If we take God seriously, then we have to take His words on heaven and hell seriously. Jesus said, ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.’ (John 3:36) He says that God’s will is that whoever believes in the Son will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), that God’s will is not condemnation and punishment, but salvation and restoration. Our salvation has to consist of more than mere words (see Matt 7:21-23); there needs to be a new way of living which takes seriously our call to be Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20) whose role is to seek to witness to others of God’s life-changing love.
In 2 Cor 5, Paul talks about the tension we feel between the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’, how we long to be with God and yet also desire to serve Him on earth. He talks about how we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (2 Cor 5:2-4) so that ‘what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.’ (2 Cor 5:4) We have a longing for the perfect, for the completeness and wholeness that comes from being in God’s direct presence, but in the meantime, he says, ‘we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.’ (2 Cor 5:9) We realise we are ‘foreigners and exiles’ on earth (1 Pet 2:11), that this is not our ultimate destination. But at the same time, if God has not yet taken us to be with Him, then that is because He has plans for our lives here on earth and He wants us to be His light to this world.
A right view of heaven will comfort us, reassure us and help us through the trials of life. It motivates us also in our life here on earth to take the words of Jesus seriously and to do our utmost to live lives that are worthy of Him. Our most important task on earth is living as Christ’s ambassadors and seeking to introduce others to Him. Contrary to being about escaping this world, the Christian view of heaven is that we would be the kinds of people, doing the kinds of things that brings more of heaven, more of the will of God, to the area of the world we are in. Christians have started hospitals, libraries, orphanages, schools and have worked to bring justice and hope on earth because we take seriously the view that God’s rule and reign will bring good things to each one of us. Heaven is God’s rule and reign, now and in the age to come. Hell is being separated from God, now and in the age to come. Let’s choose to live in God’s presence and to be His ambassadors, those light-emitting disciples whose hearts are set on pilgrimage, because we know we’re just passing through this time-limited life but have already started out on that journey to everlasting life which can never end.