Do you know Where you are Going?

Suppose I told you that I was going to Sydney, Australia tomorrow. If you asked me how I was getting there and I told you I didn’t know, what do you think the likelihood is of me getting there?

Yet there are millions of people who are hoping to get to heaven and have no idea how they will get there! I’ve asked children that question, and they say you have to die. But while we will all die, we will not all get into heaven.

There are a lot of people who think that because they have lived a good life they will get to heaven. There are a lot of people who think that because they go to church or have performed certain rituals or sacraments that they will get to heaven. And there are some who think that because they have suffered in this life that they deserve to get to heaven. Have you ever seen the TV show “Border Security: Australia’s Front Line”? These border agents take their jobs very seriously and do everything in their power to protect the country and its environment from various threats.
So if you want to visit Australia, you have to make sure your passport is up to date, you have the correct visas, and you follow all the entry requirements. Otherwise, you will be turned back at customs and immigration.

Good News

The Bible teaches that there are only two destinations when we die, heaven or hell.  The bad news is that you have already done everything you need to do to get to hell. Your sins have separated you from God (Isaiah 59:2). The good news is that “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). And, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” (1 Peter 3:18).

Entry requirements

To follow this illustration a little further, may I suggest that Jesus is your ticket, your passport, and your visa all rolled into one? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). You may think that is unfair. But you don’t get to make the rules of entry into heaven any more than a foreigner determines the rules of entry to Australia. If you don’t like the rules you don’t have to go. And if you don’t have Christ, you won’t get into heaven.

The Glory of Heaven

When some people think of heaven, they are thinking of a place where sorrow and sickness and suffering and death are no more. And the Bible speaks of these wonderful blessings (Revelation 21:4). But the bad news is: “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27). The true glories of heaven are the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Revelation 21:22-23).

And Jesus promised His followers: “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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

What will your final destination be? You can’t have heaven without the Lord Jesus. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,” (John 1:12). DNW

For further information contact www.hope4ireland.com