And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
Christians believe they will go to heaven to live with God. It seems a foregone conclusion that their faith has prepared them to meet him. But how do they know? Do the scriptures give them a reason for this expectation? How do they describe this meeting?
We know that all mankind will inescapably come face to face with God. “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:11-12)
We would like to think that this experience will be one of inexpressible joy. Some scriptures describe this sort of encounter. The Psalmist wrote, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore .” (Psalm 16:11) We read that the presence of the Lord is a place of compassion so lovely that it makes up for even the worst hardships endured in life. Heaven is a place where God wipes away the tears of his children: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes .” (Revelation 7:17) There will be no more pain there:
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
Will all mankind experience joy in God’s presence? It turns out that, on the whole, only a few descriptions of this encounter are positive. We are told that there will be two types of experiences in that day: one positive, and one negative. The negative experience is just as intense as the positive:
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night... (Revelation 14)
For some, being in the presence of the holy angels and the Lord will cause torment so great that it is akin to being burned alive. This description might seem overly harsh to those who have only been exposed to the popular (yet incorrect) description of a heavenly encounter.
The key to understanding both the gravity of the negative experience and the reason for it is to understand that man’s default position with God is one of separation due to sin: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23) Some rightly understand that man was cast out of God’s presence because of the fall of Adam. However, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ absolves all men of the fall of Adam:
14 And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. (Alma 42)
Although all mankind is redeemed from Adam’s fall through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the fall created an environment where each individual is capable of sin: “...because of the fall our natures have become evil continually;” (Ether 3:2) Each individual has sinned, and therefore each individual is separated from God.
Our separation from God, then, is not arbitrary. It comes as a direct consequence of an individual’s sin. Preparing for a reunion with God requires removing the cause of the separation. This life is given as a time to prepare to meet God, yet few understand how to prepare, and even fewer are actually preparing.
45 O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation.
46 Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgment, that ye may not shrink with awful fear; that ye may not remember your awful guilt in perfectness, and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine; and the devil hath obtained me, that I am a prey to his awful misery. (2 Nephi 9)
What happens to those who are not prepared? To be brought into God’s presence before preparing oneself for the experience would be catastrophic. A fallen individual would not experience joy if brought into God’s presence. They would instead feel indescribable pain.
Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live without God in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye. (Mosiah 27:31. See also Romans 14:11 and Isaiah 45:23)
How great is the discomfort of those unprepared to see God? John describes how men will pray for rocks to fall upon them to hide themselves from God’s face (see Revelation 6:16). Isaiah says men will flee into caves to avoid his presence (see Isaiah 2:19).
In life, we escape from a true understanding of our uncleanness and our nakedness by ignoring it. We fool ourselves. We pay less attention to the bad in us than we do the good. We pretend that our motives are better than they are. We claim that we aren’t to blame for our faults. At that day, there will be no deception and no excuses. All men will receive a perfect knowledge at that day, a complete and correct understanding of their own works. The scriptures refer to this clarity in conjunction with God’s ability to see us as we really are.
4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (Psalm 11)
You and I will stand before God, and we will see as we are seen—we will have a perfectly clear understanding of our character: our thoughts, our words, our deeds, and our desires. Standing boldly in contrast to our gross imperfection will be God, in equally clear, undeniable perfection. This pain is due to the knowledge we will receive in the presence of God. We will comprehend his perfect love for us and his perfect righteousness. In contrast, we will also “...have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness...” (2 Nephi 9:14) That contrast is what fills us with burning torment. The wicked will feel indescribable anguish under the full weight of their guilt, uncleanness, and nakedness. The wicked will be in agony in the presence of God because of the
...awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls. (Mosiah 3:25).
Though Christ stands as our judge, man is his own tormentor. We will be overwhelmed by a perfect knowledge of our own impurity in contrast to God’s perfection.
3 Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws?
4 Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.
5 For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. (Mormon 9)
After death, the wicked are “consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup.” (Alma 40:26)
7 For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?
8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?
9 Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?
10 And according to the power of justice, for justice cannot be denied, ye must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is endless torment.
11 O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life. (Jacob 6)
Most Christians, believing they are not wicked, expect a different experience than this. They believe that they are righteous, and will therefore have a glorious experience when they meet God. Remember that “wicked” doesn’t always mean evil. It means those who deviate from God’s law. Some deviate from God’s law knowing full well what they are up to, convincing themselves that God will wink at their sin. Others deviate from God’s law unknowingly, having been persuaded by their religious teachers to follow erroneous doctrine. The scriptures indicate that there will be many believers in that day who will be surprised at their experience in the presence of the Lord:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23)
Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able . When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out . (Luke 13:23-28)
How can you know which experience will be yours? The forgoing scriptures give the key: “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” will have a positive experience, and “workers of iniquity” will not. It would be nice to think that if you are engaged in religious practices, and if you can trace your practices to scripture, you are safe. Yet, those who rejected the Lord in his mortal ministry were also very religious, and prided themselves in their understanding of the scriptures.
Luckily, the Lord has given us certifiable proof as to whether we are doing the will of God or not:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
How can you know which experience will be yours? There is no need to wonder. If you are keeping God’s commandments, you are prepared to meet him. If you are keeping God’s commandments, God will manifest himself to you. If you have not yet met him, you are not keeping his commandments, and you are not prepared to meet him. If you are not capable of meeting him in this life, it is because you cannot stand in his presence without being consumed by pain unto death. If you cannot stand in his presence without being consumed by pain here, what awaits you when you unavoidably stand in his presence to be judged when you die, possessing a resurrected body that cannot die?
The point of religion is to bring you back into God’s presence. If that has not happened despite your dutiful fulfillment of your religion, your religion is inadequate. It would be extremely foolish to assume—without any scripture indicating so—that death will magically remove the consequence of sin in your life.
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. (Alma 34:34)
Instead, you ought to assume that there are key doctrines missing from your religious practice. You ought to assume you are off track in your understanding or application of Christianity. All men, no matter their degree of righteousness, will one day see Jesus Christ with a perfect understanding of his perfection and their lack thereof. Let us prepare to abide the day so that the reunion might be one of joy and glory rather than agony and terror.