This is a city… with buildings, with a street, with ambient noise—the things the city has— we think of life as this. This is reality. When we think of the afterlife, the life beyond, we think of it as mystical and unreal. (And, actually, a little bit boring!) The Bible describes the afterlife in vivid and specific terms.

The paradise of God

First of all, man is an eternal soul, which means when this body ceases to exist, the real you—the soul—lives on forever. And you go to one of two places: you either go to heaven, or you go to hell. Heaven is described in the Bible as a "city whose Builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10) Heaven is described as a country. (Hebrews 11:14-16) Heaven is described as a paradise. (Revelation 2:7)

The presence of God

Now, in a city, you have culture. You have story. You have restaurants. You have activities: things to do. You also have crime, and you have filth and you have all the problems that cities have… but in God's city you'll have all the good things cities on earth have, and more. And none of the bad things! And best of all, you'll be in the presence of God, and you'll be reunited with family and friends that have gone before you and have died in faith.

The place of torment without God

Heaven is going to be better than anything you ever dreamed about. But just as surely as there is a real place called Heaven, there's also a real place called hell. In Hell, we're aware of where we are. We're aware of the passing of time. The Bible says it's a place of torment, of eternal separation from God… so we all have a choice as to what we will do in life. And we have a choice as to where we will spend eternity.

Your choice to make

Heaven is not the default destination of every believer. We have to make a choice to follow Jesus Christ. If you make that choice, you can know with certainty that you will go to Heaven when you die. I hope you've made that choice, because God says, "I set before you life and death, blessings and curses. So choose life, that you might live." (Deuteronomy 30:19) Jesus said, "broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there are that go that way but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there are that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) Get on the narrow road that leads to life so you can live forever in God's presence in heaven and not be separated from him for all eternity in a place called Hell! Something to think about!