Do You Really Want to Go to Heaven – Really?
What Is Awaiting the Faithful Child of God?
John 14:1-3
The singing and Scripture readings last night during the worship service made me think of the wonderful things that are waiting for the faithful child of God once this life is over. As I read John 14:1-3, I can see a loving and concerned Savior seeking to console troubled hearts by directing these hearts to simply believe in Jehovah God and believe in His Christ. The Father in heaven could not be seen but the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was standing right in front of them as He fulfilled prophecy after prophecy before them.
How many of the world’s ills could be solved today if people would only believe in the Creator and the great and gracious sacrifice He made on their behalf (John 3:16)?
But our Lord did not stop there. He also gave His hearers two other directives to cure their troubled hearts. They were instructed to believe that heaven was real and that Jesus was coming again. How many people put their trust in the here and now, the things that they can see and neglect that great reality that cannot be seen? The Hebrew writer wrote, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). The reason that many make no effort to come to God is that they do not believe in heaven, that is, they do not believe in the reward that God has for His people (2 Peter 3:1-7).
Some believe that the Father’s house referred to here is the church. However, there are several reasons why it cannot be.
1. When Jesus spoke that of John 14, the Father’s house was then in existence as Jesus spoke of it in present tense. The church had not yet been established.
2. Our Lord had to leave the earth to go to the Father’s house. One does not have to leave the earth in order to become a member of the church. (One must leave the world but that is a different matter). The church is now on the earth and available to all who obey the Gospel.
3. Our Lord went to prepare a place for the faithful when He left the earth and He left the earth to go to His Father’s house.
Therefore, the church and the Father’s house are indeed different and one does not refer to the other.
The songs we sang last night told us of the wonders and beauties of heaven. John 14:1-3 tells us that it is spacious and has many mansions and will be more than simply adequate for all who go there. The New Testament is not a book of vain and hollow hope and our Lord does not hold before us a vain and hollow hope of heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people and those people can only be prepared by obeying the Word of God.
Where is Jesus? He is in His Father’s house in heaven. But one day, one great day, He is coming back to take His faithful ones with Him so that we can be where He is in His Father’s house in heaven. Are you prepared for that day? Have you obeyed the Gospel? And if so, are you faithful to it?
Do you really want to go to heaven – really?