If Jesus took all sin into His heart and died, how did He go to Heaven?

Great question! The truth is Jesus never sinned. He (amazingly!) took the sins of the world upon himself as part of God’s plan to save us from being separated from Him forever.

 

Do you remember that in the Old Testament days, animals were sacrificed to pat the price for sin? The blood  of the sacrificed animals was traded to cover the sins of men. The animals never sinned, but were sacrificed in exchange for human sin.

 

Animal sacrifices, however, could never be enough to fully cover human sin. God’s plan required blood from a perfect, sinless person. This is because our perfect and holy God cannot be anywhere near sin. Of course, it was impossible to find a perfect and holy person since we all have sinned and fallen short of the perfection God requires. So, God sent His One and Only Son to be that perfect, sinless sacrifice in our place. 

 

Jesus took our place and endured the punishment that we all deserve, even though He had never sinned. Because of His sacrifice, God was able to us as if we were perfect and sinless like Jesus. And even though Jesus accepted all our sin onto Himself, He was still perfect and sinless! That is why Jesus was able to ascend into Heaven and is alive today at the right hand of God.

 

This is why we now can be sure of having eternal life with God in Heaven, because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Of course, we still have a part to do … though it’s actually pretty easy: You simply have to accept Jesus  as your Savior and accept His gift of grace!

 

How is it possible that God has been here forever because it seems like everything should have a beginning?

Yahoo! I love that question because friends ask me that question all the time! I could easily give them the standard Biblical answer that “God has always been here and He has no beginning and no end and He will always be here because He is eternal.” But, I usually get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I say that.

So, here’s my way of explaining it: Imagine being able to go back in time to the days of the pilgrims as they were colonizing this country and trying to explain to them how a helicopter works or how an iPod works. Remember, there’s no such thing as electricity, gas engines, batteries, etc. So, how do you explain how those things work to people that have never seen stuff like that? You see, we’ve grown up with so much technology that we just accept what is there without really trying to understand how it works. But trying to explain something so difficult that we casually accept to someone who’s never experienced would be very challenging.

Let’s apply that thinking to the idea of God being eternal. Truth: God’s eternal power is clearly seen in the creation of our universe but our brains have a hard time wrapping around that idea. And we kind of know what eternity is but we don’t fully understand it. So, what do we do? We try to explain it in terms we can see and understand. But how do we explain eternity to people (all of us) who are stuck in the passage of time? We usually start by trying to simplify the idea!

The Bible is our place to start. The Bible simply says God “is.” Remember Moses? When he asked the Lord God what His name was, do you remember what God said? He said, “Tell them I AM” Exodus 3:14). Revelation 1:8 and 4:8 says that God is, God was and God is to come.

We know tht time is a measurement of physical change. Time, though, has only existed since the creation of the universe. Genesis 1:1, the very first book and chapter of the Bible, says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created everything, so time started at creation.

We also know from Genesis 1:1 that God was BEFORE the creation of the heavens and the earth becuse He was there to create it. That makes God timeless (eternal) because He created time! So, to answer your question in the simplest of terms, God has been here for all eternity and will be here for all eternity.

Thank you for a great and challenging question!

Why is Jesus waiting to come back?

Wow! That is a great question! The truth is because of His great mercy. Jesus is giving us all a chance to be rescued from our sin and to come to Him before He returns.

You see, when sin came into this world through the act of disobedience by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they ate the forbidden fruit, it opened up the door for Satan to enter and create all sorts of chaos and to try and disrupt God’s unstoppable plan. Satan has tried so hard, and for a long time, to get us all to turn away from God by tempting us with all sorts of bad things! And, because God gave us all free will, we’ve made a mess of this world. The world is full of bad people, terrible situations and evil temptations.

The good news is that, in order for us to have eternal life with Jesus, we have to admit our sins, believe that Jesus is who He says He is and then choose to follow Him. We have to turn from all those bad things and bad people and accept Jesus’ gift of grace. If we don’t, we’re not going to enjoy the salvation that Jesus gives us and the eternal life He promises.

But, make no mistake. Jesus will someday come back and He will defeat Satan once and for all. But, He loves us and wants to give us every opportunity to come to repentance and to choose Him as our Savior before He does return. That’s why He is waiting.

If Jesus was born, who gave birth to God?

Okay, so this is one of those questions where the answer is so confusing it sometimes even makes me scratch my head and say, “Huh???” But, here is the answer in the simplest way that I can describe it:

God is infinite, which means He has always existed and he will always exist. He is eternal. He, therefore, doesn’t have an age or a birthday.

Let me try and explain it like this, time is a measurement of physical change. But, time has only existed since the creation of the universe. Let’s look at Genesis 1:1, the very first book and chapter of the Bible. It says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” So, we can say that time started with this creation, right? We can start a timeline based on this sentence, couldn’t we?

But, we also know from this sentence that God was BEFORE the creation of the heavens and the earth. That means that God is timeless. And, because He is timeless, He is not physical and is not confined to physical change. Say what?!?!?

Also, try and imagine this…God is perfect, which means he can’t get any better or any worse. He NEVER changes. God has always been absolutely perfect.

So, if we take that statement to its conclusion, whatever God says is right is right and whatever God says is wrong is wrong. True right and wrong is, therefore, timeless!!!

Ouch, my brain hurts.

If you’ve never heard of God, why do you go to Hell?

