What’s your response if someone asks if you think a person you both knew is now in heaven?
I love the way Jesus taught truth through His parables! The following passage is an example for our consideration surrounding this awkward question when asked where people who have died may be now … from Matthew 21:28-32 when Jesus was sharing with the religious leaders of His time:
“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. “Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.” Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.”
Perhaps a better question to ask surrounding where a loved one, or a friend, or an acquaintance is after their death, might be something like, ‘As far as you know, was their life consistent with the saving faith of Christ?’
From a Biblical frame-of-reference, there are only two options for where people will go after their life here is over. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
Unfortunately, the enemy has the vast majority of our culture convinced that all anyone has to do to get into heaven is to be a good moral person. Here’s a reminder from Luke 23:39-43 about the simplicity of God’s truth from a real-life conversation that took place while Jesus was on the cross being crucified. “One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Just to clarify from a Biblical perspective surrounding the question of how anyone can know that they will in fact go to heaven after they die, consider what Acts 4:8-12 says, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”