Death is Gain: Heaven Is Being with Jesus
The longing of New Testament Christians was to be with Jesus. This longing was so great that they thought death was gain! To be with Him was their goal and should be ours as well.
2 Corinthians 5
Philippians 1:21-23
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
John 13:33-14:5
Revelation 1:10-17,5:6
It is interesting that the New Testament nowhere speaks of believers going 'to heaven' when they die. Instead, they go to be with Christ. Edward Donnelly
John Bunyan's Mr. Standfast (The Pilgrim's Progress), just before he dies, rejoices that 'I am going now to see that Head that was crowned with thorns and that face that was spat upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself.' Edward Donnelly
Sooner could a worm aspire to be a brain surgeon than a sinner expect to work his own passage to glory. Edward Donnelly
So then let Deserved be written on the floor of hell, but on the door of heaven and life The Free Gift. Richard Baxter
If you are in Christ, do not be afraid of death. He who has conquered that last enemy is waiting for you on the other side. As soon as our souls pass into glory we will see Jesus. He who has known and loved us from before the beginning of time will welcome us into His immediate presence. We will not feel strange or out of place, but profoundly and permanently at home. We will know that we are where we belong, and everlastingly secure. Edward Donnelly
If we do not get to heaven before we die, we shall never get there afterward. Charles Spurgeon
The joy of heaven is communing with Christ. The joy of earth should be communing with Him as well. Edward Donnelly
Modern Christians are ready to busy themselves in almost any religious activity but that of quiet communion with their Lord, regarded more as a duty than a delight. They hope to go to heaven, claim to be looking forward to it eagerly. Yet the essence of the heaven they profess to long for is that communion with Christ in which they show so little interest! Something profoundly troubling underlies this spiritual apathy. Edward Donnelly
