Life can be so busy that we don’t really have time to think beyond the immediate future, but we do need to consider our mortality because it is as important as life itself. How safe do you think you are?
There is an afterlife. Some may dismiss it, but there is a heaven and a hell. We should think about these things. So who wants to go to heaven? Who wants to go to hell? We won’t be here forever, but our soul is eternal, so what will its ultimate destination be?
Heavenly hope or hell bound?
Our eternal security is only guaranteed by one thing (John 14:6). There are not multiple ways to a heavenly hope (Acts 4:12).
”That’s a bit strong, brother!” Yes, but, nevertheless it’s true. It’s part of our message to the world to warn people of their future as well as their present and past. There is only one way into the kingdom of heaven (1Tim.2:5). Our past has a bearing on it.
We can’t do much about our past. It happened. We were there when it happened. We may have been the cause of many not so good things when they happened. The past is, however, curable by what we do now (2Cor.6:2).
We can do something about it, and that is, to repent of the errors of our ways, to have a change of heart, mind and spiritual direction (Acts 17:30).
Someone might say, “How do we know that hell is a real place?” Of course, none of us has seen heaven or hell. The Old Testament and Greek philosophy calls hell or Hades, or Sheol, the underworld. There has always been a talk of a life beyond death, best heaven or hell. Most faiths discuss the possibility of hell and point towards a solution–how can we avoid it?
So producing evidence beyond God’s own message to us is not simple, we either believe it or not, but His warnings are clear, so faith in God and His Word gives us the evidence we need.
Like all things Biblical understanding the afterlife requires faith. However, Jesus spoke much about heaven and hell (Mat.10:28). He did not pull back from outlining the risk of dying in our sin. He was sent to give the means of avoiding the pitfall of hell.
Paradise or paradox?
Many faiths talk about the notion of Paradise. In the beginning it was located on earth, according to the Bible, called Eden, fashioned by God to be man’s residence. It was a place of perfection, harmony and peace. We all seek a place like this.
We are also conscious that it is almost impossible to experience such a place in the earth today. There’s nothing perfect or peaceful about life on earth for many. Sin has blighted and continues to harass any notion of peace and security in this age. Can anyone truly say they experience perfect peace on earth today? Yet we all want to experience it.
So to compensate we think beyond the present age into an eon of a perfect Paradise before us. And there is a heavily place in the Presence of God, and His Paradise is now residing there, waiting for us to occupy its wonders. But how do we get there? What road do we take? What do we have to do to enter this place?
Then there is the other dilemma of what if there is truly a place called hell? Why did Jesus warn us so vehemently of its existence? Because He wants us all to be saved from it. How do we avoid it?
OK, so I can only speak from a Biblical point of view, and, yes, there is a heaven and there is a hell and there is eternal peace for those who enter heaven and eternal misery for those who enter hell. Jesus warned us of this and we should take heed.
It is also true that we need to do something about it in the here and now. It will be too late when we leave this life to do anything about it. Our destiny is being sealed now.
Is being good good enough?
For many there is an understanding that there is more to life than our finite time on earth. The reality that God exists is not a difficult think to believe for most, although many pursue His existence in the wrong places.
There are relatively few people who actually deny completely the existence of God. What we all need to establish is that He exists and that He is willing to interact with us in a meaningful way.
Most people will point to a personal faith, albeit not very strongly defined. Around this belief will be the understanding that being good is good enough to impress God. However God is not impressed with our personal goodness. That is not the way into His good books.
Or they will acknowledge that they are not so good but more than willing to face up to the need for punishment and allow themselves to be purged physically, emotionally or psychologically in some way as a matter of penance. God is not impressed with this either.
Having a religious lifestyle is the way for some people. going to the temple or the church or the synagogue or the mosque is the way to God’s heart. Being engaged in religious ceremonies and procedures will do it, surely. That won’t cut it.
Or perhaps charity is the way into God’s favour. Doing good works as a means to impress God into opening the door into His kingdom. No, this doesn’t work either. Why not, you may ask?
These efforts, and others like them, are all self-achievements. They do not require God’s involvement. They cannot please God because we cannot enter the kingdom without His approval and this will only ever come through faith, not through works, or achievements, or awards, or by seeking to impress God through our own endeavours.
Only faith will do. But faith in what, in who?
The key to heaven is faith
Let’s not talk about the horror of hell for now. We all want to avoid it anyway, so let’s cut to the chase and discuss how we can avoid hell be having access into heaven.
We’ve looked at the Biblical understand that we cannot enter heaven by our own works alone. The key is faith, what we believe.
This is a great mystery. In our own thinking, prior to coming to God, we may have the notion that we have to work our way in some way into His favour, but this isn’t how it works. God’s way is the higher way.
He made the way for us. He sent His Son Jesus to be the means by which we can enter His kingdom, through faith in Him.
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 10:32-33
Not making the grade
All of our own righteousness, our works, our self-justification, our personal roads to penance, our charitable deeds were too self-congratulatory to make the grade. Let the Psalmist explain.
The fool has said in his heart,
Psalm 14:1-3
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.”
See, no one does good. No one’s righteousness is good enough. Everyone is in the same boat. None of us has, in ourselves, made it. We all fell short. Sin condemned us. Even what we might think of as a small little sin spoke against us in the Court of God’s Presence.
He didn’t have to condemn us. We were all condemned by our own failure to walk in God’s will and ways, whether we knew Him or not. We neither loved Him wholeheartedly, nor did we correctly love our own neighbour, the two prerequisites for avoiding sin. One sin made us guilty of them all. Paul puts it this way quoting the Psalmist.
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
Romans 3:10-12
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
So even those who strive to please God by their lifestyle, or by their deeds, or by their religion fall short. How then, can we be saved?
Faith is the key
The good news, after all this talk of heaven, hell and sin, is that God has made the way clear for us to be saved from our own lack of righteousness and from sin itself.
It is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way into the kingdom of Heaven. He was sent to pay the price of sin. He died for us so that we could live for Him.
The way to avoid hell and to enter heaven when we pass over is through faith in the finished work of the cross through faith in the Lord Jesus (Eph.2:8).
It is really that simple.
Many of us, like, perhaps you the reader, have been skeptical of this at some point in our lives, and yet we knew the depths of our rebellion against God. There was a spark that was trying to ignite our faith and a glimpse of the fact that God is real and there is a heaven and a hell awaiting us.
We knew inside, and yet, maybe, couldn’t quite put our finger on it, that God is calling us and that He wants us to make that decision for Him that can only come through hearing the good news and responding to us by faith.
Jesus was sent so that we could receive Him as Lord though believing that He paid the price of our sin and rebellion against God. That door is open to us all right now. The reward is entry into the kingdom of Heaven. We stand on the threshold and all it takes is faith in Jesus to cross the line from doubt and unbelief into faith and a whole new journey into a fulfilling life.
A life that begins with complete forgiveness, liberty and a guilt free start-up.
Heaven is here. In your midst. At your doorstep. In your outlook. The step in faith. A confession that makes Jesus your Lord. An admission that all that went before was wrong and a decision to change direction to follow God’s ways rather than our own.
What’s stopping you, apart from nothing?
