Who will go to heaven?

Who will go to heaven? We're going to answer that question. You can also discover more on GotQuestions .org. People have different ideas about heaven. Many have no understanding of God at all, but still like to think of heaven as the better place where we all go when we die.

Popular Ideas About Heaven Versus the Bible

Ideas about heaven are often no more than vague hopes on par with, maybe I'll win the lottery someday. Most people don't give heaven much thought until they attend a funeral or loved one dies. It is popular to refer to heaven as the place where the good people go, and of course everyone they know and love is included in the category of good people.

But the Bible has a lot to say about life after death, and it contradicts popular opinion. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.

Why No One Is Good Enough for Heaven

It is appointed to men once to die, but after this, the judgment. According to these verses, everyone dies, but not everyone goes to heaven. God is holy and perfect. Heaven, his dwelling place, is holy and perfect too.

There is none righteous, no, not one. No human being is holy and perfect enough for heaven. The people we call good are not good at all compared to the sinless perfection of God. God's standard is the only one that counts, and he has already ruled.

All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, and the payment for that sin is eternal separation from God. Sin has to be punished, or God is not just. The judgment we face at death is simply God bringing our accounts up to date and passing sentence on our crimes against him.

We have no way to make our wrongs right. Our good does not outweigh our bad. So God became man and took our punishment upon himself. Jesus was God in the flesh. He lived a sinless life of obedience to his Father.

He had no sin, yet at the cross, he took our sin and made it his own. Once he paid the price for our sin, we could be declared holy and perfect by confessing our sin and asking for his forgiveness. When we stand before God one day, we cannot beg entrance to heaven based on our own merit.

We have none to offer. Compared to God's standard of holiness, no one is good enough. But Jesus is, and it is by his merit we can enter heaven. Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanders, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The Kind of Faith That Saves

And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. The sacrifice of Jesus covers it all.

The people who go to heaven are all alike in one way. They are sinners who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have recognized their need for a Savior and humbly accepted God's offer of forgiveness.

They have repented of their old ways of living and set their course to follow Christ. They have not attempted to earn God's forgiveness, but have served him gladly from grateful hearts. The kind of faith that saves a soul is one that transforms a life and rests fully on the grace of God.

That answers the question, who will go to heaven? Research this question further on our website, GotQuestions .org. Give a thumbs up and be sure to click subscribe. Now meanwhile, if you'd like to study more, click the bell and check out these other questions.