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WhereWill
CHRIST
RULE?
oes God's Word
promise heaven as
the reward of the
saved? Did Jesus
say believers
would waft off to
heaven?
What does God promise as the re–
ward of the righteous- those who
be–
lieve
and
obey
Him? Does He promise
heaven, limbo, purgatory--or w_ill the
''saved" inherit a paradiseon theearth?
Although millions of sincere people
believe otherwise, the Biblesays nothing
about the saints going to heaven! God's
Word declares: "The heaven, even the
heavens, are
the Lord's:
but the earth
hath he given to the children of men"
(Psalms 115: 16).
And David was inspired to reveal
that "those that wait upon the Lord,
they shall
inherit the earth"
(Psalms
37:9, 22). Furthermore, he said: "But
the meek shall inherit the
earth;
and
shall delight themselves in the abun–
dance of peace" (verse 11).
Does this mean the meek will in–
herit the earth
in this lije?
No, for it
is often the proud, the arrogant, the
wicked, the violent who inherit much
of this earth during this age.
How long will the meek hold title
to this earth ? "The righteous shall
inherit the land, and dwell therein
forever"
(verse 29).
Christ Promlsed the Earth
Sorne, however, argue that the He–
brew word translated as "for ever" in
The
PLAIN TRUTH Oecember 1979
by
Raymond F. McNair
Psalms 37:29 does not really mean
"forever."
But Jet us notice Christ's promise
to the meek of the earth: "Blessed are
the meek: for they shall
inherit the
earth"
(Matthew 5:5). Later we shall
see that this inheritance of the righ–
teous is for
al/ eternity.
But did Christ ever say the righ–
teous would go to beaven or inherit
heaven? Sorne carelessly assume that
He did. What Christ actually said
was: "Blessed are the póor in spirit:
for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven"
(Matthew 5:3).
Did Jesus contradict Himself--of–
fering "beaven" in verse three, while
promising the "earth" in verse five?
No, what Christ meant was that the
"poor in spirit" would inherit the
kingdom ruled over or governed
by
(or
from )
heaven. In other words, He
meant tbey would inherit the King–
dom of God.
Only Mattbew used the expression
"kingdom of heaven," while Mark,
Luke and John, as well as the writers
of the rest of the New Testament,
consistently used the term "kingdom
of God." But they both mean exactly
the same thing.
The "kingdom of heaven" simply
means the kingdom of that great Be–
ing whose throne is
in
heaven. God
says:
"Heaven
is my throne, and
earth
is my footstool ..." (Acts
7:49).
Tbis simply means that "heaven"
is now the place where God's throne
is located. Eventually God Himself
will establisb
His throne
on this
earth. Christ will dwell with men
during the "millennium," and then,
later, even the Fatber will come down
and also dwell with men forever (see
Revelation 21). Man isn't going to
heaven- God is coming to this
earth!
No Man Has Ascended t o
Heaven
A gentleman once told me tbat he
believed man has an immortal soul
that goes to heaven when he dies .
because, he said, he saw his mother's
soul (like a little puff of smoke or a
handful of cotton wool) leave his
mother's body and waft heavenward
wben she died. This was the basis for
bis belief.
But we need to have something
more solid than this as the founda–
tion for our belief. We must base all
our beliefs on the Bible; otherwise,
they will come crumbling down soon–
er or later.
Consider Cbrist's plain words:
"And
no man hath ascended up to
heaven,
but he that carne down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is
in heaven" (John 3:13). (Sorne an–
cient manuscripts do not have
the words "which is in heaven."
Christ was not
"in
heaven" when he
spoke these words, but was on
earth.)
Yes, Jesus plainly said that, except
for Himself, no human had ever gone
to heaven.
On the momentous Day of Pente–
cost, the apostle Peter, under divine
inspiration, said: "For
David
is not
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