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Falling Into Heaven

Evangelist Greg Laurie on first evening of three-night SoCal Harvest event at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in California, Aug. 23, 2013.
Evangelist Greg Laurie on first evening of three-night SoCal Harvest event at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in California, Aug. 23, 2013. | (Photo: Harvest Ministries)

He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
— Acts 7:60

It's a funny thing how we find sleep more and more appealing as we get older. When I was a kid, I hated to go to sleep. I still remember kindergarten, with the lukewarm milk in little cartons and having to lie down and take naps in the middle of the day. Sleep is usually the last thing kids want to do, but as we start getting older, the idea of sleep becomes more attractive.

Interestingly, the Bible describes death for a believer as sleep. You close your eyes to the only life you've ever known—life on earth—and in the next instant, you open your eyes and find yourself in the very presence of the Lord. Scripture teaches there is no delay at all between life here on earth and life in heaven.

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Stephen's statement in today's Bible passage indicates that he expected to enter the Lord's presence as soon as he died.

Again, in 2 Corinthians 5:8, we're told that following death, a believer will enter immediately into the presence of God: "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

John Bunyan said, "Death is but a passage out of a prison and into a palace." You see, when death strikes a Christian down, he or she falls into heaven.

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000 Used with Permission

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