RD911 Our Et Home (3) pp
10/18/04
3:38 PM
Page 1
OUR ETERNAL HOME by Richard W. De Haan God’s Dwelling Place And Ours
T
he mention of the word heaven raises at once a number of questions. Is there really such a place? If so, where is it? What is heaven like? Will everyone go there, or just a certain privileged few? And then, some will ask, “Do we go there immediately at death, or does the soul ‘sleep’ for a while?” For many people in this last part of the 20th century, these questions are not relevant. They scoff at the idea of life after death and ridicule belief in a heaven of eternal bliss and a hell of everlasting punishment. They are convinced that man’s existence ends at the grave. Christians do believe in a beautiful place called heaven, and they look forward to eternal life within its gates. Based on their faith in God’s Word, they anticipate the joys that await them in their eternal home. This comforting thought brings healing to the wounds of their earthly existence and quenches their sorrows. The place to find out about heaven is the Bible. The word heaven in its singular and plural forms occurs more than 600 times in Scripture. We are given much information about our eternal home, and in this lesson we will consider it carefully in two aspects: (1) the habitation of God, and (2) the home of departed saints. © RBC Ministries. All rights reserved.