HEAVEN
Jesus Christ said there are two roads in life--a wide one and a narrow one.
(Mat 7:13-14). The two roads are the only two choices that man has
available to him as he journeys through his time on earth. One road was
labeled as the "Broad Road" that leads to destruction (Hell), and the
other, the "Narrow Road" that leads to life (Heaven). Every person that
has lived on this earth will spend their eternity in either Hell, the place
of destruction, or Heaven, the abode of life. The subject of this file is
the eternal place of happiness--Heaven.
A. The Location.
Everything real in life has a physical location. Our homes are real places
and have definite locations that are fixed. The home is located in a
particular area or city. The city is situated in a state that is part of a
larger space called a country. The country is situated in a part of a
globe called the Earth that occupies a position in the Universe. The
Universe itself is located in a particular area of space. Is there
anyplace besides the Universe? God says there is; in fact, it was the
Apostle Paul that defined the heavens as being three distinct places. He
was, "caught up" to the "third heaven" and heard inexpressible things. (2CO
12:1-10). So great were the things that Paul experienced there that he was
given a thorn in his flesh, to keep him from becoming conceited about his
trip. Where is this "third heaven?"
To find the third heaven, one must first establish the location of the
first and second heavens. The first heaven is simply the atmosphere of our
earth where the birds and the planes fly. It has definite boundaries,
running from the surface of the earth to the place where the atmosphere
ceases to exist. The second heaven joins the first and is defined as
"outer space" where the stars and all the planets are located. In the
second heaven there are, seemingly, innumerable amounts of stars (at least
according to man); but the Bible declares that the number of stars (and
planets) are fixed, "He determines the number of the stars and calls them
each by name." (Psalm 147:4). God has the location of the universe fixed
along with it's borders. Crossing the limits of the Universe one enters
into the third heaven, which is the place God calls Heaven. The Scriptures
often referred to this place as simply heaven, which is in reality the
"third heaven."
B. The Environment
When I was in grade school, I was often told that Heaven was simply a place
that was totally spiritual and that all we did was "float around" like
birds praising God for all eternity. Surely we will continually be
praising the Precious God of the Universe, but in a place that has a
definite reality. The Bible has much to say about what Heaven is and will
be like:
1. A Place of Rewards: "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your
reward in heaven. . ." (Mat 5:12). Heaven itself would be reward
enough, because what we really deserve is eternal judgment in Hell for
our sins. Yet, God in his mercy has provided salvation for those who
would yield their lives to Him. Rewards in Heaven are real, but we do
not work for the rewards; yet we must acknowledge that they exist. In
Revelation 4:10 we see some heavenly citizens bowing before the throne
of Christ. They then remove their crowns (rewards) from their heads
and cast them at the feet of Jesus. This makes sense when we realize
that all the "good" we do as Christians is totally a result of the
power and leading of the Spirit of God. What credit could we ever
take for our service? None! Truly all rewards ultimately belong to
Christ.
2. A Place of Children: ". . .unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mat
18:3). "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not
hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Mat
19:14). Heaven belongs to the children! In other words to be a
resident of Heaven one must be "like" a little child. Little children
are very trusting, dependent, innocent, and loving. In Heaven God's
children will be trusting of His provision and care for all eternity.
They will also be totally dependent upon Him, realizing that they have
no power to provide any of their needs. In Heaven, only the redeemed
will be there; therefore, there will be no sinners, only those whose
sin has been removed to the "Cross of Christ."
3. A Place of Singles: "At the resurrection people will neither
marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in
heaven." (Mat 22:30). Marriage is the "spice of life" during this
time of man on earth. It gives order to life and prevents gross
immorality by each man having his own wife, and each woman her own
husband. (1Cor 7:2). Marriage provides an intimacy between man and
woman that is not possible in any other relationship. God calls the
union of a man and woman in marriage "one flesh." Marriage serves a
number of purposes on Earth, such as, a picture of the relationship of
Christ and the Church. Marriage also provides a means of orderly
procreation. Also the ordained union of man and woman in marriage
provides the means of physical pleasure on Earth, a true gift of the
Lord. But in Heaven, immorality will not be a problem because there
will be no evil, lusting hearts there. Procreation will not be
necessary for the human race will be fixed in number; no longer will
God need to call a remnant out of a larger number. And lastly, the
pleasures of Heaven will far exceed what we could possibly experience
on this cursed Earth, a pleasure that, "No eye has seen, no ear has
heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love
Him." (1Cor2:9).
