CONFIDENCE IN THE FACE OF HARD QUESTIONS: Won’t All People Ultimately Go to Heaven?

“Humans are “special” and DESERVE an afterlife in heaven after such a hard life on Earth.  Won’t ALL people ultimately go to Heaven?”  Such comments arise after someone states God’s kingdom is reserved for those who obediently follow Him.  

Words mean things and if the definition of “heaven” is merely… “doesn’t our spirit return to the sky when we die?”, then maybe.  But if the meaning of Heaven is intended to be “at home with God” then no, not ALL people will go to Heaven.  It just makes logical sense:

1. IF there is no God (as many say) then what does a Heaven matter?
2. IF there IS a God (as many say) then Heaven is loosely defined as “God’s Home”.
3. Why should those who reject or ignore God; who don’t care about God, who don’t love God’s children and who won’t follow God’s guidance, be invited into God’s Home. Why would they even desire to live in “heaven”.

I think that what most people are feeling is “life is so hard here on Earth, that after life on Earth there MUST be a life that is all free and easy, right?”

In lessons past we have seen that the number of people adhering to a religion in America is waning.  Yet the majority of Americans (83%) believe there is an afterlife. Of these, most (74%) believe in heaven. Another study shows that 40 percent of Americans believe that everyone, regardless of what they believe or do, will be saved and accepted by God. But, again, why would anyone who doesn’t WANT to adhere to God be required to live with God?  If they DON’T choose to live with God in the present, WHY should they be either “punished” or “rewarded” with living with God for eternity?

The belief that “live however YOU want to, God will accept you when you die” gives a false sense of comfort because it does not line up with what the Bible teaches. It all boils down to choose what you WANT now, you may get to live with it in eternity.  

We look at Matthew 7: 13-23, a passage that comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  Here Jesus described four situations. Each situation involved contrasting choices and results: (1) two gates and two roads; (2) true and false prophets; (3) true and false disciples; (4) wise and foolish builders.

So let’s see the reality of what Jesus teaches.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gateis wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.

14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life,and few find it.

Moses, Joshua, and Jeremiah all called for God’s people to decide between two options, each with vastly different results. Jesus made clear that those who wanted to “get into the kingdom of heaven” first had to clearly understand the choices that lay before them. While humanity may, like our current southern border crisis, desire to just illegally enter Heaven because they want to without doing the work of going through the process, Jesus points out the reality is that without “doing the work” your desires will NOT gain you access into the house of God to live with God.

In concluding His sermon, Jesus used an illustration that involved two gates and two roads.  I had not thought of it this way, but in order to understand Jesus’s illustration we must first answer the question, Which comes first—the gate or the road? Meaning, does the gate open to the road to Heaven, or does the road lead to the gate of Heaven? So, is this passage referencing the Road to Heaven, or the Gate (entrance into) Heaven?

Many Bible scholars believe that Jesus meant that the reference is to the gate that opens onto the road. To use our modern terms: “can you tell me which road leads to Godsville?”  “Well, there are two roads. The entrance ramp to Freeway 666 will take you BY Godsville, but there are no exits that will get you INTO Godsville. If you take this little road out of town, Highway 777, it will take you to the path that will take you directly into Godsville.  That is the only way to get there…otherwise you just pass it by without arriving.”  Since in the context of His sermon Jesus was talking about how to enter the kingdom of heaven, we should understand this road to mean entering God’s kingdom.

The fact that there are only two gates suggests that these are the only two choices. That many people go through the wide gate further suggests that this gate is the default choice of most people. “Get on Freeway 666 and it will take you TO Godsville”, may be a true statement, but it will NOT TAKE YOU INTO Godsville.  It also suggests that the number of those who enter through the narrow gate (enter into eternal life) is small in comparison to those who take the wide gate. While the wide gate represents the multitude of ways people believe will get them into the afterlife, as Jesus made clear, He alone is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”:  “Unless you take Highway 777 you may go BY Godsville, but you won’t get into it.”

