We Are on Our Way to Heaven

Saints of God, we are on a journey to heaven. We are traveling there on the narrow way of the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is only one Savior of the whole world: Jesus Christ. He is the God/man, the King of kings and Lord of lords

We are traveling to heaven on the highway of holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; only the redeemed will walk there. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isa. 35).

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the heavenly Father except through me” (John 14:6). Thank God for religious freedom. You can believe whatever you want. But if you want to be saved, you must confess Jesus Christ as your Lord. Every knee must bow and every tongue must confess him.

The glorious future belongs only to those who follow Jesus Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for us. There are only two eternal destinies: heaven or hell. Those who repent and believe on Jesus Christ are going to heaven. To the dying thief who prayed to Jesus, Christ graciously said, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” So also we are going to see Jesus in paradise.

We are on our way to heaven. We want to look at seven points about heaven, our eternal destination.

1) What Is Heaven?

Heaven is where our Father in heaven dwells, whose will is always done there with joy, immediately and exactly. It is a real place in time and space in God’s universe. Though creation cannot contain the infinite God, as Solomon said, heaven is where God manifests himself most intensely.

God also manifested himself on Mount Sinai, in the tabernacle, and in the temple. Now he also dwells in true Christian churches and in Christian families where Jesus Christ is worshiped. He also dwells in every true believer who obeys Christ. Jesus told us, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20). Paul writes, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He also says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19).

Heaven is a holy place. Nothing unclean can enter there. All evil shall be outside of heaven, in hell. John writes, “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15). He also explains, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). Think about it. Where are you heading?

Heaven is also called Abraham’s bosom, the third heaven, and paradise. Paul and John had the opportunity to go to heaven and come back and speak about it. If anyone plans to visit a foreign country, he would learn all about that country. In the same way, we want to learn all about heaven by studying the holy Bible.

2) Who all are in heaven right now?

God the Father is in heaven; God the Son is there in his glorious physical body; and God the Holy Spirit is there. Additionally, holy angels are there, ever hearing and doing God’s holy will. The perfected spirits of all who died in the Lord are there, right now worshiping God. The Hebrews writer describes heaven this way: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22–24).

Our loved ones (fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, and friends) who have already left this world trusting in Jesus are in heaven, praising God at this moment. And when it is our turn to die, angels will carry our spirits to heaven, as Jesus told us in Luke 16. When we arrive in heaven, we shall be reunited with these loved ones, and we shall rejoice in recognizing them. And we will especially rejoice at seeing Jesus, our Savior, who loved us and died for our sins.

Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, was in heaven before his incarnation. John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. . . . What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!” (John 1:1; 3:13; 6:62).

After his resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven: “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). He went back to heaven to prepare a place for us.

Jesus is now seated on the right hand of God the Father. We read, “We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven” (Heb. 8:1). Peter writes, “[Jesus] has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him” (1 Pet. 3:22).

Right now, Jesus Christ is praying for all his redeemed community. Paul asks, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34). The writer to the Hebrews says the same thing: “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25).

But Jesus must remain in heaven until the time of the renewal of all things, as Peter declared: “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).

Christ is coming again from heaven to earth for the final judgment and to make all things new. Paul writes, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Think about it; this is God’s program. In heaven, holy angels and the spirits of believers who died are beholding the face of God the Father and Jesus at this very moment. They are worshiping him with singing. And even we who are living on earth are seated in heaven and are praising God by faith in Christ as the Scripture clearly declares. We are told, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).

3) What happens to us at death?

It is appointed by God for man once to die and then comes the judgment (Heb. 9:27). There are only two ways to die: to die in the Lord, or to die in our sins. John writes, “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them’” (Rev. 14:13).

Jesus told his disciples, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come” (John 8:21). He also said, “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:35). I will die in the Lord, and I hope that many of us will die in the Lord. I do not want any of you to die in your sins. Therefore, we invite you today to come to Jesus Christ and be saved so that you can die in the Lord.

