But who is
waiting for us there?
If there is a heaven, there must be a heavenly being that
created it. That means there is someone looking down on us from the top of the proverbial mountain we are climbing. We all have a divine encounter waiting for us, the
moment after we die. When we have lived our lives to their entirety—when we
finish climbing to the top of the mountain—we will be there, in the presence of
our maker. Universalists have definitely got that part right, but it may not be
the comforting truth they think it is.
Who is this god
that waits for us at the end of our life’s journey? Who is he whom we draw
inevitably closer to with each climbing step, day by day? Will he love us and
accept us merely for having made the climb, or is there some standard, some
requirement of us before we can enter into that restful, joyous afterlife?
If we accept
that merely making the climb gets us into heaven, then that would qualify the
likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Bin Laden—men who went to their graves only after
sending millions of people before them to theirs. Do we seriously want a god
who would give these men everlasting paradise? I have a sense of justice that
makes that thought untenable, and I doubt I am alone. There must be some
standard by which we enter heaven. Justice would seem to require it.
Is it the
sincerity of our belief, then, that will get us to heaven? If we make the climb firmly convinced and
striving for the divine, even if our views of God differ dramatically from
culture to culture, will it be enough to see us through? Unfortunately, this is
a purely illogical view. There is no practical example of faith for faith’s
sake alone being strong enough to overcome all obstacles. I can believe with
all my heart that I can fly with the pair of cardboard wings I cut from a
Wheaties box—but that faith is not strong enough to overcome gravity.
We must also
keep in mind that Hitler and Stalin believed firmly in their own manifestations
of faith. No one was sincerer about his faith then Hitler when he made possible
the murder of 6 million Jews. He was walking the talk of what he believed about religion and the Jewish people. The sincerity of our faith is just not a valid
claim to heaven. Faith is only as good as what it is placed in.
So what
belief is strong enough to get us into heaven? Can we rely on our good works?
If it is possible to get into heaven not on the basis of the sincerity of our
faith but of our goodness, we would
first need to describe what “good” is. Stalin thought his communism was an
ultimate good, worth killing 20 million of his own citizens for. Hitler
believed the Aryan Race was good. If “good” is left up to our own discretion,
Stalin and Hitler still get to enter heaven. There must be some absolute code
of right and wrong that transcends what us so often selfish, twisted humans can
come up with. And since it transcends our own understanding, we must believe
that the divine creator made it for us—and will hold us accountable to it. He
is less like a fan cheering us up the mountain, and more like the referee
holding us accountable to play by the rules. And since it is a foul and harms
the other players in the game, our heavenly ref will throw us out of the game
if we violate the rules. For the first time, the Hitlers, Stalins, and Bin
Ladens of the world don’t make the cut. We're making progress!
This view of
God as our heavenly judge leaves us with only three religions to follow: Islam,
Judaism, and Christianity. Islam and Judaism are works-based religions. They
hold that you have what it takes to storm the gates of heaven and enter
victoriously. Haven’t we already established, though, how shaky it is to
believe that the human race can do good? What if not only are we incapable of establishing our own right and wrong, but we can’t even keep the right and wrong revealed to us
by God? Have you ever lied, stolen, lusted, coveted, or taken God’s name in
vain? Have you failed to keep the five pillars of Islam? Yep, you’re out.
That’s the
problem with works-based religions. We can never be sure we’ll make heaven, and
what’s more, the evidence and an honest evaluation of our hearts seems to
suggest we won’t make the cut. At
this point, we’re in dire straits.
Is there any
hope in Christianity? Here’s the standard Jesus lays out for us to “make the
cut”. He says in Mathew 5:48: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.”
So . . . if
we’re relying on ourselves to get past the gates of heaven, we’re done for.
But that is
where Christianity makes a break from all other religions. It doesn’t depend on
us, but on what Jesus has done for us! He knew we couldn’t live up to the
perfect standard it takes to spend eternity with our heavenly Father, so he
came and lived a perfect life for us! He offers this life in our place, to pay for our sins. Where all other world
religions say do, Jesus says done.
The Lord is
compassionate and gracious; He does forgive transgressions. But yet at the same
time, because He is a righteous judge, He can’t leave the guilty unpunished.
(Exodus 34:6-7) That is why Jesus had to die
for our sins, the just for the unjust, so that he could bear the penalty we
deserved and we could go free! That is how God can be both a righteous
judge and a compassionate forgiver.
This the amazing
good news that we as Christians get to share with the world! If you confess
Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved! For those of us who already have confessed Jesus as Lord, we are called
to be trail guides to others following behind us up the mountain! We need to
stop worrying that we will be called “close-minded” or “intolerant” (Check out
this post, btw, for a true definition of tolerance), and stand unashamedly for
this good news! There’s still some people standing at the crossroads. They’re
asking for the ancient paths, they’re asking where the good way is; they want
to walk in it (Jeremiah 6:16).
Can we help
them find it?
Jesus said to him, “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through
me”. John 14:6
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