The Biblical Worldview on the Afterlife: Who Gets to Go to Heaven

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. Everyone who turns from their sin can go to heaven.

This is the day, the day when life begins. People can talk all day about what it takes to get to heaven. Inevitably, the discussion touches on the golden rule and includes phrases like, be true to yourself, and it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere.

People can be sincere and sincerely wrong at the same time. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie goes straight to scripture for the real answer. If we want to know how to get to heaven, it's best to ask the God of heaven, and that's what we'll do today. This is the day, the day when life begins. What happens to a Christian when they die?

Very simple answer. When a Christian dies, they go to heaven. If you have a loved one that believed in Jesus and they've died, they're in heaven right now. The Bible is very clear about this. In fact, it tells us over in 2 Corinthians 5, 8, we're confident, and I would say we're away from the body and at home with the Lord, so we make it our goal to please Him whether we are at home in the body or away from it. So we're absent from the body. We're present with the Lord. This doesn't take months or years.

It's instantaneous. The moment you take your last breath on earth, you take your first breath in heaven. Paul even said in Philippians 1, 23, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

In other words, Paul said, I would like to be in heaven right now, and notice he didn't say, I have a desire to depart and just live in sort of a soul sleep for decades. No. Or, I have a desire to depart with Christ and hang out on purgatory for a while and atone for my sins.

No. He says, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Now there are questions that pop in our minds about the afterlife. Like, okay, will we still have our bodies in heaven? Actually, the answer to that question is yes and no. You are given new bodies, but they're not completely disconnected from the body you're in now.

It's just a radically upgraded version of you. We're told over in 1 Corinthians 15, our earthly bodies will die and decay, but they'll be different when they're resurrected, then they'll never die. Our bodies now disappoint us. Amen to that. But when they're raised, they'll be full of glory.

They're weak now, but when they're raised, they'll be full of power. So what does this mean? It means if you were disabled on earth, you will not be disabled in heaven. It means if you were facing the ravages of age on earth, you will not face those in heaven. If you had cancer on earth, you won't have cancer in heaven.

So we talk about the differences, but they're similarities. You see, heaven is the earthly life of the believer glorified and perfected. When we pass to the other side, our minds, our memories are clearer than they've ever been before, because all of the clouding and damaging effects of sin are removed. And the Bible says we'll know as we are known. I don't think that means that God takes everything that He knows and puts it into our brain the moment we enter eternity. But what the Scripture seems to be saying is over time in eternity, the Lord will unveil to us more and more great truths and our knowledge will expand as we spend time in His presence worshiping Him. And we will be reunited with those that have gone before us who trusted in Jesus.

It's going to be amazing. Think of the purest joy you have ever experienced on earth. Multiply it a thousand times and you will have a fleeting glimpse of the euphoria of heaven. The Bible says in His presence there is fullness of joy and on His right hand pleasures forevermore. Ok. That is what happens to a believer. Now what happens to a non-believer? Let's look at Revelation 20.

Pretty bleak. Verse 11. Notice plural. The books.

We'll stop there. It is an ominous scene. This is the most serious, sobering, and tragic passage perhaps in the entire Bible. John the apostle.

The author of this. He is a great white throne. The throne is white because of its awesome power. It is a place of judgment.

It is a place of purity. The verdicts that will proceed from it now are righteous verdicts. There will be no debate at the great white throne over guilt or innocence. There will be a prosecutor but no defender. An accuser but no advocate. An indictment but no defense mounted by the accused. The convicting evidence will be presented. There will be no rebuttal or cross-examination.

There will be no jury but a judge. And His holy judgment is binding for all eternity. So what happens to the non-believer when they die now? They go to Hades.

I use this word intentionally. It is an interchangeable word with hell but let me explain because sometimes there is confusion. There is a difference between the lake of fire and Hades. The lake of fire that we just read about is the final destination of non-believers and the devil and his angels. The lake of fire is the destination non-believers are sent to after the great white throne judgment. The great white throne judgment has not happened yet.

It is still in the future. So what happens when a non-believer dies? They go to Hades.

Well what is that? Hades is spoken of among other places over in Luke 16. And that is an amazing story that Jesus told about two men that died on the same day. One was rich. One was poor. One was powerful.

One was weak. One was a believer. The other was a non-believer. The believer was named Lazarus. Not the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead in John 11.

