Jesus, The Way To Heaven

Both the Bible and experience remind us that death is certain.

HEBREWS 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

The judgment will take place when Jesus returns and He has described it:

MATTHEW 25:31 ¶ "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
25:32 "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
25:33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

These two groups will go forth to vastly different destinations.

Hell

The following words describe the destiny of those on the left.

MATTHEW 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

MARK 9:47 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell,
9:48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

REVELATION 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

EPHESIANS 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

The warning of this last verse is appropriate for our times. Hell is a joke, considered no more than a mild by-word, in our generation. Even among those who claim to be Christians, there are many who insist that God is "too good" to send men to hell. To question hell, however, is to question the goodness of God, for God is also too good to lie. Jesus said:

MATTHEW 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

One who believes in Jesus must believe that this is true. The way to hell is easy and popular.

MATTHEW 7:13 ¶ "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.

One does not have to do wicked things to go to hell. He may go to hell by failing to take the way to heaven. The Bible describes the end of the world when --

2 THESSALONIANS 1:7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
1:8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1:9 And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Heaven

Man was not created to spend eternity in hell but to walk with God in paradise (Genesis 2:7-9). When man lost his home in Eden through sin, God set in motion a plan of redemption by which he may be forgiven and enjoy a home that is even better than Eden.

John the apostle was given a vision of this new paradise:

REVELATION 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,
21:4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. "

This is the paradise to which the King will summon those on His right hand, saying,

MATTHEW 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

But the sad fact is that few will enter this heavenly paradise.

MATTHEW 7:14 "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

Jesus Is The Way

Those who will enter the heavenly rest after the judgment are those who die in Jesus, for He is THE WAY.

REVELATION 14:13 ¶ And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes,"says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."

If we wish to be among those who die in the Lord, we must establish that relationship with Him while we live. This is not accomplished by merely calling Him "Lord", but by obeying God's will as revealed through Him. He has warned us:

MATTHEW 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

We have already learned that the will of the Father for those who believe in Jesus is that they should repent of their sins and be baptized into Christ.

GALATIANS 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

REVELATION 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

Having been baptized into Christ and living as He directs, we can be sure that we are in the way to heaven. If we are not in Christ, we are not in the way for, as the text of this series assures us, He is the only way.

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