Jesus created heaven and came from heaven when He came to earth in Bethlehem, so we can trust that Jesus understands more about heaven than anyone else. Jesus says  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

To ‘come to the Father’ means to be with God the Father in heaven. Jesus is clear that no one can enter heaven except through Jesus alone. What does this really mean though? Let’s break it down.

We would all likely agree that heaven is perfect. For heaven to stay perfect, no person can enter heaven without first being perfected themselves. 

The Bible says that we have all sinned, which means none of us have lived a perfect life. The penalty of not living a perfect life, according to the Bible, is separation from Jesus and His Kingdom which includes eternity. Sin breaks our relationship with Jesus, and so when we die, we continue to have broken relationships with Jesus, and go where Jesus is not, which the Bible calls hell.

Relationship with us is the priority of God. Jesus came to rescue us from this inevitable separation that has come through sin. The cost of sin is death, and the payment for death is blood because it holds life. Jesus made the decision to die on a cross to pay for our sin. 

This relationship could never have been repaired in our own power or strength. I think we can all safely admit that we have not led a perfect life! Jesus was God in human form and He left heaven and came down to earth to suffer and die so that He could be with us again in heaven. 

We are saved from an eternity without Jesus by placing our faith (trusting, believing) in what Jesus has done for us. We are saved by our belief, and not by our behavior.

The Bible says of this in Eph. 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

In order to receive the gift of being with Jesus in heaven, we need to simply tell Jesus that we believe that He died on the cross for us, and that we believe that His blood paid the price for our sins. 

Please say these things in your own words to Jesus right now, (the Bible says  He is always with us and always hears us)! By doing so you will enter into Jesus’ Kingdom and live forever with Jesus in heaven. 

Part of being in Jesus’ Kingdom means being in a church. Please reach out to us at Anchor City Church by phone, text, or email or stop in to introduce yourself as you journey through what it means to follow Jesus Christ!