The Bible teaches that after
this earthly life is over there is a hereafter that consists of
Heaven for all
those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ, and hell for those who have
refused.
Many in the world think there
is nothing after death. Many others think everyone is going to Heaven because
God would never send anyone to hell. Oddly enough, many think that Heaven will
be a place of eternal harp playing and sermons; i.e. boring, boring, boring.
There are many ‘opinions’ on Heaven and hell, but there is only one correct
answer, and that answer comes from God in His Word we call our Bible. The first
paragraph above explains God’s ‘opinion.’ So what is in store in the hereafter
for all Christians?
“For I know that my Redeemer
lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth And after my skin has been
thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job
19:25-27)
I love this passage from Job.
Read it again, slowly. I’ll wait. Look at the truth in these two verses! Jesus
lives (that’s the Redeemer Job was referring to). Jesus will return and stand
upon the earth (prophecy). When we die our earthly bodies will rot away, but in
Heaven we shall see God, for ourselves, in our own Heavenly body and with our
own eyes.
“Let not your hearts be
troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many
rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will
take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
Again, we have a Rapture
passage, but we also can see that Christ takes us to be with Him when we die. When
we get to the other side, we have a home already prepared just for us by Jesus.
“Jesus said to her, “Your
brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again
in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection
and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:23-26)
Jesus says that even when we
die, we shall live, and then goes on to say that when we believe in Him we
never die. On the other side of that portal is life. There is no more death.
Death cannot enter Heaven. It is not allowed. Only life exists in Heaven, and
after we die (our earthly bodies), we really find out what living is all about.
“But we impart a secret and
hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of
the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor
ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who
love him” (1 Corinthians 2:7-9)
Paul tells us in 2
Corinthians 12:2 that he actually was permitted to visit Heaven. From that
visit he is telling us that Heaven is so beyond anything we can imagine words
cannot even begin to describe its grandeur. There is more joy awaiting the
Christian than is conceivable while here on earth.
“Yes, we are of good courage,
and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2
Corinthians 5:8)
The moment we die, we go home
to be with the Lord. There is no purgatory. We don’t float around in some
nether world. We don’t sleep until the resurrection. We are immediately taken
to Heaven upon our earthly (physical) death.
“But our citizenship is in
heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that
enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
If you are a Christian, you
are already a citizen of Heaven. There is already a place in Heaven prepared
just for you with your name on it.
When we do receive our new
Heavenly body, it will be like Jesus’ glorious body. It will be without sin. It
will be flawless. It will be designed to live in the Heavenly realm. Obviously,
these new bodies will not be hampered by locked doors, walls, space or anything
else.
“For here we have no lasting
city, but we seek the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)
A city exists in Heaven
called the New Jerusalem which during the Millennium will be brought down to
earth. Whether the New Jerusalem rests on earth or functions like a satellite
over the earth as the sun and moon do today, the Church will reside in this
city, and travel back and forth from Heaven to the New Earth.
“Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us
to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept
in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
Isn’t it great to know that
Jesus is holding for us an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and
unfading? It will never perish. It is pure and undefiled, and it will never
fade away.
In this world everything
fades away. Houses deteriorate, vehicles rust, wealth can disappear overnight,
bodies die, and everything eventually dies. But what Jesus has prepared for
each of us will never fade away.
“See what kind of love the
Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved,
we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we
know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he
is.” (1 John 3:1-2)
The most wonderful thing I
can envision is that we will actually see God. Not only that, but we will be
called, as we are now, the children of God the Father and be like Him. Moses
only saw His back, but we will see Him face to face.
If you are afraid of death,
there is no need to be afraid, if you are a Christian. When the last breath
leaves the body, the Christian is immediately with the Lord Jesus in Heaven.
“Since the children have
flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might
break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free
those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
(Hebrews 2:14-15)
Look to Jesus and never be
afraid of death again. He has broken the power of death and we, in Him, are
free from the slavery of fear in this matter.
To get a glimpse of Heaven
read Revelation 21:1-27. Due to the longevity I will not print these verses
here, but in these passages we are provided a photograph of the New Heaven and
New Earth.
Next time we will see what
the Bible says in closing.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
