I have a problem with hell. It is undoubtedly Jesus’ hardest teaching. But I also have a problem with heaven. It stretches my belief, and sometimes the pictures that people paint of heaven aren’t that attractive.
Heaven promises us lots of wonderful things. There will be no more sickness our pain. God’s ways will no longer be a frustrating
mystery to us. God Himself will comfort
us. We will be reunited with beloved
brothers and sisters in Jesus. But the
most important thing about heaven is that Jesus is there!
Jesus wants to bring
people to heaven
The gospels are full of the love of Jesus. On every page we see His compassion. On the evening before His crucifixion, when
Jesus would have needed the disciple’s comfort more than ever before, He
actually seeks to comfort them. He knows
full well what awaits Him the next day.
But He also knows that they will be left troubled and perplexed. ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.
Trust also in me. In my Father’s
house are many rooms. If it were not so
I would have told you. I go there to prepare
a place for you’ (John 14:1-2).
‘Many rooms.’ Jesus is not reluctant to embrace and forgive
people. Earlier in John’s Gospel we read
that the God did not send the Son to condemn the world, but to save it through
Him (John 3:17). If someone does not end
up in heaven the responsibility is entirely theirs. Hell stands as a terrible testimony to our
human reluctance to be embraced by God’s infinite love.
Heaven is a result of the cross and resurrection
When you think about Jesus preparing a place in heaven for
us, don’t think in terms of Jesus tidying a room in the Father’s house and
hanging your favourite pictures on the wall.
Think of Him hanging on a cross.
Jesus is telling the disciples that it is through His death and
resurrection that He is preparing for us a place in the Father’s home. That’s why it makes perfect sense to say that
Jesus is the only way to heaven. If our
lives could earn us a place in heaven would the Father have sent His Son to
endure the pain of the cross? If
religion, whatever religion you choose, could earn you a place in heaven, would
Jesus have endured such a thing? If we
are expected to contribute to our reconciliation with God, would Jesus have
cried out ‘it is finished’ before He died?
It has been said by many preachers that the cross reveals that we are
far guiltier than we ever imagined and yet far more loved than we ever
dreamed. I love the explanation of the
gospel that points out that our wickedness is so serious that nothing less than
the death of God’s own Son could deal with it, and that is exactly what God has
done for us.
Jesus is looking
forward for us to be with Him
Look at the goal of Jesus’ work. ‘I go to prepare a place for you, that where
I am you may be there also.’ One of the
puritans wrote commented on this verse that it is as if Jesus was saying, ‘the
truth is I can’t live without you, I shall never be quiet until I have you
where I am, that we may never part again … Heaven not hold me, nor my Father’s
company, if I have not you with me, my heart is so set on you; and if I have my
glory, you shall have part of it.’[i]
Heaven is to be in the presence of Jesus. The Jesus the Bible speaks of. Not the Jesus of the human imagination. The Jesus of the cross and resurrection. Not the Jesus who is simply a good teacher. It was to be in Jesus’ presence that made the apostle Paul long to depart this life. It would make no sense for someone with little interest in God to go to heaven, for God’s presence is the very essence of heaven (Rev. 21:22).
So how does heaven
make us happy now?
In one sense heaven doesn’t make us happy now. It leaves us with an unfulfilled
longing. We are not there yet, and we
still have to live in a broken world of suffering and pain. We were made for a perfect relationship with
God, and yet we have to wait until He returns before we will know Him
perfectly.
Indeed, we need to be careful not to place our unfulfilled
longings on the wrong shoulders. Many
people look for a person who will complete them. But only Jesus completes us. If you expect any relationship to satisfy all
the longings of your heart you will squeeze the life out of your friendships
and will always feel let down by people.
It is not that friendships aren’t good, but we need to put our hope in
God alone.
But the thought of heaven leaves us with an unfulfilled
longing, it also fills us with hope. I
believe we are wired for hope. When I
was struggling with depression one of the worst things was that I lost
hope. I feared the darkness would never
lift. But the darkness of depression
lifts. This too will pass. It might come back again in the future, but
the experts all tell me that the darkest places almost always lift. If you are depressed at the moment you need
to hear that. If your life is in crisis
you need to know that things will get better.
I have struggled a lot with anxiety. I remember one time when I had terrible anxiety over some exams I was sitting. I was anxious that I lay down and trembled on my bedroom floor because I couldn’t get an equation I needed to learn into my head. But I found a strange comfort in going down to the sitting room, sleeping on cushions on the floor and thinking about the fact that I would soon be passed the exams and the summer holidays would arrive. It was the hope of what lay ahead that kept me going.
I believe we are wired for hope. You can see it in how we get so much pleasure
in looking forward to a holiday we have planned. We might be a little frustrated waiting to
get there. But the thought of it makes
us happy. That is one of the affects
that heaven is to have on us now. The
hope of heaven brings a certain brightness to the darkness we may feel in this
world. In this world we will have trouble,
but Jesus has overcome this world and has set His heart on bringing us home.
Hope is for certain
I enjoy watching the Munster Rugby team. Rugby actually has a unique way of
illustrating what Christian hope is like.
Whereas in soccer the game is up when the clock is up, in rugby the game
can’t end until a play is finished. If
Munster are more than seven points up (the most that could be scored in any one
play), then even though there might be a setback, and even though the game is
not over, you can start celebrating the victory.
Jesus has won. The
has gone and prepared that place in the Father’s house. Life may not yet be over. There may be setbacks to come. But the outcome is secure. He has us in His right hand. He will keep us to the end. We can look forward with happiness and
joy.
How to get ready for
heaven
So how do I overcome my problem with heaven—my unbelief, and
my fear that it mightn’t actually be that great. We overcome such thoughts by deepening our
relationship with Jesus. I was listening
to my friend Mitch teaching about sharing our faith. He mentioned the compassion of Jesus. Those words jumped out at me. There are things that I find hard in Jesus’
teaching. But never forget His love and
compassion. The devil has always sought
to cause people to doubt God’s goodness (Gen. 3:1-6). We must fight to hold onto our confidence in
Him. We must wrestle in getting to know
Him better. We must ask the Holy Spirit
to teach us that in His presence is the fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11). As we learn to trust that joy we have the
sure hope in what lies ahead.
Let’s pray:
‘Lord, I believe.
Help me in my unbelief. Teach me
to enjoy spending time listening and talking with you. May I see something of You in the love of
Your people. Please send the Holy Spirit
to move me to cry out, “Abba, father.”
Let the unsatisfied longings for perfect love to cause me to look to the
sure hope of what is to come. May I
never forget that the pain of this moment will soon be past, and that for the
Christian the best is yet to be.
Amen.’
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