How Good Do You Need to Be to Go to Heaven?

 

By Ryan Itzel

How Good Do You Need to Be to Go to Heaven?

            The question of heaven is a question full of intrigue and confusion. Most people have thought about the idea of heaven, whether or not they would use those words. Another way to state the question is, “What do you think happens to you after you die?” Though some will deny the existence of the soul after a person’s physical death, most people in the world recognize that this life is not all that there is, and God tells us exactly what happens after death in His Word. In the Bible, we see two realities for a person after they die. We will either enter into paradise, in perfect union and subjection to Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and King, or we will be cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46). This is a serious and sure reality. The eternal God, who cannot lie, declares this to be the case for all people (Titus 1:2; Revelation 20:15). So, the question is then, how good must I be to go to heaven rather than hell?

            If you were to ask people this question, what you would find is that there is a wide array of answers. Some will say you need to be 51% good to enter heaven. Others will say 90%-99% good, and yet others will still say you only need to be 1% good. Most people’s view is subjective and based on what requirement they think that they currently meet. If someone thinks they are doing pretty well, they will view the standard as higher than someone who thinks a high standard is too unattainable for them. Most would say, as long as you aren’t really bad you are sure to enter the pearly gates after death! But if heaven is God’s home, and God is the judge of who can or cannot enter into heaven, shouldn’t we ask the question, “What does God say the requirement is for heaven?”

            In the Bible we find multiple passages that speak to the reality of God’s standard for heaven. Matthew 5 is one of those passages. Chapters 5-7 of Matthew records Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In this masterful message delivered by our Lord, Jesus gives us a description of God’s requirement for heaven. In verse 20 Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In this text Jesus makes multiple statements relating to entering the Kingdom of Heaven. First, you must be righteous. Righteous is related to the idea of being just. It is to obey the will of God. Jesus says we must be righteousness. But not just sometimes righteous or somewhat righteous, but perfectly righteous. To illustrate, Jesus says your righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. These were the religious teachers of Jesus’ day. They knew how to keep the Law of God outwardly, or at least enough so that people thought them to be the most righteous people in the land. While they outwardly kept much of the Law, even making their own laws and traditions they required for people to keep, they inwardly were sinners (Matthew 12:34). Yet, Jesus says you must exceed their righteousness. To the hearer of the sermon this must have seemed impossible, and they would be right. What Jesus is speaking of is that you must be perfect as God is perfect! You might say, “But that’s not what Jesus says in verse 20.” To see if that is what Jesus really was saying, just look at the end of the chapter. Verse 48 says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is God’s standard for heaven, and Jesus says back in verse 20 that if you do not meet it, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

            The next question we should ask is, “Do we meet God’s standard?” Matthew 5 along with Exodus 20 (The passage Jesus is preaching on) help us to understand just how far we are from meeting God’s standard. We can evaluate this by asking some questions from the Law. The 10 Commandments are a reflection of the moral Law of God. So, have you ever told a lie (Ex. 20:16)? Have you ever stolen something (Ex. 20:15)? Ever used God’s name in vain (Ex. 20:7)? How about murder? Jesus said in Mathew 5:21-22 that if you have even been angry with your brother, you are liable to the same judgment as the murderer! God’s standard is so high, that even one violation of His Law is a breaking of the whole Law (James 2:10). It is all sin against the righteous and holy God (Psalm 51:4). If this is God’s standard for heaven, we must be innocent of breaking God’s Law to enter His home. But what happens to those who are guilty of breaking His Law? What happens to us since all have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23)? Exodus 34:7 makes clear God’s position toward the guilty, “He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.” So, if we are guilty of breaking God’s Law, how does anyone go to heaven rather than be punished in hell?

            God made a promise. This is the whole theme of the message of the Bible. Man has sinned against holy God, and yet, God made a promise to save sinners from their sin as an act of God’s grace. Genesis 3:15, speaking of the curse of sin due to Adam and Eve’s original rebellion against God, also speaks of a Seed, a Savior who would come who would defeat the enemy. Genesis 12:1-9 tells us that this Seed will not just come from the woman, but will come from a line of people, the father of this line being Abraham. This Savior and Seed would bring blessing to the whole world through Him, and Galatians 3 makes clear that the greatest of these blessings is salvation from sin! 2 Samuel 7:12 informs us that the Seed would also come from the line of David, and He would establish a Kingdom that would not end, He Himself being King on the throne forever! And in Isaiah 53, we see that this Savior would suffer for sin and make many to be righteous (Isaiah 53:11). This Savior is made clear in the New Testament, and His name is Jesus (John 1:29)!

You see, you must be righteous to go to heaven, we are not righteous but are in desperate need of a Savior to save us from our sin and the penalty for it. That is exactly what Jesus came to do. Isaiah 53:11, being written over 700 years before Jesus’ death on the cross, declares that He, the righteous one of God, would “make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” In other words, Jesus came to pay for our guilt and breaking of God’s Law, and also lived righteously under the Law so that we might receive His righteousness and enter heaven. All the righteous requirements of God’s standard for heaven are found in Christ! Second Corinthians 5:21 says it this way, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

            Jesus did all of this work to save sinners, but does this mean everyone goes to heaven? No! As we said before, many will be thrown into eternal punishment (Revelation 20:15). So, how do we receive this salvation through Jesus? Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” The only way to receive the perfect righteousness of Christ and forgiveness of our sin and guilt that is necessary to enter heaven is to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus! Repent means to turn, to forsake your sin, sinful pursuits, and your own self-righteous attempt at earning entrance into heaven (Isaiah 55:7). No effort on your part can earn you favor in God’s sight, you must deny yourself, your self-righteousness, and the sin that is lawlessness before God and trust in the perfect work of Jesus alone to save you. Only by believing upon Christ, trusting Him to save you, can you find forgiveness of sin. The greatest part of heaven is not heaven itself, but rather to be free from sin and to be reconciled to God, to know, serve, and love Him for all eternity (Revelation 20:1-4, 22:3-4). So, my friend, will you repent and believe upon Christ?