Ray Stone
The concept of Heaven as a reward for faithful living here on Earth is one of the strongest motivations in the Bible for being a Christian. It’s not so surprising, then, that the forces of Satan pull out all the stops—“move Heaven and Earth,” we might almost say—in their attempt to deny the existence of such a place.
And so, it is said, “We just create our own Heaven or Hell in this life,” or “This life is all there is, so you may as well enjoy it—that’s your only reward,” etc. Even some modernistic churches deny its existence, concentrating all their efforts toward improving this Earth, trying to invent their own Heaven right here. One religious cult teaches that only 144,000 will enter Heaven itself, and that number is already filled up—everyone else will have to be content with a “reconstituted Earth.” The mockery featured in our title is just one such attempt to trivialize the whole concept by ridicule.
Is the Bible really clear on the subject? Does it truly teach the literal existence of a Heaven as an eternal home of happiness for the faithful? Let’s look into God’s word and see:
First, the existence of a reward of some kind beyond this life for God’s faithful is described in the Scriptures way too often to plausibly deny. Just one simple example: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13). Jesus explained why that’s true when He promised not long before His death on the cross, “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 14:2-3). In another place, He said, “There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the World to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:29-30, Emph. RS). He said, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). The apostle Paul affirmed his confidence in that promise when he said of his own impending death, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
But where are we to live out that reward? Well, the Bible doesn’t give a geographical location, nor could it, since Heaven is a spiritual place. But we know it’s not going to be here on Earth—”reconstituted” or otherwise—for Peter says that in that Last Day, “the Heavens (physical universe—stars, planets, constellations, etc.) shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).
If we are faithful Christians, we will be where God is after we die; for the book of Revelation, in describing that place of reward, says among other things that “we shall see God’s face” (Rev. 22:4). Read chapters 21 and 22 for a complete description of that dwelling-place of God and the dwelling place of all faithful followers after this life.
Blessed, indeed, are all those that “die in the Lord.” These promises are ours, and all the ridicule of the world, all the forces of Satan, cannot take them away from us. “Stronger is He that is in you than he that is in the World” (1 John 4:4). Let the Bible’s assurance of Heaven motivate you to live this life in harmony with the will of Christ revealed in the New Testament. Then you can, at your death, go home to be with God for an eternity of happiness. You have God’s Word on it.
