I was driving down Highway 49 on my way to a small town, watching the fall colors spread across the trees and the fields alive with deer and birds. The quiet beauty of the trip slowed my mind, and I turned on some music from the 60s to keep me company. John Lennon’s Imagine came on, and for the first time in a long time, I really listened to the words instead of just the melody. As the road curved through the hills, the message of the song struck me in a way it never had before.
Lennon asks the world to imagine life with no heaven above us and no hell below us—no God to answer to, no eternal purpose, no absolute truth. He imagines a world without nations, without religion, without possessions, without anything that might divide people or challenge their desires. It is a world built completely on human emotion, a world that seems peaceful only because everything meaningful has been removed. It is a dream of unity that never touches the soul, a vision that comforts the feelings but leaves the heart empty.
The Bible offers a completely different picture—one not imagined by man, but revealed by God. Heaven is not a fantasy or a poetic idea; it is a real place prepared by Jesus Himself. It is a world without pain, fear, sickness, or death. Every tear is wiped away. Everything broken is restored. Heaven is full, whole, and alive. It is a place where nothing evil can enter and nothing good can be taken away. The glory of God is its light, and His presence fills every moment with joy, peace, and purpose. Heaven is the home every soul was made for, where we live forever in perfect love, perfect community, and perfect life.
Jesus also told us plainly about hell, not to frighten us, but to warn us. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man dies and wakes up in torment, while Lazarus is comforted in paradise. What makes this story so powerful is that the rich man can see Lazarus. He sees the joy he rejected. He sees the peace he will never know. He remembers his life. He remembers his choices. He remembers his family. He begs for someone to warn his brothers. Hell is not a place of sleep or silence. It is full awareness without relief, memory without comfort, desire without satisfaction, and eternity without hope. In hell, the soul understands that heaven is real—but it cannot reach it. That knowledge, more than anything else, is what makes hell unbearable: the door to joy exists, but it will never open.
As I drove down Highway 49, with Lennon’s song fading and the autumn colors glowing around me, the contrast between man’s imagination and God’s truth became unmistakable. Man imagines a world with no heaven and no hell; God reveals a world where both are real, eternal, and unavoidable. Heaven is the fullness of life—joy, love, belonging, purpose, and the presence of God forever. Hell is the absence of God—darkness, regret, separation, and the knowledge that hope has been removed for eternity. And the difference between the two comes down to one simple choice: what a person does with Jesus. Choosing heaven is not complicated—trust Him, ask for His forgiveness, and let Him lead your life. Rejecting Him is choosing to face eternity alone. On that quiet highway, it became clear that every road in life eventually leads to one of two destinations. God has opened the way to heaven. Hell exists only when that way is refused. To choose Christ is to choose life, forever.