Christianity is not small in its anticipations, its desires, its
aspirations and its plans.
It speaks of a large hope for the future, so large that many men fail
to comprehend its magnificence (John 11:23-26; Mark 16:11). It
declares that while the body may be placed in the grave, the real man
never dies. Man in all that he thinks and does lives with two worlds
plainly in view, the one that now is and the one which is to come.
The disciples immediately after the ascension of Christ began to
preach and teach the resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:30-32; 3:15;
4:10,33; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8). They used this fact of the
resurrection as a reason for the belief in Christ as the Saviour of
men, a forsaking of sin and an incentive to a life of righteousness.
They taught, as Jesus Himself did, that this life, no matter how great
its opportunities, was but the vestibule to a new and larger life
beyond the grave. It is better to sacrifice everything in this life,
if necessary, rather than to miss the glory of the life to come
(Matthew 5:29; 10:28; Mark 9:47). No good deed done in this life, in
the name of Christ, can fail of large reward in the life to come
(Matthew 19:28,29; 25:34-40). By this emphasis, which was laid upon
the future life, the horizon of thought and action was marvellously
widened. Men were taught no longer that they were to exist for a few
years and then go out forever into the darkness of annihilation, good
and bad alike, but that they were to live forever.
Conscious Personal Existence of the soul after death. This fact is
conspicuously taught in the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles and
Revelation. In the world to come people are not shades or ghosts, but
they have certain bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44), they know themselves
to be and are known as the same persons who once lived on the earth
(Matthew 17:2-4; Luke 24:36-48; John 20:24-28; 11:25,26; Luke
16:19-31; 23:42,43). Christ said, "But as touching the resurrection of
the dead have ye not read, that which was spoken unto you by God
saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but the living" (Matthew 22:
31,32).
Eternal Citizenship in heaven. The aim of Christianity is to make men
righteous. The abode of the blessed hereafter is one wherein dwells
holiness, purity and truth.
There are conditions and hindrances to the entering of the abode of
the blessed.
1. Conditions. The great prerequisite to entering into the joy of
heaven is righteousness, perfect obedience to the law of God. But
every man of himself, when he enters into an honest self-examination,
feels that he comes far short of the perfect keeping of the divine
commands (1 John 1:8,9; Romans 3:23). He needs forgiveness for past
disobedience, he needs help to lead a righteous life. Hence Jesus
Christ, the divine Son of God, came that through His life and death we
might receive pardon for past sin and help to live the righteous life
(John 3:16-23). What man could not do for himself Jesus Christ does
for him (Romans 3:20-26). The disciples of Christ were rightly
enthusiastic in proclaiming Him as the propitiation for man's sin and
belief in Him, with all that it implied, as the entrance gate into the
heavenly life. Jesus said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth and
the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). "In My
Father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told
you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I
am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,3).
2. Hindrances. The great hindrance to the entering of heaven is
disobedience of God, not only acts of disobedience but a state of
disobedience, where the soul of man desires to have no fellowship with
God or His righteousness. There is a disobedience of God through
carelessness, through ignorance and through willfulness; there is
little hope for a man when he deliberately turns his back upon God. It
is wonderfully shown in the Bible how God has sought to make Himself
known to man and to save him here and hereafter. Every possible
appeal has been made to man to turn to God. The Scriptures give no
answer of hope for a happy hereafter for those who deliberately reject
all of God's invitations and pleadings in this world (Matthew 25:46;
Daniel 12:2; John 5:29; Romans 2:1-6).
The Glory of Heaven.--The New Testament writers vie with each other in
striving to make plain the glory of heaven. John describes it, in a
vision, as a magnificent city of gold and precious stones, wherein can
come no evil thing (Revelation, chapters 21,22). "And the city had no
need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations
of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings
of the earth do bring their honour and glory into it" (Revelation
21:23,24). The real glory of heaven, however, is not in its outward
adornment or pageantry, but in the triumph of righteousness and the
supreme reward of constancy to the truth of God (Revelation
7:9-17). The holiness of God is vindicated (Revelation 4:8,9). "The
tabernacle of God is with men" (Revelation 21:3,4), and every good
deed stands out glorified in the clear white light of eternity. Every
saint in heaven will feel that he has the hundredfold reward for all
the sacrifices he made when upon the earth for the kingdom of God.
The effort of the New Testament writers is to make the followers of
Christ joyfully do their work here, much of which may be distasteful
and difficult. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God" (Hebrews 12:2). It is worth while to work for a limited future
earthly reward; it is much more worth while to work for a heavenly
reward which shall endure throughout eternity.