THE CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN

    THE CERTAINTY OF HEAVEN

 I recently saw an app on face book that determines whether or not people will go to heaven or hell and my first reaction was “wow, this is funny”. It was funny to me because it didn’t make sense that an app could determine our eternal destination. Well that was just a face book app and believe me, many who will take the test will add emotions to it and believe what the app would predict about their eternal destination. Why not? People aren’t sure where they are heading after this life on earth is over.

I have had discussions in the past with a number of believers regarding this issue of eternal destination and I was amazed to find out that a greater percentage of Christians cannot tell with certainty if they will go to heaven or not. They say stuffs like “only God knows those who will go to heaven or hell”.

My unuttered questions to them is “if you are not certain of heaven, then why do you go for evangelism and ask people to accept Jesus?” Why would you want unbelievers to join you in your uncertainty? If I were not born again and someone comes preaching to me to accept Jesus Christ and says to me that he is not sure if this Jesus could guarantee my eternal destination but that I should just accept Him; I would frankly not accept Him.

Most people who are truly born again accepted Jesus because they needed a saviour, they needed help. They needed an assurance of eternal salvation. They knew they couldn’t ever think of going to heaven without the help of God. When I saw how evil and sinful I was and how that I was heading straight for hell without Jesus in my life, I surrendered my life to the only one who is able to save to the uttermost, Jesus Christ the righteous. I was 100% certain that accepting Jesus in my life would guarantee me heaven. I don’t know if my case was different but I believe that most Christians had the same experience and trusted Christ to save them too.

If this is true with most Christians, then one cannot but wonder what happened to that certainty, that hope of eternal salvation; the hope of glory that made people surrender their lives to Christ. How come Christians can no longer tell for sure if they will make heaven or not? At what point did this probability set in? I feel so shocked to hear Christians say its 50-50 chance to make heaven.

14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end,{Hebrews 3:14 AMP}

Most people reading this article will have a hard time believing the truths I am about to reveal from God’s word and this article may perhaps be one of the most controversial Christian literature they will ever read but let God be true and all men liars. I am going to share with you some verses that will help you believe again with all certainty that heaven is your home once you accept Jesus Christ as your saviour.

1.     Why are most Christians uncertain of heaven? Because they don’t know the way to heaven.

I know it sounds foolish to call them Christians and yet say that they don’t know the way to heaven. Yes, they go to church every Sunday and listen to the messages but they are still ignorant of the way to heaven. Well! I am not surprised. Even the disciples that were with Jesus for about 3years and a half didn’t know the way to heaven nor how to get there. They were troubled just like most Christians today and uncertain of their eternal destination. Thankfully, Jesus resolved their ignorance.

“Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. ^2-3 There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly. ⁴ And you know where I am going and how to get there.”

⁵ “No, we don’t,” Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. {John 14:1-6 TLB}

Did you notice that Jesus has gone to prepare for our arrival into heaven? There are enough rooms in heaven for everyone who would believe that Christ can save them and take them to heaven. It is a pity that the people for whom the rooms of heaven are prepared do not believe with unwavering certainty that they are going to make heaven. JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.ANYONE WHO MUST GET TO HEAVEN MUST ACCEPT AND TRUST HIM.

2.     Why can’t most Christians trust in Jesus as the only way to heaven?

Seriously, this is an important question that needs to be answered regarding this entry into heaven. How can a people accept a saviour and still not trust His ability to fulfil His promise of salvation to them? The reason is because many Christians think that it is pretty too cheap to just enter heaven by just one way. Just accepting Jesus is really too easy a criteria to entering a place as eternal and glorious as heaven, many Christians would say. Man always wants to do something else to show how strong or wise he is even though we are all weak without God and God’s foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of all of us put together. Man is always trying to complement what God has already completed and by so doing complicating issues for himself. God has made salvation discrete-just one narrow way; who is Christ Jesus but man would rather chase after Ten Commandments and many Jewish laws. Man prefers the broad way, the sweat- it- out- route, the flex -your –muscles- route, the self- righteousness- route. It seems easier to man to try to save himself. Only few have truly found the narrow way that leads to life though we may have ten thousand people in church.

