As Christians, we are right to find comfort in that promise. On that point, the Bible is unmistakably clear. Jesus did, indeed, promise that He left the earth to go and prepare a place for those who would eventually follow Him to heaven. When the person presiding over the funeral uses Scripture to support this claim of immediate life after death, they often reference John 14.
A common sentiment heard at funerals, spoken in an effort to bring peace to the hearts of those left behind, is that the departed loved has gone on to be with Jesus and is now enjoying the afterlife in the heavenly paradise, looking down upon us. We also know from Scripture that God is preparing a place for us now. We will no longer face the challenges and limitations we face one earth. We will have heavenly bodies, free from sin.
We have no fear of being judged for our sin because it was already judged and taken away at the cross by Christ. We know that in the kingdom of heaven “nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). One of the greatest things that we have to look forward to is that the struggle over sin will finally be over. The Bible gives many particulars about heaven. The assumption that we will get what we want overrides the unpleasant but rational view that things might not end well. This is very similar to the mistake so many people often make when it comes to substance abuse, dangerous behaviors and so on. It’s easier to accept the idea of a happy and comfortable afterlife, but damnation isn’t quite so appealing. A lot of this has to do with wishful thinking. Trying to separate them is simply not possible from a biblical standpoint.ĭespite the Bible’s clear teaching of both heaven and hell, it is not unusual for people, including some Christians, to believe in the reality of heaven while rejecting the reality of hell. The concept of real, conscious, forever-and-ever existence in hell is just as biblical as a real, conscious, forever-and-ever existence in heaven.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” The truth is Jesus spent more time warning people about the dangers of hell than He did in comforting them with the hope of heaven. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14 says, “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The Bible speaks on the reality of hell in the same terms as the reality of heaven. Heaven and hell both exist and we know this because Scripture tells us so.
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