by Bill Stevens
PART 1
THE PROMISE OF HEAVEN
“We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course, it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
1. THE TROUBLE WITH DEATH
Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14:1 (NKJV)
Death is a troubler. There is nothing more painful than death. There is nothing more heart wrenching than grieving someone who you deeply loved. Have you ever lost someone you deeply cared for and they deeply cared for you? Someone you relied on and they relied on you. Someone you relied on and they relied on you. Someone whom you depended upon and they depended upon you. Someone who invested their lives in you and you in them. There is trouble and all kinds of trouble come to us.
Death troubles your heart with anxiety and worries.
It will play on your nerves, mind, emotions, and cause you to act in unhealthy ways. Death can shake us to our core and cause us to seek to stop the pain no matter what. What am I going to do? How am I going to live without them being here? If you depended upon this person financially and there was no plan for financial stability without them, that can cause significant trouble and fear.
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.
C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
Death troubles your heart with fear for our own lives.
Everyone fears death at some point in their life. Christ’s Word teaches us that humanity has been kept in fear of death. Now we can seek to become stoic, gladiator-like bravery, and say there is never a fear of death. But friends, that is movies and not real life. The truth is even the most competent, capable, and mighty of men and women, are attacked with fear of their own death at times. Not only attacked but kept in a prison for fear of their own death. So they do things to make their mark, leave a legacy, preserve their life, and be remembered. There is nothing wrong with these things, and I believe we should seek to do them. But the one that is driven by fear of their own mortality is never at peace, especially when their worldly achievements fall apart. Their personal peace is built upon their achievements, which will never last forever.
Death is troubling because it is an appointment made for everyone.
God’s Word says, “And as it is appointed for a person to die once, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27
Death is real. Some try to live in denial of it. Some try to live nonchalantly about it. Others live in fear of it. Some try to cheat death, but friends it is impossible to cheat death. No matter what a person believes or does – death is an appointment for every one of us.
Everyone knows there is more to life than this life. God’s Word, the Bible says “God has set eternity in the hearts of men/women.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) We know there is more to life than this life. We can try to lie to ourselves, but God has made it abundantly clear in our heart – that there is an eternity and we either have certainty facing it or uncertainty facing it. We will either enter eternity in peace with God or without peace in meeting God.
Christ Jesus came to free us from the fear of death.
Jesus tells us in His Word, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son (Christ Jesus) also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” Hebrews 2:14–15 (NLT)
There is no way around it, death is a troubler. The prospect of someone you love dying brings fear, anxiety, worry, pain of all kind, heart ache and heart break, and fear of them suffering. But Christ Jesus came to remove the fear of death and He gave us specific instructions on how He can help each of us through the pain of death and fear of dying.
2. CHRIST CAME TO HELP US THROUGH OUR GRIEF
Jesus gave us specific instructions on how to connect with Him, so He could help us through our grief.
Jesus dropped an emotional bomb on his closest friends the night before He was crucified, that He was going to be betrayed by one of them and then killed. These were His closest friends who had left everything, jobs, careers, and even time with family to learn day and night from Him for the previous three years. They were more than grieved. They were deeply troubled, and He gives them (and us) some specific instructions.
Here are the words Jesus spoke to comfort them:
Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”” John 14:1–7 (NLT)
Look at what He says!
First, he says you can make it through the pain and to overcome your fears and troubles. He said, “Don’t let your heart be troubled!” That is a huge statement for anyone grieving the death of a loved one. God Himself, Christ Jesus, says, “Don’t LET your heart be troubled.” Getting on the path to making it through this pain is a choice you have to make. He didn’t say that they were going to be victims of circumstances beyond their control, but they could be victorious and make it through the pain if they would choose to follow His path of instruction.
Second, He says, the only way to make it through the pain and troubles of grief is by faith! He said, “You believe in God, believe also in me.” The word “belief” in the Bible is our word for “faith.” Faith is the key to overcoming the pain, trouble, and heartache of death. Christ Jesus is the only One who can speak definitively on death and the afterlife. He is God who became man to help us do what we could not do ourselves. He explained God to us, and then made a way for us to have forgiveness and peace with God. He died, was buried, and arose from the grave alive on the third day securing forgiveness for whoever would put their trust in Him. His resurrection proves He is God and was God in human form. He calls each of us to put our faith in Him like you would have faith in God. Putting your faith in Him will remove the fear of death.
