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Jesus - the ONLY way

The Way

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How do you get to heaven?

Are there many roads? Do they all lead to the same place?

Or are you just crossing your fingers, hoping you’re on the right one?

Jesus says there is only one road to heaven. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

How arrogant! Arrogant?

You have a friend. Your friend asks you for directions to your home. Road construction has closed the normal routes. There is only one road which will bring your visitor to your house.

Is it arrogance to share the one open path with the one you love? You give your friend directions to the one open road because you don’t want your friend to be frustrated, confused, or lost.

Jesus doesn’t want you to be frustrated, confused, or lost. He doesn’t want you to live your life driving down a dead-end road. He doesn’t want you to live imagining that your good actions will be enough to earn life forever. God expects perfection, not a good try. Working hard to earn heaven by human action earns hell.

Jesus doesn’t want you to be frustrated, confused, or lost. He doesn’t want you to live imagining that anything calling itself “god” really is God. Any religion which denies that Jesus is true God is a false religion. It may be a road. The road leads not to heaven, but to hell.

Jesus loves you. He doesn’t want you to live imagining that all spiritual roads lead to the same place.

Only one road leads to heaven.

Arrogance? No. The ultimate in love. If there is only one way, we need to know it.

Jesus is the only way. Why? Because he is the only one who died to pay for your disobedience. Without Jesus, you will stand before God guilty. Without Jesus, you will stand before God afraid. Without Jesus, you will stand before God deserving punishment.

Covered by Jesus’ blood, you will stand before God innocent. Covered by Jesus’ blood, you will stand before God at peace. Covered by Jesus’ blood, you will stand before God certain of eternal reward.

Without Jesus’ blood, the road is a dead-end.

Through Jesus’ blood, the road leads straight to heaven.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Heaven Q&A Ask a Question

What is heaven?

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“Why are you so happy, Dad?”

Dad is holding a newborn daughter in his arms.  The five-year-old son wonders why Dad’s smile is so large.

Can a father ever fully explain?  Can a young son grasp the awe that grabs the heart of a dad when a new life comes into the world?

The reality of heaven may be more than human minds can fully comprehend.  Yet we ask, “What is heaven?”  God does give us some answers.

What is heaven?

Jesus once told his friends, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going . . . to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

What is heaven?

The Apostle Peter told his friends, “In keeping with [God’s] promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

What is heaven?

The Apostle John writes, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘. . . [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’  He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’!”

What is heaven?  God gives us answers.  Heaven is a real destination, a place.  Heaven is a place of moral perfection, available to sinful humans only through Jesus’ saving work.  Heaven is place of perfect joy, without a single tear ever again.

But what is heaven?  What exactly will it look like?  Why can’t I see it now?

Questions.  Good questions.  Questions not so different from the sincere question of a son to the proud father of a new child.

“Why are you so happy, Dad?”

The father’s answer may not include every detail, but he will emphasize the point that matters most.  He will answer in a way the son can understand.  “Son, having a baby is like having the biggest, hugest chocolate birthday cake you could ever imagine.”

The five-year-old gets a smile on his face.  He understands.

What is heaven?

The Father replies, “Heaven is a place of perfect joy—you will never be sad again.”  We can understand that, and with a huge smile on our face.

When the soul goes to Heaven

When Does the Soul Go to Heaven?

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It is often fear that lies behind that question.  As if death wasn’t terrifying enough without imagining some state of unrest or unconscious oblivion while we wait and wait and wait for Jesus to return to take us to heaven.  To answer quickly up front, your soul goes to heaven immediately when you die.

Jesus often talked about life going on into eternity.  He didn’t just mean that our loved ones who have died would live on in our memories.  He literally meant they would live on forever.   Look closely at this conversation between Jesus and Martha, the sister of Lazarus who had just died.  “’Your brother will rise again.’  Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’” (John 11:23-26).  Martha believed that her brother would rise on the last day of the earth’s existence, which the Bible refers to as Judgment Day.  Jesus further comforts her by pointing out that Lazarus would not have to wait that long to experience the joys of eternal life.  “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”  Our soul goes to be with Christ immediately when we die.  In that sense, we will never die, even though our body remains here until Judgment Day.

God’s missionary Paul was in constant danger because of his bold confession about Jesus.  He spent a lot of time in court and in prison.  He found comfort in knowing that if he had to die for believing in Jesus, it would be a blessing.  “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).  To “depart” and to “be with Christ” were simultaneous events.  There is no allusion to a long period of time in between.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks the same way.   “And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (or soul) returns to God who gave it.”

The clearest statement comes when Jesus is on the cross next to another dying man.  “Then he (the criminal) said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.  Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43). Jesus puts a time stamp on the soul’s trip to heaven with the word “today.”  When Jesus gave his life on that very day, he paid for every sin and paved the path to heaven for everyone who puts their trust in Him.  When he rose from the dead three days later, he secured the promise he just made to that dying man and to all of us.  Jesus turned death from a curse into a blessing—a blessing that starts the moment we close our eyes for the last time.

Am I good enough to go to heaven?

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Mom went over to the slow cooker where the turkey had been all day. As the lid was taken off, a shriek filled the air. The slow cooker had been unplugged hours before to make room for Uncle Bob’s famous sweet potato soufflé.

Tears filled Mom’s eyes. “My dinner is ruined!” she cried. Dad chimed in, “Oh, honey. I am sure that it is good enough.” However, the half baked turkey was not good enough, nor was it safe to eat.

In our lives we probably hear or say those words often. “Oh, the lawn looks good enough. I can wait another couple of days to mow.” “Oh, the house isn’t that dirty. It is good enough for now.” “My job was done well enough for today. I am going home!”

What about when it is quitting time here in this life? Are we sure that we are going home to heaven? Are we good enough?

We may be individuals who settle for good enough more than we like to admit. However, we have a God who doesn’t settle for anything but perfection. Jesus says, “Be perfect . . . as your heavenly Father is perfect” Matthew 5:48.

So are we good enough to go to heaven?

God takes the “lid” off of our hearts and tells us what he sees. “Every inclination of the heart is evil from childhood” Genesis 8:21. Even if we try hard and work at being kind, good, and perfect we still fail. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.

So now what do we do? Similar to an uncooked turkey, does the heat get turned up on us in hell? Is our hope to have life in heaven ruined?

Thanks to Jesus Christ our Savior the answer is, “No.” We do have hope because Jesus has forgiven our sins by dying on the cross and he has declared us to be innocent by rising from the dead. Because of what Jesus has done, every time that God looks at us he sees “you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation” Colossians 1:22.

Are you good enough to go heaven? Jesus did not just make you good enough but he made you perfect! Through faith you receive “the gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 3:23.