Heaven

by Harold J. Sala | Uncategorized

Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.
(Acts 1:11)

When Mabel Clark’s husband passed away, people would comfort her, saying, “I’m so sorry you lost your husband.” Mabel, unrepulsed, would answer, “I didn’t lose him; I know exactly where he’s at.” And should you have had to ask, “And where is that?” she would have retorted. “He’s in heaven!”

She had no doubt. Why? Mabel believed the report of Him who said He had come from heaven and described it in intimate details that the Greek poets never knew. Neither would you have had to convince singer Johnny Cash that there is a heaven to gain as well as a hell to shun. In his book, Man in Black, Cash told how his brother Jack was injured in a wood shop accident. Although he was rushed to the hospital, the injury was severe. He was in a coma for a week and was not expected to regain consciousness. The family was in the hospital room when it seemed that Jack was dying.

Cash said, “I bent over his bed and put my cheek again his and said, ‘Good-bye, Jack.'” But that wasn’t the end. Suddenly he awakened from the coma asking, “Why is everybody crying over me? Mamma, don’t cry over me. Did you see the river?’ And she said, ‘No, I didn’t, Son.'”

Then Jack began to describe a river separating heaven and hell. He told how he cried out, “God, I’m supposed to go to heaven…” Then Jack asked, “Mamma, can you hear the angels singing?” His last words were, “Oh mama, I wish you could hear the angels singing.” And then he died. It was this encounter with the supernatural that impacted his life, said Johnny Cash.

Neither would you have to convince Dr. Diane Komp, one of our day’s foremost authorities on pediatric oncology. As a young doctor, Dr. Di didn’t believe in heaven. But when her young patients, dying from the effects of cancer, talked about angels, brilliant lights, and the beauty of heaven, she knew they were seeing something real, something that was there.

She discovered what it was about and became a committed Christian. She’s convinced heaven is real-not simply because of what her young patients told her but through the study of what the Bible says, she became convinced.

A man who read through the Bible far more times than he was years old, Harry Ironside, said that heaven is Jesus spelled in large letters.” Remember, Jesus spoke of it, saying, “Where I am, you may be also!” That’s heaven.

Entertainer Art Linkletter, abandoned as a baby and then adopted and raised by a Baptist pastor and his wife, heard a lot about heaven growing up, but the man who kept us laughing for a generation said he wasn’t sure about heaven because he didn’t want to float around on a cloud with nothing to do.

Linkletter may have been joking; however, had he listened to his dad a bit more carefully, I’m sure he would have learned that you don’t float around on clouds in heaven. It is life to the fullest where there is rejoicing, feasting, fellowship, and tremendous beauty-far beyond your wildest imagination.

The important thing is not what you do when you get there, but knowing how to get there. In the Upper Room, immediately before the crucifixion, Jesus talked about heaven, letting the disciples know that He is the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to heaven. All of the writers of Scripture speak of that hope, and the closing book of the New Testament describes it in great detail.

Find out for yourself, friend. And don’t wait until you peer across the river and hope that what you see on the other side is heaven.

Resource reading: Revelation 21:1-4

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Speaker, author and Bible teacher, Dr. Harold Sala founded Guidelines in 1963 and has served at its helm since its inception. Pioneering the five-minute commentary in Christian radio, Dr. Sala’s daily “Guidelines-A Five Minute Commentary on Living” is broadcast in 49 of the 50 states and is heard the world over in a variety of languages. Sala, who holds a Ph.D. in biblical text, has authored over 55 books published in 19 languages.

He speaks and teaches frequently at conferences, seminars, and churches worldwide. Residing in Mission Viejo, California, Harold and his wife, Darlene, have three adult children and eight well-loved grandchildren.

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