Who Will Be in Heaven?
My Dear Friends,
If you are like most people there is a better than fair chance you will NOT get to heaven. Does this shock you? To see the kingdom of God you must be born again said Jesus (John 3:3-5).
For the Bible says:
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3-5).
Have you been born again? (For a deeper understanding of being born again and receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior visit our page “Trust Jesus” at the top menu of our website: ChristianRevivalMission.com).
Few will get to heaven because the gate is narrow:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
So, who will be in Heaven? The simple answer is faithful believers who overcome and persevere to the end. As the old saying goes “there are a million ways to get to hell, but only one way to get to heaven.” There is one way to heaven: “I [Jesus] am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).
The Bible tells us that heaven is for the righteous, for the holy, for perfect people. Since none of us are righteous on our own [we are all born of a sin nature], “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God” (Roman 3:23), we cannot get to heaven as “good” people. In God’s eyes we are sinners. A holy God cannot have fellowship with the unrighteous. Jesus said no one is good, no not one, only God. We have all sinned and transgressed against God’s Law. Since no one is perfect, the only way for us to get to heaven is to be forgiven. But being forgiven is not automatic. What does this mean exactly? Since the fall of man (Adam and Eve disobeying God), they were sent out of the Garden of Eden because they decided [Adam and Eve had free-will given by God] not to follow God’s rules, because they lacked faith in His word. There was now a form of separation from God the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed Him. You see, God is holy and righteous beyond our conception, and man cannot have fellowship with God unless man’s sin is destroyed. God gave man free-will; so man has the power to choose God or choose sin. God loved us enough to not make us robots. He does not force any one to love or obey Him. God wants us to know Him and if we know Him we will love Him because to know Him is to love Him. Now, by Adam’s [Adam represents all man] disobedience, man destroyed his relationship with God. God created hell for Satan and his demons and the children of wrath (nonbelievers). Nonbelievers will be judged by Jesus and will be sent to hell as punishment for their sins after this life. Do you think good deeds, being helpful and kind to others and doing all kinds of good works will get you into heaven? Do not deceive yourself, the Bible DOES NOT say this.
Many people think they are “good” and deserve heaven. But what did Jesus say when a young person addressed Jesus as “Good Master”? “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Sin separates us from communion with God and an eternal home in heaven.
In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus tells us that the pure in heart will see heaven not false converts doing good works. God knows your heart. Professing Christians who live in sin and have not repented and have not been born again of the Spirit may have a rude awakening. When we get to heaven we may be surprised who is there and we may be surprised as to who is not there.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
God’s standard of good is based on the Moral Law. The Moral Law is the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 of the Bible. Jesus, the only Son of God, said there is no one good except God. “Good” means moral excellence. We all fall short of God’s standard of good. We are all under God’s judgment and if we have broken just one of the laws and sinned against God we are guilty. Just like in any court of law you are guilty when you break the law. When you break the law you must be punished. An honest and just judge passes a sentence of punishment on you. As your human father or mother punished you when you were disobedient as a child, your Heavenly Father also casts down punishment on you for your disobedience. Your punishment is hell. God is just, and God is merciful, as any good judge in a court of law or as a just parent.
According to the Bible “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). So what is sin and how do you find out if you are guilty? Sin is a transgression of the law. Sin is lawlessness; it is breaking God’s law. Sin is disobedience to God. You may feel that, “Well, I am not that bad of a person and I am better than most people. I have never killed anyone or hurt anybody very badly and I have only stolen small things, and I do not lie as much as I used to.” But in God’s eyes it is more serious than that. According to God, to be good means to be perfect. God’s standard for good is very high. None of us are perfect, and we all fall short of God’s standard and we fall short of the glory of God. God will judge us according to the Moral Law. Sadly, we have turned from our conscious, we have turned from God because we love our sin more than we love God, and our hearts have become hardened to a point that we pay little attention to what our conscience tells us.
But out of God’s love for us He formed a New Covenant. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:16-21). God did this by His grace alone. He made His Son the Sacrificial Lamb to take the punishment for all of us. Jesus was crucified for the payment of our sins. He paid the price for all of our sins, past, present and future. He died for us, to save us from hell and eternal separation from God.
To receive everlasting life we must repent of our sins and believe and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
To see the kingdom of God, we must be born again. What does this mean? Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “God is spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). We must be born again in spirit. God is spirit and we communicate with Him in spirit. We become spiritual and leave the natural man behind us. We no longer act in the flesh but in the spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, a gift from God, indwells in all Christians who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
In John 14:6 we know that Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” Jesus is in heaven. Believers will join Him after this life. Nonbelievers will not be in heaven; they will be punished for their sins in hell and not believing in the only Son of God.
Heaven is exclusive; it is only for the few who are welcomed through the narrow gate. The Bible is clear about this. We must believe in Jesus: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31). It is by God’s grace we are saved by our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We do not know perfectly who will be in heaven, only God knows what is in a man’s heart; but we know the Bible tells us that the sanctified, born again believer who has a pure heart, and believes in and obeys God is a child of God. And all true children of God will see the kingdom of God. Forgiven believers who are washed, sanctified, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ will inherit the kingdom of God. We must be holy to get into heaven. We are holy in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Turn to Jesus today before it is too late. God knows you. He wants you to know Him.
If you love God (Jesus Christ who was man and is God) you will obey Him. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Heaven is for believers who have faith in Jesus and obey His commands. Only through Jesus are we made right with God. Jesus was the Sacrificial Lamb of God who took the punishment for us so that we might know Him and live. Jesus paid our debt because we are incapable of doing it ourselves. This is how God shows His love for us.
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Mihran Kulhanjian is President and Founder of Christian Revival Mission. He is an author and businessman.