No one just stumbles into heaven accidentally. You have to make preparations if you want to go there. The people who go to heaven are the people who know they are going to heaven because they know they have put all their trust in Jesus to forgive their sins and save their soul for all eternity. I John 3:15: These things have I written onto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. If you don't know if you will go to heaven when you die, then that means you are not saved and not ready or prepared to go there. Now is the day to prepare. II Corinthians 6:2: (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) The reason it is important to get saved today is because you are not promised another tomorrow. Sadly, there will be many people in hell who intended to get saved some day, but they kept putting it off, until one day it was too late.
The bible says that Jesus is preparing a place in Heaven for all those who put there trust in him, and it is a place where there are many mansions and in a country where God is preparing a city. Heaven is a real place with a real location. Jesus is already there and waiting for the people he saved by grace to go there and be with him forever. It is not just floating on clouds somewhere.
John 14:1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2: In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
In the book of Hebrews is a verse that tells us how saved people are looking for a better country where God has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:16: But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Revelation 21:2: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So you can see then how God has prepared a place, which is heaven, for anyone who puts their complete trust in Jesus. Now it is up to you to make preparation to go to the place God has prepared. There is only one thing you must do to be prepared to go to heaven and that is to believe on Jesus as your personal savior, trust him, put all your faith upon him. He longs to save you. He has purchased your salvation in full with his own shed blood. All you have to do is receive him. John 1:12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Heaven is also described as an inheritance. Once you put your faith in Jesus to save you, you will receive an inheritance that will never vanish or fade away. I Peter 1:4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Many times people will receive an earthly inheritance that seems wonderful at the time, but a few years later it seems that it is all gone somehow. But that is not the case with the inheritance from God because the bible says it will never fade away. That means it will last forever because it is called eternal life and eternal means forever. Matthew 25:34: Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. An inheritance is something you receive freely, something you did not work for. That is why heaven is called an inheritance, because it is a free gift. Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. 9: Not of works lest any man should boast.
In Matthew chapter 25 is the story about ten virgins. Five of them were wise and were prepared to go to heaven, and five of them were foolish and were not prepared to go to heaven.
Matthew 25:1: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and and went forth to meet the bridegroom. (referring to Jesus).
2: And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3: They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5: While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6: And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7: Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8: And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9: But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10: And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11: Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12: But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
The oil in the wise virgins lamps is the picture of salvation and thus the wise virgins were prepared to go to be with Jesus and were ready because they were saved by trusting in him, but the foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps and so they were unprepared to go to heaven with Jesus. They tried to get oil in their lamps at the end, but it was too late and the door was shut. Jesus said to them that he knew them not. That is why it is important to be saved today before it becomes too late for you also, like the foolish virgins. If you do not accept Jesus as your savior, some day it will be too late and the door will be shut.
A person who has trusted Jesus as their savior knows they are on their way to heaven. That is the reason why the bible says to lay up treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This proves that heaven is a real prepared place where saved people can lay up treasures. You have to know you are going there to be able to lay up treasures there.
If you have not made preparation to go to heaven when you die, there is another place that is prepared for all the unbelievers in Christ. Matthew 25:41: Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: To go to this prepared place you need not to make any preparations because the bible says anyone who has not put their trust in Jesus is condemned already. John 3:18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, the only thing you need to do to go to this horrible place of everlasting fire is just to keep on not accepting Christ as your savior and wait til you take your last breath on earth. Hell is not a place for bad people, it is a place for unsaved people. We are all sinners. Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: We all deserve hell, but Jesus doesn't want us to go there. That is why he paid for our sins, so we wouldn't have to pay for them ourselves and go to hell forever. He took our punishment for us so we could receive the free gift of salvation by putting all our trust in him and what he did for us.
In conclusion, if you are not prepared or ready to go to heaven when you die, please make that decision today by calling upon the name of the Lord in faith to save you, believing in your heart that he died to pay for your sins and rose again the third day. Romans 10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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