Are You Going to Heaven?

The Bible says,
"It is appointed for man to die once, and after this comes judgment."
Hebrews 9:27

Life in this world is temporary, so where we will spend eternity is the most important concern we could ever have. We must make sure we know where we are going.

There are many opinions about how a person can make it to heaven. This makes it difficult to know the truth as we try to sort through competing claims. The fact is that no matter how many different ways are proposed, at most only one can be right. So, how do we know which one is correct? The answer becomes apparent when we compare the world’s religions. 

The religions of the world have significant differences, but they all basically teach the same way of salvation. The answer that the world's religions give for how someone can make it to heaven is this: you must earn it. Every religion teaches that you must be a good person, follow their rules, do their religious rituals, or join their organization. At their core, each one of these religions is saying that you must work to earn salvation.

However, the Bible presents an entirely different message. It is the only one that says there is nothing you can do to earn salvation. That's because salvation is a free gift that God offers to every person.

The Bible says that,
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:23

and that,
"The wages of sin is death."
Romans 6:23

You share the same problem as everyone else. You are a sinner, and if God gives you what you've earned, you will receive a death that results in eternal hell. We can see the problem with trying to work for our salvation when we see that the Bible reveals our wages are death.

Thankfully, God loves you so deeply that He stood in your place and did the work you desperately need. He came to earth, became a human, lived a perfect and sinless life, and went to the cross to die for you. On the cross, Jesus Christ suffered the punishment you deserve and paid for your sins completely.

The Bible says,
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8

We know that Christ's death paid for our sin because He cried out from the cross, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). On top of this, Jesus Christ didn't remain dead. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead in victory. The Bible tells us that He "was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4).

Jesus Christ was the only person to ever rise from the dead, never to die again. He is alive, in a physical body, in Heaven at this very moment, and if He can overpower death with such ease, we know He can give us eternal life with Him.

So then, how do we receive this eternal life?

The Bible tells us that,
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16

The only way to receive eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ alone. You cannot trust that you are a good person, grew up in a Christian home, were water baptized, went through catechism, gave money to a church, or put forth any other effort. Because ultimately we have sinned and our wages are death.

Thankfully, while we can never be good enough, Christ is perfect. Jesus Christ did the work that was impossible for us because He was good enough to pay for sin and powerful enough to overcome death. We can have complete confidence in Him. The Bible explains that when you believe in Christ, you can "know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). God doesn't want your eternity to be a guessing game. He has told us plainly that we can know we have eternal life on one condition: if we have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation.

God offers eternal life to you if you will believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. You have a choice that you can make right now. Will you believe in Jesus Christ? If you do, you can know for certain that you are going to Heaven to spend eternity with Him!