“Do I really need to know more about heaven than what the Bible tells me? I will know more when I get there, and I can’t do anything about it now other than live a clean life.” Some noteworthy people have made the statement that the Bible doesn’t talk about anyone going to heaven and coming back and “so I think all those stories are made up or frauds,” I heard one famous TV preacher say. But Paul mentions someone who visited the third heaven but wasn’t allowed to say anything about it. (2nd Corinthians 12:2-4). So the Bible does mention going to heaven and coming back.
In recent years there have been many testimonies of people dying temporarily and being resuscitated only to report “inexpressible things,” as Paul said. I was encouraged by the Lord to put together fifty of these stories to give a complete accounting of what those eyewitnesses have said to bless and edify you. Several of those witnesses were told by Jesus to go back and tell His people what they had seen. “I want them to get ready; I am coming back very soon.” So while the man in Paul’s day (who many believe was Paul himself) was not allowed to say anything, now 2000 years later God wants us to know. But why now and not then? I believe the answer lies in Jesus’ statement that He is coming back very soon and we need to be ready.
God wants you to know more now because before Jesus returns, Satan will have his final onslaught against God and His people before the end, and all the signs we see are telling us we are approaching the last days. Here is what Jesus has said about why we need to be prepared for His coming, which will happen to bring an end to the antichrist’s reign of evil.
Matthew 24: 3-13: “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, ‘ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
1st Peter 4:7-17: “7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
2nd Peter 2:20-21: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
Hebrews 3:14: “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.”
Romans 15:4: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
2nd Corinthians 1:6: “If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”
Revelation 2:20-21: “Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations–”
Revelation 13:10: “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”
Revelation 14:12: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
2nd Corinthians 6:4-10: “as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”
As the time for Jesus’ return draws near it will be preceded by a time of great stress. As these verses tell us, many will fall away, being deceived by the lies of those following Satan. False prophets, some in the name and supposed authority of Jesus will teach false doctrines that encourage us to leave the ways of God and follow the ways of the world. Some of these will be every subtle and will seem good on the surface, like the mark of the beast, but later will turn into blasphemy and terror for those who follow the Lord. These verses tell us we will need to endure to the end to be saved. That will require patient endurance and more. We will have to be totally grounded in our relationship with the Lord. We will need to know Him and love Him more deeply than ever before. We will need to know the power of God as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did when Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the blazing furnace.
Jesus wants us now to know about what He and the Father have prepared for us so that we will love Him and trust Him, to the point we can faithfully endure to the end and be joined with Him in that marvelous, beyond imagination, paradise. So if you haven’t read Heaven Is Beyond Imagination yet, I encourage you to do so and perhaps reread it if you have, because God is telling us things about Him and His kingdom that will help us endure to the end. And study the Scriptures I have provided here and others to deepen your faith and your resolve to follow the Lord no matter what.