Can we know we are going to heaven?

Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven tells the story of Ruthanna Metzgar , a professional singer, and her husband who were invited to the wedding of a very wealthy man. She was the singer at the ceremony. Afterwards the couple went to one of the most prestigious venues in the area for the wedding feast. They climbed the stairs to the reception area glimpsing the most sumptuous food and wines being offered by waiters, tables laden with all manner of delicacies and decorated with ice sculptures.

At the top of the stairs a Maître d’ had a book with all the names of invited guests but when Ruthanna told him their name, he could not find it in the book. She explained that she was the singer at the wedding but the maître d’ was adamant, only those whose names were in the book would be allowed to the feast. Her name was not there.

He ordered a waiter to show the couple to the service lift where he pressed the button for the garage in the basement. In the car on the way home, her husband asked Ruthanna what had happened. Tearfully, she told him that she was too busy to reply to the wedding invitation. As she was the singer she didn’t think she needed to reply.

Heartbroken, she realised that this was a picture of how it will be for many people when Jesus comes again and they find their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They may have been too busy to reply to Jesus’ invitation or thought their activities would gain them entrance to heaven. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth.

But can we know we are going to heaven?

First of all we must realise we have nothing to offer God to get us into heaven. We are all sinners according to the Bible (Romans 3: 23) and therefore we have no automatic right to heaven.  ‘The wages of sin is death’ it says but fortunately goes on ‘but the gift of God is eternal life’ Romans 6:23.

Salvation is a gift – a free gift but it has to be asked for and accepted. This is no time for false modesty and feelings of unworthiness. No one is worthy of this gift. Realising that is a great place to start.

Being sinners our eternal destination is hell, separated from God forever (see my blog 'O hell!'). We need a Saviour, someone perfect who can save us by taking our place and dying for us. But no one is perfect, not even one. The most well known verse in the Bible says For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life John 3: 16. God sent Jesus, his son, as the Saviour of the world. 

He was perfect and a man. He lived amongst us and died the most awful, cruel, painful death on the cross even though he had done nothing wrong. Though we deserve to die for our sins, Jesus died in our place, our substitute. Our debt has been paid in full. We have not only been declared innocent of all of our sins but God has given us his righteousness as well. We are in right standing with God. Therefore we can enter heaven to spend eternity with him.

No one else could do this – only Jesus. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’ Acts 4: 12.

God freely offers us forgiveness of our sins and his righteousness but we have to avail ourselves of it. It is not automatic. If we want to be forgiven we must recognise and confess our sins. We have to stop doing things our way and start doing them God’s way. We have to invite Jesus to be Lord of our life.

Everyone is offered this free gift of forgiveness for sins, salvation and eternal life with him in heaven. Neither religious activity (Matthew 7: 21 – 23) nor assuming you are a Christian gains us entry to heaven.  There is nothing we can do, achieve or offer that will earn us a place in heaven. It is a gift of grace For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –  not by works, so that no one can boast Ephesians 2: 8 – 9. God gives it to anyone who asks. Every sin is covered. God knows it all, loves us and forgives us freely and totally - if we ask. That's grace.

Only Jesus can get us there but we have to believe, humbly ask his forgiveness and hand control of our lives to him. Then we will receive the gracious gift of eternal life. When we do that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life – no turning away from heaven.

You were made for Jesus and you were made for heaven but the two go together.  You cannot have one without the other. You have to accept this wonderful gift offered to you so one day you can experience the wonder of spending eternity with Jesus in heaven.

‘On the cross, Jesus experienced the Hell we deserve, so that for eternity we can experience the Heaven we don’t deserve.’

If you would like to become a Christian and receive this free gift and know that you are going to heaven, please pray this:

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge I am a sinner. Thank you that you love me so much that you came to earth and died on the cross for me.  I ask that you forgive me for all my sins. I am truly sorry and repent of them all. I now ask that you become Lord of my life. I hand control of my life and destiny to you. Thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen

If you have said this prayer truthfully and sincerely, it is vital you tell someone preferably another Christian what you have done.  You then need to find a church or some other believers to help you come to know Jesus better and grow in your Christian faith.

