How do we know there is a heaven? Our only source of information is the Bible. We cannot logically receive the revelation of heaven without receiving all that the Bible teaches, and the Bible as clearly tells us there is a hell.
Our belief in the one stands on precisely the same ground as our belief in the other.
We cannot be consistent in believing there is a heaven, and refusing to believe there is a hell. We must believe in both, or disbelieve in both.
" To the law and the prophets " then. Let the Scriptures speak for themselves.
To clear our ground it will be necessary to go step by step carefully over Scriptures bearing on this subject.
At the outset we may say that appeals to Hebrew and Greek often cover gross ignorance of, and crafty attacks on, the Word of God.
We cannot begin our inquiry better than by considering the meaning of the word, Sheol, the Hebrew equivalent for the Greek, Hades."
Two words are largely translated grave in the Old Testament.
1. Qeber—grave, sepulcher, i.e., a locality.
2. Sheol—the state of disembodied souls, i.e., a condition.