Do You Hope To Go To Heaven?
Of course you do. Who would want to go to Hell? None (in their right mind) would want their soul to be delivered to a place of eternal torment. After all, isn’t there enough pain and suffering in this life? In fact, life itself is a time in which our physical bodies endure illnesses, shed tears, and suffer loss. We cannot expect to live our lives without a certain amount of these. Eccl. 3:1-8 shows there is a “time” for all events that constitute life. Then, as our life on earth comes to a close, where does our soul go? This question is something that will be answered for all souls at the end of time.
However, many are uninformed, misinformed, or uncaring about where their soul will go after life on earth has ceased. Sadly, many have adopted the idea that regardless of how they live, God’s infinite mercy will provide them a home in heaven when they die. This misconception is the basis of much erroneous teaching. This type of teaching (& preaching) gives folks a false sense of security and false hope for their soul’s eternal destiny.
Everyone should examine this and seek Bible answers to know what God has stated on Heaven and Hell, and who (whose soul ) will abide in each place when time is no more. One erroneous idea is that when a person dies, they (their soul ) goes directly to one place or the other. The Bible does not teach this. A better understanding of these things will hopefully cause one to want to know what God has provided and declared so man can be ushered into heaven to be with God whenever all life on earth has ended.
First, know that God wants all to be saved. In 2Pet. 3:9, we learn that God’s longsuffering exists because He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God wants you and I to be saved, but He has left the choice of how one lives up to the individual. Each much choose whom or what they will serve according to Josh. 24:15 in the O.T. and Rom. 6:16 in the N.T. There are other passages that teach this as well, but these will suffice. So, choose wisely.
God tells us in Ezek. 18:4 & 20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”. It becomes obvious in Ezek. 18:21 that God is not speaking of the death of the physical body as we know all die. He said: But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Therein is the choice man must make. As God’s plan for Salvation was in its final stage of preparation, Jesus, in John 10:10b, said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”. Notice the Words “might have life” in the statement of Christ. Our choice(s) in this life relative to God’s Word will determine if we will have abundant eternal life, or everlasting torment.
When Christ died on Calvary’s cross and arose to die no more, He didn’t save a single soul. Therefore, just because Christ died, was buried and was raised from the dead to die no more does not guarantee you a place in heaven. But, He provided the means whereby one “might be saved”. In John 14:6, Jesus in answer to Thomas’ inquiry said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” So, if one hopes to go to heaven they can only do so through Christ. Jesus came, died and was resurrected to die no more, so man could have the hope of Heaven.
Sadly, many refuse to acknowledge that Hell is real. If Hell is not real, why did Jesus teach about Hell? One part of the hadean realm is reserved for the evil, wicked, and those disobedient to God’s Word. In Luke 16:23, the rich man was described as “being in torments”. Could this disobedient ‘child of God’ (a Jew under the Law of Moses), be in a place that doesn’t exist? If he had been faithful under the O.T. Law to the Jews, he could have been in Paradise, a place of peace and rest, awaiting heaven, just as Lazarus was. Unfortunately, this “rich man’s” hope of heaven was gone, because he refused to obey God while he was on earth. This should be a lesson to all.
In 2Thess. 1:8-9 we see that when the trumpet sounds and time is over, Jesus will take vengeance “in flaming fire” on all that “know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:” Notice from verse 9 that all these “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ”. Where will they be? Where will they spend eternity? Certainly not Heaven. According to 2Pet. 2:9b, God has reserved the “unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” Since heaven is a place of eternal rest, they won’t be there. The only other place they could be punished for eternity is Hell.
Let me remind all again, that hope for heaven exists only in this life. In Rom. 8:24, we are told “hope that is seen is not hope”. If we make it to heaven, we will no longer hope to go to heaven because we will be there. This is why verse 25 shows that faithful Christians “with patience wait for it ”. The faithful Christian serves God as they wait for it because we have Salvation in promise (1John 2:25). 1Pet. 1:4 tells us it is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you ”.
One can only have that hope in this life. Why not obey the gospel today as instructed from God’s Word. Then, as Col. 1:23 directs, “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel ”. Then, and only then can one be secure in their hope to go to heaven.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
