Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Monday, December 3, 2012

As William Shakespeare said so eloquently, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, / Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; / Omitted, all the voyage of their life / Is bound in shallows and in miseries." If Heaven is real and the opportunity to gain entrance therein is omitted, the consequences for all eternity are unthinkable. It will be far more than "bound in shallows and in miseries."

But is Heaven Real? In God's Word, the Bibleâ€"in the New Testament aloneâ€"there are 276 references to "Heaven" and "heavenly" such as in heavenly places, assuring us that Heaven is as real a place as is earth. Furthermore, the greatest evidence we have regarding the validity of the Bible can be found in the fulfillment of prophecies written hundreds of years in advance. For instance, a thousand years B.C. the Bible said that Christ would come through the family of David.¹ Seven hundred years B.C., Bethlehem was named by the prophet Micah as the birthplace of Christ.² Six hundred years B.C., the prophet Daniel predicted the time of Christ's coming.³

All of these predictions were fulfilled exactly as stated in the Bible. And hundreds of years before Christ came to earth both David and Isaiah predicted in specific detail the sufferings of Christ and the manner of his death. David, referring to and "speaking for" Jesus Christ, wrote in the Psalms, "They pierced my hands and my feet."⁴ This is precisely what happened when Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. We can be equally certain that all the promises and prophecies in God's Word about Heaven will also be fulfilled in minutest detail.

The next question we ask is, "Where Is Heaven?" which we will answer in tomorrow's Daily Encounter.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the certainty that we have knowing that you always keep your Word and that every one of your promises regarding Heaven will be fulfilled exactly as you have promised. Please help me to be absolutely sure that I am prepared to go to your Heaven when my life on earth is complete. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. 2 Samuel 7:12-16.
2. Micah 5:2.
3. Daniel 9:25, 26.
4. Psalm 22:16 and Isaiah 53.

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