To prepare for judgement

• According to the creation story in Genesis 2, humans were created for fellowship with God, but disobeying God led to alienation
• God alone could restore the relationship and he did this through the death of Jesus, the supreme act of reconciliation
• The final act of this reconciliation is the judgement that all humans will face
• Jesus taught in his parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) that this would be based on how people responded or failed to respond to those in need
• Heaven can therefore be seen as a reward for good behaviour, which links to the idea of justification by works
• Judgement:

  refers to the traditional Christian belief that after death, people's lives will be assessed by God