who on earth have impacted and/or been impacted by the arriving believer (perhaps including family members), and who have gone to heaven before him, may participate in the welcoming committee at his "rich welcome" into heaven.
30. Messiah's resurrection body appears to be the prototype for our own heavenly bodies (1 Cor. 15:20, 48-49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). After his resurrection, Yeshua emphasized he was not a "ghost," a disembodied spirit, but had a physical body (Luke 24:37-39.)
31. In our resurrected state we will have real "spiritual" bodies with physical substance (1 Cor. 15:42-44). We will be capable of talking, walking, touching and being touched (Luke 24; John 20-21). Messiah's resurrection body had an ability to appear suddenly, apparently coming through a locked door to the apostles (John 20:19), and "disappearing" from the sight of the two at Emmaus (Luke 24:31). If our resurrection bodies have the same properties as his, this suggests an ability to transcend the present laws of physics and/or to move and travel in some way we are now incapable of.
32. Messiah ate food in his resurrection body, and he and we will eat and drink in heaven (Luke 14:15; 22:18). Yet there will be no hunger or thirst in heaven (Rev. 7:16). It would seem the resurrection body does not need what is now essential--food, drink, oxygen, covering, etc.--but that it is nonetheless fully capable of enjoying some or all of these things (and no doubt many more).
33. Between our entrance to heaven and our resurrection, we may have temporary pre-resurrection bodies (e.g. Luke 16:19ff.; Rev. 6:11). This fits the notion that unlike God and the angels, who are in essence spirits though capable of inhabiting bodies (John 4:24; Heb. 1:14), man is in essence both spiritual and physical (Gen. 2:7). Hence, between our earthly life and our resurrection, a temporary body would allow us to retain the qualities of full humanity.
Note: Some Believers seem strangely repulsed at the biblical teachings of the tangible nature of our heavenly bodies and the heavenly state. But this teaching should not surprise us, since humans have both a spiritual and a physical dimension. We do not become inhuman in heaven, we become everything humans are capable of being by virtue of both creation and redemption. Matthew 22:30, for instance, does not teach we will be genderless (gender is a God-created aspect of humanity) or otherwise non-human, but simply that there will be no marriage in heaven.
Much misunderstanding stems from the Greek/Platonic belief that the body is evil and the spirit's highest destiny is to be free from the body. This is in stark contrast to the biblical belief that God is the Creator of both body and spirit, both of which were marred by sin, but both of which are redeemed by Messiah. True, I need to be delivered from my earthly body, which is subject to sin and decay (Rom. 7:24). But the promise of the heavenly state is not the absence of body, but the attainment of a new and sinless body and spirit. In 1 Cor. 15, Paul regards the new body--not simply the new spirit--as essential to our redemption. If the body is not redeemed, then man is not redeemed, since man is by nature body as well as spirit. A spirit without a body, like a body without a spirit, is not the highest human destiny, but would be a state of incompleteness, an aberration from the full meaning of humanness.
34. At death the believer is ushered into heaven by angels (Luke 16:22). We may be accompanied in death's relocation by ministering angel(s) who have served us while we were on earth (Heb. 1:14). Some angels are assigned to children, and they have special continuous access to God (Matt. 18:10). This suggests that ministering or guardian angels could be assigned to people even prior to their conversion to Messiah, though this is uncertain.
Note: Angels are individual beings who have their own names, and are capable of reasoning, speech and interaction (Dan. 8:16-26; Luke 1:26-38; Dan. 10:13, 31; Rev. 12:1). Angels active on earth are normally invisible to human eyes (2 Kings 6:17). They are sent out by God in response to prayer, and wage war on behalf of God and men (Dan. 9:21, 23; 10:12-13; Rev. 12:7). Angels can take on physical form and appear as humans (Gen. 18-19). We can respond to or interact with angels, unaware of their identity (Heb. 13:2).
