Eternal Life

An old spiritual said it pretty well: “Everybody talkin’ ’bout Heaven ain’t goin’ there…”
So who is? Am I?
To answer this question, we must first dispel some wrong ideas. There is no magic formula to get in. There is no past event that secured your place. A cherished memory or an emotional response at some special location—with nothing more—is simply not the way to Heaven.

When Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them , so that they could be where he was, the point was not a new place. The point was being with him. The statement was directed to people who had been with him, who really—really—wanted to be with him, and who valued their time with him above everything else in life. They had not learned about him, or acknowledged him one day in the distant past, or felt emotional in his presence, or made idle promises to love him. They had spent their resources, their time, their lives with him.

The Scriptures show that eternity can be a frightening place. Going into the future doesn’t change us; it just confirms and makes clear—very clear for everyone to see—what we really are. The picture in Revelation is: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still”. Rev 22:11 Eternity seems to be an intensified and focused development of who we already are; a manifestation of our true character stripped of all pretense and every facade; a revealing to ourselves and all the universe of our most private being. We are what we are wherever we are. Simply going someplace else doesn’t change who we are. Whatever you are now is what you will be then—unless you change here and now.

This is why Jesus didn’t come preaching, “Believe in me and go to Heaven.” He preached:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24 Notice that Jesus did not say that those who believe will one day have eternal life; he said those who believe have eternal life now. And because they have it now, and it’s eternal, they will continue to have it then: “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”. John 11:26 So who is going to Heaven? Those who already have eternal life!

If we have life now, that life – that relationship with Jesus Christ – will never end. If we don’t have life now – a vibrant relationship with Jesus and the Heavenly Father—physical death will not bring it about.
If your present relationship with God continued forever, would that be heaven? “Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18