Heaven

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1–3)

One of the saddest statements that has ever been made is when a person states they are unsure if they are going to heaven. God sent His Son in order that man might be redeemed, and being that He redeemed us, He promises that we can have hope in an eternal home in heaven. Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, faced persecution to the point of death on the cross, and did all this so man may have a home in heaven. When Jesus was preparing His apostles for the time that was to come when He would no longer be with them, He comforted them by telling them of the place He was preparing for the faithful. Do we have hope of heaven and are able to be confident that we will be there someday?

We can have hope in heaven. Jesus addresses His disciples after telling Peter that he would deny Him and says, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1). Jesus would continue to tell them that He must go to prepare a place in heaven for them and is telling them not to worry; “Let not your heart be troubled.” When I read these words, I cannot help but to think of all the times we may think that we cannot make it to heaven. We may think that the things we have done in our lives are so bad that there is no way they could be forgiven. We may think that God is exalted above everything and we are so lowly that there is no way that we could ever be with God in heaven. We may think that we have obeyed the Gospel and are trying to live the faithful life, but we will not be “good enough” on the Day of Judgment. Listen to the words of Christ “Let not your heart be troubled.” Stop worrying about making it to heaven. We can have hope that we are going to make it to heaven, and we can have hope that our sins will be forgiven (1 John 1:7-9). If we live a faithful Christian life, we can have hope that we can continue to be cleansed by the blood of Christ and know that God is faithful to His word and will give us a home in heaven.

We can have a reward in heaven. Not only can we have hope in going to heaven but also, we can have hope that we will have a reward in heaven. Jesus said that in His father’s house there are many mansions (14:2). Many like to focus on the different rewards that we will have in heaven. Many speak of the streets of gold or the different things that will be in heaven. We are told that we will receive a crown of life if we live a faithful life (Rev. 2:10). We can take pleasure in the fact that when we get to heaven that part of our reward will be no more pain or sadness (Rev. 21:4). We can also take comfort knowing that those that have lived the faithful life will have rest and that there will be separation from the wickedness of this world (2 Thess. 1:7-9). Regardless of what is there, we know that we can be there, and that God will be there. The best thing about heaven is that God is there, and the worst thing about hell is that God is not there. What better reward could we have in heaven than for the chance to get to spend eternity with the Father and be able to praise Him forever?

We have a way to heaven. Jesus said that He would go to prepare a place for us (14:3). The reason we can have the hope of heaven and the reason we can have the reward in heaven is because of our way to heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (14:6). The only way we can make it to heaven is through Christ. No man comes to the Father but by Jesus (14:6). How is Jesus the way? It is more than just believing in Him or accepting Him into your heart as some would say that it is. Jesus is the way when we have obeyed what He has told us to do. Jesus told Nicodemus that no man can see the kingdom of God unless He is born again and must be born of water and of the spirit (John 3:3-5). If we want to make it to heaven, we must do the same thing Nicodemus was told to do. No man will make it to heaven any other way than being added to the body of Christ (Acts 2:41-47).

Do we have hope in heaven? It is not God’s will that we should live this life and not make it to heaven to be with Him (2 Peter 3:9). God did not send Jesus to earth to die on the cross for no reason, He was sent because God wants to make a way to heaven available to us (John 3:16). We can have hope in being in heaven, and we can receive a reward in heaven because of the way provided for us to heaven.