The popular myth is that you will meet Saint Peter who will decide if you get to enter heaven or not. There are many jokes about this. My favorite is a young man came up to Saint Peter who asked him what he had done to deserve being in heaven. He said, “I came upon a woman who was being harassed by a big thug with rings in his ears and nose. I told the thug to leave her alone. The thug asked what I thought I could do about it. So I took hold of the ring in his nose and pulled on it and told him again to leave her alone.” “Wow,” said Saint Peter, “That was pretty brave on your part. When did this happen?” The young man said, “About a minute ago.”
But the reality is, according to all the witnesses whose stories I have read, no one meets Saint Peter there. He may be seen doing what he does for Jesus there, but he is not the one to greet you. Neither is Mary, Jesus’ mother. Although some believe she greets you, none of the fifty eyewitnesses reported that. Two saw her in their visit. Colton Burpo said she was acting like a mother to Jesus. Another saw her doing something regarding worship at the altar.
A welcoming committee of family members, sometimes from many past generations, meets most people. Don Piper was met by a group of people, all of whom had had a part in his becoming a follower of Jesus and his growing in his faith. Everyone is greeted and welcomed. No one enters heaven alone. The other possibilities are one or more angels or Jesus himself is there for you when you arrive. Also while the eyewitnesses were there, someone, either a relative or one or two angels, always accompanied them. They were not allowed to travel alone or go where they wanted. Richard Sigmund asked his accompanying angels if he could see something and he was flatly refused. Maybe when you are there permanently, there is more freedom to explore. I believe Richard was told this. But we have no eyewitness reports from any who stayed there (for obvious reasons!). Also it was pointed out to some that there is no disobedience in heaven. If God tells you to do something, you do it without hesitation. But love motivates everything that happens in heaven, God’s love for us and our love for Him.
There seems to be some ambiguity about visiting the New Jerusalem, i.e. going through the gates. Some, when they reached one of the gates, were asked if they wanted to go in. This question was really about whether they wanted to stay or return to their earthly life. If they entered the gate they would not be able to return. Others describe things in the city like the buildings and the golden streets. Some visited the throne of God at the center of the city. So the question about entering the gate appears to be an individual thing, not a general principle. Perhaps those who visited the Holy City did not go through a gate. Travel there is in three (or maybe four) dimensions, so a gate is not really a barricade. In fact, it tells us in Revelation that the gates to the Holy City are never closed. There is never any evil, thievery, or danger for which the gate needs to be closed. Some who reached a gate were met by an angel with the Lamb’s Book of Life to check to see if his or her name was recorded in it. Those who were met by family generally did not encounter the gate. It was usually ones accompanied by angels that experienced the gate.
Perhaps you get the picture from all of this that there is no universal experience of heaven. Many things are common to most stories but there are significant differences. God has created each of us as a unique being. Our experience in this life is unique to us and so will be our experience in heaven. The things that are common to all the stories merely show that these stories are authentic. The differences, meanwhile, show us that God’s love for each of us is as unique there as it is here. From these blog posts, you might get an idea what awaits you, but you will have some wonderful surprises just for you too, including who will meet you there.