Those who enter through the wide gate (the entrance ramp to the superhighway) are traveling the road that is broad and has plenty of room and you can go fast. That the road is broad suggests it is a well-traveled road. However, those who choose the narrow gate find the road to be a winding road in the woods over which you can’t travel very fast.  While fast and broad may take you BY…slow and steady Godly choices will let you arrive into the Kingdom of heaven.  Most WANT to choose the freeway, after all it sounds good.  “I am choosing the FREE way into Heaven.”  But going BY Godsville is NOT the same as arriving IN Godsville.

There are only two choices mentioned, illustrative of the only two destinations—destruction or life. Jesus said that going through the gate that was wide and taking the road that was broad would result in destruction. The term for destruction can also be translated as “ruin” or “annihilation” (“act of reducing to non-existence; literally leading “to nothing”). Another way to say it would be the Freeway will take you towards it, but it won’t get you there…you will get lost and wander all over the roadways going nowhere fast.”

 In the New Testament this term is applied to those who reject Jesus. The word’s meaning of being both a process and an end result is seen in the fact that those who reject Jesus, while facing a final judgment at the end of time, are already condemned in this life for rejecting God’s Messiah.  They have already made their choice to take the exit to merge onto “Highway 777.”  Those who do not consciously make a choice between the wide and narrow ways, by default end up on “Freeway 666”,  the path to destruction. 

It is like the quote from Rocky Horror Picture Show.  One character says: “I ask for nothing Master!” The other replies:  “And you shall receive it IN ABUNDANCE!”   No choice IS a choice.  When you choose to “hitchhike” along Freeway 666, you automatically travel to nowhere fast.  Your request for “nothing” will get you all the “nothing” that you can handle.  Those who seek God and accept Jesus and his teachings and actively follow them will find God in Jesus.  Those who seek “nothing” shall receive IT in abundance.

So, what is a life of “nothing” look like?  What does a life of actively following Jesus look like? Jesus and the New Testament writers often added the word “eternal”. While this adjective points to a life that endures past physical death, it also describes a different kind of life in the present.  Jesus identified this kind of life as entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

A kingdom is a realm ruled by a monarch.  A realm is a field or domain of activity or interest. If your interest and activities are NOT within the realm of God, then you WILL have to be content with the domain or field of activity of the realm of your choice.  Choose wisely.  

There will be NO SHORTAGE of people telling you to take “Freeway 666” because it is “so much easier”, but in the next passage we are told to watch out for these preachers of falsehood. 

Matthew 7:15-20

15 “Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

19 Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.

Not all who claim to speak for God speak the truth.  There are a large number of deluded people who will direct you to Freeway 666 that “goes by” Godsville.  They may do so out of ignorance or out of malicious intent, but either way they are directing you away from Highway 777 that directs you INTO Godsville.

Jesus tells us to be on guard. The Greek term for guard indicates awareness.  It means to be cautious about, pay attention to, and be in a state of alertness. The Christian life begins with the choice to take Highway 777, repent and place one’s faith in Jesus to receive salvation. That choice is the entrance ramp of the believer’s faith journey in this life. While on this life journey, the believer must be on guard against those who would try to direct the believer back to Freeway 666 with false teachings.

The Old Testament has many warnings about false prophets and distinguishes them as those who claim to speak for God when God had not given them a message. As the gospel spread, God called, equipped, and sent many to share His truth with others. Jesus’s commission was to make disciples by teaching them how to follow God in their daily lives. These men left families and jobs to go wherever God sent them, so they depended on the kindness and generosity of those they served to provide food and lodging. 

However, some took advantage of the churches in order to enrich themselves. Paul wrote that “those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel”, but he knew that some preached only for material gain. For some being God’s prophet wasn’t an adventure, it was just a job.  That’s why Paul was careful about accepting financial gifts, and worked to provide for his own needs. Peter and John also warned the churches to be alert for those who would try to lead believers away from God’s truth and to get rich by deceiving others.

In his final message to the Ephesian elders, Paul warned them to “be on guard” for “savage wolves” that would attack “the flock”.  More than just ignorant or deluded in their spreading of false directions, there were those who hunted the flock as a wolf does sheep.  False prophets who would try to mislead the believers to take advantage of their support. The Greek word for ravaging can also mean “greedy” or “swindler”. In addition to describing the insatiable appetite of a wild beast, it can also mean someone who practices extortion and robbery. How will we be able to tell the difference between “stupid prophets” and “false or criminal prophets?”

