534. Er werd mij eens een voorstelling gegeven van de weg die naar de hemel leidt en van die, welke naar de hel leidt. Ik zag een brede weg die naar de linkerhand of noordwaarts liep en een menigte geesten bewandelden die. Op een afstand ontdekte ik een grote steen waar de brede weg eindigde. Boven die steen waren twee wegen, de een liep links en de andere rechts in tegengestelde richting. De weg links was nauw of eng en liep door het westen naar het zuiden en zo in het licht van de hemel; maar die rechts liep was breed en ruim en leidde hellende neerwaarts naar de hel. Alle geesten schenen eerst dezelfde weg te bewandelen, totdat zij aan de grote steen kwamen waar de twee wegen uiteenliepen; als zij daar aankwamen, werden zij gescheiden. De goeden wendden zich links en gingen de nauwe weg die naar de hemel leidt; maar de kwaden zagen de steen niet, vielen erover en bezeerden zich, en nadat zij waren opgestaan, renden zij de brede weg rechts op die naar de hel leidde. Het werd mij later verklaard wat al deze bijzonderheden betekenden. Onder de eerste, brede weg, die de goeden en kwaden tezamen bewandelden en waarop zij met elkaar als vrienden spraken, omdat er uiterlijk geen verschil bestond, worden zij verstaan die uiterlijk eerlijk en rechtvaardig leven en op het oog niet van elkaar worden onderscheiden. De steen aan het einde van de weg, waarover de bozen vielen en vanwaar zij de weg die naar de hel liep afrenden, betekent de Goddelijke waarheid die geloochend wordt door hen die zich naar de hel keren, en in meer verheven zin is met deze steen het Goddelijk Menselijke van de Heer bedoeld. Zij echter die de Goddelijke waarheid erkenden en daarbij de Goddelijkheid van de Heer, werden langs de weg geleid die naar de hemel voert. Uit dit voorbeeld bleek mij verder dat beide, de kwaden en de goeden, uiterlijk hetzelfde leven leidden of dezelfde weg bewandelden, de een even gemakkelijk als de ander. Zij die echter God van harte erkennen en in het bijzonder zij die het Goddelijk Menselijke van de Heer in de kerk erkenden, worden naar de hemel geleid, de anderen naar de hel. De gedachten van de mensen die uitgaan van zijn voornemens of zijn wil, worden in het andere leven voorgesteld door wegen. Naar het voorkwam waren er ook wegen te zien in volkomen overeenkomst met zulke gedachten van het voornemen, en iedereen wandelt ook in overeenstemming met de gedachten van zijn voornemens. Dus kunnen aan de wegen die de geesten bewandelen, hun aard en hun gedachten geweten worden. Hierdoor is duidelijk, wat de Heer bedoelt met: Gaat in door de enge poort; want wijd is de poort en breed is de weg die tot het verderf leidt, en velen zijn er die door deze ingaan. Want de poort is eng en de weg die tot het leven leidt is nauw, en weinigen zijn er, die dezelve vinden. (Mattheüs 7:13-14)Hiermee is verklaard dat de weg die tot leven leidt, nauw is; niet omdat hij moeilijk te bewandelen is, maar omdat er weinigen zijn die hem vinden, zoals hier ook gezegd wordt. Door de steen die aan het einde van de brede weg is geplaatst, en vanwaar twee wegen zijn te zien die in tegenovergestelde richtingen lopen, werd duidelijk gemaakt wat de Heer bedoelt met de woorden: Hebt gijlieden niet gelezen wat geschreven is: de steen die de bouwlieden verworpen hebben, deze is tot een hoofd van de hoek geworden? Een ieder die op de steen valt, zal verpletterd worden. (Lucas 20:17-18)De steen betekent de Goddelijke waarheid en de steen (of rots) van Israël het Goddelijk Menselijke van de Heer; de bouwlieden zijn de leden van de kerk; het hoofd van de hoek is de plaats waar de twee wegen scheiden; vallen en verbroken worden is het loochenen en verdorven worden.

What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? (Matthew 19:16)

Sometimes this question is seen as the central concern of religious life. The question involves the idea of a covenant or contract and asks what is expected of us by God before we can receive the goal that we desire. We too can ask, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

How important should this question be? How much attention should we give to it? Perhaps it seems to be too much of a self-centered concern? If approached with the wrong emphasis it is too self-centered. If a person concentrates too much on an idea of future reward, he will never receive it. What then is our part in the covenant between the Lord and ourselves?

A church's idea of the covenant between God and human beings does provide a key definition of its beliefs. The ancient Israelites were given the choice of life and death, blessings and curses depending on their obedience to the laws given on Mount Sinai. Beyond the Ten Commandments the Israelites were given religious laws that affected what they ate, how they handled their property and especially how they were to approach God in worship. Their concentration on these laws and the requirements of sacrifice did lead them astray at times. They attended to the external requirements of their laws forgetting what the Lord really wanted and so they had to be reminded, sometimes rather sharply. God speaking through the prophet Isaiah said,

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me?

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle

Bring no more futile sacrifices

Incense is an abomination to me

When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you;

Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.

Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the oppressor;

Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:11,13,15-17)

Similarly the prophet Micah told the Israelites that God was not pleased with the sacrifice of thousands of rams or with the poured offerings of ten thousands of rivers of oil. He reminded them what God really desired of them: to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:7-8).

