“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)
Heaven has been on my mind recently because life is bringing experiences my way that point to the reality of heaven, and how important it is for Christians to have the assurance that heaven is a real place.
Just last week, for example, my wife’s grandmother found out she had cancer – a tumor in her side the size of a grapefruit. She is 92 years old and is looking forward to heaven. When her doctor told her she had two weeks to three months left in this world, she simply said, “I’m ready to go.”
My brother has heaven on his mind, too. He is suffering from emphysema, but unlike my wife’s grandmother, he is not ready to go. It’s not that he doesn’t know Jesus. He does, and my own faith has been strengthened by the remarkable transformation that I have seen in him over the last several years. Here’s a man who prays several times daily, not for himself, but for other people. It’s the stories he shared with me about his prayer requests over the years that have proved to me that his faith is genuine. He frequently tells me, “I pray for you everyday.”
My brother’s reluctance to leave this world has nothing to do with his faith. As a husband and a father, he knows that his wife and children still need him in their lives; and God has not taken him yet precisely for that reason. In fact, several weeks ago, he was literally on his death bed in the hospital – still here only because he asked God in a dream to let him spend a little more time with his wife and family.
Interesting isn’t it? Two Christians, both with strong and reassuring faiths – one living to die and the other dying to live!
The truth is my wife’s grandmother is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to how Christians respond to dying. Most of us do not want to leave something we understand for something we don’t.
Robbie’s grandmother sees heaven differently than most of us. Heaven is not just a destination that we read about in the Bible. It’s a real place.
I just finished a great book that makes my point. 90 Minutes in Heaven is about a Baptist pastor, Don Piper, who was dead for 90 minutes only to be prayed back to life by another Baptist pastor. It’s the first account of heaven I’ve ever read that parallels much of what the Bible has to say about heaven. This pastor didn’t flow through some long, dark tunnel with a bright light at the end. He saw the pearly gates and the golden streets; heard heavenly music and the swoosh of angel wings; and literally felt the glory of God. “I was home; I was where I belonged,” he wrote. “I wanted to be there more than I had ever wanted to be anywhere on earth. Time had slipped away, and I was simply present in heaven. All worries, anxieties and concerns vanished. I had no needs, and I felt perfect.”
We need to believe Jesus, not just believe in Jesus. He told us in the above verse that heaven was a real place. “If it were not so,” he said, “I would have told you.” (John 14:2)
Learning to look forward to the journey the way my wife’s grandmother looks forward to it comes only through faith, and faith comes only through hearing the Word of God. Next week, I’ll share more about what the Word says about heaven.
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