At death, our spirits will be perfected and brought to heaven instantly. This is because we have repented of our sins and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal salvation. So Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). And Paul writes, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body [means to die] and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Paul had already gone to heaven and came back (2 Cor. 12). He could not wait until he could go back permanently. So he writes, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Then he says, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:23). If you cannot say that, may God have mercy upon you, that you may repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And the psalmist tells us, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15).

At death our destinies are irreversibly fixed, as Jesus teaches us in Luke 16. Therefore, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Jesus is calling you: Cross over the chasm of death into life—life eternal with Jesus, who destroyed death by his death. He who believes in Jesus has eternal life right now. The thief on cross believed in Christ, though he was dying. He was saved, and he went to heaven.

At death, we will be freed from all sufferings, all evil, all sicknesses, and death itself. Our spirits will go to heaven to be with the Lord, and our bodies will rest in their graves, united to Christ till the resurrection (Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 37). In heaven, our spirits will experience the second installment of our salvation and rest. There we will wait in expectation of the third and final installment of salvation, when Christ shall raise us up in our bodies from corruption. Free at last!

4) Jesus is the only way to heaven

Jesus alone is one divine person in two natures, the God/man. There is no other God/man, no other atoning sacrifice, no other savior, no other prophet, priest and king.

Have you trusted in him to obey him? He invites you to come to him and rest. Our hearts are restless until they rest in God. All have sinned, and all must die eternal death unless they trust in Jesus who died our death and grants us the glorious liberty of the children of God.

God paid the highest price to save us: the blood of his only begotten Son. So Paul says, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31–32). We also read, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). And Paul told the Ephesian elders, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

So how can a sinner go to heaven? By trusting in Jesus Christ alone and by living all his life, loving him and pleasing him. Jesus himself said: “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. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26). Jesus is asking us that question today: Do you believe this? And John concludes his gospel by writing this: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). Paul declared, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).

Such believing Christians are destined for glory. Paul writes, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?” Everyone who will not believe in Jesus Christ is an object of his wrath. “What is God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory” (Rom. 9:22–23). Objects of his wrath prepared for destruction, objects of his mercy prepared for glory. Let’s praise the Lord!

In Hebrews 2:10 the writer begins, “In bringing many sons to glory.” The mission of Jesus Christ is to bring us to glory. He came to our hell to bring us to heaven, to glory.

Our destiny is glory! Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25–27).

Our salvation is incomplete until our bodies are resurrected. At death, the spirits of all believers, including Old Testament saints, enter heaven. But the spirits of those who rejected Christ by living wicked lives will enter a place of fire, torment, and agony. We do not like to talk about hell, sin, or the wrath of God, but it is real. Such spirits will become believers in Christ the moment they enter hell, but it will be too late. They will long to evangelize their unbelieving families living on earth, but they cannot. Their unbelieving families living on earth must believe the gospel themselves. There are no special miracles to induce them to put their faith in Jesus. They must believe the supreme miracle of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus spoke about such people: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). That is why all who listen to the gospel must believe now.

The spirits in hell themselves want to leave hell and go to heaven to experience rest. But no one can cross the chasm from hell to heaven or heaven to hell. Those who believe in Jesus do cross over from death to life, but they can do so only in this life. No one can make that crossing after death. Jesus gave a detailed explanation of it in Luke 16. It is not mythology; it is Christ’s view of heaven and hell. Those who will not repent and believe in Jesus are deluded. They are deceived by the devil, who is a liar and the father of all lies.

5) Jesus is coming again soon

If Jesus does not come before we die, we will go to him. But he is coming soon. He is coming again from heaven to earth in great power and glory, and every eye shall see him, including the wicked. He will come suddenly, personally, visibly, and publicly. He is given all authority to save his people and judge his enemies.

