How Do I Know Heaven Is Real?

Because Jesus Said So. In Matthew’s record of Jesus’ first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5-7, Jesus mentioned heaven 21 times. For example, in Matthew 5.11-12 we read, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus, in an effort to motivate people to do the will of the Father, often spoke of heaven and hell. Shortly before his crucifixion Jesus, speaking of heaven, told his disciples, “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14.2-3). I know heaven is real because Jesus said so.

Because The Apostles Said So. References to heaven are also common in the teachings and writings of the apostles. In 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18, Paul described the future reunion of saints with one another when all saints will be caught up with the Savior in the sky to be with the Lord forever in heaven. On one occasion Peter described heaven in this way, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1.3-5). And John described the beauty of heaven in Revelation 21-22. I know heaven is real because the apostles said so.

Because Of Eyewitness Testimony. We have several accounts of people who have seen heaven. In describing his call and commission as a prophet of the Lord, Isaiah said, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up…” (Isaiah 6.1ff). He goes on to describe the throne seen including the seraphim. In Acts 7.55-56 Luke recorded that just before the martyrdom of Stephen that “he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” Consider also Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.2-4 and John in Revelation. I know heaven is real because of eyewitness testimony.

Because Jesus Was Resurrected. In the very first gospel sermon as recorded in Acts 2, part of Peter’s convincing proof that Jesus was made Lord and Christ was the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. And in speaking of Jesus’ resurrection, Peter also affirmed that Jesus is now in heaven at the right hand of God. Just as assuredly as Christ arose, there is a heaven in which he lives! The Hebrew writer said it this way, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9.24). I know heaven is real because of Jesus’ resurrection.

I know heaven is real! Do you? Are you prepared to go there? If not, why not?

That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

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