The Hope
of Heaven
“The choice is
ours. We can be joyless Christians, or we can be joyful Christians. We can go
through life glum and complaining, or we can rejoice in the Lord, in our names
being written in heaven, in the hope of an eternal inheritance.” –Jerry Bridges
“…the Christians who did most for the present
world were just those who thought most of the next.” – C.S. Lewis
“Christians are the more cold and careless in the
spiritual life because they do not more often think of heaven.” - Manton
“The
leg does not feel the chains when the mind is in heaven.” –Tertullian
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul,
firm and secure.” – Writer of Hebrews,
vs. 6:19
Recently, a speaker
visiting our church recited the Sermon on the Mount from memory to our congregation.. While listening to his recitation, I
noticed something in Jesus’ words that I never had before: the repeated phrase,
“God will reward you.” Glancing through it in my bible, I saw that Jesus
repeats the word “reward” nine times in that one sermon. That same week, I was
reading a book about regaining a heart for God which points out that “it was
the joy of reigning with the Father that enabled Jesus to face the cross.”
Those two incidents motivated me to do some deeper studying on the subject of
eternal hope. I believe that hope,
defined by writer C.S. Lewis as “a continual looking forward to the eternal
world,” is the very thing that will keep the flame of passion for God alive in
our hearts, and give us a dogged determination to persevere through the hard
times.
As movemenhuman beingst, we can easily focus on what we are
doing in our lives here on earth, and hardly at all on the eternal life to
come. We may feel guilty for thinking about heaven, as if we think it is taboo
to actually desire anything for ourselves or to look forward to the rewards
promised to us by our Father. Or we may just be too distracted by our problems
or goals in this life. But a focus on the eternal life is repeatedly referred
to in the New Testament. There are no less than eighty scriptures in the New Testament directly referring to this
eternal hope. It is written about in every book of the New Testament except two
(Philemon and the third book of John). It is evident from the scriptures that
God wants us to be motivated and
encouraged by the promise of a heavenly reward, an eternal crown, and the glory
and joy of being with Him forever!
Following Jesus is the hardest way to live. In order to continue traveling down our chosen narrow way, or at least to do it with any joy, it is essential that we keep our focus on our glorious destination. It is very difficult to persevere and do well through hard times or over many years if we are not constantly reminded of what lies ahead, waiting for us beyond this life. Even if we do persevere, it is easy to lose heart if we don’t keep a constant focus on heaven. When I was studying the bible to become a Christian, the cross was my main motivation for repenting of my sins. But the desire for heaven, the thought of really being with God for eternity, was my main motivation for getting baptized. And it has been the only thing that’s kept me hanging on through the toughest spiritual times. For me, thinking about the cross, the fact that I committed to making Jesus my Lord, or the earthly benefits of fellowship in the church have not always been enough to keep me going when I really wanted to quit. Being reminded of the friendships and love available to me in the church doesn’t work when I don’t feel that love; it only discourages me more because I feel I am missing out on something that I’m supposed to have. But God doesn’t guarantee us anything in this life, which is why it can be so damaging to our faith to mainly focus on this life.
I believe that when we keep our focus on the life to come—the heavenly rewards, lasting crowns, eternal glory, and the joy of being in the presence of God—our hearts come to life again in an incredible way, and the possibility of drifting away from God rapidly diminishes. It has definitely rejuvenated my heart as I’ve studied it.
- Amy Haight
Scriptures demonstrating God’s desire for us
to be motivated by the life to come:
- Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- If you love those who
love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors
doing that?
- “Be careful not to do your
‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will
have no reward from your Father in heaven.
- so that your giving may be
in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward
you.
- But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to
your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you.
- so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but
only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6 19 Do not store
up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where
thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and
rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-42 - Anyone who receives a prophet because he
is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a
righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because
he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
- For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with
his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has
done.
- Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he
said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me.”
- But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them
without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great,
and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and
wicked.
- I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves,
so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 6:66-69
- From this
time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not
want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
- Then Paul, knowing that some
of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin,
“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because
of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.”
- and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there
will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
- And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised
our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are
hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it
is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me.
- To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will
give eternal life.
- But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal
life.
- Now if we are children,
then we are heirs–heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in
his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18I consider that our present sufferings are
not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The
creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For
the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the
will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into
the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole
creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the
present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies. 24For in this hope
we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait
for it patiently.
- Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer.
Romans 13 11The hour has
come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The
night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of
darkness and put on the armor of light.
- For everything that was written in the past was written to
teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we
might have hope.
- May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
- The man who plants and the man who waters
have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
- If what he has built survives, he will
receive his reward.
- Everyone who competes in the games goes into
strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do
it to get a crown that will last forever.
- And now these three remain: faith, hope
and love.
- If only for this life we have hope in
Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
2 Corinthians 3 11And if what was fading away
came with glory, how much greater is the glory
of that which lasts! 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
2 Corinthians 4 16Therefore we do not lose
heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for
us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 5 1Now we know
that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile
we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because
when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are
in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed
but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very
purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Galatians
5:5 - by faith we eagerly await
through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.
Galatians
6 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he
sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that
nature[1]
will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
will reap eternal life. 9Let
us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we do not give up.
Ephesians
1:18 - I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…
- There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one
hope when you were called–
- because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for
whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
- I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3 20But our
citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will
be like his glorious body.
- the faith and love that spring from the hope
that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in
the word of truth, the gospel
Colossians 1 22But now he has reconciled you
by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation-- 23if you continue in your
faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
- To them God has chosen to make known among
the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
-
Since, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
- We continually remember before our God and
Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your
endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown
in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it
not you?
- Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant
about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
1 Thessalonians 4 16For the Lord
himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so
we will be with the Lord forever.
- But since we belong to the day, let us be
self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
2 Thessalonians 2 16May our Lord
Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your
hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
- Fight the good fight of
the faith. Take hold of the eternal
life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the
presence of many witnesses.
- Therefore I endure everything for the sake
of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
with eternal glory.
- Now there is in store for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that
day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Titus 1
1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of
Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that
leads to godliness-- 2a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who
does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
Titus 212It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present
age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ,
- so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become
heirs having the hope of eternal
life.
- But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his
house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Hebrews 6
11 - We want each of you to show this
same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy, but to
imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Hebrews
6:19 - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
- so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many
people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation
to those who are waiting for him.
- Let us hold unswervingly
to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
- So do not throw away your confidence; it
will be richly rewarded.
Hebrews 11
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not
see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for. …6And
without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him
must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who earnestly seek him. … 13All these people were still living
by faith when they died. … And they admitted that they were aliens and
strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are
looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of
the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead,
they were longing for a better
country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for he has prepared a city for them.
- He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ
as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
- Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he
has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has
promised to those who love him.
1 Peter 1: 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never
perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith
are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to
be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though
now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though
you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now,
you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for
you are receiving the goal of your
faith, the salvation of your souls.
- To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of
Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be
revealed:
- And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade
away.
- And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will
himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
- and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
- as you look forward to the
day of God and speed its coming.
- And this is what he promised us–even eternal life.
1 John 3
2Dear friends, now we are children of
God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he
appears,[1]
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who
has this hope in him purifies
himself, just as he is pure.
- Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that
you may be rewarded fully.
- Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
- Do not be afraid of what you are about to
suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and
you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of
death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 3 11I am coming
soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I
will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I
will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also
write on him my new name.
- The time has come for judging the dead, and
for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who
reverence your name, both small and great…
Revelation 21 1Then I saw a new heaven and
a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and
there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with
men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will
be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their
eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old
order of things has passed away.” 5He who
was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said,
“Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
- “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward
is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.