"Where are you going to spend eternity - in heaven or in hell?"
or
"Where are you going to go when you die?"
Though worded differently, both questions are asking the same thing and are considered by many to be the most important question we can ask someone, as well as the most important question that every person should consider for themselves.
These questions place an emphasis on where we are going to reside when we die. Whether we are going to go to heaven or hell when we die is important, but equally important is whether or not we are going to live our present lives following Christ or not.
Salvation or being "saved" is usually understood to mean that we will go to heaven when we die, but it actually means that we will be given eternal life as a gift from God in order to do good works for God in our present lives (see Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10). I think that is why Jesus and the apostles did not preach heaven and hell that frequently. When they weren't engaged in conflicts from the Jewish opposition, they primarily taught about how we are to live our present lives, which comprises most of the contents of the Bible. Very little of the Bible contains anything about the afterlife.
Salvation means being saved from God's wrath and judgment, from sin, and from hell. To be saved from these things means that we are living our lives in such a way that God will not pour out His wrath upon us, or throw us into hell at the judgment. We will be saved from the sins which cause us to behave and live in ways that do not please or glorify God. If we are saved from our sins then we will no longer partake in them. When we are saved, we will live our lives in ways that please and honor God. These things are accomplished by the Holy Spirit who reside in Christians when they are born again at which time God gives them new life. I wrote about being born again in my article, The Commands of the King - Part 6 if you want to learn more.
A more fitting question to ask would be, "Am I using the life God gave me for His purposes and glory?" If we are not, then we are missing out on the life that God created us for. Jesus said that He came so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly (see John 10:10). This is the essence of salvation. If we are only focused on whether or not we're going to go to heaven or hell when we die, then we are missing the purpose of salvation.
Psalm 119:92-93 describes the purpose of salvation well:
"Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life. I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts. The wicked wait for me to destroy me, But I will consider Your testimonies." - Psalms 119:92-95
He is saying that if he had never come to love God and His law, then he would have died in his sins. But because he did come to love them, he will never forget God's precepts, because it is by them that God gave him life. He now belonged to God and he sought to follow His commands and therefore he trusted that God would save him from his enemies.
His primary concern was not that he was now going to go to heaven when he died because he had found God, but that God had changed his life and had given him a new life which he would now use to please and glorify God.
The first part of Galatians 2:20 is often quoted - "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" - but the rest of the verse along with the first part, is a good example of what I'm talking about. It says,
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20
The writer said that the life he is now or presently living, he is living by faith in Jesus. His entire life revolves around his faith in Jesus, and therefore his life reflects the life of someone who has faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus is demonstrated by the things we do for Jesus. If we have faith in Jesus Christ who is Lord and King (Christ means King), then we will do the things that he did and we will do the things that he said (see John 14:12; Luke 6:46). Someone who has a Lord and King submits to their authority and does what they tell them to do. They obey him. Many will say, "Lord, Lord" and He will say, " I never knew you (Luke 6:46). Doing what the Lord and King wants you to do is saving faith because faith without works is dead (see James 2:14-26).
Many people believe that there is a God and they even believe that Jesus lived, but the writer of James 2:14-26 said that even demons believe those things. They know who God and Jesus are and that they exist, and they tremble because of it! But demons are not saved because they know that God and Jesus exist or because they know who they are, and neither are we. Faith requires belief that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Lord, and it requires action! Because Jesus is all of these, he has all authority in heaven and earth, and therefore all peoples, powers, and principalities are subject to Him. There is no one or nothing that has more power or reigns over Him. Knowing and understanding these things so that they cause you to love Christ and live for him is what faith is.
James used a story about someone in need as an example of faith. He said if you see someone in need and do not help him, then your faith is dead, and dead faith implies that you do not have saving faith. Works and deeds do not save, but works and deeds are bred out of a love for God. If you love God and you love Jesus, the you will do what He says and your life will naturally produce good works and good deeds (see John 14:15).
In James 2:21-25, the author wrote that Abraham our father (see Genesis 22:1-19) and Rahab the harlot (see Joshua 2:1-24) were justified by their works because their faith was working together with their works. He wrote that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
Abraham was considered righteous by God and a friend of God because of his faith in God (James 2:23). He is called "our father". The significance of this is that "only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (see Galatians 3:7) and that only those who have faith in Jesus Christ are sons (children) of God (see Galatians 3:26-29), and if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs (inheritors) of the promises God made to Abraham and to his Seed who is Christ (see Colossians 1:12-13; Galatians 3:16).
The promise that God made to Abraham was that he and his descendants would inherit the land (Genesis 3:7). Those who have faith are the descendants (the children) of Abraham. They are the ones who have and still are inheriting the land.
What is the land that the children of Abraham are inheriting?
The promise that God made to Abraham's Seed, who is Christ, was that He would not only inherit a plot of land, but that He would inherit the entire earth (see Psalm 2:7-9; 82:8; Revelation 11:15; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; John 18:36-37). Those who have faith in Christ are heirs (inheritors) of this promise (see Galatians 3:28; Matthew 5:5) as well as the promise of the Spirit through faith (see Galatians 3:14), the promise of knowing God (John 17:3), and the promise of the kingdom of God (Matthew 25:34). Those who have faith have already been conveyed into the kingdom of God where Chist reigns with all authority (Colossians 1:12-13), which means that the kingdom of God is present today. So the land that the descendants of Abraham who are the children of God will inherit is the earth.
These are AMAZING promises that God has made to those who have faith and salvation through Jesus Christ! I encourage anyone who does not know Jesus the King to seek him as if you are looking for a lost treasure, not so that you'll go to heaven when you die, but so that you will know God and therefore have the abundant, fulfilling life that he promises to give to God's children. He is far more valuable than any treasure, money or wealth, and if you seek him you will be sure to find him. If you have any questions about God or Jesus, please don't hesitate to contact me, I would love to talk with you.
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References
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:4-10
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. - John 10:10
Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life. I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts. The wicked wait for me to destroy me, But I will consider Your testimonies." - Psalms 119:92-95
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. - Galatians 2:20
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." - John 14:12
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?" - Luke 6:46
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. - James 2:14-26
“If you love Me, keep My commandments." - John 14:15
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. - Genesis 22:1-19
Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”
So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”
So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.” Then the woman took the two men and hid them.
So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)
Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.
Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”
So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.”
So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.”
Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned.
The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.” - Joshua 2:1-24
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. - Galatians 3:7
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. - Galatians 3:26-29
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, - Colossians 1:12-13
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. - Galatians 3:16
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. - Genesis 12:7
that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. - Galatians 3:14
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ” - Psalms 2:7-9
Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations.
Psalms 82:8
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” - Revelation 11:15
“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” - II Samuel 7:12-16
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” - John 18:36-37
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. - Matthew 5:5
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. - John 17:3
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: - Matthew 25:34
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. - I Peter 2:24
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. - I Peter 4:1-2
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