¹³ “Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hell^[b] is broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. ¹⁴ But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it. {Mathhew 7:13-14 TLB}

   3.     They preach about the narrow way in church but don’t understand what they preach.

You probably would have heard your pastor recite and teach on the Matthew 7:13-14 quoted above. The truth is that if we truly understood that Jesus is that narrow gateway to life and that we have found Him already, we wouldn’t need to worry about our eternal destination anymore. Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate. If we believe it with all certainty, then we would preach to sinners with every boldness and enthusiasm to accept this narrow gate also. We would cry out to the Jews to stop depending on the Ten Commandments and the laws of Moses as the criteria to entering heaven. We would let Muslims know that they don’t need FIVE MUST DO’S before they can enter heaven. Even the atheist would come to realize that moralism and being good enough cannot take them to heaven. EVERY MAN WOULD WANT TO ACCEPT THE NARROW GATE, THE DOOR-JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS.

 ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. {John 10:9 NKJV}

In the very words of Jesus” I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” But I am still amazed that many who ought to have entered through him could not enter because they are trying to carry some extra luggage {religious rules and rituals, self -righteousness, moralism etc.}Alongside. Unfortunately for them, the door is so narrow that only FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS can pass through it.

      4.     Pastors are preaching a different gospel

The average believer thinks that the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ Jesus is a fake gospel. That is why they attack men of God who preach faith as criteria for salvation. They believe more in the message of works and self- righteousness as the true gospel. They are simply ignorant of what the true gospel really is. They forget so soon the gospel they heard that made them accept Jesus Christ as saviour. They trusted Christ to save them when they surrendered their lives to Him but now have turned from that hope in Christ to depend on self-righteousness.

⁶ I am amazed that you are turning away so soon from God who, in his love and mercy, invited you to share the eternal life he gives through Christ; you are already following a different “way to heaven,” which really doesn’t go to heaven at all. ⁷ For there is no other way than the one we showed you; you are being fooled by those who twist and change the truth concerning Christ.

⁸ Let God’s curses fall on anyone, including myself, who preaches any other way to be saved than the one we told you about; yes, if an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message, let him be forever cursed. ⁹ I will say it again: if anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcomed, let God’s curse fall upon him. {Galatians 1:6-9 TLB}

They have all backslidden unknowingly. The moment you turn away from the true gospel of faith in Christ Jesus to start having confidence in the flesh, you fall away from grace. Most pastors are preaching the laws of Moses as the way to be saved. Paul said there is no other way to heaven than through Christ Jesus. Any pastor, bishop or pope who preaches any other way to be saved is under God’s curse.

 ² Listen to me, for this is serious: if you are counting on circumcision and keeping the Jewish laws to make you right with God, then Christ cannot save you. ³ I’ll say it again. Anyone trying to find favor with God by being circumcised must always obey every other Jewish law or perish. ⁴ Christ is useless to you if you are counting on clearing your debt to God by keeping those laws; you are lost from God’s grace. {Galatians 5:2-4 TLB}

The pastors are preaching that we should go get eternal life by ourselves, that we should work hard to get but Jesus said he is the one who gives eternal life and once he gives you, no man can snatch you from his hands

 ²⁷ My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me, ²⁹ for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else, so no one can kidnap them from me. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”{John 10:27-30 TLB}

5.   The believer’s name is registered in heaven

What if I told you that your name is already registered in heaven? Will that boost your assurance that heaven is your home? Verily Verily I say unto you that your name is already written in the lamb’s book of life. If you have accepted the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as your saviour then congratulations to you. You are registered already and your room has been prepared in heaven waiting for you. Stop doubting whether or not you will make heaven. Keep on believing what you believed at first when you surrendered your life to Christ.

³ Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless you do, I will come suddenly upon you, unexpected as a thief, and punish you.

⁴ “Yet even there in Sardis some haven’t soiled their garments with the world’s filth; they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.⁵ Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine. {Revelations 3:3-5 TLB}

Those who keep on having faith in Christ have their names indelibly written in the book of life. Jesus will announce them before the father on that day as His own.

We have already overcome the world by faith. The victory that conquers the world is our faith. We shall be clothed in white.

 ⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our^[a] faith. {1John 5:4 TLB}

   

We are the redeemed of the Lord and our spirits are already mad perfect in heaven. The day He offered up himself as an offering for sin, He perfected us forever. He knew all those who would accept him and has predestined us to eternal salvation. We are registered in heaven with a perfect spirit.

