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Is the Kingdom of God a distant place, located far away in a heaven we won’t see until we die? Or is it here with us today—and if so, what does that mean? In the Slice of Infinity devotional, Jill Carattini explains

In the minds of many Christians, a chasm… exists between the kingdom of heaven and the world in which we now live. The kingdom of heaven is seen as the place we are journeying toward, the better country the writer of Hebrews describes. In contrast, our place on earth is seen as temporary; like Abraham, we are merely passing through. As a result, chasms stand between kingdom and earth, today and tomorrow, the physical and the spiritual. Whether intentionally or otherwise, the earth becomes something fleeting and irrelevant—one more commodity here for our use, like shampoo bottles in hotel bathrooms—while Christ is away preparing our permanent rooms. When the Christian pilgrimage is seen an ascent to another world, whether articulated or subconscious, this world soon becomes superfluous and God a distant caretaker.

This chasm not only belies a posture irresponsible for those called to love their neighbors and cultivate their surroundings, it betrays the identity and decree of a good creator, and negates the words of our most sacred prayer. What does it mean that we pray God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven? What does it mean that Christ repeatedly declared the kingdom of God is here and now among us? What does it mean that for lack of human praise the very rocks will cry out at the glory of their creator and the trees will clap their hands?

Read the full devotional at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Christians have often been guilty of focusing too much on the world to come and not enough on the world we live in now, as Carattini explains. But to ignore opportunities for Christian ministry right now is to surrender a large part of the Christian life over to the enemy!

This is one of the more vexing questions that Christians encounter (or ask themselves): if Jesus is the only way through which we’re made right with God, what does that mean for people who never hear about him? It’s one thing to hear the Gospel and choose to reject it; but what about somebody who never had a chance to hear, let alone reject, the message of Jesus?

Christians have taken many different approaches to this question. I’ll highlight responses from two different online ministries below. Do you agree with either (or both) of them?

Uplook Ministries answers the question by arguing that God works in people’s hearts in many more ways than just through overt preaching of the Gospel. They conclude:

God has promised us that, if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). He is not eager for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). “For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13). We do not know how God is dealing with people in lands yet unreached by the gospel, but from Scripture we can see that He will never condemn anyone unjustly, but will be faithful to reveal Himself to anyone who looks for His salvation.

We also know that John saw in heaven “…a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10). Not only every nation but every tribe will be represented in heaven.

Notice that they all sing the same song. We are not saying that sincere Muslims or Hindus, trusting in their religion, will make it to heaven. There is only one Saviour, and everyone in heaven will be there through the salvation provided by God’s Lamb, the Lord Jesus.

Read the full answer at Uplook Ministries.

The Faith Facts ministry answers the question:

…the Bible also teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)! And it implies that whoever seeks after God earnestly will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 86:5; Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13; Matthew 7:7-8). God is fair as well as just. We are confident, for example, that the Old Testament patriarchs who lived by faith before Jesus’ earthly ministry, are in heaven. So certainly some people have gotten to heaven without knowing Jesus in the personal way that the New Testament speaks of. Ultimately only God can judge as only He knows the individual’s heart. We hold out hope that for those who have not heard but have not rejected God, those have been misinformed, or those who are unable to understand (children, mentally ill, etc) may be pardoned by a just God.

Certainly, the Bible does not teach “universalism.” Universalism is the idea that everyone gets to heaven.

The Bible clearly teaches that the only certain way to heaven is through Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We are confident that God will not hold anyone accountable for any knowledge he did not receive. At the same time, the Bible emphatically states that Christ is the only sure way to salvation. Anyone who has heard of the saving grace of Jesus, and rejects it, would be thumbing his nose at God (John 3:36).

Read the full answer at Faith Facts website.

Do these answers satisfy you?

Share your thoughts!

When a Christ-follower dies, what happens next? From the clever metaphors of CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce to the structured hierarchy of Dante’s Paradiso, different Christians have painted very different images of what heaven is like.

Heaven, the afterlife, the kingdom of God… what do you think it is, or will be, like?

Share your answer!

Here are a few sermons on heaven and hell from sermonindex.net:

Hell, What is it like?

What and Where is Heaven?

Heaven

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Revelations 4:

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”

Absolutely they do!

But not just because they’re ‘good.’

The apostle Paul teaches us that we’re saved by grace through faith, which is good because everyone–yep, everyone–needs that grace. Your pastor? Needs grace. Billy Graham? Definitely needs grace. The Pope? Yep, even he needs grace.

No matter how ‘good’ we are, we’re still ‘bad’ so to speak. Think of it like an unexplored piece of land, the second someone sets foot on that land it ceases to be unexplored. It’s been fundamentally altered. The second we do something wrong, the second we sin, the second we step outside of the bounds of what God wants for us, we’re no longer good by God’s standards, which means we need God’s grace.

This article from Acts International explains even further:

God is also a God of absolute justice and therefore all sinners—no matter how small—must be judged, otherwise God wouldn’t be God. Because God IS God, the just judgment of all sin is death; that is, spiritual death which is actually eternal separation from a holy and just God in the place the Bible calls hell, whatever and wherever that may be.

…fortunately however, God is also a God of absolute love. That’s why he sent his Son Jesus to die in our place on the cross to pay the just penalty for all of our sins. If being good, religious, sincere, or being anything else could have qualified us for getting into God’s heaven, Jesus would never have had to come to earth to die for our sins.

Head over there and read the whole thing. And if you want to know more about how to receive the grace that God extends to us, click here.

Heaven and Hell. Hades and Paradise.

Is heaven harps and wings? Does it look like Dante’s Paradisio? Is Hell like Sarte envisioned? Type ‘Heaven’ into any search engine and marvel at how many different ideas people have concerning heaven.

There’s quite a bit of misinformation about the afterlife screaming to be heard. You can find people that will tell you just about anything about what happens after we die. Want heaven to be a place where your wildest fantasies come true? Well, there are teachers that would love to tickle your ears about just that.

Obviously, for Christians the question of whose version of eternity is correct is kind of important, as that question is key to our understanding of the gospel.

That’s why this week we’ll be looking at some of those different questions, exploring the beliefs of Christians and pointing out some resources we’ve found to help you with your understanding of the Afterlife.