Are you going to heaven? If you were to die right this moment, would you go to heaven or not? Are you sure? Can you be sure?
I can remember as a child, growing up in the church, and believing that a Christian could not know where he would go, at any given moment, if he were to die. I have no idea where I got that idea, but it was a scary idea. The very thought that a Christian could go through his daily life and have no clue as to his eternal destiny can lead to all sorts of questions, worries and anxieties.
However, that precarious outlook is not a Biblical concept. God has given, and wants His children to have, confidence! He wants His children to know for certain if they are going to heaven or not. John writes, “These things I have written to you…that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). The word “know” emphasizes a complete and absolute knowledge. It is not a knowledge that needs to be learned or experienced, but a knowledge that is intuitively certain because God gave it.
How can a Christian have this absolute certainty? Look at the passage. “Eternal life” is a favorite subject of the apostle John. He emphasizes it more in his gospel account than the other writers do. Then, it is a focal point in his first epistle. “And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life” (2:25). “God has given us eternal life” (5:11). “You have eternal life” (5:13). So, how can a child of God have confidence in this life that he will go to heaven when he dies?
Notice how precise John is. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (5:11). One must be “in Christ,” in order to know that he has eternal life. John clearly teaches that one is “in Him” when he “keeps His word” (2:5; 3:24), walks “just as He walked” (2:6), “abides in Him” (3:6) and continually “confesses that Jesus is the Son of God” (4:15). Are you “in Him”? Then, you can know that you have eternal life!
One must “believe in the name of the Son of God” (5:13), in order to know that he has eternal life. The word “believe” is in the present tense, emphasizing a continuous and abiding faith. John plainly affirms in this epistle that those with an abiding faith are those who “keep His commandments” (2:3, 4; 3:22, 23, 24; 5:2, 3). Notice how many times that is emphasized in this book. Are you demonstrating a continuous faith by keeping His commandments? Then, you can know that you have eternal life!
God wants you to go to heaven, and He’s told you how to get there! God wants you to KNOW that you’re going to heaven, and He’s told you how to know it! Are you going? Are you sure? What a blessing to have that confidence!