In March 1997 the people of the United States were shocked to hear of the largest mass suicide in the nation's history. Thirty-nine members of the religious group Heaven's Gate were found in a beautiful California mansion, each dressed in black pants, black shirt and new athletic shoes, after killing themselves with a mixture of drugs, alcohol and asphyxiation.

Police were surprised by the obvious lack of trepidation and, according to videos and letters left behind, even elation, experienced by the cult members as they prepared to leave this world.

Brought together by a religious smorgasbord of Christianity, New Age, paganism and science fiction, and spurred by a belief that the Hale-Bopp comet was an apocalyptic sign, these people died believing that they would travel to a better place of existence.

It is initially unfathomable to consider the suicide of healthy people who want to die believing that a better life awaits them. Sometimes it's easier to understand the death wish of someone who is terminally ill and suffering. Yet, most people hope for and desire an afterlife, a consciousness after this life ends without the suffering and grief. Many Christians believe that when a person dies, he or she goes to heaven.

Over the centuries there have been numerous Christian views of heaven. Heaven often refers to the realm where God dwells. There's been much speculation about what happens to those who go there, from spending eternity gazing into the face of God, to an actual place where the saints interact with God and angels. Mostly, it's thought of as a nebulous hereafter where good people go to experience eternal bliss. In the Time magazine poll, 43 percent said they believe in harps and 36 percent in halos in the heavenly abode.

The 1998 movie What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams presents heaven as a place where the departed create their own egocentric universe. It was a lonely, imperfect picture of eternity. Curiously, in this version of heaven, God was nowhere to be found.

Heaven as the throne of God

When we go to the Bible we find numerous descriptions of heaven as the throne of God. The apostle John claims that he was taken into heaven in a vision and writes about what he experienced in the book of Revelation. He describes heaven this way:

"After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this'" (Revelation 4:1). John continues in verses 2-6: "Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

"And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back."

Is this the realm of the promised afterlife for those who believe in the God of the Bible?

More than one heaven Jesus makes a startling statement about heaven recorded in John 3:13. He says in reference to Himself as the Christ, "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man." Jesus claims that He's the only one who has ascended into heaven. If Jesus is the only one to go to heaven, what happened to all the great men and women of faith throughout history?

To answer that, we must first look at some often misunderstood biblical concepts of heaven. Have you ever noticed that many biblical references to heaven are plural and actually say "heavens"? In Scripture, heaven can refer to earth's atmosphere where we see the "birds of heaven" or where the "windows of heaven" open to bring rain.

It can also refer to what we call outer space, the realm of the moon, planets, other galaxies, the physical universe. A third reference concerning heaven is the throne of God. In 2 Corinthians 12:2 the apostle Paul writes about a vision of "Paradise" which he says was in the "third heaven."

The heaven Jesus was talking about is this "third heaven," the very throne of God. John also records another discourse by Jesus Christ where He explains why He came to earth from heaven in the first place.

If you don't have your Bible, go get it and turn to John 6:38 where Jesus says: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

The hope of the resurrection

What does Jesus mean when He says that He will raise someone up at the last day? The resurrection of Jesus as the Son of God is absolutely essential to the Christian faith. In fact, there is no Christian religion without the belief that Jesus rose from the grave, was seen by His disciples and ascended to the throne of God. The Scriptures demand Christians to accept that Jesus died and experienced a bodily resurrection three days and three nights later.

Now, let's look at what the apostle Paul writes to Christians in ancient Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."

Notice that Paul says that "all shall be made alive...but each one in his own order." Jesus Christ was the first to be raised from the dead to eternal life. Paul then says, "Afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming."

In numerous places in his writings the apostle Paul refers to death as "sleep." Is it possible that the common belief that people go to heaven after they die is not what the Bible actually teaches?

With Christ on earth

Jesus made some important comments to His disciples on the night before His death as recorded in John 14:1-3: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

It is important to note where Jesus will be after His return. He will reign as king of the world for 1,000 years while the resurrected saints will rule with Him here on earth (Revelation 5:10; 20:4-6).

So Christ promises to return to earth for His disciples, both living and dead. He nowhere says we will be off with Him in heaven. Paul tells us about the resurrection of the dead at Christ's return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

The resurrection isn't a theory of some ethereal, nebulous existence as a disembodied spirit. It is the promise of a bodily resurrection to life of eternal energy, eternal creativity, eternal goodness as the children of God.

This resurrection takes place not at death, as these scriptures make clear, but when Christ returns to establish His Father's Kingdom here on earth. The Christian future is more spectacular than the view of heaven as a place of eternal repose without meaning or personal purpose.

Why were you born? If you want to have a part in this glorious resurrection to fulfill the future God offers you, the choice is up to you.