4. A Place of Purpose: Often Heaven is presented as a place where
there is nothing to do. Granted that the Scriptures call it a place
of "rest," but do not confuse rest with boredom. In Heaven we will
rest from all the struggles and problems of this life on Earth, but
one will not vegetate. For evidence of this, one only needs to look
at the Scriptures. For example we find God "resting" after the
creation of the earth and the universe, yet we hear Jesus say, "My
Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working."
(John 5:17). The angels in Heaven all appear to have tasks to
perform, as the writer of the Book of Hebrews indicates, "Are not all
angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit
salvation?" (Heb 1:14). Finally, in the Garden of Eden, we find man,
before he became a sinner, working at a task, "The Lord God took the
man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
. .But for Adam no suitable helper was found. . .Then the lord God
made a woman. . ." (Gen 2:15,20,22). Man in the sinless state had
tasks to perform. God's other high order created beings the angels,
too, are busy. I believe that our God is able to keep all the
millions of Christians busy who will inhabit Heaven for eternity. God
is a God of purpose and His people have direction and purpose too.
C. The Eternity
Heaven is eternal. That means that there will be no end to the duration of
Heaven. One preacher explained it this way, "If you have been in Heaven
for 10,000 years, how much Heaven would you have left? The same amount you
had before the 10,000 years began!" Can you imagine an endless time of
bliss, where there are no bad days, but only joy upon joy? It is hard for
our finite minds to comprehend an endless life. Yet, in reality we are
already in eternity! There will be no end to our beings. The only
difference among the people of the Earth will be where they spend their
eternity; some will enjoy the glories of God, and others will agonized in
the fires of punishment. What a Great Savior we have to "give" to us an
undeserved gift of eternal life!
D. The Availability of Heaven.
How available is Heaven? To put it in clear terms, heaven is free but it
is not cheap. God will give us all that He has if we give him all that we
have--our lives. The greatest gift of God is His Precious Son Jesus
Christ. Heaven is good but the truly marvelous gift is Jesus. For if we
don't have Jesus, then we will not have life, for, "Whoever believes in the
Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36). We need Jesus because we are
full of sins that have not been paid for, and God offers us a choice--
either yield our lives to Jesus and let Him pay for our sins on the cross,
or go into the eternal fires to try to pay for our sins ourselves (which is
impossible because they warrant eternal judgment).
Today every person alive will end up in Heaven or Hell, the choice is
ours. Will we respond to the call of God and yield to Christ or remain
stubborn in our sins and receive the full fury of His wrath? In order to
receive the free gift of life that includes Heaven, then we must first
acknowledge our sinfulness (only sinners need a Savior). Next we must
repent of our sinful ways; that is, we must be willing to stop the known
sins that plague us. For example, if a person is caught up in a immoral
relationship, then that must stop in order to become a Christian. There
must be a positive turning from the sin in order to receive eternal life.
In the Bible there was a rich young ruler who came to Jesus to be saved.
He had a led a very good life and had no external evidence of any sin.
Jesus told him that to inherit eternal life he must sell his possessions
and give to the poor. The man couldn't do that because he valued his money
more than Heaven or obeying Christ. To become a Christian a person must be
"willing" to obey all that Jesus will ask of him through the Word of God.
Peter said we must repent and be Baptized to be saved. (Acts 2:38). The
point is that those pondering becoming a Christian must realize that Jesus
demands public Baptism of all new converts, and a failure to be willing to
be baptized is clear evidence that the heart is not ready to accept the
Lordship rule of Jesus Christ in their lives.
Heaven is available to all who will call upon the Name of the Lord, with a
heart broken and ready to obey all that Jesus will ask of us through His
Holy Word. Heaven is more than a blissful place, it is the place where we
can go and enjoy the beauty and sweetness of our sweet Jesus.