A different one. But he died and he was carried by the angels into the presence of God. But then we read that the non-believer, the wealthy man, and by the way his sin was not in his wealth.

His sin was in his rejection of God. But he dies and he goes to a place of torment. So at this time historically Hades effectively had, for lack of a better way to put it, two sections. Sort of a comfort section and a torment section. The believer in our story Lazarus is there in what is described in King James as Abraham's bosom.

He is in a place of comfort. Meanwhile the non-believer dies and he is separated from this place of comfort in the place of torment. And so when we read death in Hades delivereth the dead that were in them to the great white throne judgment. It is sort of like you are arrested and you are in a jail.

Now you are being transferred from a jail to the judge who is going to give you your final sentence which will send you to prison. So the non-believer now is waiting. Now what happens to the believer coming back? That comfort section is no longer there for us to go to because when Christ died and rose He went down to Hades.

He preached to those who were waiting in faith. Those who had died waiting for the coming Messiah. And they are in heaven and that is where we go now. So this is no longer a destination for a believer. But the judgment or I should say the torment section of Hades is the destination for the non-believer. Now here are some hardcore truths about hell.

Number one. People in hell suffer. They suffer. Luke 16 23. Being in torment in Hades he lifted up his eyes far off to Abraham. The fact that he speaks of torment shows that this is real in the afterlife.

In fact the word torment is used four times in the text of the story that Jesus told in Luke 16. Number two. Once you are in hell you cannot cross over to heaven. The impossibility of crossing from one side to another suggests that your eternal destiny is settled here and now and not in some future world.

Number three. You are conscious in hell and fully aware of where you are. Listen. Hell is just as eternal as heaven is. And even as you are fully conscious in heaven you are also fully conscious in hell. Luke 24. Luke 16. He cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me.

This is the non-believer. And sent Lazarus and he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. So he is aware of where he is. He is aware of why he is there. Then he says, You know what? I have five brothers.

There are 28. Send someone to testify to them so they don't end up in this place of torment. This sort of refutes the idea that hell is a party place. There is no partying in hell. There is no fun in hell. There is separation from God.

There is outer darkness. There is torment. There will be some surprises in eternity. Pastor Greg points out that some people who seem like nice folks won't make it into heaven. And some that seemed evil to the core will be in heaven.

More on that in just a moment. Hey everybody. Greg Laurie here. You know my uncle Fred Jordan had one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called Church in the Home.

I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents. Well we have Church in the Home for you every weekend. It's called Harvest at Home. And you can find it at Harvest.org. We have worship and a message from God's Word.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well we're considering life and death truth today. Pastor Greg is bringing us a study called The Biblical Worldview of the Afterlife.

Let's continue. Coming back to the Great White Throne Judgment now. This happens before people are sent to the lake of fire. Who is going to be at the Great White Throne Judgment?

Simple answer. Everyone who is rejected God's offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And there will be sinners there in general but there are different kinds of sinners. First of all there are what we would call out and out sinners. Or I will refer to them as garden variety sinners. I used to be one of those by the way.

And many of you did too. You might be a different kind of sinner or were and I will get to that in a moment. But these are the folks that just say I don't want God. I don't want church.

I don't want the Bible. They will say things like I don't need organized religion. I will live the way that I want to live.

I will do what I want to do. They may even go out of their way to mock Christians. To defy what the Bible says. So those sinners will be there for sure.

Number two. Listen to this. Self-righteous people. Self-righteous people. That is another kind of sinner by the way. It is different from the garden variety sinner that knows they are a sinner. Maybe they even celebrate the fact that they are a sinner. Maybe they have a big tattoo in their chest that says I am a sinner. But then there is a self-righteous person.

Oh no. They are more cultured. And they are not like that other person. And they try to do good deeds and they try to be considerate of others. And that is a good thing. But they need Jesus as much as the garden variety sinner.

Listen to this. You don't get to heaven by living a good life and you don't end up in hell by living a bad life. Because there is going to be bad people in heaven and there is going to be good people in hell.

Does that make sense? Let me explain. There is going to be bad people in heaven. By bad I mean a garden variety sinner that owns it. Admits their sin and asks God to forgive them. They will be in heaven.

Then they will be good. I put that in quotes. Good people in hell. People that were moral to some degree.

People that said they don't need Jesus Christ. They live by their own rules. And they think that those good deeds they did will save them.

