“Is There a Heaven?” is an article from Dr. Gordon H. Clark’s papers. Both the original scan and a transcribed document are here made available. If you notice any typos on the typed document please email the administrator at douglasdouma@yahoo.com.
**Items from the unpublished papers of Dr. Gordon H. Clark should not be considered his definitive statement on the particular topic addressed. These papers are being provided for educational value. For Dr. Clark’s official positions consult his published writings.**
Unpublished 75. Is There A Heaven? (original)
Unpublished 75. Is There a Heaven? (typed)
Notes: From the papers of Dr. Gordon H. Clark from The Home Evangel.
IS THERE A HEAVEN
Well is there? Plato said there was but he had never been there. Karl Marx said there wasn’t, but he had not then gone to find out, either. A lot of people today think there is a Heaven, and think that everyone is on the way to Heaven. This is a very pleasant thought, if true, but is it true? Even if there is a Heaven maybe not everyone is headed in that direction. We really need to know two things: first is there a Heaven; and, second, if there is, how may we get there?
Plato really did not know; neither did Karl Marx; nor do a lot of people today have really sound knowledge on the subject. Guesses and hopes are the best most people have.
But a man named Abraham, and a man named Moses, and a man named David received authoritative information about Heaven from God Himself. And the God-Man, Jesus Christ, descended from Heaven for the purpose, not only of telling us that there is a Heaven, but for the more important purpose of opening to us the way to Heaven.
What Plato and the man of today cannot be sure of, God has revealed: there is a Heaven. But not everyone is going there, for sin bars the way. The inhabitants of Heaven must be perfectly righteous; and no man is perfectly righteous. Unless a man’s sins are atoned for and cleansed away, unless a righteousness not his own is given to him, he can never enter. But the blood of Christ atones, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin, and when He clothes us in His perfect righteousness, we are ready for the eternal home He has prepared for His people.
There are no other roads to Heaven. However plausible some devices may seem, entrance to Heaven requires cleansing from sin and perfect righteousness. Plato could not furnish this. Karl Marx could not. Neither can the modernist of today. It is furnished only by the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Have you so come?
I look at Heaven and long to enter in. But there no evil thing may find a home; And still I hear a voice that bids me come.