Many times, we are afraid of thinking about God we have a list of regrets that we know God would not approve. The Bible calls those sins, rebellious actions against the ways of God. But Jesus understands our human weakness and He died on the cross to pay the punishment for our sins. Yes, His death made atonement for everyone’s sins in the entire world, so that anyone who put’s their faith in Him will be forgiven and fully accepted by God. How do we know if we place our faith in Christ’s death as payment for our rebellious actions that God will forgive us and accept us fully? The resurrection of Christ was God the Father’s stamp of approval upon His Son’s amazing selfless act of sacrifice for you and me, and the entire world. Jesus was perfect – unlike us. He was tempted in every way we are tempted but never sinned (rebelled against God.) Putting your faith in Christ will remove the fear of punishment. Christ becomes our lawyer, our advocate who makes the undeniable perfect case of total forgiveness for everyone who places their faith in Him.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)
Faith in Him also gives us eternal life! Eternal life is not a phrase we use very often at all. Eternal life is not being immortal – living forever in this body. Imagine how horrible that would be – always stuck in this world that is growing worse and worse. God’s Word teaches that Eternal Life as a present reality and an amazing future reality. When you place your faith in Christ something amazing happens inside you immediately – present reality! You are forgiven by God and He fills you with peace, love, and joy. He does something spiritually inside you to bring you to life. You possess this amazing new quality of life, called eternal life. But you also are given this assurance of being with God in His Heaven forever!
Christ didn’t come to judge us and slam us! He came so that we might not be condemned!
“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17 (NLT)
3. CHRIST PROMISES US AN AMAZING HEAVENLY HOME
“There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” John 14:2
Christ has prepared a perfect place for His followers to live forever with Him. No, it is not floating upon the clouds and no, you do not become an angel either. The Bible does not teach either of these. So what is Heaven? Heaven is the home of God. It does not exist in the universe as we know it. God exists outside of time, outside of this universe, in a realm that we might describe as eternity. Heaven is more beautiful than you can imagine. There are angels, streets like that of transparent gold, and it is called the City of God. It is a place where there is no pain, no sorrow, no tears, no hospitals, no funeral homes, no suffering, no sickness, and no graveyards. And Christ Himself with wipe away all your tears. The Bible teaches you will have a perfect body, no disabilities, and you will be the person God originally intended for you to be!
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4 (NLT)
More importantly than all these things – it is where Jesus is. Christ the One who loves you so much that He willingly surrendered His life for you, so you might have Eternal Life with Him forever! Will you get a mansion or a room? Some translations use the term “mansions.” I guess a room in God’s house would be a mansion! But technically it is a word that was used 400 years ago in a very old translation (King James Version), but technically the original Greek word means “rooms.” The real meaning is not about having a big mansion, but that God Himself has personally prepared you a place in His very own home. Our good-good Heavenly Father cares deeply for His children, to make place for all of them – not temporarily – but forever!
Followers of Christ will not just see and be with Jesus, but with all the followers of Christ. There will be a great reunion day for all followers of Christ. It will be awesome and an amazing reunion day with family and friends!
“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” John 14:3
Reunited with all our believing loved one and friends. All of God’s children will be together one day. Jesus is coming again to receive His children to Himself. Followers of Jesus will either enter His presence through the doorway of death or when He returns, we will be gathered together by Him and taken to Heaven with Him. Christ Himself will return to this earth, not to be crucified again, but to receive His children to Himself, defeat all the evil once and for all in this world, and set up His reign and rule upon this earth. God’s Word calls this the Resurrection Day, or the Day of the Lord. The dead will be raised to have a resurrected body like Jesus.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?”” John 11:25–26 (NLT)
4. THE WAY TO HEAVEN
Jesus finished talking to His followers that night by telling them how they could go to Heaven with Him one day!
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”” John 14:4–7 (NLT)
Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not give a list of rules to follow, how good you had to be, or how religious you need to be. Actually, He never did that. God is about relationships, more than rules. Notice everything, He speaks of in this passage is about being in relationship with Him – like a brother to Him, and a son to the Father. Christ was very loving but very exclusive. He is God who created the entire universe. It is His and He offers amazing eternal life to everyone, but it is all dependent upon a person acknowledging that Jesus is the only way. He is Lord, master, or boss if you will, of the entire universe. The way to the Father is through the Son, Jesus. What does that mean? First, placing your faith in Christ’s death on the cross as your only hope of forgiveness and eternal life. Second, allowing Christ to be the boss/leader of your life. He will then guide you through this life personally and He promises you will be with Him forever.
What a good God He is!