I can hardly believe it’s been over 30 years ago that I asked a man in an employment interview this question: “Would you share with us some of your goals in life?” He said, “sure, I suppose my main goal in life is to make it to heaven”. We were conducting what we called a “Structured Board Interview” where four trained interviewers from various departments in the company evaluated those applicants who had made it that far in the interview process.
All four of us were surprised to hear that answer. It made us a little uncomfortable and someone on the interview team cleared their throat and rather sarcastically asked; “do you have any other goals?” He replied, “Yes, I not only want to go to heaven, but I want to take as many people with me as I can.” I have to say, we were totally unprepared for an answer like that. Oh yeah, we weren’t interviewing for a job in ministry, we were interviewing for an entry level laborer’s job on the wood-yard at Chesapeake Corporation’s Pulp and Paper Mill, in West Point, Va.
I can’t remember that applicant’s name or whether or not we hired him, but I will never forget the honest excitement in his eyes and the humble confidence in his voice when after ignoring the sarcastic comment and subsequent snickers of the interview team, he so reverently and knowingly spoke of heaven. I was not a Christian at the time, only a church goer, but unbeknownst to him or anyone else in that room, I wanted to go to heaven too, I just didn’t know how to get there. Thanks to Jesus, all that has changed and I expect to see this man again in the very place he spoke to us about in his interview… heaven.
Because you clicked on this link regarding heaven I suppose you are interested in it too. It’s an important subject for sure and if you are like most of us, you wonder about it, and have questions like: Is it real? Will I go there one day? What do I have to do to make it to heaven? Are the Christians right? Is there more than “one way” to get to heaven? Is the Bible a trustworthy map or compass? Etc.
For every question I suppose there is a corresponding opinion, but as unflattering as it may seem, our opinions do not change anything about the reality of heaven. However, opinions do change us. What we believe about heaven and how we act on those beliefs determine not only whether we “make it or not”, but also how we live while we are waiting to go. I appreciate this little story that makes the point; One Sunday morning a Sunday school teacher asked the question, “Where is heaven?” And one happy boy replied, “It’s in our home since my daddy became a Christian.”
It’s been said, “heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people”. That sounds about right to me. Jesus said: ”Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:1-6
At Rehoboth we believe and teach that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and The Life just as the Bible says. We think of it like this; Without the Way, there is no going, without the Truth there is no knowing and without the Life there is no real spiritual living. Do you believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures? 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the way to the Heavenly Father?
This is the most important question ever, and there are temporal and eternal consequences for how we answer it. If not already, I hope you will choose to investigate the Biblical teachings regarding Jesus Christ as it relates to the subject of Heaven. We can help you do that here at Rehoboth. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39
If we want to learn about Heaven and how to get there, we must learn of Jesus Christ of whom the Bible says: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God… 1 Peter 3:18. There are many “religions” that teach otherwise, but they all have one thing in common; they tell us what we have to do in order to get to God. Christianity teaches that there is nothing we could do to get to God, so He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. In other words, when it came time to carry a heavy cross up a dirty hill and die on it for our sins, Jesus Christ went alone.
Listen, a person may go to heaven without wealth, beauty, education, culture, fame or friends… but nobody can go to heaven without Christ. Why not begin your journey to heaven today by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Why not admit to God that if you had to stand before Him tonight you would be guilty of breaking many or most of His moral laws i.e., you are like the rest of us when the Bible teaches that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”Romans 3:23.
Why not confess your sins to God, ask Him to help you turn from them and turn to Christ. He will hear and answer a prayer like that, and through the ministry of His Holy Spirit, make you a new creation in Christ. Think about it, you can be born again spiritually because Jesus paid for all our sins on the Cross. That means we will never have to pay for our sins ourselves because our account has been settled, our debt has been paid in full by Jesus. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Now, according to the Bible, …as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:12. How is it with you?Have you received the gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If so, the Bible teaches you are on the Way to heaven. Believing in Jesus won’t make you popular in this crazy world in which our lives are cast, but it will make you prepared.
Let me close with this story: Matthew Henry, known worldwide today through is Bible commentary, started his ministry as a poor and unknown young man who wished to marry a girl whose father was wealthy and who did not approve of the marriage. The father argued that, although he was a good scholar and an excellent preacher, “they did not even know where he came from.” However the daughter humbly remarked, “But father, we know where he is going, and I want to go with him.” Left speechless for a few seconds, the concerned father raised his brimming eyes to heaven and then back to his daughter and agreed to the marriage at once.
We can know where we are going too. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13
The late Dr. Harry Rimmer penned the following letter to Charles E. Fuller of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour, shortly before his death.
“Next Sunday you are to talk about heaven. I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over 50 years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price; but the Donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice.
“I am not holding it for speculation. It is not a vacant lot. For more than half a century I have been sending materials, out of which the greatest Architect of the universe has been building a home for me, which will never need remodeling or repairs because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old.
“Termites can never undermine its foundation for it rests upon the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it away. No lock or bolts will ever be placed upon the doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land, where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and almost ready for me to enter in and abide in peace eternally, without fear of being rejected.
“There is a valley of deep shadow between this place where I live, and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that city without passing through that valley. But I am not afraid because the best Friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago and drove away all its gloom. He stuck with me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted 55 years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake me or leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and I shall not lose my way because He is with me.
“I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday, but I have no assurance I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey, no return coupon and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am ready to go, and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday evening, but I will meet you there some day.”
Thank you for taking the time to read this article about heaven, and by God’s grace may we meet there one day.
God Bless You,
Pastor Steve