For the ancient Israelites it was too easy to think of their obligations in tangible terms because they expected their reward in equally tangible things. They had no clear concept of an afterlife. By the time of the Lord's life in the world, the idea of eternal life had entered into Jewish beliefs. Many other religions had it also. A life of blessings after this one was offered to those who fulfilled the requirements of their religion. This life of blessings was part of the covenant that the members of the various religions believed existed between themselves and their God. When the rich young man asked the Lord his question, he was sincerely seeking to learn his responsibilities that would fulfill his part of the covenant and insure him eternal life.

What do we think of as the reward that the Lord offers us? In its simplest form, what the Lord offers us is eternal happiness. Yes, the eternal happiness of dwelling in heaven in the future, but more than that. Because the true joy of heaven isn't readily apparent, it can be misunderstood. The true joy of heaven is a special state of mind that comes from the desire to serve the Lord and the neighbor. This state of mind then allows for all the external delights that can be experienced with the senses. How could this state of mind be described? It carries a sense of confidence from common purpose, the warmth of mutual love and peace of trust. This state of mind looks for and sees beauty in all things and all people. It delights in work. It has a deep sense of gratitude for gifts that it recognizes are from the Lord. The opposite to this state of mind is sometimes called the eternal death of hell. It isn't actually death, but rather eternal misery--the misery that comes from wishing good things only for oneself and resenting those that come to others. It is the misery of a person whose life is eaten away by the desire to own the possessions of others. In the life after death a person with this state of mind is deprived of all that it truly wants to achieve. It is filled with fear, hatred and distrust. It tends to see nothing but ugliness in people and things. It hates work and it constantly feels cheated by what has happened.

Given the choice between the life of heaven and the life of hell the best alternative is obvious. What then is required of you that you may receive eternal life. When the young man asked Jesus this question, he was told, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Sometimes keeping the commandments can be seen as avoiding black marks in ones' book of life. Jesus in enumerating the commandments to be followed included one from Leviticus (19:18) that carries a sense of positive action, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." People have sometimes pictured Judgment day as a weighing of the number and value of good deeds versus the number and severity of bad ones. But keeping the commandments is more than doing some things and not doing others. When the young man told Jesus, "All these things have I kept from my youth. What do I still lack?", Jesus replied "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me." The young man went away feeling sad for he was rich.

It seems the Lord made a tremendous demand of him. If he wanted to be perfect, his part of the covenant demanded more than merely doing some things and not others. It would have to fill his whole life. This is the quality of the life of heaven. The two great commandments do not describe what we must do or think. They describe what we are to love. We are to love our neighbor and we are to love the Lord. Jesus chose expressions of these two loves that would encompass the whole life of the young man. He was told to sell all that he had, an expression of love to the neighbor, and to follow Jesus, an expression of love to the Lord.

The demand of perfect fulfillment of the covenant seemed tremendous. The Lord has given us this story perhaps for that very purpose. Perhaps He wants us to reflect the qualities of our present lives that stand in the way of us receiving the life of heaven. The demand is great, but so is the reward. Remember the Lord's promise, "He who loses his life for my sake shall find it." This is the hard part of the covenant. We must give up many of the things that we delight in if we are going to receive the life of heaven. But the things that we must give up aren't so much the external joys of this world. The fact is that the Lord really isn't so interested in those things in themselves. He isn't particularly concerned with what we eat or wear, what our house is like or how expensive a car we drive. What He is concerned with are the motives behind our choices. He is concerned with the inner quality of our lives. The Lord is concerned with the inner quality of our lives right now, because He knows that heaven isn't just a future time and place for us. The beginning of our eternal lives already exists.

Heaven can never come to someone instantly. The source of true happiness is the same for both heaven and this world. We cannot be happy, here, now today apart from a desire to do what is good. Happiness will not come apart from loving those around us. This isn't easy. Loving those around us can mean giving up some of the independence possessed by someone who looks only after himself. It can mean allowing others to do things for us even though we resent needing help. It can mean personal sacrifices and inconveniences. Loving those around us can mean putting up with the pain of watching someone make a bad choice because he thinks it is a good one. It can mean risking hurting or angering another by trying to help them see a potential or present problem.

Loving others isn't easy, but its rewards are as big as its challenges. As we do our daily work of trying to wisely love those around ourselves, we will at times sense something of the delight of heaven. We will feel the delight of working for a common purpose, the warmth of mutual love and peace of trust. We will at times look around ourselves and sees beauty in so many things and so many people. Serving others will be seen as a necessary chore, but a source of great happiness. And throughout all this there will be a deep sense of gratitude for gifts that we recognize are from the Lord.

More than anything else the Lord wants us to freely choose a life that will allow us to feel these heavenly delights. He wants us to flee from the choices and states of mind that bring us hell in this world and the next. He wants to lead us away from the misery that comes from wishing good things only for ourselves and resenting those that come to others. He doesn't want us to feel the discontent of a person whose life is eaten away by the desire to own the possessions of others. He wants to save us from fear, hatred and distrust, from the hell of seeing nothing but ugliness in people and things and feeling constantly cheated by what has happened.

The Lord does offer us a covenant. He offers us His joy, not just in the distant future, but also here and now and He offers us His infinite power to fight against the evil spirits that would draw us away from that joy. We receive this power, when we fight as if we alone carried the battle. Each day we may reflect on our part of the covenant asking the question, What shall I do to earn eternal life? As we do our part of this work, we can know that we are not alone. The Lord is with us. He is working with each of us, guiding us to receive the life of heaven in every way that we can.

(Referenties: Heaven and Hell 534; Matthew 19:16-22)