In Heaven We Will Be Holy And Sinless

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We will be absolutely holy and sinless. That concept is very appealing to me, and I suppose to all of us who struggle with sin and have a longing to be free of it. Romans 6 has much to say about sin and how we sometimes find ourselves becoming slaves to sin; then also about how we may be free from sin and slaves of righteousness and live in sanctification.

Well, after we die, or after we are raptured, our struggle is over. We will receive absolute victory over sin—because God will give us a brand-new body without sin. Let’s look at two different verses and see what they say.

Philippians 3:20-21

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

The part we want to examine here is that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will transform our old natural body into a body like His own glorious body. A body without sin.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

In this group of verses we have come in the middle of a discussion about resurrection and what our resurrection body will be like. In verses 36-38, Paul compares our dead body and our resurrection body to a dead seed that sprouts new life. Just as a dead seed sprouts new life, God gives new life to the body of a believer who dies. It will be a body just like the old one, but will be a new resurrection body.

In verses 42-44 Paul tells us how the new body is different from the old one. The body we have now is perishable—we get old, sick, and eventually die. But our new body will be imperishable—it will never get sick or diseased; and it will never die. Our present body is dishonorable—because of the way we have treated it; we have sinned against it. Bur resurrection body is a body of glory and honor. Thirdly, our present body is weak and frail and subject to temptation and sickness. But out new body will be strong and powerful. This old body is a natural body, but our new resurrection body will be a spiritual body, that is, a supernatural body having no natural limits.

In Revelation 21:8, 27 and 22:15 we are given a description of people who won’t be allowed into heaven. Combining these verses together, we come up with people who are unclean, cowardly, abominable, liars, murderers, idolaters and sorcerers. And as Revelation 21:27 infers, these people’s names will not be written in the Lamb’s book of life.

So here we see the great contrast. All those who are excluded from heaven (and are not written in the book of life) have remained in their sins—because they have rejected God’s salvation; hence their sins remain with them forever. But those who are saved, they have been forgiven of all sins and cleansed by His blood.

Now I want to take a little time trying to describe what being holy and sinless will be like in heaven. But that’s going to be very hard, because none of us has experienced it. We have always been sinful. I suppose the best we can do is try remembering when we have been less sinful.What it was like. Okay, I’ll try. Way back when I attended an all-day Christian conference (this was when I was about twenty-five years old), I remember being so uplifted by all the excellent bible teachers; and even more, by speaking to so many smiling, fellow believers about all their wonderful Christian adventures. That entire day was like experiencing heaven on earth. Sin was the last thing on my mind.

Attending church hasn’t always been pleasant for me. Some churches I have attended were nothing but a drag. But the church I am attending now is so blessed. I enjoy the fellowship with so many fellow believers, and I so look forward to singing the hymns and courses and all the worship.

Putting these two things together, I would say that when I have been in Christian fellowship and surrounded by good bible teaching and the worship of God, my sin is at a low point—and that is why I feel so uplifted.

I’m thinking that being holy and sinless in heaven for eternity will be at least a thousand times better than at any low point of sin on this earth. It will be so glorious. We will be surrounded by believers and the fellowship will be wonderful. Awe! Breathing the fresh clean air will be so good. And feeling the heavenly light on our faces will be blessed. We will walk in His light forever and enjoy His wonderful fellowship—never thinking about sinful temptation ever again.

In Heaven We Won’t Be Disturbed by the Existence of Hell

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Just as the former things (of this world) will not be remembered or come to mind (Isa. 65:17), we won’t be affected in any way by the existence of hell. I don’t think the suffering of those in hell will even come to our mind. John MacArthur indicates in his book, The Glory of Heaven, according to Isaiah 66:22-24, “The destruction of the wicked will ultimately be something for which we will worship God.”1

Yes, I can’t believe we will suffer in the least over those in hell. God will shield our mind and emotions from any suffering. And He has said to us through David in Psalms 16:11,

You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Hence, if we are full of the joy of His presence and of the pleasure He gives us, how can we at the same time think about and suffer for sinners in hell. It seems to me that God will separate believers from any contact with unbelievers. In Revelation 21:8 and in 22:15, God tells us that those who have chosen an unbelievers life (with all the sins they commit), they will have a special place separated from believers. It is a place that God has designed for them with Satan and all his demons. And we should not be sorry for them or think that God is unjust. He gives them what they deserve. And we all deserve it; but God reached down to all of us and gave His Son to die for us and save us. All we had at do was believe in Him. We who believe have eternal life. But those who chose not to believe and obey Him will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on them (Jn. 3:36).