²² But you have come right up into Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the gathering of countless happy angels; ²³ and to the church, composed of all those registered in heaven; and to God who is Judge of all; and to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven, already made perfect; ²⁴ and to Jesus himself, who has brought us his wonderful new agreement; and to the sprinkled blood, which graciously forgives instead of crying out for vengeance as the blood of Abel did.{Hebrews 12:22-24 TLB}

¹⁴ For by that one offering he made forever perfect in the sight of God all those whom he is making holy. {Hebrews 10:14 TLB}

Maybe you are wondering “but when was my name written?” Well before the world began God already chose you and wrote your name in the book of life.

 ⁸ He was alive but isn’t now. And yet, soon he will come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction;^[b] and the people of earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life before the world began, will be dumbfounded at his reappearance after being dead.*{Revelations 17:8 TLB}

6.     How am I sure that He will take me to heaven?

I can tell you with every assurance that the Lord Himself will come and take us home one day. I don’t know the day but I know it is no longer far. I know our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. I know that yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry. The only thing you need is to believe in Christ. The just shall live by faith.  

¹⁵ I can tell you this directly from the Lord: that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. ¹⁷ Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. ¹⁸ So comfort and encourage each other with this news.{1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 TLB}

Did you notice that the BELIEVERS who are dead and those who will be alive at His coming will be taken home to heaven? I thought it would have said, those who kept the Ten Commandments will be taken to heaven or those who are moralists, atheist or Muslims. No! It says the BELIEVERS!

¹¹ He came as High Priest of this better system that we now have. He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in heaven, not made by men nor part of this world, ¹² and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, he took his own blood, and with it he, by himself, made sure of our eternal salvation. {Hebrews 9:11-12 TLB}

3 All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. 4 And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.{1Peter 1:3-6 TLB}

4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people. 5 When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. 6 The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.{Col 1:4-6 GNT}

7.   No fear of the rapture

It’s a pity that whenever the rapture is preached in church, people end up in fear and lack of faith, they start thinking about their self-righteousness, how good or how bad they think they’ve been. This is because they think that the rapture is about God coming to punish their sins. Paul said the rapture should be a thing of joy, comfort and encouragement to us not to scare us. Let me tell you the truth. Christ is not coming to deal with our sins, He already defeated sin on the cross. He is coming to save us from this corrupt world and to take us into our heavenly home. The bride has no reason to be afraid of her groom’s return. She patiently waits for Him with joyous expectation

so also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and he will come again, but not to deal again with our sins. This time he will come bringing salvation to all those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for him. {Hebrews 9:28 TLB}

⁹ For God has not chosen to pour out his anger upon us but to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁰ he died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of his return. ¹¹ So encourage each other to build each other up, just as you are already doing. {1Thessalonians 5:9-11 TLB}

I believe now that you have read the verses in this article, you will stop thinking that you have a 50-50 chance of making heaven and start believing that in Christ you have 100% certainty and assurance of heaven. God is not a man that He should lie nor the son of man that He should change His plans. His promise is steadfast” WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN CHRIST SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE”. You can trust God to deliver on His promises. What makes you a believer is your belief in Christ as your saviour and only way to heaven. Once you start doubting this then you are not a believer.  

 ¹⁷ God also bound himself with an oath, so that those he promised to help would be perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether he might change his plans.

¹⁸ He has given us both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on, for it is impossible for God to tell a lie. Now all those who flee to him to save them can take new courage when they hear such assurances from God; now they can know without doubt that he will give them the salvation he has promised them.

¹⁹ This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God himself behind the sacred curtains of heaven, ²⁰ where Christ has gone ahead to plead for us from his position as our High Priest,^[b] with the honor and rank of Melchizedek.{Hebrews 6:17-20 TLB}

²⁰ But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there. ²¹ When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.{Philippians 3:20-21 TLB}

LIKE A BRIDE WAITING FOR HER GROOM.

WE WILL BE A CHURCH READY FOR YOU

EVERY HEART LONGING FOR OUR KING

WE SAY, EVEN SO COME!

LORD JESUS COME!

SO WE WAIT! WE WAIT FOR YOU!