Three Reasons to Think About Heaven

The Word of God is far from silent on what eternity will be like in the eternal heaven (i.e. the New Earth). But why has God seen fit to reveal these truths to His people?

There are at least three reasons why the future reality of heaven ought to influence believers in the present. These might be summarized as: hope, holiness, and the honor of God.

Hope. The reality of heaven provides hope for the future, even in the face of trials or death. Thus Paul could tell the Thessalonians that believers do not grieve “as the rest of the world who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). As Charles Spurgeon observed:


The very happiest persons I have ever met with have been departing believers. The only people for whom I have felt any envy have been dying members of this very church, whose hands I have grasped in their passing away. Almost without exception I have seen in them holy delight and triumph. And in the exceptions to this exceeding joy I have seen deep peace, exhibited in a calm and deliberate readiness to enter into the presence of their God.

Writing about his trials, the apostle Paul similarly explained to the Corinthians, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Because believers know what the future ultimately holds, they can face the temporal troubles of this life with confidence and courage.

Holiness. In addition to producing hope, the reality of heaven promotes holiness in the lives of the redeemed. In the words of one commentator, “The New Jerusalem is the reality that finalizes the hopes of God’s people and rewards them for all they have endured. It also is intended to spur the readers to greater faithfulness in the present, knowing what is at stake” (Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, 727.)

Recognizing that they will soon be in the presence of their heavenly King, those who belong to Christ desire to please Him and reflect His perfect character in every way possible. As the apostle John wrote in his first epistle, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2b–3).

Believers understand that they will be rewarded by Christ for their faithfulness in this life (2 Tim. 4:8). The reality of a heavenly future puts the priorities and pursuits of this life in proper perspective (cf. Matt. 6:19–21). Such an eternal mindset motivated the nineteenth-century missionary, Adoniram Judson, who said:


A few days and our work will be done. And when it is once done, it is done to all eternity. A life once spent is irrevocable. … Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone.

Those words echo the heartbeat of the apostle Paul, whose entire ministry was motivated by eternal concerns. As he told the Corinthians, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:9–10).

The Honor of God. Finally, biblical eschatology provides a vivid reminder of the fact that the purpose behind all of salvation history is the glory of God. Ultimately the manifestation of that glory will culminate in the blazing light of the new heavens and earth. It will radiate throughout the New Jerusalem and engulf every one of heaven’s inhabitants. For all of eternity, believers will bask in the wonder of God’s grace and glorify Him for His infinite mercy and kindness. The unmerited favor of God will thrill the hearts of the redeemed throughout all of eternity, and they will praise and exalt Him as a result. The awe of redemptive love will fuel their worship. As Richard Baxter so aptly expressed,


As we paid nothing for God’s eternal love and nothing for the Son of His love, and nothing for His Spirit and our grace and faith, and nothing for our eternal rest… what an astonishing thought it will be to think of the unmeasurable difference between our deservings and our receivings. O, how free was all this love, and how free is this enjoyed glory. . . . So then let DESERVED be written on the floor of hell but on the door of heaven and life, THE FREE GIFT.

With inexhaustible joy, believers from every age of human history will join together in unending adoration and thanksgiving to God for the unmerited kindness of His grace (cf. Rev. 5:9–14). Clearly, the reality of heaven ought to motivate believers in their homeward journey, as they navigate through this world as sojourners and citizens of another realm (Phil. 3:20). To do that effectively, they must set their eyes on Him and the glorious future He has promised (Col. 3:1–2; Heb. 12:1–2). Focusing on God’s kingdom in eternity is not a hindrance to the life of faith; it is the essence of it (Heb. 11:16). As one evangelical author rightly concludes:


Understanding Heaven doesn’t just tell us what to do, but why. What God tells us about our future lives enables us to interpret our past and serve him in our present. . . . We need to stop acting as if Heaven were a myth, an impossible dream, a relentlessly dull meeting, or an unimportant distraction from real life. We need to see Heaven for what it is: the realm we’re made for. if we do, we’ll embrace it with contagious joy, excitement, and anticipation. (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, 443)

The Sentence Against God

In If God Is Good, I share a story that John Stott tells in his book The Cross of Christ about billions of people seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back, while some crowded to the front, raising angry voices.

“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?” snapped one woman, ripping a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror... beatings... torture... death!”

Other sufferers expressed their complaints against God for the evil and suffering he had permitted. What did God know of weeping, hunger, and hatred? God leads a sheltered life in Heaven, they said.

Someone from Hiroshima, people born deformed, others murdered, each sent forward a leader. They concluded that before God could judge them, he should be sentenced to live on Earth as a man to endure the suffering they had endured. Then they pronounced a sentence:

Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Let his close friends betray him. Let him face false charges. Let a prejudiced jury try him and a cowardly judge convict him. Let him be tortured. Let him be utterly alone. Then, bloody and forsaken, let him die.

The room grew silent after the sentence against God had been pronounced. No one moved, and a weight fell on each face.

For suddenly, all knew that God already had served his sentence.

Some people can’t believe God would create a world in which people would suffer so much. Isn’t it more remarkable that God would create a world in which no one would suffer more than he?