And they deceive themselves. Heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. Everyone who turns from their sin can go to heaven.

This is why God sent His Son Jesus to die for us on the cross. Thirdly they will be procrastinators. They will be the people that maybe weren't antagonistic like the garden variety sinners but they just said, I will talk to you later. Another day.

But they never got around to making that decision. And lastly they will be unsaved church members. Let me put it another way. Nonbelieving church attenders. Hey I am glad you are in church today. But you know attending this church will not make you a Christian. In fact what will happen is attending this church will make you accountable for what you have heard. And if you hear it and say I heard my sermon today and I did my duty for God today and you blow it off and disregard it and ignore it that is almost worse than the garden variety center. Because at least the garden variety center knows they are a sinner. Admits they are a sinner. But you might say, well I was in church today.

I was at harvest today. Well that is good but you need to do what the Bible tells you to do. And church attendance won't get you to heaven. Having your name on a membership role won't get you to heaven. So everyone who doesn't believe stands there.

And this is the key thing. They did not believe. Jesus said in John 3.18, He that believes in Me is not condemned but he who does not believe in Me is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. It is not just that I am a sinner. It is that I have rejected God's solution.

God is saying, I love you. I don't want you to go to hell. I put My own wrath on My Son who I love for you so you could be forgiven.

You say, yeah really. Whatever. I don't care. I don't want Jesus. I don't need Jesus. I don't care about Jesus.

Forget it. That rejection of Him is what brings that judgment. It is not going to be a sin question in the final day.

It is going to be a son question. S-O-N. What did you do with Jesus? We don't want people to go to hell. So you say, all right. I agree.

What do I do? What do you do? You warn people. I was listening to my friend James Merritt this morning. I listen to him every morning.

Every Sunday morning when I am getting ready for church and I am making my breakfast. And today he was talking about a true story of a doctor who was arrested and sent to prison for 30 years. His crime. He took the medicine that was used to treat cancer patients and diluted it to make more money. And they said that at least 15 of his patients died who would have lived longer if they had the proper dosage.

So because he diluted the medicine people died and he did it for money. That is a horrible thing to do. Horrible crime. But you know what is worse? Deluding the message of the gospel. Because this has eternal ramifications.

How do you dilute it? Well you only talk about heaven and you never mention hell. And we need to tell people the whole truth. And here is what the Bible says. We need to go and snatch people from the flames.

Jude 1. Snatch them from the flames of judgment. So you say this.

Ok. I am going to do everything I can to warn everyone I know so they don't have to end up in this horrible place. I am not saying you should go call up everyone and say, You are going to hell. Because the Bible says it is the goodness of God that brings us to repentance. So tell them about what Christ has done for you. Tell them about the hope of heaven. Tell them about the forgiveness of sin.

Tell them lastly that if they don't believe what the repercussions are. Don't leave that part out. See we want to edit it because it is awkward. Awkward.

You know they say, Well you know I don't really want Jesus and I don't want to go to the crusade with you and I don't really care. So what is going to happen to me when I die? Uh.

Do you like warm climates? Hey. Don't dilute it.

Don't be like that doctor and dilute the message. Say here is the truth. I hate to say this but it is true. And this is the last thing I want to see happen to you. And you pray for them. And I am thinking God is going to use us if we just get a better understanding of the afterlife. We have the hope of heaven but we don't want anybody to go to hell. So you say, This is not going to happen to my child. This is not going to happen to my husband or my wife or my mom or my dad or my grandparents or my neighbor or my coworker.

This is not going to happen if I have anything to say about it. I know it is ultimately up to God to save people. But I am going to make sure I do my due diligence and engage them with the gospel and pray that they will believe in Jesus. And I believe as you do that you will be glad that you did. But let me just close by saying this. If you have joined us here today, and most of you have. At least physically. Some have fallen asleep.

And those are the pastors in the front row. No. I am joking. There might be somebody here. I am talking about heaven.

How awesome it is. But you are sitting there thinking, I don't know that I am going to heaven. Have you believed in Jesus? Have you asked Him to forgive you of your sin?

No. Then do that. You can go to heaven.

You can change your eternal address. But you must say, Lord forgive me of my sin. And if you haven't done that yet let me give you an opportunity to do it as we pray together. Let's all bow our heads. Father I pray for everyone here.

Everyone watching. Wherever they are. If they don't know Jesus. Help them to see their need for You Lord.

