Good News

Who Goes to Heaven?

Lasting Forever

Many people are not sure they are going to heaven. Fortunately, the Bible is very clear about how to know if you are going to heaven or not.

Imagine (sort of) that you are God and you created the world. Would you want everything to last forever? Forever is a really long time. Lasting forever means you are not getting rid of it. Clearly some things, that you approve of, you would want to last forever. But anything that you do not approve of you might allow to last for a while but not forever.

Okay, enough of the trying to imagine you are God exercise.

This situation is true about people, too. Asking, "Will I go to heaven?" is the same as asking, "Does God want me around forever?"

God Seeks Our Perfection

None of us match the sort of perfection that God demands of those things he wants to last forever. We have both offenses (chattah) and iniquity (avon).

From heaven Adonai observes humankind
to see if anyone has understanding,
if anyone seeks God.
But all turn aside, all alike are corrupt;
no one dues what is right,
not a single one.
-Psalm 14:3

God looks out from heaven
upon the human race
to see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.
Every one of them is unclean,
altogether corrupt;
not one of them does what is good,
not a single one.
-Psalm 53:3

Many people, upon reading these or any of many other similar passages of scripture react by making excuses. Two of the most common excuses are:

I might not be perfect, but God didn't create me perfect. So my imperfect nature is more God's fault than mine! He cannot blame me for it!
Anyways, I do seek after God!

Scripture provides simple responses to both excuses.

First, God initially created a perfect people (Adam and Eve). Just as each generation of humanity is less genetically well-rounded, each generation of humanity inherits being imperfect. Thus your imperfection is the fault of humanity (who introduced the imperfections), not God. Also, God is responsible enough to provide a way to restore perfection to you.

Second, God must mean something different than you do by "seeking after" him. What God means by "seeking after" him is seeking to restore yourself to the perfection God intended humanity to have. Then you can be with God forever. In other words, God refers not to seeking after knowledge about God, but eternal life with God.

Are you seeking after God in this way?

Restoring Perfection - The Challenge

Be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect. -Yeshua, in Matthew 5:48

To the Jewish mind, seeking perfection can be a startling concept. Isn't the Tenach about being holy, not about being perfect? How can anyone be perfect? We might be able to theoretically develop the willpower to never sin, but we would still have iniquity (the imperfect thoughts and desires we cannot control)! Isn't the tenth commandment impossible to always follow?

The people Yeshua met often had this very reaction. Consider this account in Matthew 19:16-22:

Now a man came up to Yeshua and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Yeshua replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to obtain eternal life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Yeshua replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Yeshua answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was wealthy.

The point of Matthew 19:16-22 is not that we need to sell our possessions as the key to going to heaven. Yeshua knew the young man's heart and put up an appropriate challenge of priorities for that particular young man. What would you be asked to give up to show your life was devoted to seeking after God? Your striving for wealth? Business success? Popularity? Security?

Restoring Perfection - Starting the Process

Proper seeking is actually very easy. God does not require us to be perfect before we die (halleluyah!). Instead, God wants us to be completely committed to the perfection process. If we want eternity badly enough to devote ourselves completely to preparing for it, and are willing to prepare in the ways God tells us to instead of with our own agenda, then God will finish the perfection process after we die. In First John 3:2 we are told

We do know that when he appears, we will be like him...

How do you start the process of restoring perfection? It is not as difficult as it might seem.

Not only will God finish the process after you die, but God will also do all the work during this life! The Bible calls the perfection process "eternal life", to contrast it with the biological life we already have. To get eternal life, all you have to do is follow Yeshua! As we read in John 17:3,

And eternal life is this: to know you, the one true God, and him whom you sent, Yeshua the Messiah.

If we follow Yeshua and intimately spend time with God, God's Holy Spirit separates the good and evil in us. Luke 3:16-17 explains this using the metaphor of each of us being a grain that needs winnowing.

He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. He has with him his winnowing fork to clear out the threshing floor and gather his wheat [the good part of each grain] into his barn, but he will burn up the straw [the bad part of each grain] with unquenchable fire!

At this point, a very common reaction is, "But I know lots of people that claim to be Christians who are terrible people! And history is full of such people!"

Good observation! Merely claiming to know Yeshua isn't enough. Remember, you need to devote your life. Most people who claim to know Yeshua really don't. In fact, Yeshua predicted this, and told us how to tell his real followers from the imposters!

Increasing Perfection - The Process Shows the Imposters

How do we know if we (or someone else) is really following Yeshua? Scripture tells us in Ephesians 1:13-14 that God's Spirit is the indicator.

Furthermore, you who heard the message of the truth, the good news offering your deliverance, and put your trust in the Messiah were sealed by him with the promised holy Spirit, who guarantees our inheritance until we come into possession of it...

But how do we know if we (or someone else) has God's Spirit? In Matthew 7:21-23 Yeshua warns us it is not miracles that prove you have God's spirit.

Not everyone that says to me, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. On that Day, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? didn't we expel demons in your name? Didn't we perform miracles in your name?" Then I will tell them to their faces, "I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!"

Nor, according to Luke 13:24-27, is it attending a Messianic congregation or a Christian church, or studying scripture, or eating communion that prove you have God's spirit.

Many will be demanding to get in and won't be able to, once the owner of the house has gotten up and shut the door. You will stand outside, knocking at the door and saying, "Lord! Open up for us!" But he will answer, "I don't know you or where you come from!" Then you will say, "We ate and drank with you! You taught in our streets!" And he will tell you, "I don't know where you are from. Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!"

Instead it is the "fruit" in your life. By our own efforts we can act more patient, kind, etc. But deep inside we know when this is just an act. Only God, through his Spirit, can really increase these and similar virtues. The way to tell if you (or someone else) is really devoted to Yeshua is that your life has virtues growing stronger and wickedness dying out. Galatians 5:16-17, 22-23 provides a list of virtues that only God can genuinely increase.

What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, you, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self control.

Conclusion

So, how do you if you are going to heaven?

If you are devoting yourself to following Yeshua, and God has put his stamp of approval on this effort of devotion by empowering you to "run your life by the Spirit" then you can rest assured your destiny is secure.

If you are still struggling to be a good person and not noticing any help from God in this process, be warned!