God’s Son bore no guilt of his own; he bore ours. In his love for us, God self-imposed the sentence of death on our behalf. One thing we must never say about God—that he doesn’t understand what it means to be abandoned utterly, suffer terribly, and die miserably.

That God did this willingly, with ancient premeditation, is all the more remarkable.

The Antidote to Materialism

What is the antidote to materialism? Generosity. Easily sharing the things we have, and giving money and possessions away reminds us that they are temporal and God-given. It helps us hold them loosely and treasure Christ more than riches.  Here is a list from Randy Alcorn's book on giving (Money, Possessions and Eternity). I'll just give you a snippet of his paragraphs, if you want more you'll have to find the book....

1.  Give. Christians give. There are no exceptions. Not all will give the same, but all will give (2 Cor 9:7)

2.  Give Generously. Love generates lavish giving.

3.  Give Regularly. Unless people give systematically, they rarely give substantially. 

4.  Give Deliberately. We should avoid giving that is done automatically, without thought, prayer, and worship.

5.  Give Voluntarily. The principle is not "give voluntarily or don't give at all," but "as your heart is moved, give voluntarily above and beyond your regular giving."

6.  Give Sacrificially. Sacrificial giving is parting with what we'd rather keep.

7.  Give Excellently. Like piano playing, giving is a skill. With practice, we get better.

8.  Give Cheerfully. God takes delight in the believer who takes delight in giving (2 Cor 9:).

9.  Give Worshipfully. Giving should be rooted in "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Cor 9:15).

10.  Give Proportionately. 'In God's sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given, but by how much I could have given and how much I had left after I made my gift.' (quoting Tozer)

11.  Give Quietly. "Be careful not to let your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them" (Mt 6:1).

We need to hear this -not because the church needs more money, but because our hearts need more pruning. We don't talk much about money, but it is one of the areas we most need to be challenged to better reflect Christ's generosity and to cultivate a longing for heavenly treasure.

Truth Grace and My Father's Conversion

I can relate to Randy Alcorn's sentiments here as my father is resistant to the Gospel as well. Thanks be to God that He is the one that can change even the greatest sinners hearts. He did it for me!

My father was the most resistant person to the gospel I’ve ever known. He warned me never to talk to him again about “that religious stuff.”

At age eighty-four, Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. One day he phoned, very upset.

“I’ve called...to say good-bye. I’m in terrible pain—I know the end’s coming. I’ve got a gun to my head. I’m sorry to leave you with a mess.”

I begged him to hold on. Jumping into my car, I made the thirty-minute drive in twenty, jumped out of the car, and pounded on the door.

No answer.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. On the floor I saw a rifle and a handgun. Calling out for my father, I turned the corner into his room, prepared for the worst. Eyes half-closed, I bumped into him as he walked out. I rushed him to the hospital, where they scheduled him for surgery the next morning.

I arrived an hour before surgery, praying that in his pain and despair, with no easy way out, my dad would turn to Christ. Standing by his bed, I opened my Bible to Romans. I began reading in chapter 3. “‘There is none righteous, no, not one....’ All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (vv. 10, 23, NKJV).

Those weren’t easy words to read.

My tavern-owner father had always taken hot offense at being called a sinner. I wanted to gloss over this portion, moving quickly to the good news of God’s grace. But I forced myself to keep reading, verse after verse, about human sin. Why?Because, I told myself, if I really love Dad, I have to tell him the whole truth. If God’s going to do a miracle of conversion here, that’s His job. My job is to say what God says. We made it to Romans 6: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 23). Then Romans 10, about being saved through confessing Jesus as our risen Lord.

Finally I looked Dad in the eyes and asked, “Have you ever confessed your sins and asked Jesus Christ to forgive you?”

“No,” he said in a weak voice. “But... I think it’s about time I did.”

I’ll never forget that moment. The impossible took place right before my eyes: My father prayed aloud, con­fessed his sins, and placed his faith in Christ, just before they wheeled him into surgery. To me, dividing the Red Sea paled in comparison to this miracle.

The surgery was successful. God gave me five more precious years with my dad. The day I held his hand as he died, I knew I would see not only my mom, but also my dad in heaven.

That morning in the hospital I wanted to minimize the truth of human sin. I wanted to pass truth and go directly to grace. Yet without the bad news, there can be no good news. Without the truth of God’s holiness and the stark reality of our sin, Christ’s grace is meaningless.

The worst thing I could have done to my father was what I was tempted to do—water down the truth. It would have made it easier on me for the moment. But withhold­ing God’s truth from my dad would have been withholding from him God’s grace.

Where Is Your Treasure?

“Many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world. Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on earth, not in heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on earth, that means each day brings you closer to losing your treasures. He who lays up treasures on earth spends his life backing away from his treasures. To him, death is loss.

He who lays up treasures in heaven looks forward to eternity; he’s moving daily toward his treasures. To him, death is gain. He who spends his life moving toward his treasures has reason to rejoice. Are you despairing or rejoicing?”

– Randy Alcorn

Quote of the Day

“Many who say, “I have nothing to give,” spend large amounts of discretionary income on cars, clothes, coffee, entertainment, phones, computers, and so on. They have nothing to give when they’re done spending, precisely because they’re never done spending. “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones” (Luke 16:10).”

– Randy Alcorn, from Managing God’s Money