Jesus tells us that You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Christians are to discern a person’s true character by his lifestyle. This is particularly important when those being examined are claiming to be teachers and preachers of God’s Word. The concept of discerning a person’s true character by his lifestyle was common in the first century. John the Baptist urged those who came to hear him to “produce fruit consistent with repentance”. Jesus had earlier warned against judging, but there the context was about condemning others without first examining yourself, not just the purposes of discernment. Here Jesus’s point was to be discerning about those who were like the hired hand who only cared about getting paid and not the welfare of the sheep.  While a stupid shepherd may have a wolf take one of their sheep, a false shepherd would actively open their flock to danger while simultaneously attracting the wolves.  Quite a difference.

Jesus tells us to pay attention to the type of the fruit that their harvest produces.  Thorn bushes seldom produce edible fruit.  Jesus noted that good or bad words and actions flow out of a person’s heart. The psalmist described the one who delights in the Lord’s instruction as being like “a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither”.  In a similar way an unhealthy tree can only produce bad fruit. A bad or “evil person” can only produce “evil things”.  Think of it this way, if one is FULL of harmful thoughts, feelings, emotions, can one easily pour out beneficial feelings and emotions?

A dead tree is usually only good for firewood, or for use as scrap lumber.  The axe, the cutting down of trees, and fire are all symbols of judgment (meaning sensible conclusions). John the Baptist used the same language to warn about the coming judgment. The sensible conclusion is that those who reject God will have God allow their rejection to stand for eternity.  Those who ignore God will have God allow their indecision to stand for eternity.  Those who choose to LIVE with God will have God allow their choice to live for eternity.  Be careful how you choose.  

To tie this back into the earlier statements, if don’t want God you won’t HAVE God.  If you “ask for nothing” and you “produce nothing useful or good”, then you will receive nothing, IN ABUNDANCE – annihilation. These are the sensible conclusions.  A person’s actions demonstrate the condition of his heart, prophets who speak God’s truth from righteous motives will reveal godly lifestyles. In the same way, those who claim to be spokespersons sent by God but who are in fact only wolves in sheep’s clothing will reveal ungodly motives and lifestyles. Jesus’s overall point was that the lifestyle of false prophets will naturally produce enough bad fruit to reveal the true condition of their hearts.

Matthew 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’

23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’”

Only those who desire, seek, pursue, trust and obey God will enter the kingdom of heaven.  Others will receive the desire of their heart – nothingness and lostness.  They will eternally “wander around the freeways and back roads looking for something that will fill their heart.  When they do come across directions to Highway 777 they will actively choose to ignore pursuing that path. Some will pretend to be on Highway 777 but they are merely deluding themselves and others by causing others to be directed to Freeway 666. They are a false prophet. A genuine saving relationship with Jesus is one out of which flow acts of obedience to the Father’s will through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. All others are imposters and pretenders, literally actors and hypocrites.

Such pretenders will point to their “good works”: “didn’t we preach your word and drive out demons in your name?!”  This passage points out an interesting point.  While Jesus’ ability to cast out demons demonstrated his Godliness and the inability of Satan’s demons to withstand an audience with absolute good,  we are reminded that signs and wonders CAN come from sources other than God.  Humans have, can, and do manufacture signs and wonders.  Satan and the demonic world certainly have, can, and do manufacture signs and wonders.  According to Jesus’s words, these individuals claiming to be Christians had been doing lawless works.  They never had been true believers, since they never had a saving relationship with Him. 

Jesus pointed to the core issue: as lawbreakers these people had not obeyed “the will of my Father in heaven”. While they had claimed Jesus as “Lord,” their actions were inconsistent with lives of genuine disciples. Paul said of such men, “They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for any good work”. 

True prophets and true disciples will both speak God’s truth and live by it. They will direct people to find the entrance ramp to Highway 777, the path that leads to Godsville.  They will point out to people that, while Freeway 666 may APPEAR attractive, and may indeed “take you BY, or towards” Godsville, it won’t take you INTO Godsville.

The reality is that NOT all people will go to Heaven.  Some will live for eternity with their choices to reject, or just ignore God and his lifestyle.  Be careful how you choose.