How Many People are Going to Heaven?
What a good question that is. It has an easy answer. There will only be righteous people in heaven. That means that every righteous person will go to heaven.
That means that we only have to become righteous and we will go to heaven. There is a problem though. The Bible says that there is none righteous. Does that mean that no one can go to heaven?
The Bible also makes it clear that every person is a sinner, and that would mean that no sinners are going to go to heaven. This gets harder by the minute. If only righteous people go to heaven and there are none righteous, and if all are sinners which means that they are not righteous, then that sounds like no one can go to heaven.
We know that God took Moses up to heaven. We know that God took Elijah to heaven. We know that Enoch went to heaven. Ah, but they were Old Testament people so it must have been that they were good enough to go, Wait a minute. Moses was being punished when God took him to heaven. He wasn’t allowed to go into the Promised Land of Canaan, but he was allowed to go to heaven.
One of the surprising things in the Bible is that no one is good enough to go to heaven, but everyone who wants to go there can go. How can that be? If no one is good enough to go how does someone get good enough to be admitted into that wonderful place?
The amazing thing is that the whole plan to allow man into heaven is a plan that was developed by God before the first man was even born. Since god is God, He knew what man would do before man even did it, and He made a plan where His Son would come to earth, live a sinless life, and die a sacrificial death for all who would believe. He chose a people. He redeemed them as a people from their slavery in Egypt which was a great picture of what He was going to do for all who believe.
He gave them a religion by which they were to live and all that was in their religious observances were pictures of the great sacrifice that His Son would one day make.
His people had religious leaders called prophets who kept giving pictures of what would happen when His Son would come and what God was going to do for His people.
Then the time came. The great apostle named Paul wrote that God’s Son came in the “fullness of time.” It was just the right time that Jesus came. It was the right time because it was God’s time.
Jesus was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. He died a sacrificial death and rose from the grave to prove what He had done. He went back to heaven to be forever the God-man representing all who believe in Him at the throne of God.
This means that He will give a new life down here to all who believe. That’s great. We started talking about heaven, but we have to live here before we go there and God wants us to have a wonderful life. He describes in the Bible as an abundant life. That is pretty good.
The Bible tells us that when we receive this new life in Christ, God looks at us in a whole new different way. He says that we are justified when we come to know Christ and experience this thing called the new birth. What does it mean to be justified. It means that God doesn’t see us and our sin, but He sees His Son and His righteousness. Now we are back to where we started. If God sees us as righteous then we can go to His heaven. That’s it. It is so simple and yet so profound.
Each of us can have a new life down here and also know that when we die we will go to live eternally with God. It is not because of anything that we have done. We enter heaven on the merits of Christ who loves us and gave Himself for us. There are no works we can do. There are no clubs we can join. We just have to believe.
This means that anyone can go to heaven. We just have to do it God’s way. Men try to make up ways that God will like, but He has already determined that there is just one way and that is His way. It is simple, but we are the ones who make it hard because we want to do it our way.
What a good question that is. It has an easy answer. There will only be righteous people in heaven. That means that every righteous person will go to heaven.
That means that we only have to become righteous and we will go to heaven. There is a problem though. The Bible says that there is none righteous. Does that mean that no one can go to heaven?
The Bible also makes it clear that every person is a sinner, and that would mean that no sinners are going to go to heaven. This gets harder by the minute. If only righteous people go to heaven and there are none righteous, and if all are sinners which means that they are not righteous, then that sounds like no one can go to heaven.
We know that God took Moses up to heaven. We know that God took Elijah to heaven. We know that Enoch went to heaven. Ah, but they were Old Testament people so it must have been that they were good enough to go, Wait a minute. Moses was being punished when God took him to heaven. He wasn’t allowed to go into the Promised Land of Canaan, but he was allowed to go to heaven.
One of the surprising things in the Bible is that no one is good enough to go to heaven, but everyone who wants to go there can go. How can that be? If no one is good enough to go how does someone get good enough to be admitted into that wonderful place?
The amazing thing is that the whole plan to allow man into heaven is a plan that was developed by God before the first man was even born. Since god is God, He knew what man would do before man even did it, and He made a plan where His Son would come to earth, live a sinless life, and die a sacrificial death for all who would believe. He chose a people. He redeemed them as a people from their slavery in Egypt which was a great picture of what He was going to do for all who believe.
He gave them a religion by which they were to live and all that was in their religious observances were pictures of the great sacrifice that His Son would one day make.
His people had religious leaders called prophets who kept giving pictures of what would happen when His Son would come and what God was going to do for His people.
Then the time came. The great apostle named Paul wrote that God’s Son came in the “fullness of time.” It was just the right time that Jesus came. It was the right time because it was God’s time.
Jesus was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. He died a sacrificial death and rose from the grave to prove what He had done. He went back to heaven to be forever the God-man representing all who believe in Him at the throne of God.
This means that He will give a new life down here to all who believe. That’s great. We started talking about heaven, but we have to live here before we go there and God wants us to have a wonderful life. He describes in the Bible as an abundant life. That is pretty good.
The Bible tells us that when we receive this new life in Christ, God looks at us in a whole new different way. He says that we are justified when we come to know Christ and experience this thing called the new birth. What does it mean to be justified. It means that God doesn’t see us and our sin, but He sees His Son and His righteousness. Now we are back to where we started. If God sees us as righteous then we can go to His heaven. That’s it. It is so simple and yet so profound.
Each of us can have a new life down here and also know that when we die we will go to live eternally with God. It is not because of anything that we have done. We enter heaven on the merits of Christ who loves us and gave Himself for us. There are no works we can do. There are no clubs we can join. We just have to believe.
This means that anyone can go to heaven. We just have to do it God’s way. Men try to make up ways that God will like, but He has already determined that there is just one way and that is His way. It is simple, but we are the ones who make it hard because we want to do it our way.
