This article is a personal project. The world and its constant busyness keeps drawing me, taking my energies, occupying my time, and dominating my thoughts. After a recent birthday, I decided to remind myself again of what I believe and what my purpose is.
Why do I really want to go to heaven?
I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN TO SEE PEOPLE I MISS, AND CONTINUE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE I LOVE.
My desire for heaven gets stronger with each trip to the cemetery. The older we grow, the more we talk about the people of the past. At some point, we realize that we have more loved ones on the other side than we have here.
The Old Testament recognizes this truth and often uses the expression that one “was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:33). When Jacob thought Joseph was dead, he longed to see him (Genesis 37:35), and no doubt longed more for heaven than he had before. David wanted to go to heaven to see his son that lived only a short time (2 Samuel 12:22–23). Personally, I want to see my father, elders I have served under, my teachers and mentors, preachers I have known and respected, and fellow Christians with whom I have worshiped and worked. I can see them in my mind’s eye lining the shores of the Jordan to welcome my boat as it arrives!
Further, I want to go to heaven so I can continue relationships with the people I love. The only way one can continue a relationship with a spouse, children, parents, grandparents, extended family, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends is to go to heaven together. We cannot continue relationships indefinitely here, for either circumstances or death eventually part us. There will be no camaraderie in hell, for it is a comfortless place filled with darkness, agony, thirst, and misery (Luke 16:19–31). Since relationships offer joy and respite, we may rest assured that they will not be allowed in the devil’s realm.
Yet, in heaven, Christians can continue relationships with all the people we love. Jesus explained that we will not remain married in heaven (Matthew 22:30), but we will know one another there. Abraham was still Abraham and Lazarus was still Lazarus there (Luke 16:23). They knew each other, although they had never met on earth. Peter, James, and John recognized Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3–4). Paul told the Thessalonians that when Jesus returned, He would bring with Him the spirits of their loved ones who had died as Christians (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Those spirits would be recognizable, or these words would not have comforted them (4:18).
I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN SO I CAN BE FREE OF THE FEAR OF DEATH.
I will be honest: I do not look forward to dying. I will have to die once to get out of this world (unless Jesus comes), but I surely do not want to do it twice! And we will not have to, for “the last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). Death is used 904 times in the Bible (in various forms). The next-to-last time is Revelation 21:4, which says that death will come to an end in heaven. The hearse will have made its last trip. You will not see long lines of cars following a coach with their lights on. There will be no more funeral services, no tombstones, no expensive funeral plans, and no tearful good-byes. There will be no hillsides dotted with the markers of loved ones. You will not find silent cities of the dead in heaven, for no one ever dies there!
I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN TO SEE MY FATHER.
I have preached sermons on heaven now for a quarter century. The content of those sermons has changed little through the years, but the emphasis has. It used to be more about mansions, crowns, reunions, and rewards. Now it is more about who will be there than what will be there.
Someone observed, “What makes heaven heaven is God.” If the street were gravel instead of gold, if the walls were particle board instead of jasper, if Main Street had mud knee-deep, and if weeds overgrew the flowers, it would still be heaven because God is there. The greatest treat of Paradise was not the climate or the fresh fruit; it was that God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). He did not just create them, put them in their garden, and forget them. He spent time with them.
That is what heaven will be like. God will spend time with each one of us. John heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). The most wonderful aspect of heaven will be the presence of the divine Godhead—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Revelation 1:4–5). God is clearly the “star” of heaven. The four living creatures John described constantly worshipped Him, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8; cf. 4:10–11; 5:9).
R. G. Lee observed, “Heaven is the most marvelous place the wisdom of God could conceive and that the power of God could prepare.”1
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Endnote
- Lee, R. G. The Place Called Heaven. Christ for the World Publishers, 1959.
