I’ve attended enough funerals to have been exposed to scores of sappy, revisionist, post-mortem biographies, tearfully shared by relatives, trying their best to place “Uncle Harry” in Heaven, even if they must lie to do so.
While Uncle Harry may have lived his entire life avoiding and ignoring God, he somehow gets put on a magic carpet, and is dispatched to the pearly gates on the strength of his once-a-year church attendance, his being a “nice guy,” his volunteer work at Kiwanis, etc.
Voila!
The underlying assumption here is that Heaven is this cushy place where there are pleasures forevermore and even better, all that “god stuff” is strictly optional, just like on earth.
In this view, the deceased is at the “center” of Heaven and God is somewhere in the periphery, tastefully keeping His distance (something like a playground monitor) — this keeps everything pretty much like it was on earth.
It’s astounding how normally sensible, educated people can fall for such malarky, even betting their eternal destiny on the blasphemous notion that they can have Heaven without bothering with God.
Spoiler Alert
News flash: Heaven is not about YOU at all. It is all about Jesus, and how you get to come along for the ride, IF you have made provision in advance.
The late Christian philosopher Dallas Willard once wrote: “One should seriously inquire if to live in a world permeated with God and the knowledge of God is something you truly desire.”
Well, there’s the big test folks. Do you really want to live in a world permeated with God?
Because if you are not already (or wanting to be) living that way today, you would hate it in Heaven.
Jesus, Heaven’s Light
In Revelation 21:1-4, Scripture gives us this rare glimpse of Heaven — the real one:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”
And in Revelation 22:1-5:
“And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street … There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.”
Notice Who is at the center of the action in the Heavenlies:
Christ is pictured as the divine Husband of His celestial Bride (the holy city of the saints); Christ (and the Lord God Almighty) is pictured as the Temple of Heaven, containing the worship of the saints; Christ is pictured as the Lamp of Heaven, gloriously illuminating the Heavens.
From this, can you see any provision for a “Christless” Heaven? Remove Christ and the place would be plunged into everlasting blackness — which is the very definition of Hell.
What makes Heaven “Heavenly” IS Christ Himself.
How This Affects Us
From this we can summarize that Heaven IS Jesus.
As written in Colossians 1:13-17, you and I are brought into the heavenly picture as an act of pure grace and mercy through the divine intervention of our lavish Creator God:
“For He (Jesus) rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Christ is here pictured as the “Cosmic Stickum” that holds all of creation together.
How About You?
A heaven without Jesus does NOT exist. The other choice is Hell.