1.
How can heaven be a happy place when the saved think of loved ones who
are lost?
The Bible says that God will "wipe away all tears from their eyes." Revelation
21:4. Surrounded by the beauty and joys of the new earth, God's redeemed people
will forget the tragedies and heartaches of the past; "the former shall
not be remembered, nor come into mind." Isaiah 65:17.
2. The Bible says, "Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 15:50.
How, then, can the redeemed be flesh and bones?
Here the Bible uses the term "flesh" to describe the unconverted
person. A similar thought is expressed in Romans 8:8, 9: "They that are
in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." John 3:6 says, "That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit." The term "flesh" here again refers to the unconverted
person, while the term "spirit" refers to the converted or "born
again" person. So the Bible is simply saying in 1 Corinthians 15:50 that
no one can enter God's kingdom unless conversion first takes place and flesh
becomes spirit. Christ, in His resurrected body, declared that He was truly "flesh
and bones." Luke 24:39. We shall have a body like His, according to Philippians
3:21.
3. Is the apostle Peter in charge of the gate of the holy city?
No! The Bible says in Revelation 21:12 that the new Jerusalem, the holy city
of God, has 12 gates, and at the gates are 12 angels. No reference is made in
the Bible to any of the apostles as guardians of the gates.
4. Is the holy city really big enough to hold all
the saved people of all ages?
If the city were to be crowded and each saved person given only 100 square
feet of ground space, there would be room for 39 billion people in the city,
which is many times the present population of the world. Many statisticians
believe that if all the people who have ever lived were saved, there would
be plenty of room for them in the city. The Scriptures make it clear, however,
that only a few will be saved (Matthew 7:14). So there will be more than enough
room in the great city.
5. Sometimes I wonder if the reward is worth the
sacrifice. It seems that Satan is about to overwhelm me
at times. Does the Bible offer me any encouragement?
Yes. In fact, the apostle Paul must have been thinking of someone like you
when he wrote, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18.
Just one glimpse of that eternal kingdom will cause the worst trials and persecutions
of earth to pale into insignificance, and the redeemed will cry out: "Hallelujah,
heaven is cheap enough!"
6. Will little babies who die be saved in God's kingdom?
We do not have a specific Bible answer to this question, but many choose to believe
that infants will be saved on the basis of Matthew 2:16-18. There the Bible
tells of wicked king Herod slaying all the babies in Bethlehem who were 2 years
old or younger. The Old Testament foretold this tragic, cruel incident, and
God told the mothers to stop crying because their children would one day be
restored to them. "Refrain thy voice from weeping, ... they [the slain
children] shall come again from the land of the enemy. ... Thy children shall
come again to their own border." Jeremiah 31:16,17. This is an obvious
reference to the resurrection.
7. Do I understand correctly that heaven, the home of the
saved, will be right here on this earth?
That is correct. Although the holy city is now in God's dwelling place, He
is going to move it to this earth. Sin and sinners will be destroyed with fire,
and the earth will be made new and given to the righteous in all of its Edenic
glory and beauty. The holy city will be the capital of the new earth, and God
will move His throne here (Revelation 21:2, 3; 22:1, 3) and live with the righteous
right here on this earth throughout eternity. And where the Lord abides, that
is heaven. God's plan is to restore to man what Adam lost: the glories of a
perfect life on a perfect planet. Satan and sin interrupted God's plan, but
the plan will be carried out. We can all share in this new kingdom, and we
must! It's too much to miss. (Additional information on this subject will be
given in Study Guide 12.)
8. Why do so many teach and believe that the home of the
saved is a misty place with ghostlike inhabitants who float on
clouds and do nothing but play harps?
This teaching originated with the devil, the father of lies (John 8:44). He is
anxious to distort God's loving plan and present heaven as an unreal, "spooky" place
so people will lose interest or become skeptical of God's Word altogether. Satan
well knows that when men and women fully understand the Bible truth regarding
the home of the saved, his power over them is broken, because they will begin
making plans to enter that kingdom. This is why he works so hard to becloud the
issue and spread falsehood regarding that heavenly home.
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