“Heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” — Stephen Hawking
I’m afraid of the dark.
If we’re talking about the endless kind of darkness that offers no light anywhere, no hope ever and nothing but nothingness, who among us would not panic at the thought of that?
I expect people like Mr. Hawking simply find the idea of Heaven too good to be true, and thus conclude that it must be a product of man’s delusional yearning for “pie in the sky by and by.”
And yet, there are solid reasons for reasonable people to believe in the concept of a heavenly home after this earthly life. Here are some that mean a lot to me. By no means is this list exhaustive. It’s simply my thinking on the subject.
The Reasons I Believe in Heaven
1. Jesus believed in Heaven. In fact, He claimed to be a native.
The Lord said to Nicodemus:
“No one has been to Heaven except the One who came from there, even the Son of Man.” (John 3:13)
No one knows a place like a native.
Jesus told the dying thief:
“Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
So, wherever we go when we die, it’s a paradise.
True, He left us a thousand unanswered questions on the subject, but what He told us is pure gold. When He returns, the dead in Christ accompany Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
It appears that our eventual destination is somewhere different from the initial, intermediate place called “Paradise,” but we have no trouble leaving the details to Him. After all, we can trust the One who died for us.
2. Scripture consistently teaches the existence of Heaven.
We must not let people get by with saying the Old Testament knew nothing of Heaven:
“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23)
“I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake.” (Psalm 17:15)
Job said:
“My Redeemer lives… and from my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25–27)
Neither must we cave to those who say the only way to understand these verses is to get inside the minds of the writers. Peter said:
“The prophets spoke more than they understood… and even angels longed to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:12)
3. I believe in Heaven because I believe in earth.
It’s so wonderful.
Suppose we lived on some distant world where all we had seen were barren planets, molten by day and frozen by night. If someone described Earth to us—its air, its beauty, its life—we would not believe it.
And yet here we are.
We live on the gem of the universe.
