EVA:HEAVEN

   Jesus Christ said there are two roads in life--a wide one and a
narrow one. (Mat 7:13-14). The two roads are the only two choices that
man has available to him as he journeys through his time on earth. One
road was labeled as the "Broad Road" that leads to destruction (Hell),
and the other, the "Narrow Road" that leads to life (Heaven). Every
person that has lived on this earth will spend their eternity in either
Hell, the place of destruction, or Heaven, the abode of life. The
subject of this file is the eternal place of happiness--Heaven.

   A. The Location.

   Everything real in life has a physical location. Our homes are real
places and have definite locations that are fixed. The home is located
in a particular area or city. The city is situated in a state that is
part of a larger space called a country. The country is situated in a
part of a globe called the Earth that occupies a position in the
Universe. The Universe itself is located in a particular area of space.
Is there anyplace besides the Universe? God says there is; in fact, it
was the Apostle Paul that defined the heavens as being three distinct
places. He was, "caught up" to the "third heaven" and heard
inexpressible things. (2CO 12:1-10). So great were the things that Paul
experienced there that he was given a thorn in his flesh, to keep him
from becoming conceited about his trip. Where is this "third heaven?"

   To find the third heaven, one must first establish the location of
the first and second heavens. The first heaven is simply the atmosphere
of our earth where the birds and the planes fly. It has definite
boundaries, running from the surface of the earth to the place where
the atmosphere ceases to exist. The second heaven joins the first and
is defined as "outer space" where the stars and all the planets are
located. In the second heaven there are, seemingly, innumerable amounts
of stars (at least according to man); but the Bible declares that the
number of stars (and planets) are fixed, "He determines the number of
the stars and calls them each by name." (Psalm 147:4). God has the
location of the universe fixed along with it's borders. Crossing the
limits of the Universe one enters into the third heaven, which is the
place God calls Heaven. The Scriptures often referred to this place as
simply heaven, which is in reality the "third heaven."

   B. The Environment

   When I was in grade school, I was often told that Heaven was simply
a place that was totally spiritual and that all we did was "float
around" like birds praising God for all eternity. Surely we will
continually be praising the Precious God of the Universe, but in a
place that has a definite reality. The Bible has much to say about what
Heaven is and will be like:

   1. A Place of Rewards: "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your
reward in heaven. . ." (Mat 5:12). Heaven itself would be reward
enough, because what we really deserve is eternal judgment in Hell for
our sins. Yet, God in his mercy has provided salvation for those who
would yield their lives to Him. Rewards in Heaven are real, but we do
not work for the rewards; yet we must acknowledge that they exist. In
Revelation 4:10 we see some heavenly citizens bowing before the throne
of Christ. They then remove their crowns (rewards) from their heads and
cast them at the feet of Jesus. This makes sense when we realize that
all the "good" we do as Christians is totally a result of the power and
leading of the Spirit of God. What credit could we ever take for our
service? None! Truly all rewards ultimately belong to Christ.

   2. A Place of Children: ". . .unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mat
18:3). "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not
hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Mat
19:14). Heaven belongs to the children! In other words to be a resident
of Heaven one must be "like" a little child. Little children are very
trusting, dependent, innocent, and loving. In Heaven God's children
will be trusting of His provision and care for all eternity.

   They will also be totally dependent upon Him, realizing that they
have no power to provide any of their needs. In Heaven, only the
redeemed will be there; therefore, there will be no sinners, only those
whose sin has been removed to the "Cross of Christ."

   3. A Place of Singles: "At the resurrection people will neither
marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in
heaven." (Mat 22:30). Marriage is the "spice of life" during this time
of man on earth. It gives order to life and prevents gross immorality
by each man having his own wife, and each woman her own husband. (1Cor
7:2). Marriage provides an intimacy between man and woman that is not
possible in any other relationship. God calls the union of a man and
woman in marriage "one flesh." Marriage serves a number of purposes on
Earth, such as, a picture of the relationship of Christ and the Church.
Marriage also provides a means of orderly procreation. Also the
ordained union of man and woman in marriage provides the means of
physical pleasure on Earth, a true gift of the Lord. But in Heaven,
immorality will not be a problem because there will be no evil, lusting
hearts there. Procreation will not be necessary for the human race will
be fixed in number; no longer will God need to call a remnant out of a
larger number. And lastly, the pleasures of Heaven will far exceed what
we could possibly experience on this cursed Earth, a pleasure that, "No
eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love Him." (1Cor2:9).

