Is all of God’s word in the Bible the truth? If it is then, why nowhere does it clearly say that believers will go to heaven once they die?

Fact is millions, if not billions, of those who name the name of Christ firmly believe they will go straight to heaven when they die. Yet there is not a single verse in scripture to clearly support this assertion.

Despite that biblical fact the teaching that man’s ultimate destiny and his eternal home is in heaven is almost universal. At countless funerals the bereaved are told their loved one is “now with the Lord in heaven”; therefore they should not mourn as those “without hope” but rejoice because the dear departed one has been “promoted to glory” and is in “a far better place”.

Strikingly, a 2011 Gallup poll, found 85 percent of Americans said they believed heaven is the place to go after death. But how do they know? Popular television preacher Dr David Jeremiah and renowned evangelist the late Dr Billy Graham both claim to have the answer.

Dr David Jeremiah:

When we get to heaven, we’re going to know all the people we met down here, and they’re going to know us. It’s unthinkable to me that, in heaven, we will know less than we do here. God wants everyone to join Him in heaven. No matter who you are or what you have done , He is prepared to welcome you.

Dr Billy Graham:

The Bible assures us that heaven is a definite place above the earth. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would not have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2-3). Heaven contains buildings constructed with tangible materials for real people to live in. Christians are homeless. Their true home is waiting for them in heaven, prepared by Jesus Christ. Heaven is a real place where your soul and spirit live forever. We know heaven is real because of Jesus Christ, who came from heaven.

But are their assertions true? Not if you check the Bible. Take Billy Graham’s citing of John 14:2-3. Yes, Jesus said that “in my Father’s house are many mansions” but He did not say they were in heaven, or even mention the word. Why? Because He was referring to the Jerusalem temple that in the kingdom age to come would be rebuilt so that the resurrected apostles would “sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:9-30). Clearly they would not do so from heaven else the Lord would have said so.

 In Matthew 21:13 the Lord cleansed the Jerusalem temple, quoting Isaiah 56:7, “It is written my house shall be called a house of prayer”. For Him, his disciples and all Jews the temple was “my Father’s house”, not heaven. And in John 2:15-16 Jesus threw out the temple traders, saying “Make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise”.

So what is the truth? Psalm 115:16 sums it up: “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men”. Not only that, but the Lord has chosen the earth as his future eternal home. Thus Psalm 132:13-14 declares:

For the Lord hath chosen Zion (i.e. Jerusalem on earth); He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

This will be finally fulfilled when the “holy city” descends to the “new earth” and, as Revelation 21:3 states:

Behold the tabernacle of God is (will be) with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.

What’s more, living with God on earth is the hoped for destiny of all saints. It is, the Bible says, their “inheritance”.  Now in Ephesians 1:13-14 those who have trusted Christ to save them, redeem them and give them eternal life are given a deposit of the Spirit of God as a down payment on their “inheritance”.

But just what is that inheritance? Is it going to be with the Lord in heaven? Not if the promises of the Lord in both the Old and New Testaments are considered. For example, the first direct statement about the inheritance is found in Psalm 37L:

                For evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

To make clear that our inheritance is on earth and not in heaven, the psalmist repeats the point in verses 10 and 11:

But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

If that’s not enough, consider the words of Jesus Himself, who said heaven and earth would pass away but his words would last forever. In confirming God’s promises in the Old Testament He said:

                Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

Let’s look at one more: Psalm 37:22 declares:

For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth and they that are cursed of Him shall be cut off.

Now if Jesus confirmed the promises of old, who are we as grace-saved believers to deny them and insist on wanting to go to heaven when God says He will bless us on earth? It is the view of men more able than I in studying scripture that even the “spiritual blessings in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3-4) with which we are blessed “in the heavenly realms” will actually be experienced by us on earth.

Many holding that they will go to heaven straight after their decease cite Jude 24-25 in support, but actually there is no mention of heaven in the passage. Instead the promise is to be presented “faultless in the presence of his glory”.

And where, according to the Bible, is the glory to be revealed? Overwhelmingly the scriptural evidence is that it is on earth. The following verses undeniably say so:

Numbers 14:21: But as truly as I (the Lord) live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Habakkuk 2:14: For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Psalm 72:18-19: Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. (Note: this is a prophecy but the prophets often wrote as though their predictions were already fulfilled, so confident were they would be).

Isaiah 6:3: And one cried to another, and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Jeremiah 23:24: Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?

What about the New Testament, you ask? Well consider Titus 2:13:

Looking for that blessed hope (that is our resurrection) and the glorious appearing (i.e appearing in glory on earth) of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Note carefully, this verse does not say that Christ Himself will come to earth personally and physically. That is reserved for a later occasion, his parousia, commonly, but wrongly, called his “Second Coming”. No, it is his glory, not his person that appears first and fills the earth.

And this is where and when we find our destiny. Not in heaven but on earth when He takes over government of the world and brings in his kingdom in the wonderful Day of Christ cited seven times in Paul’s epistles. (See 1 Corinthians 1:8, Philippians 1:6, 1:10and 2:16).

To explain: the Day of Christ, Christ taking over government of the world, the last days, the latter days all describe one crucial event: the appearing at which the Lord will show forth his glory as king and rule the earth:            

I give thee charge. in the sight of God that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the  appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ : which in his times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality… (1 Timothy 6:14-16).

Thus is confirmed in 2 Timothy 4:1 where the Apostle Paul cautions Timothy:

I charge thee therefore before God and (even) the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the death at his appearing and kingdom.

Fact is, the kingdom is both the theme and the consummation of the whole Bible story. It’s where it ends up. And it is on and upon earth that this kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will come. Though overlooked by most this is confirmed in the so-called Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) which is really the disciples’ prayer. .

Doesn’t it say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?  Doesn’t it conclude by saying, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever Amen”?

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com