Heaven is a wonderful place

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3: 1 - 2

In the UK the main school holidays are just about to start. Many families will be eagerly anticipating their summer holiday which they may have booked months ago. I am sure many of them will have researched their destination. They will know what they are going to so they can make the most of their time away maybe with family and friends.

What is strange is that very few Christians so eagerly anticipate their final destination of heaven. If you start talking to anyone about death or heaven they think you are being morbid and want to change the subject. However heaven is the most amazing destination and should be eagerly anticipated by the Christian so much so that they desire to take as many people as possible with them.

The fear of death or at least dying grips many Christian souls – yet it shouldn’t. Paul said ‘²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.’ Philippians 1: 22 – 24. Paul was torn between being with Christ in heaven or staying to continue his labours with the Philippians. I am convinced this should also be our dilemma – to go to Christ or continue our work here.  Certainly whilst I am not looking to die in the near future neither do I fear it as I used to. I asked God to deliver me from a fear of death and dying and he has done so.

I am persuaded that heaven is a wonderful place yet so many Christians dread heaven imagining it will be one long, rather boring worship service. Or maybe we will be sitting around on clouds playing our harps. Nothing could be further from the truth and yet we do not take the time to research it and find out the truth.

One of the problems is that whilst the Bible says a lot about death, dying and heaven it is scattered throughout the Old and New Testament. There is not a chapter on heaven which we can read. As well there is a lot of apocalyptic teaching about heaven and allegorical writing and it is difficult to know what is hard fact and what is symbolic. Sometimes there are so many opinions especially about the book of Revelation that we just give up.

However there are good books on heaven and there is the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth. Let him guide your reading on death and heaven both in the Bible and other books and let him take away any fear you may have. We are going to spend eternity in heaven and it is very important that we prepare well for it. Hiding our heads in the sand is not the answer.

My desire is that we are excited about heaven and want to tell others how to get there. People need to know that they are not going to get there by their own good works which is what most people believe.  They need to know that God loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross to take away our sins so that we can spend eternity with him. This is the greatest free gift available to anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Saved by grace

This is a wonderful truth with which we are so familiar. No doubt we can quote Ephesians 2: 8 - 9, 'for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast.' We rejoice in the wonderful free gift of salvation and eternal life that God gave us through Jesus' death and resurrection.  We know we can do nothing to earn it - it comes to us by grace. It just has to be received by faith. All of our sins, guilt and shame was taken away at the cross. Hallelujah!

Yet for many of us, though we agree with all I have written, there is a thread running through our lives of trying to add to our salvation through good works.  There seems to be this underlying thread that secretly believes that if we have done something 'good' God will be extra pleased with us and that if we have done something bad God will temporarily withdraw his divine favour from our lives. Worse still we make one another feel bad when they make mistakes. 

The truth is that God's love and favour towards us never changes - and that is a truth that is very hard to grasp.  Because we withdraw our love and approval even temporarily when others upset us or hurt us, we  have taken on board the lie that God does the same.  It is a wonderful truth that God is never disappointed by us.  He is never looking at us with a pained expression wishing we had done better. 

God is constantly working with us to draw us into being more like his wonderful son Jesus.  It is a life long process and he doesn't expect us to get it right first time.  He knows it will take time and every 'failure' on our part is a step nearer and a learning opportunity for us.  But God is totally committed to us on this journey and never turns his back on us till we sort our lives out. 

We know our good works can never earn salvation but nor can they impress God and make him extra pleased with us.  Let us rejoice in the truth that Jesus' work on the cross was complete and by grace - something that has cost us absolutely nothing - we have all of God's love and favour both now and for eternity.  

The Protestant work ethic is strong but its hold needs to be broken so the truth of 'saved by grace' can wrap us in the Father's arms of love and acceptance.