You Will Go to Heaven

You Will Go to Heaven 13:36-14:6 

Jesus did not rebuke Peter for asking Him where He was going, but His answer was quite cryptic. One day Peter would “follow” Jesus to the cross (John 21:18–19; 2 Peter 1:12–15) and then would follow Him to heaven. Tradition has it that Peter was crucified but desired to be crucified upside down because he did not consider himself worthy to die as his Master had died.

Almost as if to make Peter feel like a hero, Jesus said that He Himself was about to become a casualty. The message shocked Peter, but it stunned the rest of the disciples too. For after all if brave Peter denied the Lord, what hope was there for the rest of them? And then Jesus gave His message to calm their troubled hearts.

Jesus says heaven is a real place. It is not a product of psychedelic mind seeking “pie in the sky by and by,” nor is it a figment of religious imagination. Heaven is where God lives and where Jesus sits today at the right hand of the Father. Heaven is a kingdom (2 Peter 1:11), an inheritance (1 Peter 1:4), a country (Heb. 11:16), a city (Heb. 11:16), and a home (John 14:2).

The word "Father" is found fifty-three times in John 13-17. The Son of God says heaven is His, my Father’s house. It is “home” for the children of God! 

The Greek word "mone" is translated as “mansions” in John 14:2 and “abode” in John 14:23. It simply means “rooms, abiding places,” so we shouldn’t be thinking in terms of manor houses. It is a pity that some unbiblical songs have promoted the error that faithful Christians will have beautiful mansions in glory, whereas worldly saints will have to be satisfied with little cottages or even shacks. Jesus Christ is now making ready places for all true believers, and every place will be beautiful. Jesus was a carpenter when He was here on earth (Mark 6:3). He is back in glory, but He is now building a church on earth and a home for that church in heaven.

John 14:3 is a certain promise of the Lord’s return for His own. Some will go to heaven through the valley of the shadow of death, but those alive when Jesus returns will never experience death (John 11:25–26). They will be transformed to be like Christ and go to heaven (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Heaven is the Father’s house, so it must be a place of love and joy. When the apostle John tried to describe heaven, he nearly ran out of pictures and comparisons (Revelation 21-22)! At last he listed the things that would not be there. Death, sorrow, crying, pain, night, etc. What a lovely home it will be, and we will enjoy it forever!

Thomas’ question showed how greatly he wanted to be with Jesus (see John 11:16), and this required him to know where the Master was going and how he himself would get there. The Lord stressed that He was going to the Father, that He was the only way to the Father. Heaven is a real place, a loving place, and a hidden place. Not everyone will go to heaven, but only those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ (see Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:4–6).

Jesus does not only teach the way or show the way; He is the way. One of the early designations of the Christian faith was “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Our Lord's saying, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me," wipes out any other suggested way to heaven—good works, religious ceremonies, costly gifts, etc. There is only one way, and that is Jesus Christ.

How would this promise of going to heaven quiet the troubled hearts of the disciples? The knowledge of a heavenly home at the end of life’s journey enables us to meet with joy the obstacles and conflicts that come to us on the way. It was this assurance that even encouraged our Lord, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" (Heb. 12:2). Paul had this truth in mind when he wrote, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).