Jesus is coming to judge the living and the dead. So we read, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Listen to Jesus himself: “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28–29). Paul said this: “And I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked” (Acts 24:15). John tells us, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books” (Rev. 20:12). And Jesus said, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39–40, 44).

When Jesus comes again, he will bring with him the saints who died and went to heaven, whose spirits have already been made perfect. He will bring them so that they receive glorious bodies at the resurrection, bodies like the physical body of Christ. When he comes, he will raise up and judge, as the Sovereign Judge of the universe, all people. He will judge presidents, kings, queens, and emperors. All will be raised up and all unbelievers will be condemned to hell.

This Judge, Jesus Christ, knows everything about everyone—all their thoughts, words, deeds, and motives. He does not need to consult books; the Bible speaks about books for our sakes. He is omniscient, and he never forgets anything. If he forgets our sins, it is by design. Thank God, the Bible says that he remembers our sins no more.

The wicked will stand on his left and the righteous on his right. The wicked will be condemned and sent to hell to endure eternal, conscious punishment. The righteous will be justified to enjoy eternal, conscious, blessed life with Jesus. The wicked are cursed and the righteous blessed. So we read, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ . . . Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:41, 46). The adjective “eternal” is used for both life and death.

Jesus spoke more about hell than anyone else. He taught, “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell” (Matt. 18:8–9).

The devil and demons shall also be sent to the lake of fire: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). All the wicked will go to hell. Yet there shall be degrees of punishment, according to the righteous judgment of Christ.

All the righteous will enter heaven. Yet their rewards for good works will be different. So we read, “See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him” (Isa. 40:10). We also read, “The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: ‘Say to the Daughter of Zion, “See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him”’” (Isa. 62:11). Our Savior will come with rewards for us. That is a gracious act on his part, for all our good works are done in his power and by his grace. But he decides to give us rewards for them. So Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Rev. 22:12). We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has foreordained that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). We should be rich in good works (1 Tim. 6:17–19)..

The intermediate state is the period between death and final judgment. The wicked go to a place of torment and the righteous go to be with the Lord for enjoyment during the intermediate state. There is no soul sleep and there is no purgatory.

Hell is a place of divine judgment—a place of fire, agony, misery, and memory. Those in hell will not want to remember anything, but they will remember; they cannot forget. And those memories themselves will be torture. (PGM) Hell is eternal, and those who are there are conscious of their punishment. They will desire death and annihilation, but it shall not come. Existence in hell is the curse of what we call the second death.

So John writes, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). We also read, “And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name” (Rev. 14:11). And the Hebrews writer warns, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people” (Heb. 10:26–30).

6) Blessed life with God in the new heaven and the new earth

Adam’s sin affected God’s material creation, which originally was very good (Gen. 1:31). So in Genesis 3 we read, “To Adam [God] said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat of it,” Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return’” (Gen. 3:17–18). The ground became cursed, and we are subject to death. We must die because the wages of sin is death, and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Paul writes, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to [futility], not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom. 8:19–22).

But God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth, and he will give us new, glorious bodies. In the new heaven and new earth, there shall be no curse; righteousness will dwell in it. It shall be a physical universe of exquisite beauty, which we are unable to understand now, but of which the Scripture speaks. So we read, “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isa. 65:17). We also read, “‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so will your name and descendants endure’” (Isa. 66:22). And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28). Peter says, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). Christianity is not speaking of pessimism; it is hope of the glory of God.

We will also have the most beautiful and glorious physical bodies. We have no idea of that beauty. God himself will dwell with his glorified people on this new earth in total harmony. So John writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 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, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Rev. 21:1–4). John also writes, “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:3–5).

There shall be no sin, and we shall not be able to sin (non posse peccare). We are now posse non peccare (possible not to sin). So we shall enjoy the most blessed fellowship with God and God’s people. Then we shall experience the beatific vision of joy unspeakable and full of glory. In other words, we shall see God!

