Nearing Home by Billy Graham (best book club books for discussion txt) 📗

could know Him and become His friends, and because of this they were meant to live forever. God cannot die, and as the bearers of His image, they were not meant to die either.

But something terrible intervened, and that something was sin. Sin, like a lethal spiritual cancer, has infected the entire human race, and someday you and I will die. It may be soon, it may be far away, but someday your life will come to an end. At one specific point in time, the body you have inhabited your entire life will cease functioning and begin to disintegrate, and the words spoken to Adam will become true of you also: “For dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). No wonder the Bible calls death “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

But is death really the end? Was the young man right when he said life after death is just a myth? No—absolutely not. The Bible tells us that although our bodies will die, our souls or spirits will live on—either in Heaven with God or in that place of endless loneliness and despair the Bible calls Hell, totally separated from God and His blessings forever. Jesus warned, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

THIS PRESENT LIFE IS NOT THE END

But how do we know this life isn’t the end? How do we know Heaven isn’t just wishful thinking on our part? God has revealed Heaven’s reality to us in various ways. For example, within each of us is an inner sense or feeling that death is not the end, that there must be something beyond the grave. Even if we deny it or ignore it, this inner yearning is still there—and it is universal. Where did it come from? The Bible says God placed it within us: He “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Some point to the reports of people who claim to have been given a glimpse of Heaven, often as they were dying. While such accounts must be treated with caution, I have no doubt that it does happen on occasion; my own maternal grandmother had a vision of Jesus welcoming her into Heaven as she lay dying.

The final proof of Heaven’s reality, however, comes from Jesus Christ. Repeatedly He told His disciples not only that Heaven exists, but that someday they would go there. To Lazarus’s sisters He declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26). He promised His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you . . . that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2–3). The best-known verse in all the Bible underlines this truth: “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” (John 3:16).

How can we know—beyond a shadow of doubt—that there is life after death? The only way would be for someone to die— and then come back to life and tell us what lies beyond the grave. And that’s exactly what happened when Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. It was the most unique and startling event in all history, and because of it we know that death is not the end, and we can be assured of eternal life. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

More than that, however, Jesus’ death and resurrection tell us that sin and death have been defeated forever. We do not need to fear the grave because by His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has opened Heaven’s door for us. The Bible says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4). These words, penned by the apostle Peter near the end of his life, are God’s promise to you and to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yes, Heaven is real!

WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

I don’t believe I have ever known a person (or at least a Christian) who did not want to know what Heaven is like—including me! This is not mere curiosity, however, like wondering about some place we have never visited. Instead we know that Heaven is our final home—the place where we will be spending all eternity. Why wouldn’t we want to know what Heaven will be like?

Admittedly the Bible doesn’t answer all our questions about Heaven. One reason, I’ve realized, is that Heaven is so much greater than anything our limited minds can ever imagine. Even if God answered all our questions about Heaven, we wouldn’t be able to understand them! The Bible says,

No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Only in Heaven will we be able to grasp completely its endless glory and wonder and joy. Then, the Bible says, we “will share in the glory to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1).

But even if the Bible doesn’t tell us everything we want to know about Heaven, it does tell us everything we need to know. And everything—without exception—that it tells us about Heaven should make us want to go there! (On the other hand, everything— without exception—that the Bible tells us