This is a good question with which many people have wrestled. Here are just a few remarks on what God’s Word tells us about God’s judgment on people, and those who go to heaven and those who don’t.

We do not know how God will judge those who have never heard of Him or His Son Jesus Christ. That’s the short answer to your question. We do not know for certain that they will go to hell. We simply do not know the mind of God with regard to those who do not know Him. But read on about what we do know …

God is a just God, a God of justice. We do know that He will judge each person uniquely and fairly and the only reason people are going to hell is because they have told God that they can live without Him. On Judgment Day God will allow people to continue to live with the decision they have made. Not everyone who hears the truth about God will be saved, only those who believe in Jesus and obey. Read Luke 8:1-15. Also read John 3:18, John 8:24, 1 John 5:11-13, Deuteronomy 32:4.

The only reason anyone will be in heaven is because Jesus bled and died on the cross to pay the penalty for human sin. Nobody will be in heaven because they lived a good life or because they were sincere. Rather they will receive eternal life as a result of God’s good gift to them in Christ. Read John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, John 1:12, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:22-24, Romans 5:6-8.

Those who have heard about Christ will be held accountable for how they responded to Him. To reject Christ is to reject God’s offer of forgiveness and eternal life. To choose not to decide about Jesus is to reject Him. Love demands a choice. A loving God invites us to come to Him. Romans 10:9-10.

Have confidence in Christ. Keep asking great questions. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander 1 Peter 3:14-16.

How do we know what God's plan is for us?

Excellent question!!! There are many references in the Bible as to what God’s plans for us are but my two favorites are John 10:10 and Jeremiah 29:11-13.

John 10:10 simply reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” That is how the NIV states it; some Bibles say that God came to give you life and to give it to you abundantly. That shows how much He truly cares for you. His plan for you is to have a life that is full of His grace and mercy!

In fact, in 2 Peter 3:9, it is written, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” So, you see, God doesn’t want anyone to perish (eternal death) but he wants them to have eternal life with Him in Heaven!

Jeremiah 29:11-13 reads, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Wow. The Lord of all creation loves us all so much that He wants us all to prosper and to be protected. He also wants to have a relationship with us through prayer! You see, if you seek God with all your heart He will never, ever abandon you or forsake you!

How long has God been around?

Yahoo! I love that question because people ask me that question all the time! I could easily give them the standard Biblical answer of, “God has always been here and He has no beginning and no end and He will always be here because He is eternal.” But, I usually get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I say that.

So, here’s my way of trying to explain it in a different way: Imagine being able to go back in time to the days of the pilgrims as they were colonizing this country and trying to explain to them how a helicopter works or how an iPod works. Remember, there’s no such thing as electricity, gas engines, batteries, etc. So, how do you explain how those things work to a society that has never seen stuff like that? You see, we’ve grown up with so much technology that we just accept what is there without really trying to understand how they work. But trying to explain something that we casually accept to someone who’s never experienced it would be very hard.

So now let’s apply that thinking to the concept of our Lord God being eternal. How do you explain what eternity is to people who are stuck in the passage of time? We kind of know what eternity is but we don’t fully understand it. So, what do we do? We do what every person alive does…we try to redefine the incomprehensible into terms we can understand. Basically, we try to simplify the problem! The big problem with that is that people tend to oversimplify things!

God’s eternal power is clearly seen in our world but our brains have a hard time wrapping around the concept of God having the power to create an entire universe. So, we try to explain it in terms we can see and understand. We try and make God like us, forgetting that He’s not like us…we are like Him! We were created in His image! The problem is that that doesn’t even come close to explaining the eternal God.

If you look at a Biblical explanation, the Bible simply says God “is.” Remember Moses? When he asked the Lord God what His name was, do you remember what God said? He said, “Tell them I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) Revelation 1:8 and 4:8 says that God is, God was and God is to come.

So, to answer your question in the simplest of terms, God has been here for all eternity and will be here for all eternity.

Why does God take loved ones away?

That is very good question! I’ve had people in my family pass away and it’s always a sad thing. You know what, though? It’s okay to be sad about stuff like that. Even Jesus wept when Lazarus died and he saw Mary and Martha crying at his tomb. It really touched His heart. In fact, Jesus has been called, “a man of sorrows.” He knows your sadness when loved ones are taken away. And, He knows your pain and is there to comfort you when that happens.

But, you know what? That’s an unfortunate part of the consequence of the sin that was passed down from Adam and Eve. The truth is that someday all of our bodies will get old and we will die. Even the psalmist wrote that our life is but a vapor here on earth. But, here’s the good news…in fact, it’s GREAT NEWS!!! We have an assurance that, when we believe that Jesus came to this Earth and died on the cross for our sins and we repent those sins, that we have eternal life with Him in Heaven. Isn’t that an awesome and comforting thought?

It’s a hard concept to understand because we see death as being so final. But, it really isn’t. It’s really the beginning of an eternal life with a glorified body (for me that means I won’t need contact lenses in Heaven! Woohoo!!!), in a place where there is no sin, no evil, or no sadness. Heaven is such a beautiful place too! Jesus even described it as “paradise.” If you ever want to get a picture in your mind of what Heaven looks like, read Revelation 21.

I know it’s hard when loved one’s are taken away. But know that Jesus is your comforter and that He will NEVER leave you in your time of need. He loves you too much. And, know also that someday we’ll all join our loved ones in Heaven if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and repent our sins.