35. In heaven, we will worship God along with the angels and redeemed people from every race and background (Rev. 4:9-11; 5:11-13; 7:9-12).
36. In heaven, we will sing praise songs along with all the rest of God's creation (Rev. 5:13).
37. Communication, dialogue, corporate worship and other relationship-building interactions all take place heaven (Rev. 1-22). Apparently believers and angels and God will all interact together, building and deepening their relationships.
38. In heaven, we will exercise not only intellect but emotions (Rev. 6:10; 7:10). Angels too seem capable of responding with emotion (Rev. 7:11-12; Rev. 18). Heaven is described as a place where there is great rejoicing (an emotional response) over what God is accomplishing on earth (Luke 15:7,10).
Note: Some suggest there will be no emotions in heaven. But emotions are part of God-created humanity, not some sinful baggage we are to be cleansed of. We should not expect the absence of emotion there, but pure and accurately informed emotions, emotions guided by reality, not easily misled and subjective feelings. The tears that will be wiped away are the tears of suffering over sin and death (Rev. 21:4). Since we are capable of now shedding tears stemming from joy, there is no reason to believe there could be no tears of joy in heaven. (For instance, at meeting Messiah or at reunion with loved ones.)
And since the loving acts of God for his people, including his death on the cross, naturally prompt the spiritually sensitive to tears (and we will be more, not less, spiritually sensitive in heaven), it seems possible that there could be tears of sobriety and gratitude over the redemptive price Yeshua paid for us. This could be true throughout eternity, but certainly could apply prior to the New Heaven and New Earth where the "no more tears" promise first appears.
39. Heaven is a place from which God is said to exercise his wrath against godlessness on earth (Rom. 1:18), and even to send down his judgment of fire (Rev. 13:13; 20:9). In heaven, believers gain an increased sense of holiness and long for God's wrath and vengeance to be poured out against injustice (Rev. 6:9-11). Angels in heaven too long for God's judgment to be exercised against the ungodly (Rev. 16:4-7).
40. In heaven, we will have eternal rewards, permanent possessions and positions which vary from believer to believer (Matt. 6:19-25; 25:20-21; Luke 19:17-19; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 2 Cor. 5:9,10). Rewards will be granted in light of our faithfulness and motives (1 Cor. 4:2,5). In dispensing rewards, Messiah will not overlook the smallest act of kindness done in his name (Mark 9:41).
Note: Heavenly rewards are promised to those who endure difficult circumstances out of their trust in God (Heb. 10:34-36), and to those who persevere under persecution for their faith (Luke 6:22, 23). A life of godliness (2 Peter 3:11-14) and compassionate obedience (Matthew 25:20, 21) will be richly rewarded by our Lord. When we extend hospitality and give a meal to those too poor or incapacitated to pay us back Messiah promises us "although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous" (Luke 14:14).
Salvation and rewards are completely different. Salvation is God's work from man given as a free gift, to which man can contribute absolutely nothing (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Rewards, however, are man's work for God. Salvation is dependent on God's faithfulness and mercy, while rewards are conditional, contingent as well on man's faithfulness (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26-28; 3:21).
41. At least five different crowns are given as heavenly rewards: the crown of life (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10), the incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:24, 25), crown of rejoicing (1 Thes. 2:19; Phil. 4:1), crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:1-4), and crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
The crowns may relate to positions of ruling in heaven (Luke 19:17; Rev. 2:26-28), but in any case they are lasting reminders of our work on earth, and Messiah's faithfulness in enabling us to do that work. Ultimately these crowns put at Messiah's feet, to recognize him (Rev. 4:10). Our rewards are given not merely for our recognition, but for God's eternal glory. However, Scripture sees no contradiction whatsoever between God's eternal glory and our eternal good.
Note: While heaven will be wonderful for all its inhabitants, not every believer's position and experience in heaven will be the same. As hell has different punishments (Matt .11:20-24; Luke 20:45-47), so heaven has different rewards. Perhaps it will be a matter of differing capacity. Two jars can both be full, but the one with greater capacity contains more. Likewise, all of us will be full of joy in heaven, but some may have more joy because their capacity for joy will be larger, having been stretched through their trust in and obedience to God in this life.
