Resources/Articles
Above & Below
...unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you...
1 Peter 1.4
People can become so involved with the daily routine of how they live, they forget there is an Above and Below. The Above is heaven. The Below is hell. One is up, and the other is down. We are pointing our lives in the direction toward one or the other. It cannot be both. No one is able to go in opposite directions at the same time. There will never be a spiritual “equator” where a person can reside halfway between the two extremes.
Our association with heaven and hell as either above or below comes from the references in scripture. “For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol (hell), and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains” (Deuteronomy 32.22). Revelation 21.4 describes the new heaven and the new earth “coming down out of heaven.” There are other passages referring to both like Job 11.8: “It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than hell; what canst thou know?” Proverbs 14.24 says, “The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.”
Being cast into or thrown into hell (Matthew 5.29-30; Mark 9.43-47) will be a horrible experience. As much as we hate being “pushed down,” and football players dislike being “thrown back,” being cast or thrown into hell is something from which no one will ever return. There is no recovery. It is final.
A Christian should be looking above (Colossians 3.1-4). What is ahead in heaven is better than anything below us, even the earth upon which we walk. One way to consider heaven more is to remember Jesus went ahead of us to prepare this place above especially for us (John 14.1-3). It is not a glass house or vacation getaway. Heaven is where you see Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Lord, face to face! Will such a meeting with Him not be greater than meeting a husband or son from a year of duty in military service? Will such a time not be anticipated more than meeting the President of the United States? Is such a time worthy to be compared to a much needed and anticipated vacation or holiday weekend? Is such a moment of seeing Jesus not greater than the day of assembling with the saints for a worship service?
Heaven ought to provide an increase in our faith, not because of the sights and sounds of glory, but of the seeing and hearing the God who made us and the Lord who redeemed us. The union is one we will never have to leave. It will be a permanent address. No more moving. Rest your faith on that day.
