Revelation 21:3-5: “And I heard a loud voice from the Throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And He who was seated on the Throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also, He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (ESV – all emphasis is mine.)
From 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come…. For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God.”
These verses are assurance to all who will truly receive and accept Jesus as our eternal Lord and Savior. Our Heavenly Father promises that all unpleasant things we may have suffered on Earth will not even be a memory, and our eternal lives will be absolutely wonderful.
Also, there could be some extreme pain if some of our loved ones are not in Heaven, but the Father promises to make “all things new,” and there will be no “mourning, or crying, nor pain anymore.” It may sound cruel, but through the grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father, our mindset will be for praising and glorifying Him because we can serve our Savior forever for the sacrifice He gave for us.
Luke 10:16: “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the Heavenly gift, and have shared the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and have them fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.”
This would describe those who had the opportunity to be saved, but for whatever reason, they did not actually become a part of the Savior’s flock. They stayed on the broad road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).
At some point, they may have seemed to accept the word of the Lord, but were more committed to worldly issues than to be committed to Our Savior. At the first sign of any conflict, they chose the world and Satan because they never truly had Jesus in their hearts as their Savior.
As much as we would like to push our loved ones to accept Jesus as their Savior, that is not the way of our Heavenly Father. He provides all the information we need and allows everyone to choose their eternity for themselves.
There is nothing wrong in asking for the Holy Spirit to provide incentive for others to consider the consequences they will face if Jesus is rejected. Satan actually goes further than this in trying to pull souls away from the Lord.
It is totally appropriate to pray for all loved ones on a daily basis. It only takes a few minutes, and the outcome could end up being an eternal blessing for them. After all, what would Heaven be like without them?
A song written by Dale Golden that He and Cheryl recorded addresses this. It’s titled, “Will Heaven Be Heaven Without You?”
1.) Soon I know I will stand in God’s long-promised land, where protection is on me from the start. But for your sake, my friend, before time’s to an end, there’s a question I must ask from the heart.
Ref.) Will Heaven be Heaven without you? If your race was fully run, would you make it through? When you stand at God’s Throne, will He say you’re one I know, or will Heaven be Heaven without you?
2.) Oh how I long to see what’s prepared there for me. When God’s angels come to call me away. But what you, friend, must do is promise you’ll be there too; please don’t miss our Great Homecoming Day. (ref)
3.) There’ll be no second chances when the Great Trumpet sounds; can you say without doubt, friend, that you are Heaven-bound? (ref)
Reference verse #2, Brother Dale went to be with the Lord in January of this year (2026). He was a personal friend of ours, and my wife and I do look forward to our future Homecoming Day.
In fact, after seeing our Lord and Savior Jesus for the first time, we look forward to being with all our loved ones, friends and acquaintances that will be there as well. We are absolutely positive that our celebration will be beyond anything we can imagine now.
On the other side, all who are destined for the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) will not celebrate at all. The lake of fire will be their eternal destination, and each soul there will suffer eternal condemnation. For those who joke about “partying with friends there,” they haven’t considered the terms “outer darkness,” “eternal punishment,” and “made for the devil and his angels.” There are no reduced sentences or “temporary” punishment. It’s Forever!
To avoid this, Romans 10:9-13 gives the steps to spending eternity with our Savior. For anyone who has not heard of the “A-B-Cs” of Salvation, they are located in these verses.
Admit or confess you are a sinner, as we all are (Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23). Believe that Jesus is our eternal Savior who came to Earth as a human and shed His pure, sinless blood at Calvary to conquer sin and death for all who will receive and accept His precious gift. All who Call on Jesus to be their eternal Savior will be saved.
We do not know the day or hour that this era will end (Matthew 24:36), but signs given by the Savior, Paul, Peter, John and others are here now as never before. God’s timing is not the same as ours, and the end could be a matter of hours, days, weeks, or even years. The point is to be ready as if it could happen today because this is entirely possible. To put off asking Jesus to be your Savior could be a terrible mistake. Once the Rapture starts, it will be over in “the twinkling of an eye,” as given in 1 Corinthians 15:52.
The seven-year tribulation will be worse than anything this earth has experienced so far. The best decision ever would be to become a part of the Savior’s precious flock and not be subject to the wrath/tribulation that is coming (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 and Revelation 3:10).
Today would not be too early to call out – Hope to see you at the Great Homecoming!