Help them to come to You now. And be forgiven of all of their sin. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. In all of today's insight, you can catch what you missed online at harvest.org.

Just look for the study called The Biblical Worldview on the Afterlife. And then it's a real joy to make available a new book called The Women of the Bible Speak, written by Shannon Bream. Shannon, as you may know, is the anchor of Fox News at Night on the Fox News Channel.

She's also the network's senior legal correspondent. And in this new book, she surveys the lives of 16 prominent women in the Bible and highlights the lessons to be learned from their lives. She's speaking with Pastor Greg's wife, Kathy. If I'm not mistaken, I think you begin your book with the story who was unnamed in one of the gospels. The woman who had an issue of blood that she was ostracized and she was weak and she was poor and she was powerless. But she did one thing that distinguished her, that Jesus was amazed by, and we all are amazed by, and that was what little strength she had. She knew where to go for help. And would you speak to that woman almost as an introduction to this entire book? You set her up as sort of a woman that we need to study and learn from.

I love this story so much. I really identify with it because of the years I went through physical trials and chronic pain and doctor to doctor looking for help. And I think about that because this woman, we're told in the gospels, had spent everything she had. She'd been from doctor to doctor to doctor for 12 years. No one could help her. But she heard about this man, Jesus, and she said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I believe I'll be healed. Now, because of this issue of bleeding that she had, we believe that she would have been considered unclean in many societies. She would have been considered an outcast. So she probably felt very isolated not being able to be in the temple or in crowds and other places, probably very much confined to her home, as many of us have felt this past year or so. But she decided to venture out and she found Jesus and she got close enough that she just touched his garment. The scripture tells us immediately she was healed. And instead of shaming her in front of that crowd and saying, you shouldn't even be out here. You didn't ask my permission.

None of that. Jesus turned to her and every account in the gospels, the first thing he says to her is daughter. And I love that. I think it is so beautiful that he immediately shows in front of this crowd that's watching, he accepts her and what she's done is right.

It's not wrong. There were so many people in those days who are accusing Jesus of always not following the letter of the law of the rules. And he recognized that she had reached out in desperation and he said, your faith has made you whole. He credited her. It was certainly his divine power, but he credited her with that faith that she had. It was enough to heal her, just the touch of him.

And he showed the people there that he accepted her, that she was not somebody to be thrown out of society, that he viewed her as precious, as a daughter. And I just think her story is so beautiful and so encouraging on so many different levels. Well, the book is called The Women of the Bible Speak.

And, you know, I'm thinking about the holiday this weekend. There's got to be a woman in your life that's going to benefit from this book. It is so beautiful.

It is hardcover and the artwork and the graphics are so lovely. I think every woman would be absolutely delighted to receive this. And even the women in your life that may not be mothers or grandmothers, I think really would benefit from this at this time because it speaks to ordinary women, just like all of us, all the ladies out there that are listening. We need to see how Jesus and how God can take ordinary women and do extraordinary things through them.

And just like that woman who had that issue of blood, by faith, what little faith we have, reach out and touch the Lord and seek Him first, and He will answer. It's beautiful. Thank you so much, Shannon. Thank you all for having me.

It's a blessing. So let us send you The Women of the Bible Speak. We'll send it to say thank you for your investment in the work we do each day. Just write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call anytime 24-7. That's at 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Pastor Greg, you mentioned that someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer. That's right. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that? Sure.

I'd love to. A simple prayer is right. In fact, I would like to just pray a prayer, and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words. Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, but I also know that you are the Savior because you died on the cross for my sin, and you rose again from the dead. Jesus, come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen. If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, I want you to know on the authority of Scripture, God Almighty has heard your prayer, and He will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God, so congratulations.

You've made the right decision, and welcome to the family of God. I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer you've just prayed. It's called the New Believer's Growth Packet, and in it is a copy of the New Testament in a very understandable translation called the New Living Translation. It also is filled with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you've made to follow Christ, and there's some other outstanding materials in this little packet I'll send you as well.

So order your copy today, and let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God. And to get that New Believer's Growth Packet, just contact us, and we'll be glad to send it right out. You can write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300. 1-800-821-3300.

And you can reach us at that number anytime 24-7. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words, Know God. Well, next time, Pastor Greg launches a challenging new series called Discipleship, The Road Less Taken. Good counsel to help us move to the next level in our walk with the Lord. That's next time on The New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.