Heaven To Gain

"God is merciful."

A YOUTH asked a minister why his grandpa, an honorable man, a Jew, would not go to heaven, as some have said to him, but a man of great sin, who “was saved” would go for sure. The church has an answer. God has an in-depth one.

I’ve heard several stories of people who died, unsaved, and had an experience with the place called hell. Hell is a fixed location. Let me be clear on this. But hell IS NOT the devil’s kingdom where he rules. He did not create hell nor choose to live there. He doesn’t have a throne (Isaiah 14:15). He was condemned for sin (John 16:11), and hell is punishment. No being human or devilish wants to be in hell.

Let me say this as well. Salvation is accepting Jesus into your heart because you believe He died on the cross for your sins and He was Resurrected from the dead, three days later, as Victor over death (Romans 10:9). It is also making Jesus Lord, but if someone does not understand what this is, they are not unsaved and now headed to hell. All people who are saved are born again as spiritual infants (John 3:3), “born again” being Jesus’ words. This simply means there is much to learn. Maturity comes through spiritual growth gained from revelation of the Truth in the Word of God.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Now, to tackle the kid’s question: God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart of every human being (Hebrews 4:12). He is never confused by us nor uncertain of what we mean. So God knows both the grandpa and the sinful man, and His judgment is sure (John 8:16). To go to heaven, you MUST BE SAVED. There is no doubt of this. But there are facts around it which bear some thought.

First, God has a covenant with Israel. They are His people, who trust in Him, the only living God. They pray to Jehovah with sincere hearts, and He hears and answers. He answers prayers of non-covenant people as well, for that matter. But we must not make light of those within Jewish covenant, for not believing Jesus is their Messiah. They believe in Messiah as God, and this matters to Him.

Second, many were declared righteous before Jesus was born. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob then named Israel, and Moses, as well as countless others (2 Peter 2:5;Romans 4:13,22). Please note these were made righteous for trusting in the Old Testament understanding of God, and we read Jesus’ own words in the gospels, (where He calls it Abraham’s bosom). Abraham and the poor man, Lazarus, were there, after physical death (Luke 16:23).

Jesus told His disciples He went to prepare a place for them, meaning heaven (John 14:1). Then He told the thief, hung beside Him on Calvary, that “today” they’d be together in Paradise (Luke 23:43). Paradise is a place the righteous stayed until heaven was prepared. Heaven was not prepared until Jesus’ Resurrection. None could be SAVED, attesting their belief in His death and Resurrection, until He’d died and been Resurrected. This means all who were declared righteous by God and had been waiting for Jesus’ Resurrection could not have BECOME SAVED until long after their physical deaths.

The truth is, God has given us a foundation, built upon apostles and prophets who were and are valuable to Him (Ephesians 2:20). They are the firstfruits of salvation. Jesus said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32).” All who went before, righteous, trusting in God for salvation, live eternally just as those who were saved on the earth.

God is merciful. These are the words of an angel in a vision of heaven given to Minister Jesse Duplantis, and they are repeated by another one who has been there. Many live in heaven because the Father is love. We work to share His love with people we meet, and this should be priority. We do not speak condemnation to anyone. That is speaking from the wrong perspective. Our perspective is never to give someone guilt and blame, make them feel weak, or leave them thinking they just can’t measure up. HOW WE SAY THINGS MATTERS. And the truth is, there is much the Spirit knows that we do not. Even about salvation. Because He knows people, down to their finest roots.

“The Devil was the one who spoke against Christ’s servants. And they are like our brothers and sisters. He continued to say bad things to God about them, he continued all day and all night. But our brothers and sisters beat him. Because the Lamb died and his blood came out. They beat the Devil because they spoke what is true. They were ready to die. They refused to stop saying what God has done for them.” (Revelation 12:10-11 EasyEnglish)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com