Throughout the ages, heaven has always being considered as the most desirable and pleasant place to be; it is viewed as the final reward for those whose lives have been characterized by deeds of goodness. Since the days of antiquity, the nations that were separated from Noah and his teachings held these basic concepts, but mixed them with error. For most oriental people - the Buddhists, for example - heaven is Nirvana, the highest and most perfect state to which a person can attain, becoming liberated from earthly desires that have caused all pain and suffering.

For the Egyptians, as soon as a person passed through the “judgment of the dead” in the presence of 42 judges and was declared innocent, he would reach heaven and there cultivate the fields of the gods. But he would have the alternative of crying out, “I’m pure, I’m pure, I’m pure,” or of returning to earth in order to take care of his dear ones (belief in the immortality of the soul).

To the Greeks, heaven was the highest sphere. As they believed in the immortality of the soul, death was not the worst of evils, but was actually considered to be the greatest good. Because of that Socrates, after being sentenced to die, gladly accepted to drink the poisonous hemlock juice. Even though he could have been freed from condemnation through the influence and bribes of his friends and pupils, he preferred to die, leaving his wife and children. “Where do you want to be buried?” they asked him. “No one can bury me,” he answered, adding, “Socrates is not a body that can be seen and touched; Socrates is the soul that escapes to the highest sphere.”

The error of Socrates has taken many to their eternal ruin. Believing that people immediately go to heaven after their death, many have committed suicide in the hope of putting an easy and abrupt halt to whatever pain, injustices, disillusionments, and sufferings they faced in this world.

A hymn entitled Let Us Seek That Better Land, gives us important concepts summarizing what heaven is: “It is the home of the just and holy; where happiness and love reigns. It is the inheritance of the redeemed, where they will enjoy eternal pleasures from God. It is the home of God, the angels and the redeemed ones. It is the heavenly Eden. It is the kingdom of God.”

When there is relative peace as we enjoy it today, most professed Christians do not set their hearts on things above, the joys of heaven. They content themselves with formally fulfilling their religious duties. They do not have much longing or concern for that “better land.” The world does not persecute them, so they blend right in with it. There is a warning for them: “If that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:48-51).

Tribulation and persecution bring us closer to God and to heaven. Religious oppression has often forced Christians to leave their relatives, their friends, and their country, seeking refuge among other nations, where they have often had to find other means of labor to earn their daily bread. And they have been thankful to God for having obtained freedom to hold spiritual communion with their brethren in the faith. “ ‘They knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.’ ”1

The Bible tells us that: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Nevertheless, God has revealed to us a glimpse of the incomparable beauty: “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land . . . and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people.” “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Isaiah 32:18; 33:24; 35:5, 6; 60:18, 20; 11:6, 7; 65:22; Revelation 21:4). There is no doubt that heaven is the dearest place for the human soul. Paraphrasing the words of the prisonkeeper in Philippi, we can exclaim, “What must I do to be in heaven?” (Acts 16:30).

At the beginning of Christ’s ministry, He was preaching: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Has it come to you, is it among you, and is it in you? Truly, the kingdom of heaven has already begun in every heart that has received Christ as his or her personal Saviour. The principles, the peace and the joy of heaven abide there.

“Heaven is to begin on this earth. When the Lord’s people are filled with meekness and tenderness, they will realize that His banner over them is love, and His fruit will be sweet to their taste. They will make a heaven below in which to prepare for heaven above.”2

“Home should be made all that the word implies. It should be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and true courtesy to one another. . . .

“To a large extent parents create the atmosphere of the home circle, and when there is disagreement between father and mother, the children partake of the same spirit. Make your home atmosphere fragrant with tender thoughtfulness. If you have become estranged and have failed to be Bible Christians, be converted; for the character you bear in probationary time will be the character you will have at the coming of Christ. If you would be a saint in heaven, you must first be a saint on earth.”3

“Our work for Christ is to begin with the family in the home. The education of the youth should be of a different order from that which has been given in the past. Their welfare demands far more labor than has been given them. There is no missionary field more important than this. By precept and example parents are to teach their children to labor for the unconverted. The children should be so educated that they will sympathize with the aged and afflicted and will seek to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and distressed. They should be taught to be diligent in missionary work; and from their earliest years self-denial and sacrifice for the good of others and the advancement of Christ’s cause should be inculcated, that they may be laborers together with God.”4

“When religion is manifested in the home, its influence will be felt in the church and in the neighborhood.”5

“The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.”6

God requires righteousness of His people in order for them to live in heaven. Our fitness for heaven must be obtained here and now. Our life in heaven will be the life of Christ, which begins on earth. In this sense, the experience of Paul is a lesson to us. He said: “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

This lofty experience can be ours as well, if day by day and moment by moment we yield our will to God, “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Only thus can we obtain a character in harmony with the character of God and with His commandments.

