God’s Guarantee for Heaven

Text: John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 

Introduction: 

In John 17, Jesus is facing the cross. Within 12 hours, he will be suffering for the sins of the world. He begins his prayer to the Father praying for his relationship as he will return to heaven. Then he prays for the disciples, and finally, for those who will believe on him because of their testimony – and that includes us. 

Several times Jesus mentions that we are given to him. He prays that we will be with him forever in heaven, where we will behold his glory. This is a great blessing. How can we be certain that as believers, we will be with him.

Our names are written in heaven:

In Luke 10, Jesus sends out 70 believers to witness for him; this is after a similar command to the 12 disciples who went out previously. When they returned, they rejoiced because of their ability to heal and to cast out demons in his name. But Jesus told them not to rejoice because of this delegated power, but because their names are written in heaven. We too can rejoice. The only way to heaven is through trusting the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. When we trust him, our names are written in heaven. We have been given to him and will be with him there forever.

Our being with Jesus in heaven is the will of Jesus:

Notice what Jesus prays in John 17:24. He prays: I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. God the Father honors the will of God the Son.

Jesus lives in heaven, and we will be with him:

After his resurrection Jesus went visibly into the clouds to heaven. Two men in white apparel (apparently angels) said: Acts 1:11 Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.   

We will be with Jesus in heaven because he purchased our redemption:

Jesus has power to give eternal life. John 17:2 As thou hast  given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. His will and promise is that we will be with him. We were redeemed by his shed blood. I Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible this as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from the Father, 19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot…

 In the Old Testament, the people of Israel entered into a covenant with God. It was a covenant conditional on the behavior of the people. But we are redeemed through an everlasting covenant between God the Father and God the Son, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. (See Hebrews 13:20-21)

Because we belong to the Lord Jesus, and He lives in us, our behavior should be different:

I John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. In the future, we shall be like him. But since we have been saved, we have received the Holy Spirit into our lives. He has left us here on earth to be his representatives until he takes us to be with him in glory. During our time on earth, our lives should reflect the Lord Jesus, and we should be holy, even as he is holy.