The psalmist says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Ps. 16:11). He also says, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Ps. 27:4).

Jesus said to Martha, “One thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part and no one is able to take it away from her” (Luke 10:41–42. Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is a relational life. It is knowing God and being with God and Jesus Christ. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24). He has gone to prepare a place for us, and he is going to come back so that we will be where he is.

We will be rich because God will be our portion and we shall be his. We are hissegullah, his most beautiful and precious jewel. We will inherit the new earth. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). And heaven is on earth, the new Eden.

7) What do we do in this heaven on earth?

What are we going to do in heaven? We will love God and love one another. We will eat and drink and have a great time because we will see the Lord Jesus as he is, for we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). So we read, “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God’” (Rev. 19:9). Jesus said, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11). At the last supper, he said, “I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16). Again, he said, “For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:18). In heaven, we will eat and drink as Jesus himself did in his resurrection body.

What else might we do in heaven? We will be traveling, laughing, learning, researching, working, worshiping, and singing God’s praises. We will do many things with new heavenly powers that will be given to us.

We shall also be reigning with him. Paul writes, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” (1 Cor. 6:2–3).

Paul also says, “If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us” (2 Tim. 2:12). In Revelation 20:6 we read, “Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” And Revelation 22:5 we read, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

In heaven, we will continue to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. We will continue to live by faith, hope, and love. Our bodies will have various new capabilities. Our bodies will also be:

1. Imperishable. That means no corruption, no disease, no death.
2. Glorious. We shall shine like the sun (Matt. 13:43).
3. Powerful. They will be full of various powers, especially powers of the mind, and able to travel from one end to the other, as Jesus did from the Mount of Olives to heaven (Luke 24:51). He was taken up and arrived in heaven.
4. Spiritual. We will be given Holy-Spirit-engineered, designed, and directed bodies.

We have no way of understanding these things fully. Now we see through a glass dimly; then we shall see Jesus face to face.

All things not subject to us now, but soon they will be, because we read that he put everything under his feet, and we are in Christ. “In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him” (Heb. 2:8). All shall be soon subject to every believer in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

First things first: Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone? “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). That is the most important question we must ask. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone? Do you have now eternal life? Have you crossed over from death to life?

Second, we are told to make certain one thing: Make your calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). To put it simply: We must make sure that we are saved by Christ from the wrath of God. There is no more important thing we have to do in this world.

Third, we must realize that self-declaration is not enough. We cannot just say we are Christians and rely on our declaration. In Matthew 7:21–23, many people said they were Christians. They told Jesus, “We cast out demons, prophesied, and performed miracles, all in your name.” But Jesus told them, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of wickedness.” We must not rest on our own declaration that we are Christians. We must prove that we are producing fruit in terms of obedience. To the foolish virgins Jesus said, “I never knew you. Depart from me” (Matt. 25). And in Luke 13 we read, “Someone asked him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know who you are or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (Luke 13:22–27). Elsewhere Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). Do you obey Jesus Christ? Have you denied yourself, taken up the cross and followed him? That is the proof: the fruit of obedience to Christ.

Fourth, do you bear witness to Christ? Do you share your faith with your friends and family? Can you say with Joshua, “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”?

Fifth, do you invest in the kingdom of God? Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19–21). If your treasure is in heaven, there will be your mind. You will be thinking about things above (see also Col. 3:1–4).

Sixth, are you hastening Christ’s coming by living a holy life? Peter says, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet. 3:11–12). John says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Seventh, do you long for glory? Paul writes, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6–8). What are you longing for? A promotion at work? A bigger house? He also says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). In Revelation 22:20 we read, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’” And the response of the church: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Paul says, “while we eagerly wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

May God help us to think about heaven and apply these things to ourselves. If we are not believers in Christ, may we repent of our sins today and trust in him, that we may join in this great journey to heaven, to enjoy the presence of our great God and Savior forever and ever.