There are basic requirements that must be met for a person to live in eternity with God.  I believe the fourteenth chapter of John gives us the basics.

John 14:1 – 3 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

The first requirement is that we believe Jesus is who He says He is.  We believe in God we must also trust what Christ taught about Himself.  Most of the world does not believe that Christ was the Son of God or the Messiah.  There were approximately 500 who witnessed seeing Christ alive after he was pronounced dead on the cross.  There were a number of disciples who were violently killed because of their belief that Christ was resurrected and went to be on the right hand of God.  They finally believed Christ was the Messiah and knew He rose from the grave and they saw Him ascend into heaven through the clouds.  Would that make you believe He was God’s representative and savior?

We must realize that Christ is in heaven preparing a place for those of us who believe in Him.  Scripture indicates that there could possibly be room enough for a billion people.  We know God will have a place large enough to handle all who will be with Him in eternity.  Many believe we will be assigned a room depending upon our deeds and our holiness.  They get this from the Book of Revelation where it says we will be rewarded for our deeds and service.

Christ tells the apostles what His plans are for those wanting to be with Him in eternity.  Even though they were repeatedly told, they did not understand.  They and we were told that our purpose in life was to love.  We were told often that God loves everyone and Christ wanted everyone to be with Him in eternity.  Most are unwilling to believe in the promises Christ gave that required one to enter heaven.  Many will not repent and allow their minds to be renewed nor would they be obedient to His instructions and live a holy and righteous life.  He then tells them the only way to Heaven.

John 14:4 – 6 – “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’   Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”  Acts 4:12 – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” I Corinthians 3:11, I Timothy 2:5, Psalms 14:12

Repeatedly Christ told His disciples that He was going to his Father who had sent Him.  He told them that they knew the place He was going.  They said they didn’t really.  He says that to get where He is going you can only get there if you follow Him; because no one else knows the way.    He then tells them that if they will believe in Him, He will make sure they get there and He will take them into God’s presence without fear.

This is hard for the world to accept. Christ’s way is just too narrow. Yet the way is wide enough for the whole world if they would believe and accept.  Those of us, who trust the words of Christ, believe there is only one way to Heaven and that is through Christ.  There are others who believe there are many ways.  Some will tell you all that’s required is living a good moral life.  Others teach there is no Hell so it doesn’t make any difference how we live.  Some of His disciples found it difficult to believe Christ was who He said He was.

John 14:7 – 14 – “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”   Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

The Jews never expected the Messiah to come as a baby. They believed He would come as a ruler.  Would the Son of God work as a carpenter?  He knows what it is like to work with disagreeable customers.  He knew the difficulty of making ends meet. He encountered every problem that faces man and He knows how to deal with those situations.

Christ knew what it was like to be tempted.  Jesus went through the same struggles many of us go through.  He knew our sorrows and showed he cares.  He had the same challenges we have.  Through Jesus we see the character of God.  He stated that the things He said and the things He did, did not come from His own initiative; His power and His knowledge came from God.

After all of this, Jesus told His disciple; at least believe in the miracles He performed.  Jesus is asking us to look at His life, look at what He taught and see what He has done.  If that isn’t enough the rest will depend upon you.  This is how God chose to come into the world so that the world would have the option of salvation.  Do you believe?