Heaven and Hell are not a state of mind. They both are actual geographical places.
Jesus said in John 14:2-3 in my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: That where I am, there you may be also.
Hell is located in the geographical place of the center of this earth. Jesus went to hell for us so we don’t have to go there if we accept His salvation. Ephesians 4:9 says He referring to Jesus ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth.
The World Population Clock is located at: www.worldometers.info
As of this writing it says there are over 8 Billion people on the earth. Over 150,000 births today. Over 75,000 deaths today. If there are over 75,000 deaths each day how many go to Heaven and how many go to Hell? Only God knows. However based upon 75,000 deaths each day that tells us Heaven and Hell are very busy places everyday. If you are a believer God will hold you responsible for the knowledge of the Word of God that you have and if you are sharing that knowledge with the world and telling them about Jesus.
Everytime a family member or a close loved one dies it shakes you up. If they were fatally sick for a long time and you knew they were going to die. It still shakes you up when they actually die. It makes you think of your own life and your own mortality and what type of Legacy you are going to leave in the earth.
Heaven and Hell are both “very extreme places.” Heaven is extremely good and Hell is extremely bad.
Earth is the only place decisions are made. The people in Heaven have already made a decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The people in Hell have already made a decision to reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Earth is the only place you still have an opportunity to make a decision about your eternity. When we leave this earth we can only take two things with us. We can take our Family and Souls and that is it. We cannot take our home, cars, money or possessions. This should show us that our Family and Souls are the most important things on this earth.
The bible records people who have seen Heaven and Hell and have lived to tell us about it.
Isaiah 6:1-5 in verse 1 Isaiah said I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. In verse 5 he says Woe is me! for I am undone: because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
Ezekiel 1:1 says …the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. In 1:26-28 he says he saw a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man. He said he saw the color of amber and Jesus was a fire from the waist up and a fire from the waist down. And fire and brightness was around Him and he saw a rainbow and the Glory of the Lord.
Acts 7:51-56 records the story of Stephen as he defends himself before the Sanhedrin Council.As they begin to stone him Stephen says he looked into Heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Every scripture except this one always says Jesus is seated at the right hand of God regarding where Jesus is at this present time. Jesus stood up for Stephen! The first martyr of the Church. Wow!
Second Corinthians 12:1-4 Paul says 14 years ago he was caught up into the Third Heaven. The first heaven is where the birds fly and the clouds are. The second heaven is where the stars and planets are. The third heaven is where God lives.
Paul says he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words. What is a unspeakable word? He heard things he could not articulate in his known language.
It has been reported from people that have seen Heaven we will hear things we have never heard before and we will see colors we have never seen before. This is just a taste of some of the good things God has waiting for us in Heaven.
In Revelation 4:1-11 John says a door was open in Heaven and it was said to him come up here and he saw the throne and the one who sat on the throne. He saw jasper and sardine stones and a rainbow around the throne that looked like emerald.
Dr Richard Eby shared his testimony on TBN Trinity Broadcasting Network. He said he fell from a second story building head first on the concrete. His head split open and he died and was instantly in Heaven. He said the first thing he noticed was that our heavenly bodies have eyesight that has a unlimited range like that of a eagle. He said our heavenly bodies have no blood or vessels which is scriptural because First Corinthians 15:50 says flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. He said that people in Heaven can speak to each other but it is not necessary because when you think a thought about someone they can respond to you with their thought.
The doctors operated on him and were successful to bring him back from death.
Another time he was in the Holy Land. He was taking a tour of the Tomb of Lazarus. While at the Tomb of Lazarus Jesus spoke to him and told him I am going to show you Hell. I have to blot out your name out of the Book of Life in order to show you Hell. Dr Eby said alright but make sure you put my name back into the Book of Life afterwards! He was in Hell for 2 minutes and was surrounded by thousands of demons. He said the smell and stench was unbearable. He said the terror was unbelievable.
This leads me to another person that God allowed to see Hell. Bill Wiese who wrote the New York Times Best Selling Book 23 Minutes in Hell. I had the privilege of bringing Bill Wiese to our Church in Spokane. Bill said he used to Scuba-dive in the waters of Florida. When out Scuba-diving a Great White Shark almost bit his entire leg off. However some how he managed to get back in the boat and escape. He said that was the Height of any Fear he had ever experienced on the earth. Bill said in comparison to the Fear he experienced in Hell the Shark experience does not even register in comparison. The Fear in Hell far surpassed the Shark experience.
Bill said accept Jesus and live for Him! You want to avoid Hell at all cost.
In the book of Jonah. Most of us know the story. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them. Jonah refused and went as far as he could go in the opposite direction in the known world at that time.
God prepares a Great Fish to swallow Jonah. We pick up the story in Jonah 2:1 It says Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly. In verse 2 Jonah said out of the belly of Hell I cried.
Jonah died in that fish’s belly and was in Hell is what he is saying. In verse 6 Jonah says the earth with her bars was about me FOREVER: Yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
I have shared with you 5 people in the bible that saw Heaven and lived to tell us about it. I have shared with you 1 person in the bible that saw Hell and lived to tell us about it.
There is a Heaven to Gain and a Hell to miss! And we need to share Jesus with as many people as we can and invite them to Heaven! It is the bottom line reason we are on this Earth which is to Love God and people and get as many people into Heaven as we can. Nothing else is more important than this!
For those that think the story of Jonah is a myth and a fairy tale. What did Jesus say about Jonah? Matthew 12:38-41 says, “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees said Master, we want to see a sign from you. Jesus said, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign: and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish’s belly: so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and , behold , a greater than Solomon is here.”
Jesus confirmed the story of Jonah was TRUE! So that tells us a man in the Bible named Jonah actually died in the fish’s belly and went to Hell and came back to tell us about it!
Most people that go to Hell never have a second chance to come back and tell us about it. But Jonah did. So let us take heed and listen.
Jesus went to Hell and came back to tell us about it. In the above passage Jesus said, “So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” In Revelation 1:18 he said, I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
After the meeting we had in our Church with Bill & Annette Wiese and Mary K. Baxter who wrote the book “A Divine Revelation of Hell” we all went out to dinner. As we were eating I will NEVER forget Annette said, “she has a friend who had a vision of the Judgement Seat of Christ.” This is when all believers will be judged for their works on the earth. This is recorded in Second Corinthians 5:10 it says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.” Well all believers are already saved so what could we receive bad at the Judgement Seat of Christ? Annette Wiese said, Her friend who saw the Judgement Seat of Christ in a vision said “She saw millions of believers weeping and crying because they did not fulfill the will of God in their lives and suffered eternal loss of rewards they could have had if they had been obedient to Jesus but since they were disobedient they would not get the eternal rewards they could have had and they realized how much time they wasted on the earth doing selfish things and they could not get that time back and the opportunities were gone and they realized that their status in heaven was eternally determined.” “Matthew 11:11 says, “Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: however he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So there will be the least and the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And those in Annette Wiese’s friends vision realized that they would be eternally the least in the kingdom of heaven. That is why we need to serve God with every fiber of our being and full fill his will in our lives!
For more on this Topic go to our Sermon on Salvation.