Heaven And Hell

HEAVEN AND HELL

Warsaw Christian Church, Richard Bowman, Pastor Emeritus

Jesus teaches about an unbelievable, glorious place called heaven. But is it real? Do our souls survive death and enter into eternal bliss? How can we know for sure? Many reject the very idea of God and eternal life, dismissing both as a pipe dream. Only naïve people believe such nonsense.

I guess I am one of those naïve people who believe God and heaven are real. Yes, I am familiar with the arguments of the atheists. I have degrees from 3 universities where the majority of professors were atheists. Why do I dismiss these learned men's arguments and affirm heaven's reality? My answer is simple. I believe in heaven because I believe Jesus. I believe He speaks the truth, even though a thousand philosophers/atheists dismiss Him.

I stand before you this morning absolutely convinced of the reality of both heaven and hell (More on hell later). I believe in heaven not because of reason or the testimony of those who died, went to heaven, and returned and wrote a book. When it comes to eternal life, I want to listen to the testimony of an expert witness; someone who knows for sure that heaven exists and how to arrive there safely. That expert witness is Jesus, the Son of God; God in the flesh, in human form. His word trumps all the disbelief of atheists.

Listen to His words. Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14). He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life (John 6:40). My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:27,28).

Why do I believe in heaven? Because He repeatedly promised eternal life to all who believe in Him. We don’t earn heaven; we don’t deserve heaven. It is given to us as a gift when we trust in Jesus. The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life…(Romans 3:23). Jesus assures us that heaven is real and we go there when we trust Him.

But why believe Jesus? Many who are familiar with Him, having read the New Testament, do not believe in Him. As one who has trusted Jesus for the past 63 years, I am compelled to trust Him. No writer of fiction could have created the person of Jesus. There is no one like Him in the literature of the world. The superheroes invented by men are nothing like Jesus. Jesus did not originate in man's mind but in God's mind. I believe in heaven because I believe in Jesus.

Yes, philosophers have attacked the message of Jesus. Philosophy was one of my college majors. I read about David Hume, who said that miracles are impossible. I read about Immanuel Kant, who attempted to create a religion based solely on reason, thereby eliminating the need for Jesus. Karl Marx declared God to be a drug, the opiate of the people. Nietzsche stated, “God is dead.” This assault on Jesus and heaven has utterly failed. These men have few admirers in the world, but Jesus has millions of disciples. I am going to stake my eternal destiny on the words of Jesus. His one sentence, Truly, truly I say unto you, the one who believes has eternal life, I would not trade that one sentence for all the philosophers in the world who have raised their pens against Jesus.

Heaven is a lovely, positive idea, so why believe in the dreadful doctrine of Hell? Luke 16:19-31, words spoken by Jesus, describes in some detail what hell is like. I believe in hell for the same reason I believe in heaven. It is a truth taught by Jesus. He said more about hell than heaven!

We can probably agree with the words of C. S. Lewis: There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this (hell) if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, especially of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom and has the support of reason.

There is some room to discuss whether certain biblical descriptions of Hell are to be taken literally or figuratively. Whichever interpretive path one chooses, clearly hell is a place of misery. Whether the fire of Hell is literal or figurative, it is not a place where anyone would want to go. The rich man condemned to hell in Luke 16 is somewhat surprised to find himself in that place of torment. He wants someone to warn his brothers. He is told his brothers possess the Scriptures, and if they don’t believe the Scriptures, they will not believe if someone returns from the dead to warn them.