I think it’s about time we talked about salvation.

I feel the world is spent. There is so much violence, so much hate, so much misery. People either hear and see, or they purposely put on blinders. 

And what about all of these crazy world events? An assassination attempt on a former president, a war in the Middle East, a war in Russia, a stock market crash, inflation higher than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Catastrophic wildfires, flooding, tornadoes, and earthquakes have ravaged the world. And all this in just the first half of 2024.

Death is coming to us all. No one will escape. But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ then you know that death is not the end. He has overcome it. And you can overcome it too, because of Him.

We’ve talked about faith before. Faith is confidence in what we hope for, and  trusting in what we do not see (Hebrews 11:3). As a believer, we are confident that when we die it is not the end, there is something more. We believe in heaven, we haven’t seen it, but we have faith it’s there. 

A simple way to look at heaven is the place in which God dwells. Psalm 33:13-15 states, “From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.”

As a Christian we recognize who our creator and father is-God. We believe He made the heavens and the earth and everything in it (Genesis 1). To dwell with God is to be in a perfect place because God is perfect. Unfortunately man brought sin into the world and because God is perfect He can’t be around sin and so that is why God could no longer dwell with us on earth. Wherever God is, that is heaven and it’s not here on earth because sin dwells on earth.

The Bible tells us that believers will get to dwell with God again in Heaven and through John’s vision in the book of Revelation we get a glimpse into what Heaven will look like.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He 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.”…And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls…The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone…The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21

Heaven will be a beautiful place where there is never any injustice, no pain, nothing impure. You will never hurt in Heaven you will only have joy and all things good because God will be there dwelling among you.

I want you to be there.

Can you imagine the amazing party that will take place with everyone around you who you love? An unending time and place where the love of God, and the actual physical presence of God and everyone who loves him will be together forever.

Time on this earth is short. Whether Jesus returns before you or I die, or whether death comes for us naturally, we are running out of time.

Everyone can get into Heaven. Everyone can enter God’s dwelling place. 

John 3:16-17 tells us, “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

And Romans 3:23-25 tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”

And Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And finally, 1 John 1:9 explains, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

God loves you, He wants to dwell with you eternally. He knew that man would be corrupted by sin and so He sent His son, Jesus, to die for our sins. The wage, or penalty, for sin is death and the absence of dwelling with God, but He didn’t want to live without you. He loves you so much. So He chose to give you grace and paid the penalty for everyone’s sin by sacrificing His son Jesus. And Jesus overcame that death and rose from the grave so we would all get the chance to overcome death and dwell with God eternally.

All you need to do is accept this as truth, that Jesus is our savior and Lord over our lives. Then you can dwell eternally with God. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”Romans 10:9.

There are so many things that a person believes in. We believe in wind but we can not see it. We believe in a vast universe that twinkles at us from stars in the sky though we’ve never been there. We believe in justice because we believe that there is a right and good way. 

Believe then, that you were created by a father who loves you and wants to dwell with you eternally. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and choose to try and sin no more. No one is perfect, you will make mistakes and sin again, but you can come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. He desires a relationship with you, but only you can choose to desire a relationship with him.

I want to see you in Heaven. I want you to be without suffering and live in constant joy and love. Will you choose to believe in Jesus? All it takes to start is a talk with God. 

Let me pray with you.

Jesus, I believe that you are who you say you are. I thank you for paying the price for my sin. Please forgive me of my sins and help me to be more like you and model my life after the way you lived your life. I accept you as my savior and Lord over my life. I love you and want a relationship with you. I want to dwell eternally in your presence. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and wanting to be part of every detail of my life. Thank you Jesus. Amen. 

I encourage you to read the Bible. Start with the book of John or all the Gospels. This life on earth is fleeting and hard, but in Heaven it will be so good because you will be with God.

And I will get to see you in Heaven.