We have heard a multitude of jokes that begin, “A man (or woman) died and went to heaven”. I have laughed at them and told many of them in my lifetime. Those jokes give us no real glimpse of heaven; they are just our way of whistling past the graveyard and laughing at death. I have, however, found two stories that do give us some human perspective of heaven.
A Sunday school teacher asked her young class, “Who wants to go to heaven?” Everyone raised their hand except one boy. She asked, “Jimmy, don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” He quickly replied, “Sure I do. I thought you were getting a group together to go now.” It has been said that everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die. Maybe that is why so many people prefer to think of heaven as an eternal retirement community waiting for us when our work here finally comes to an end.
A doctor told a patient that he has a terminal illness and the patient asked, “What is it like on the other side of death?” The doctor replied, “I don’t know.” The patient persisted, “You are a Christian and a man of science and you don’t know what happens when we die?” At that moment there was scratching on the examining room door. The doctor opened the door and a dog burst into the room and ran to the doctor with tail wagging wildly. The doctor said, “This is my dog. My son brought him by the office on his way back from the vet. He has never been in this room before. All he knew about it was that his master was there so he entered the room without fear. All I really know about heaven is that my Master is there, so I will go through that door without fear.” As we search God’s word for a glimpse of heaven we often overlook the two most important points. Heaven is living in the presence of God and He has provided a way for us to be there with Him. Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
When I was a teenager I learned about hell from an evangelist who traveled the country describing the fires of hell right down to the smallest glowing ember. You could almost smell the sulfur when he preached. As a young believer it seemed to me that he was selling fire insurance against eternal damnation instead of offering salvation and freedom from our sinful nature through the grace and mercy of Almighty God. When the Bible tells us to fear God it doesn’t mean we should be scared to death of Him. It means we should be in awe of God’s power and majesty. The most important thing about hell is that it is complete separation from God. The fire and brimstone of hell have never scared me nearly as much as the thought of being separated from my Creator.
Heaven and hell do exist. I know that because the word of God says so, but I have also experienced a taste of each of them in my life. Some may ask, “How can a loving and just God condemn people to eternal suffering in hell while taking others to heaven?” God doesn’t choose heaven or hell – we do. Heaven or hell actually begins for each of us right here on earth when we choose either to follow Jesus into the presence of God or follow Satan away from God’s presence and toward that place prepared for him. We must choose our path and our final destination here and now; death simply makes our decision final.