John 14:2-3 – In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. Not so much about what it’s like, but just how important it is to be certain it’s where we’re headed.

My dad is 89 years old; by all indications, he will likely celebrate his 90^th birthday in heaven. Only God knows for sure, and His timetable is perfect, but it sure looks like my father’s physical body is winding down.

As I watch this process once again with a loved one, I’m convinced again the Bible is true. The wage of sin really is death. These earthly tents won’t last forever. No matter how young or vibrant or healthy you are, eventually, your body will stop working like you’ve always taken for granted, and like an old clock that’s not been wound, it will simply stop. Your soul will depart from this earth suit which will return to dust.

Thankfully, Jesus promised that death is not the end for those who trust Him by faith for salvation and forgiveness of sins. Our soul and our renewed, eternal spirit in which the Holy Spirit indwells, will go immediately into the presence of God, where we will receive a new, glorified body that will live forever.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 – Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:53-57 – For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What will the final, eternal heaven be like?

After a tribulation period and the millennial rule of Christ, all those who belong to Christ will live forever in a new heaven and a new earth. Old things will pass away, and all things will become new.

The Bible tells us some things, but not all things about this place. We know God will be worshipped continually. We will serve alongside the angels. The streets are made of gold; the gates are made of pearls, and we are once again given access to the Tree of Life. There’s no pain, no death, no crying, no mourning, no fear, no sin, no temptation – just eternal joy and peace in the presence of God.

As I watch my father struggle during this transition period of leaving one life to go to the next, I’m so grateful for the gift of heaven. He has a home to go to, where he will be eternally young and healthy and never suffer again. And one day, sooner or later, I will join him there as a fellow worshipper of Jesus, along with all who have believed and acted on the words of Jesus.

Do you have a home in heaven? Jesus has already paid the mortgage, and is there, preparing it just for you. 

Honestly, I can’t wait to open this one.

Philippians 1:21-23 – For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.

2 Corinthians 5:1-2 – For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.