Is Heaven For Real?

Let’s start with a very basic question. Do you think there is a Heaven? You hear that question asked every so often in books and movies and, I presume, it is asked quite often in real life. Even those who regularly attend church have their occasional doubts. Nothing brings this question into more focus than your own impending death. Is Heaven for real?

There are many sorry substitutes for a resounding “yes”. To believe in Heaven seems anti-intellectual for some. We fear that it may be myth or wishful thinking, so many are guarded. As a result, some will say that we live on in people’s memories or that Heaven is a state of mind we have while we are alive. Let me give you an example. I recently had the opportunity to go to Israel. In Jerusalem, I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is on the traditional site where Jesus was both executed and buried.  I was standing in a chapel that is on the top of Golgatha where Jesus was crucified. Golgatha was not some huge mountain or even much of a hill. It was a rocky outcropping in a garden just outside the walls of Jerusalem, maybe 25 feet tall. The chapel was in three parts, each utilized by a different church body. I was in the middle chapel and in the chapel to my right, well within earshot was a Roman Catholic priest giving a sermon and celebrating Mass with his tour group. As I listened he said something like this, “I don’t know what eternal life is, but I would like to think it was something to do with this world. I believe we will live on in the memories of those who love us and our deeds will continue to have a lasting impact.” I was both stunned and repulsed. Here we are, mostly likely standing on the place where Jesus died to win us eternal life, and a member of the clergy was equating eternal live with being remembered. I was torn by incredulity, pity and anger. Luckily, the later did not win.

Let me assure all readers, that Jesus did live. There is plenty of evidence for that. Five hundred witnesses can also attest that He did actually die on a cross and rise again. The purpose of this whole process was not, for sure, so that you can live on in somebody’s memory. That is just sad, sad garbage. Heaven is neither imaginary nor is it wishful thinking to calm us as we face death. Heaven is a place that is perhaps more “real” than this universe.

Both the Bible and the testimony of many people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDEs) attest to the reality of Heaven. Jesus speaks frequently about ascending to or descending from Heaven. This type of language would be nonsense if Heaven were a mere state of mind. In John 14:6, he goes out of his way to affirm that Heaven is not only a place, but a place for us, when he says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms”.   Perhaps that would still seem like mythical, wishful thinking for some if it were not for frequent experiences of Heaven when people’s consciences are temporarily separated from their body (usually because of medical circumstances).

Since we all will die, we should all be terribly interested in what we can learn about eternal life and the places described by the Bible that exist outside of our world and beyond our lives. I would argue that, other than how to get to Heaven, this topic is one of the most relevant topics that there is. Still, there is an interesting abundance of people who don’t want to talk about life after death. I suspect that this is caused by a deep fear of death or a still festering grief over the loss of a loved one, or maybe it the desire to be God. Whatever the cause, this is the wrong approach.

Clear knowledge about Heaven and about how God has arranged that we get there can result in just the opposite. We can look to Heaven with great anticipation and excitement. We can be as certain about what happens after our death as we are certain that the sun will rise. That is an incredibly powerful position to be in. Death really has no sting in this case, and life itself is given new and fuller meaning.

Such certainty can and must rest on the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection and confidence in the promise of God to forgive our sins and bring us home. As Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” On the flip side, confidence that rests on ignorance or wishful thinking is extremely dangerous.

A common and dangerous belief is the belief that all of us end up in Heaven. It makes us feel better. It is what we want. If we believe this uncritically, then we don’t even have to think about the topic. I want everybody to make it to Heaven as well, but it isn’t so. The Bible is clear about this and that reality is also backed by many NDEs (Near Death Experiences), where people experience Sheol. For this reason, we should all think about this critical topic of life after death.

Heaven is not the default destination of a human being. Jesus speaks of many heading to destruction in Matthew 7. Romans tells us that everybody falls short of the glory of God in chapter 3. Our default is to be damned, but Jesus’ death and resurrection is enough that anyone who is connected to Jesus through faith and baptism is not condemned and has eternal life (John 3). Eternal life has nothing to do with the quality of our behavior and whether we were good enough. Eternal life is completely the gift of God, and it is a very good thing this is so, for even a partial responsibility for gaining eternal life would put it out of our reach.

Having a wrong idea about who goes to Heaven and why is clearly the worst of the misconceptions about eternal life, but there are many more. Some of these misconceptions are likely to be held by you. Ask yourself from where they came.

Author: tdwenig

Tom is the Senior Pastor of the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Evansville, IN. He has served his congregation since 2000. He has a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO View all posts by tdwenig