Christ as the “Son of man” declared: “I have kept my Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). “By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life.”7

If we can live the life of Christ here, then we will be able to live it in heaven as well. This means that we will be clothed with His robe of righteousness and will ultimately be declared fit for heaven. Those who are destitute of this robe will be rejected.

In the parable of the wedding feast, the opposite happens. “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:11-13).

Certainly, the life of Christ is not the life of a sinner. The life of heaven is not the ordinary life we live here on earth.

“In his sinless state, man held joyful communion with Him ‘in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:3). But after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness, and he sought to hide from the presence of God. Such is still the condition of the unrenewed heart. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no joy in communion with Him. The sinner could not be happy in God’s presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings. Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him.”8 Sinners would not find there what pleases them. In vain would they search for a butcher shop to satisfy their appetite. There will be no disco places to visit. There will be no tobacco, alcohol, or gambling. Their companions in frivolity will not be there. There will not be in heaven any useless pastime such as television viewing.

“Heaven would be to [the sinner] a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, and the center of its joy. It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.”9

There is a great danger before us: “Let no one deceive his own soul in this matter. If you harbor pride, self-esteem, a love for the supremacy, vainglory, unholy ambition, murmuring, discontent, bitterness, evil-speaking, lying, deception, slandering, you have not Christ abiding in your heart, and the evidence shows that you have the mind and character of Satan, not of Jesus Christ, who was meek and lowly of heart. You must have a Christian character that will stand. You may have good intentions, good impulses, can speak the truth understandingly, but you are not fit for the kingdom of heaven. . . . There must be thorough conversions among those who claim to believe the truth, or they will fall in the day of trial. God’s people must reach a high standard. They must be a holy nation, a peculiar people, a chosen generation - zealous of good works.”10

As the remnant people of God are symbolized by the prophet Elijah, we still need to do a work before being translated to heaven. Before Elijah was taken up from the earth, a work of reformation and judgment was given him to perform in Israel. After Elijah came out of the cave in Horeb, the Lord told him: “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay” (1 Kings 19:15-18).

The work of reform that we as a remnant people must do begins right in our own homes, that is, with the conversion of our family.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5, 6).

“[The ministers’] great reformatory movement must begin in presenting to fathers and mothers and children the principles of the law of God.”11

This work of reform is to start with those who bear the weightiest responsibilities in the church. “Nothing can excuse the minister for neglecting the inner circle for the larger circle outside. The spiritual welfare of his family comes first. In the day of final reckoning God will inquire what he did to win to Christ those whom he took the responsibility of bringing into the world. Great good done for others cannot cancel the debt that he owes to God to care for his own children.”12

The neglect of this work by those who are the head of families, brings irreversible consequences.

“Many children will rise up in judgment and condemn their parents for not restraining them and charge upon them their destruction. The false sympathy and blind love of parents cause them to excuse the faults of their children and pass them by without correction, and their children are lost in consequence, and the blood of their souls will rest upon the unfaithful parents.”13

We have been called to do a work in the spirit and power of Elijah. Obviously, we are not going to anoint kings, but we are to do what was predicted in Malachi 4:5, 6. The work in behalf of our families, so that they may stand in that great day, requires our time, our dedication, utmost interest, much prayer, watchfulness, and anxiety. “With joy unutterable, parents see the crown, the robe, the harp, given to their children. The days of hope and fear are ended. The seed sown with tears and prayers may have seemed to be sown in vain, but their harvest is reaped with joy at last. Their children have been redeemed. Fathers, mothers, shall the voices of your children swell the song of gladness in that day?”14 Our sincere desire is that it will be so, and that this present time of probation, which our merciful God is still granting us, may be used to hasten this noble purpose.