Jacob Riley
AFA Journal/The Stand intern
December 2017 – “This world is not all there is, and while the chaos and the suffering are very real, the Bible also assures us that it is very temporary,” stated Dr. Robert Jeffress, author of A Place Called Heaven: 10 Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. “Now is a great time for us to be focusing on the world God has prepared for Christians, that place called heaven.”
The amiable and engaging author visited AFA Journal to talk about heaven. He’s comfortable with the subject, and that is evident in his book about it. Jeffress is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.
“I think the only reliable guide for heaven is the Bible,” Jeffress said. “Unfortunately, most of our information comes from TV shows, movies, or some fanciful books.”
Longing for heaven
Jeffress wrote A Place Called Heaven to inform and inspire, to help Christians long for their eternal dwelling place with Christ, and to present them with biblical truths about heaven on which to build their lives and expectations.
He believes having a more biblical view of heaven will dispel misconceptions and show that, rather than just an eternal church service, “there’s going to be fulfillment we’ve never experienced before” in what God has prepared for believers.
Part of the fulfillment heaven will bring will be the restoration of joy in work. “God created us to be workers in His image,” Jeffress said. “Sin will be removed. That means we’ll no longer have bodies that grow tired, and we’ll no longer have strained relationships that make work seem tedious. All impediments will be removed, and we’ll be able to enjoy our work.”
Jeffress emphasized that a better understanding of heaven will also affect how we live on earth now. He used the example of a company asking an employee to make a permanent move to a foreign country within six months. That employee would do everything he could to learn about that country and make preparations for the journey.
Living for heaven
The life of the Christian should be lived along the same lines. “The Bible tells us that if we’re Christians we’re going to be making a permanent move to a different location,” Jeffress said. “That place is called heaven. It only makes sense that we would want to learn everything we could about it, and prepare for it.”
Exploring what the Bible has to say about heaven reveals some unexpected things. Jeffress pointed out that Heaven is not some “sanctified form of socialism” where everyone has the same-sized house and same-sized piece of land.
“The fact is there are going to be degrees of heaven that are based on our faithfulness to Christ in this life,” he explained. “People think heaven will be the same for everybody. Dispelling that myth is a motivation to make the best use of our years here on earth.”
Jeffress hopes A Place Called Heaven will communicate the importance of understanding and living in light of the world to come. “The words of C. S. Lewis are the best,” he said. “‘Aim at heaven, and you get Earth thrown in; aim at Earth, and you get neither.’ I hope this book will help people start aiming toward heaven.” 
Dr. Robert Jeffress pastors First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. His radio program, Pathway to Victory, is heard weekdays on AFR at 6:00 a.m. His messages on heaven are available on ptv.org. A Place Called Heaven: 10 Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home is available at afastore.net.
