Revelation 7 Lesson

HEAVEN

Heaven is a place more beautiful than we can imagine! Unlike Earth, there are no tears, no pain, and no death in Heaven. In fact, the Bible teaches us that we cannot begin to comprehend the majesty of Heaven. It is something that we will need to see to believe!

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT HEAVEN

1. “He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain .” – Revelation 21:3-4,
2. “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” - Revelation 22:1-5,
3. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18,
4. “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” – John 14:1-3.

HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN

Different denominations have differing opinions about what is necessary to go to Heaven. In the end, all that matters is what God says about it through the inspired words of the Bible.

• “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. ” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

Today’s lesson lists five things that the Bible teaches are necessary for salvation.

1. Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31, 
2. Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10, 
3. Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3, 
4. Be baptized. “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16, 
5. Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21. 

These are the things that the Bible teaches us that are necessary for salvation.   Believing in Jesus is not enough, we also must confess our belief in Jesus to others if we want to be saved. Jesus spoke about this in what is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission.”

• “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  - Mathew 28:19-20.

When we believe in Jesus, and confess that belief, we are heading toward salvation. But there is still more that we need to do. If we want to go to Heaven, the Bible teaches us that we also need to repent of our sins.

Repentance means, “To turn away.”   For Christians, repentance means turning away from sinful, self-serving behavior, and turning towards God. This means that we are going to need to make some changes in our behavior.  If the people who we associate with, or the places that we frequent are causing sinful behavior, we need to make a change!  Consider the following warning spoken by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount:

• “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right-hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” – Mathew 5:29-30.

When we believe in Jesus, confess our belief in Him, repent of our sins, and turn away from our sinful behavior, we are close to salvation, but there is still more to be done.

To be saved, we need to obey the Gospel in baptism. The following two scriptures tell us that baptism is necessary for salvation:

1. “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 3:21,
2. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16.

The fifth matter of salvation that we will discuss in today’s lesson is obeying God’s commandments.    Obeying God's commandments is a lifelong commitment that we need to work on every day. 

It all begins with regular Bible study.  

After all, how can we keep His commandments if we do not know what they are?