I could have listed heavenly or afterlife admonitions from Confucius or Buddha or Lao Tzu or the myriad of other beliefs, but they are unnecessary because it is clearly evident there are global religions and belief systems that are subscribed to that promote a supreme being, or Supreme Self, and an afterlife heaven and, or, unity promised by that being.

Of the six billion-plus people inhabiting the earth, approximately 1.5 billion of them are Christians, thus leaving over 4.5 billion who make up the constituency of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, Shintoism, the nature-based religions throughout Africa and The Americas,  atheism and agnosticism. The question that has to be asked is, "Are there no good people within the 4.5 billion who will ascend to some kind of heavenly reward?"

The Christian disciple has to be prepared to answer questions from those of non-Christian faiths and of no faith at all: "Are there not many paths to heaven? Why is Christianity the only path? Aren't you being arrogant with your claim?"

What if your answer was, 'You are mistaken. Yes, those of other faiths can by their acts of compassion, love and charity gain access to the Kingdom of Heaven. But, only a believing Christian can gain access to the Kingdom of God.'

'Well, how can that be? Aren't the two identical places?'

'No, they are not.' (As has been previously discussed.)

Let us reexamine what has been given us by the New Testament scriptures. In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist proclaimed:  " 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.' " In Mark 1:15, John is said to have proclaimed: " 'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!' " The Gospel of Luke records no such utterance by John. The same holds true for the Gospel of John, but the Baptist there is quoted as saying, "John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "
(John 1:23)

It is evident that John the Baptist was expecting an eschatological event to happen at any moment. The nation of Israel was going to experience the dramatic trauma of death, judgment, rebellion, resurrection and immortality.  The time in history was ripe for the event to happen - the Kingdom of Heaven was going to come down to the Holy Land, supplant the Roman occupiers, sinners would be done away with and sent on to hell, and the righteous chosen of God would live happily ever after. Matthew understood this to be the case. Mark, on the other hand, placed the words, 'Kingdom of God' coming from John's mouth, and while the two terms may seem the same, they are quite different in their meaning.

One of the other early mentions of the Kingdom of Heaven comes from the Beatitudes found in Matthew: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It was clearly understood by the Jews at this time that, for them, the Kingdom of Heaven truly did exist and in the first Beatitude the 'poor in spirit' - that is, those not self-centered, but humble and willing to obey God's Spirit and Will, already had their place in Heaven assured. So too, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This promise from Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount is not that much different than the promises to be found in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Qur'an; that is, God rewards those who follow his Will and who are persecuted for their righteousness. Krishna and Allah regard kindly those who have been faithful to them and righteous in their conduct during their earthly lives.

Jesus put it clearly, albeit, somewhat brutally in Matthew 18: 23 - 35 -- " 'Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents (today's value would be several million dollars) was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

"'The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (a few dollars). He grabbed him and began to choke him. ' Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown in prison until he could pay the debt." 'When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said., 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.' "

Heaven was seen not only as a place of great reward for the righteous, but also the place where God judges the unrepentant sinner and sends them off to hell for punishment. In the minds of the Jews, heaven already was in existence (as evidenced by the Creation account in Genesis) and, interestingly, nowhere in Scripture is it directly said that in order to gain access to heaven one had to be a Jew. Fact of the matter is, God has used non-Jews to do His work. Case in point, Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, Anshan, Media and Babylon. In Isaiah 45: 1 - 6 : "Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him — and the gates shall not be closed: I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other." Then later in the same chapter, Isaiah writes (45: 13) :"I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his paths straight; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward."

Would not it seem logical, and fitting, that if God chose Cyrus to liberate the Jews, should not Cyrus receive a fitting reward in God's heaven? After all, Cyrus did as God willed, even though at first it seems that the great conqueror did not know the Hebrew God. Likewise, God called upon the services of Nebuchadnezzar to take Israel into Babylonian captivity. Later while in captivity, as the accounting goes, Daniel was called in by the great king to interpret troubling dreams he was having. Once the dreams were interpreted in much detail and profundity, Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, worshiped Daniel, and commanded that a grain offering and incense be offered to him. "The king said to Daniel, 'Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery!' " (Daniel 2: 45 -47). Unfortunately for Nebuchadnezzar he did not grasp the true concept of the One God, continued in his polytheistic ways, lost emotional control when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not worship the king's newly minted golden statue; ordered the three boys to be burned in an oven; later to witness in the burning flames the presence of a 'fourth' man - an angel sent by God to protect the boys, and realizing that the young men had not been harmed by the oven flames, once again said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God."

Again Nebuchadnezzar experienced troubling dreams; again Daniel was called in to interpret the dreams. None the less, Nebuchadnezzar devolved to his base arrogant nature and boasted to all about the magnificence of his gardens at Babylon: "Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?' While the words were still in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven: "O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has departed from you!" The remainder of the accounting by Daniel tells of the king's absolute fall from power to a state of being a mentally deranged outcast. Upon the conclusion of this period of Nebuchadnezzar's punishment, his mental capacity to reason returned to him and he finally gave full credit and allegiance to the God of Israel: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways are justice; and he is able to bring low those who walk in pride."

Here's the important question, why would the God of Israel take so much time and trouble with a non-Jew king if he was not deemed worth saving? Was Nebuchadnezzar, after he repented, accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven when he died? What do you think? And, could Nebuchadnezzar have also entered the Kingdom of God? The answer is 'no' to the latter.

<<Table of Contents                                                                                                                                      Continued>>

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