July 30, 2024
The Bible says in Colossians 3:1, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.” So what does the Bible say about these “realities of heaven”?
Heaven is where God lives and rules. The Bible calls heaven “the dwelling place of God,” “the house of God,” and “the city of God.” As these phrases suggest, heaven is where God lives.
But Jesus also calls heaven “the Kingdom of God” or “the Kingdom of heaven” 31 times in Scripture. So heaven isn’t just where God lives; it’s also where he rules. Psalm 123:1 says, “Lord, I look up to you, up to heaven, where you rule.”
Heaven is a real place. Heaven isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t a state of being. And it isn’t a place where your essence floats around like a ghost. It’s a real place. In fact, the Bible says there will be streets, trees, water, and homes in heaven. Many Scripture passages allude to the fact that animals are there. You’ll have your physical body, renewed through your resurrection. And there will be a real place for your real body to live: “There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you” (John 14:2).
And Jesus said in Matthew 6:20, “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” You can’t store up treasures in a place that isn’t real.
Heaven is designed for you and me. God didn’t design heaven for himself. He designed it for his followers. The Bible says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). …
People weren’t meant to live on Earth forever. You and I were made for heaven! Hebrews 13:14 says, “For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.” Once you’ve become a part of God’s family, there’s a whole lot more to life than just here and now. Really, this world is not your home; you’re just passing through!
When it comes to heaven, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). No matter what you’ve dreamed up about heaven, the reality will far exceed it!—Rick Warren1
Facing the death of a friend or loved one is always challenging. There are usually very mixed emotions.
There is sadness that a person is no longer with us. But there is also joy that a person is in heaven. There is sorrow that a chapter in our lives has closed, and that someone very significant to us will now be but a memory to us. There can also be a sense of relief and release… that someone we care about will not have to suffer or experience any of the pain and discomfort that this life can bring.
All of these, and countless other emotions can be very strong at a time like this, and we can understand why Jesus said: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). …
The Bible makes it very clear that physical death is more of a transition than it is a termination. There is an element of termination involved in that the physical body ceases functioning, but the Bible describes more than just a body, an outward man. The Bible describes an inward man.
Man is a spiritual being with a soul, and he lives inside of a body. When the body terminates its functioning, the spirit of man simply transitions to a new location. For a believer, that new location is a wonderful place called heaven. When we say that a believer who dies has “gone to a better place,” that is not a mere cliché.
Heaven is not a dream. It is not a figment of someone’s imagination … a metaphysical abstraction … someone’s theological conception. Heaven is a real place.
Paul said, “To depart and be with Christ is far better” (Philippians 1:23). He said that if this “earthly tent” were destroyed, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). He said that “to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). …
[L]et me encourage those of you who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: You will see your friend and loved one again. And as the old hymn says: What a day of rejoicing that will be!—Tony Cooke2
I was thinking recently about death—how in spite of all the advances in medical science, death happens eventually to every living creature. I was curious to see what the Bible had to say about this and found some amazing things.
Death, it turns out, was not part of God’s original plan for His creation; it was the result of man’s disobedience to God. God had intended for man to live forever, but He could no longer permit that because of man’s fallen, sinful nature. Death is the penalty of sin, and it is one we all must suffer. “Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
The good news, however, is that the sting of death has been overcome. Jesus Christ conquered death through His resurrection. The Bible calls Jesus’ resurrection the “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Because Jesus was raised from the dead, there is the promise that others will be raised too. This will occur at Jesus’ second coming, when everyone alive who has accepted Jesus into their hearts will receive new, supernatural bodies, like Jesus’ at His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51–52).
And to those believers who have passed on before this event, Jesus promised that death would not be the end but rather the threshold to a new life in the spirit. He said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). For believers, death is like passing from one room into another and closing the door. They are set free from the weight and limitations of this earthly life and liberated in God’s eternal kingdom.
If we trust in Jesus, we have a living hope of entering this dazzling new dimension when our present lives are over. There we will enjoy the splendors of heaven for all eternity, without any of the pain or problems we have now. “And God shall wipe away all tears from [our] eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).—Uday Paul
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.—2 Corinthians 5:8
The old saying in life goes that there are two things that are certain, death and taxes. As much as we all begrudge paying taxes, we do it anyway, hopefully trying to pay as little in taxes as possible. Even though you try to reduce that tax bill, you eventually have to pay.
The same is true of death. We can attempt to eat right and live a healthy lifestyle, but eventually one day this body will give out and we all will experience death. This is not meant to discourage you, but it is a reality, and the older you get, the more real this truth becomes. However, for us as Christians, death means something totally different than for those who don’t believe, and in 2 Corinthians there is an allusion to the process of what death means for those who believe. …
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1).
The concept of eternity is difficult for us to grasp while we live in these earthly bodies. Have you ever tried to think about living forever? There comes a point where it stops making sense because that is not the reality we live with on this earth where everything has a beginning and an ending. …
What Paul is encouraging us to do is know that eternity with God is our reality, and this should be seen in what we believe and how we live. When you know that one day you will be in God’s presence and one day stand before him, then this should guide everything that we do in this life.
The last thing I want to leave you with is this. From the moment you give your life to Christ, you will never be separated from the presence of God or the love of God ever again. If you live, his presence goes with you. When you die, your faith becomes sight, and though you will be absent from your body, you will be present with the Lord. So whether you live in this life, you win. If you pass from this life, you win. That’s why your salvation is the greatest victory you have in life, because that is the guarantee of your hope and your eternal life.—Clarence L. Haynes Jr.3
Published on Anchor July 2024. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso. Music by Michael Fogarty.
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