Is the title of this article true? Is it the case that nobody gets to heaven without a fight? Some would possibly say “don’t you know that the Bible says we are to love everybody?” Some might even claim that such a statement is “mean spirited and not the attitude or character a Christian should have.” While it is true that children of God are to love all people (John 13:34; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 6:27) and have proper attitudes (Ephesians 4:15), this in no way negates the truthfulness that nobody gets to heaven without a fight.

Before we get to far in the article, I wish to clarify that I am not talking about evangelism at the point of a sword. As brother Foy E. Wallace said, “We cannot shoot the Gospel into a man nor machine-gun Christianity into a community. The Gospel is not coercive; it is persuasive.” The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”. Did you notice that? Paul referred to our warfare. New Testament Christians we are at war. Not a physical war, but in a spiritual war, a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” That is the reason Paul would tell Timothy, and by extension all Christians in 2 Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Those who have obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ are in the Army of The Lord.

As soldiers of The Lord we must ever be ready for duty, prepared for conflict (spiritual), and never retreat in the face of the enemy. When trials and tribulations come upon us in this life, we wade into battle wearing the armor of God, Ephesians 6:13-17, and “war a good warfare”, 1 Timothy 1:18. New Testament Christians cannot “turn tail and run” away from the battle. 1 Corinthians 15:58 is the “stand your ground” law of the kingdom when it says “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” We are to be stedfast (seated, fixed, standing one’s ground) and unmoveable (unshaken, stable) in the work which Jesus Christ requires His children to do.

This leads us to ask, “What if we don’t stay in the fight? What if we do surrender. In Revelation 21:8 we read “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Those who are “fearful” are included with those who will not enter heaven. The basic meaning of this word is cowardly, fearful, timid, fainthearted. This word is used only two other times in the New Testament in Matthew 8:26 and Mark 4:40. This word translated fearful is never used in a good sense in the New Testament. These are those who shrink back and are unwilling to pay the costs of discipleship. In these God is not pleased: “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:38-39). There is no room in the Lord’s army for cowards and one must not maintain such an ongoing attitude. We are to stay in the fight, regardless of circumstances, whether in times of pandemic or riots or whatever storm of life that comes upon us. If we do not, nobody gets to heaven without a fight.

-Jerry D. Sturgill