Hendrick Willen Van Loon tells this story to help us get a glimpse of eternity:

 

“High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock.  It is 100 miles high and 100 miles wide.  Once every 1000 years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak.  When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by.”

 

Did you ever wonder where you will be when you die?  Do you want to be assured of where you are going when you die?

 

All mankind was heading on a course to an eternity of torment without God. God’s home is heaven.  It is a holy place.  Only holy beings can enter there.  God loved us so much (after all, He created us in His Image—so what’s not to love?) that He sent His Son Jesus (who was with Him from the beginning but took on human form, born of a virgin), so that anyone who would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. 

 

You see, God couldn’t let unholy people enter His holy heaven.  And since God is a just God—a righteous God, He couldn’t just let us “off the hook” for our sins without a payment for our sins—no matter how much He loves us; for He can’t violate His demand for justice.  Now here’s the Good News: Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross—the perfect innocent sacrifice—was a SATISFACTORY PAYMENT for all mankind’s sin.  So, when a person believes in Jesus, God makes that person holy by declaring that person CLEAN.  And it’s all because Jesus made that righteous payment for your sin that God lets you “off the hook.” It’s not because of any good thing you’ve done. You and I get into heaven because of Jesus’ payment. 

 

Nobody can earn that love—it’s a FREE GIFT that is to be RECEIVED with THANKS.  Do you want to believe in Jesus right now?  He didn’t just make that payment on the cross, but He rose again on the third day. If you would just say, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You; I believe that you rose from the dead and that You are who You say You are.  I receive you as my Lord and Savior.”  He will take it from there and lead you every step of the way.  You will then have that assurance of where you will be going when you die—and that is: to heaven!  I did that over 30 years ago and I could right volumes of God’s faithfulness, loving discipline and mercy He has shown to me over the years.  When you believe in Jesus, you not only become qualified for heaven, but you have just stepped into the most amazing adventure of your life.

 

If you pray that prayer and you do believe in Him, then—like all the Christians that have believed throughout all of history— you will become a Christian—born again and forever saved.  If you do believe in Him, then talk to Him—He really hears you.  Read His Word—He really speaks to us—through His Word and by His Spirit. He’ll teach you how to be a “sold-out,” radical disciple (a personal student of His). Ask Him to lead you to a group of Christians (i.e. a church) who are truly following Him. And one more thing—write me and let me know that you are a fellow believer going to heaven with all the Christians.  I’d really like to hear from you.

 

Here are some passages in the Bible about believing in Jesus and being saved:

 

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  1 Jn. 5:13

 

“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.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  John 3:19-21

 

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:45

 

Your friend,

Pastor Michael Ledner   

 

issues: are you going to heaven?