42. Heaven should be looked to by the believer as the time when all righteous acts--many of which will have been disregarded and some punished on earth--will be finally rewarded. There is a "proper time" for the harvest, a time that normally follows our life on earth--"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).
The Believer's works done for God's glory will have eternal significance--of those who die in Messiah, God says "their deeds will follow them" (Rev. 14:13). Our rewards in heaven will link us eternally to our service for Messiah while on earth. There is a radical change in our location, but no essential discontinuity between our lives here and there.
Note: As Scripture gives no opportunity for the unbeliever to go back to earth and live his life again and this time to put faith in Messiah, so there is no opportunity for the believer to go back and relieve his life, this time for Messiah. There is no indication that rewards missed by virtue of lack of service on earth (1 Cor. 3: 13-15) will be later achieved in some other way. In heaven, how we have lived on earth will have eternal effects.
43. In heaven, we will serve God (Rev. 7:15). Service implies responsibilities, duties, effort, and creativity to do work well. (Work with lasting accomplishment, unhindered by decay and fatigue, and enhanced by unlimited resources.)
44. In heaven, we will be given rest from our labors on earth (Rev. 14:13). The rest granted us when by Messiah on earth (Matt. 11:28-29), paradoxically, is a rest we now must "make every effort to enter" (Heb. 4:11). Heaven's labor will be refreshing, productive and unthwarted, without futility and frustration. Perhaps it will be like the Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15), before sin brought the curse on the ground, with its thorns (Gen. 3:17-19).
45. In accord with our service for Messiah while on earth, we will reign with Him in heaven (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 3:21; 22:5). This implies specific delegated responsibilities for those under our leadership (Luke 19:17-19). We judge or rule over the world and we judge and rule over angels (1 Cor. 6:2-3).
46. At the center of the future heaven will be the city of the New Jerusalem. The exact dimensions of the heavenly city are measured by an angel and reported as a 12,000 stadia (1500 mile) cube (Rev. 22:15-17). This base of over two million square miles would stretch from the west coast to the Mississippi river, and from the borders of Canada to Mexico, covering two thirds the entire land mass of the United States. More astounding is its 1500 mile height. By present standards, that would be 780,000 stories. It is apparently within this vast city that we will have personal dwelling places, which Yeshua has prepared for us (John 14:2; Luke 16:9; Rev. 21:2).
Note: While the dimensions and proportions may have symbolic importance (e.g. the Holy of Holies, God's dwelling place, was a cube), this does not mean the dimensions are not literal. In fact, Rev. 22 goes to great lengths to express these exact dimensions and to emphasize they are in "man's measurement"--if the city really were these dimensions (and there is no reason it couldn't be), what more could we expect God to say to convince us of this?
47. Heaven's New Jerusalem is filled with magnificent beauty, including streets of gold and buildings of pearls, emeralds and precious stones (Rev. 21:19-21).
48. Heaven has light, water, trees and fruit (Rev. 22:1-2).
49. The heavenly city's gates are always open, and people will travel in and out, some bringing wonderful things into the city (Rev. 21:24-25; 22:14). Travel outside the city suggests the city is not the whole of heaven, but merely its center.
50. Heaven contains some animals (including wolves, lambs, and lions), at least in its millennial phase (Isaiah 65:25). Even before the millennium, there are horses in heaven (Rev. 6:2-8; 19:11), enough for the armies of heaven to ride (Rev. 19:11; 2 Kings 6:17).
51. In heaven, we'll eat and drink at a table with Messiah and the redeemed believers from earth, communicating and fellowshipping and rejoicing with them (Matt. 8:11; Luke 22:29, 30; Rev. 19:9).
By Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055, 503-668-5200, www.epm.org, www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com
