Many people passionately believe that when we die our souls will go to heaven for eternity. There, they expect to see departed loved ones and other long-lost friends—even lost pets, perhaps. The other details are a bit “fuzzy,” but this eternity in heaven is often imagined as some sort of never-ending “resort” of comfort and delights.
Now you might believe many of these things about heaven, yourself. If so, I have incredibly GOOD NEWS to share with you: You are wonderfully wrong. The truth is that God has something planned for you, for me, and for all who have gone before us that is far, far *BETTER* THAN HEAVEN! You need to know the details of what He has planned—stay tuned!
Greetings, and welcome to Tomorrow’s World! I’m delighted you’re here.
Today we are going to plunge into a question that many people long to answer: What comes next after we die? We’ll also be offering you a free booklet about God’s purpose for you after death, Your Ultimate Destiny. It really is completely free. Be sure to keep an eye on your screen for information on how to get your copy.
In 2015, the Pew Research Center reported that 72% of Americans believe in some sort of rewarding afterlife. Even for those who consider themselves unaffiliated with a particular religious faith, 37% said they believe in an afterlife in heaven—including some agnostics and atheists who responded to the poll.
While beliefs about that afterlife vary from culture to culture and faith to faith, many believe that they have an immortal soul will go to heaven after their deaths, to be with God for eternity.
But what does that really mean?
Ideas vary wildly. Most imagine they will meet friends and family who have long been dead. Others believe it will be like a life of eternal luxury and comfort—but, frankly, details are hard to come by.
Peter Stanford, author of the book Heaven: A Traveller’s Guide to the Undiscovered Country, made this observation in the Daily Mail:
“In the marketing-speak that creeps ever more into our daily exchanges, the best bit of the ‘religious offer’ is the promise of an afterlife. That is why so many people who have severed all other ties with formal religion (i.e., churchgoing) continue to cling vaguely to the notion of Heaven. It lends itself perfectly to vagueness.
Still, the important questions remain: Is the idea that after death we will spend eternity in heaven true?
Does it come from the Bible? What about the billions who have died before us? What will you and I do for eternity if we live forever? What is the TRUTH about what happens when we die?
The answers to those questions may not be what you think they are. For instance, the Bible makes it plain that you do NOT immediately go to heaven when you die. But I’m here to tell you that is GOOD NEWS. Because what God has planned for you is FAR BETTER THAN HEAVEN! In fact, the idea of an eternity relaxing in heaven does not even come CLOSE to the joyous future that is REALLY in store for us after death. And today on this program, we’re going to show you, out of your Bible, the details of that future.
Before I can do that, I need to clear up a fundamental misunderstanding that many people have—and that is the idea that we all have an immortal, continually conscious soul that goes ANYWHERE when we die. God’s word plainly says that we do not.
While some verses here and there are sometimes wrenched out of context to make it seem otherwise, the plain teaching of the Bible is that the dead are just that: DEAD—unconscious and without life, awaiting a FUTURE resurrection.
Consider Ecclesiastes 9 and verse five. There, King Solomon explains it very simply:
For the living know that they will die; but THE DEAD KNOW NOTHING…
Later, he adds more detail:
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
His father, King David, understood this. In Psalm 6 and verse 5, he wrote:
For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?
The Bible is clear: The dead are simply that: Dead.
But that does NOT mean the end! For the Bible makes JUST as plain the fact that there is a coming RESURRECTION of the dead! The Apostle Paul made it clear that this resurrection was his hope, not an eternity in heaven, declaring,
I have hope in God… that there will be a RESURRECTION of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
Well, what’s so special about a resurrection? Why is that so much better than the idea of going to heaven? We will explain the inspiring answer in our next segment.
But first, let me give you an opportunity to request this week’s free booklet, Your Ultimate Destiny.
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