16 results for tag: Heaven

Heaven: What Will It Be Like? (Before Jesus’ Second Coming)

Q: So what does the Bible say heaven will be like before Jesus' second coming? Before Jesus' second-coming, believers will likely be in a spiritual, temporary state in God’s presence where our souls will go until they are given new bodies on the New Earth at Christ’s second-coming (emphasis has been added throughout verses below): After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne ...

Heaven: Does Purgatory Exist?

Purgatory is the belief widely held by the Catholic church (but characteristically rejected by Protestants) that a Christian will first go to purgatory “after death [to] undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”[1] The Catholic church also encourages undertaking ways of helping those who have passed away: “The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead.”[1] The word “purgatory” simply means to have the quality of cleansing or purging—and it is never used in the Bible.[2] Instead, Scripture gives reason to ...

Heaven: Is My Baby There? {Part 2}

Editor's Note: This is the continuation of a two-part article. Part one can be found here. [Continued] My husband brought me the food in bed during my Scriptural search; he also listened to the thoughts that brought me tears of happiness through tears of sorrow. We made new, sink-worthy dishes that would need to be washed, and I spoke as one caught between the sight of two worlds—the world where I lived in mourning and the world I could see ahead. The pages of Scripture growing to feel thick between my fingers with this beautifully weighty news, I questioned further: How would God—the God who tells us all that we are sinners from ...

Heaven: Is My Baby There? {Part 1}

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part article. Part two will be posted tomorrow. [This article was written in the months after my daughter's home-going in 2013.] In the days after coming home from the hospital where my daughter was stillborn, I sat in bed before the Bible for many hours, searching. I would need to either trust God in the unknown or see Scriptural reason to believe that my daughter resided with Him. Humanly speaking, my most natural belief would have been that she somehow reached heaven. Looking as a mother at the vacant body of a new, precious child could stir no other desire in me than to believe that she was ...

Testimony Tuesday

I once saw a movie or video clip that made a lasting impression on me.  They first showed the view while walking through the streets of a specific city or town.  It was dirty, scary, and broken.  Then they showed the view at night from a mountain.  Lights everywhere, something mysterious, breathtakingly beautiful.  The same city but different viewpoints, different perspectives. My view of heaven has been very limited.  Maybe it’s like that with many people.  I remember thinking previously, what are we going to do all the time for eternity? –almost worried that it is not going to be great at all.  For how long can one sing and pray? I ...

Anchored: Heaven

Over the next nine weeks on the blog, we will be following along with our fall Hope Groups as they go through Hope Mommies’ newly published Bible Study — Anchored.  For those of you who did not register for a group this year, this will be an opportunity to walk through the topics studied in our Hope Groups. For those of you who are currently participating in a Hope Group, our desire is for these posts to reinforce the lessons you are learning with your group.   Wherever you are in your journey through loss and grief, I pray that this series will encourage your heavy hearts, remind you of truth, and point you to ...