   4. A Place of Purpose: Often Heaven is presented as a place where
there is nothing to do. Granted that the Scriptures call it a place of
"rest, " but do not confuse rest with boredom. In Heaven we will rest
from all the struggles and problems of this life on Earth, but one will
not vegetate. For evidence of this, one only needs to look at the
Scriptures. For example we find God "resting" after the creation of the
earth and the universe, yet we hear Jesus say, "My Father is always at
his work to this very day, and I too, am working." (John 5:17). The
angels in Heaven all appear to have tasks to perform, as the writer of
the Book of Hebrews indicates, "Are not all angels ministering spirits
sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" (Heb 1:14). Finally,
in the Garden of Eden, we find man, before he became a sinner, working
at a task, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it...But for Adam no suitable helper was
found. . .Then the lord God made a woman. . ." (Gen 2:15, 20,22). Man
in the sinless state had tasks to perform. God's other high order
created beings the angels, too, are busy. I believe that our God is
able to keep all the millions of Christians busy who will inhabit
Heaven for eternity. God is a God of purpose and His people have
direction and purpose too.

   C. The Eternity

   Heaven is eternal. That means that there will be no end to the
duration of Heaven. One preacher explained it this way, "If you have
been in Heaven for 10, 000 years, how much Heaven would you have left?
The same amount you had before the 10, 000 years began!" Can you
imagine an endless time of bliss, where there are no bad days, but only
joy upon joy? It is hard for our finite minds to comprehend an endless
life. Yet, in reality we are already in eternity! There will be no end
to our beings. The only difference among the people of the Earth will
be where they spend their eternity; some will enjoy the glories of God,
and others will agonized in the fires of punishment. What a Great
Savior we have to "give" to us an undeserved gift of eternal life!

   D. The Availability of Heaven.

   How available is Heaven? To put it in clear terms, heaven is free
but it is not cheap. God will give us all that He has if we give him
all that we have--our lives. The greatest gift of God is His Precious
Son Jesus Christ. Heaven is good but the truly marvelous gift is Jesus.
For if we don't have Jesus, then we will not have life, for, "Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will
not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36). We need
Jesus because we are full of sins that have not been paid for, and God
offers us a choice-- either yield our lives to Jesus and let Him pay
for our sins on the cross, or go into the eternal fires to try to pay
for our sins ourselves (which is impossible because they warrant
eternal judgment).

   Today every person alive will end up in Heaven or Hell, the choice
is ours. Will we respond to the call of God and yield to Christ or
remain stubborn in our sins and receive the full fury of His wrath? In
order to receive the free gift of life that includes Heaven, then we
must first acknowledge our sinfulness (only sinners need a Savior).
Next we must repent of our sinful ways; that is, we must be willing to
stop the known sins that plague us. For example, if a person is caught
up in a immoral relationship, then that must stop in order to become a
Christian. There must be a positive turning from the sin in order to
receive eternal life. In the Bible there was a rich young ruler who
came to Jesus to be saved. He had a led a very good life and had no
external evidence of any sin. Jesus told him that to inherit eternal
life he must sell his possessions and give to the poor. The man
couldn't do that because he valued his money more than Heaven or
obeying Christ. To become a Christian a person must be "willing" to
obey all that Jesus will ask of him through the Word of God. Peter said
we must repent and be Baptized to be saved. (Acts 2:38). The point is
that those pondering becoming a Christian must realize that Jesus
demands public Baptism of all new converts, and a failure to be willing
to be baptized is clear evidence that the heart is not ready to accept
the Lordship rule of Jesus Christ in their lives.

   Heaven is available to all who will call upon the Name of the Lord,
with a heart broken and ready to obey all that Jesus will ask of us
through His Holy Word. Heaven is more than a blissful place, it is the
place where we can go and enjoy the beauty and sweetness of our sweet
Jesus.

   Bible Bulletin Board
