Heaven Is Not the Default Destination
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom. 6:23 (ESV)
The Bible says that the wages, or penalty, of sin is death. Sin is when we depart from God’s way and go our own way. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin leads us into brokenness in this life.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Rom. 3:23 (ESV)
You don’t automatically go to heaven. The destination of mankind is separation from God. If God is life and the author of life, our sin has led us away from God and into spiritual death.
People today might wonder about “going to hell,” but Revelation 20:14-15 describes the final destination as the lake of fire. This would be what people would be referring to as “hell.” The lake of fire is what is prepared for Satan, who opposes God’s plans in the world.
The whole story of the Bible is that God makes a plan to rescue and redeem people from the lake of fire. To “get to heaven” in the Bible means to be saved from death and eternal separation from God. What are we saved from? From sin and the results of it. We are rescued from our eventual destination, the lake of fire.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Cor. 4:4 (ESV)
According to the Bible, people have been blinded from the truth. It takes God’s work to help you see the light of what your real situation is and understand the good news of what God has done for you through Jesus.