1 John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1996), p. 98.

Heaven Will Be A Life of Rest

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Our rest is written about in Revelation 14:13, where John says,

And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

From this verse we may affirm that the souls of all those who die in the Lord (and also, all those who are raptured) will be at rest from all labor and strife of being in an ungodly world and of the sins of the world. But, in contrast (from verse 11), all those who are not believers will have no rest day and night for eternity. Here, in the context, it speaks of those unbelievers during the Tribulation who receive the mark of the beast; but it will be the same for all unbelievers—they all will have no rest, only torment and strife. Therefore, this rest we speak of here (in verse 13) is a serenity of the soul, a peacefulness of a life made perfect in holiness by the blood of our Savior. And it is even that way now when we confess our sins and resolve to obey Him. He lets us rest in Him and we are at peace; thus, for all of eternity in heaven we will have that same rest—and an even greater rest.

In Heaven Everything will Be New and Different

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I suppose, when we arrive in heaven in our new bodies, the first thing we will notice with great joy and thankfulness is that everything is new and different. All the old things of the flesh and of the old world will be gone—or will we even give it a thought? There will be no more sadness, only joy. There will be no more death, only life. There will be no more mourning, only joy and rejoicing. There will be no more crying, only laughing and praising God. There will be no more pain, only peace and pleasure.

I think it will be worthwhile to go through all of these five points (from Revelation 21:4) and try to get a better grasp of the changes.

No more sadness. All through one’s life there is always some degree of sadness. Some people seem to be sad all the time for one thing or another. Others appear to be happy most of the time; but perhaps they have found ways to hide their deep-down sadness. Nonetheless, when we see Jesus and we are instantly made like Him, all our tears will disappear. He will wipe them all away. And then we will say with Paul, “He has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57). And we will know that He has accomplished it by His own suffering and death on the cross. As the prophet Isaiah has written, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore. And our sorrows He carried…and by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5).

No more death. The impending death of a loved one and news of our own death is always grievous. We can do nothing about it. We may delay it for a while, but soon it will come. But Christ has abolished that enemy forever. By His death and resurrection, He has established victory over death—for Himself and for all who believe in Him. Now we may say with Paul, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YUR STING” (1 Cor. 15:54-55)?

This victory will be absolutely confirmed for us in heaven. We will forever not feel the doom or the pain of it. It is no more.

No more mourning. Mourning is a deep-down brokenness over our own sin and failure. Because we are all sinners, we all go through mourning. But mourning is particularly prevalent with those that want to be closer to God, with those who regularly humble themselves when

they feel pride creeping up in themselves. Hence, in their obedient humility they will be miserable and mourn over their sin (Ja. 4:8-9).

Though mourning is something we ought to do now because of our condition, in heaven we won’t have to mourn since we will have no sin. In fact, the absence of mourning will be a constant reminder that God has removed our sins from us, having forever cleansed us of all sin and put us on the wonderful path of light and joy forever.

No more crying. Crying is not necessarily bad for us. It is a very natural way a baby expresses his or her needs when feeling hungry, tired or feeling discomfort—since they can’t communicate any other way. For an adult, it isn’t a matter of communication, but more of an outlet of strong emotions in times of sadness or feelings of rejection or pain—but sometimes even of happiness.

I don’t know if there will be absolutely no crying in heaven. We may cry out of extreme happiness or thankfulness to God. But never out of sadness or pain or discomfort. All that will be gone. Christ will have taken care of that on the cross. It will have all been paid for. We will be free from it all. All our emotions then will be only of joy, and laughter, etc.

No more pain. Certainly, Christ bore much pain on the cross for us. He bore all the pain in payment for our sins. We still have pain now since we still sin. But when we see Jesus and He turns our body into glory, our pain will vanish. Where sin is present there is pain. But when sin goes away, so does pain. It will be forever gone.

These are the five things that are listed in Revelation 21:4 as being “no longer.” But I wonder if maybe there are other things that would be included. Yes, I’m sure that in addition to these five things that are at the top of the list, there are many things that are from the flesh, from sin, and from the devil that will be no more. And we won’t ever have to worry about them popping up into our minds ever again; for as the prophet Isaiah has written (in Isaiah 65:17), “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”

In Heaven God Will Always Be With Us

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Yes, and we will be living in His house with Christ and the saints forever.

 In Revelation 21:2-3, John wrote,

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

This, I think, is the greatest difference on the positive side. Yes, we will have no more evil and sin and pain to deal with, but we will have a marvelous and beautiful home, and wonderful fellowship eternally with the Father and the Son and all the saints.

This future heavenly blessing of dwelling with God is a fulfilment of a promise made to Israel based upon their obedience. In Leviticus 26:11-12 God said to them,

‘Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

Though this promise was originally made exclusively for the Jews, now all non-Jews can reap their spiritual blessings through faith in Jesus Christ, who is of the seed of Abraham and of David.Yes, all who have received entrance into heaven by faith in Jesus Christ will have the pleasure of God’s constant presence. In fact, we will be living in God’s house—His tabernacle. I can think of two passages that refer to this. In John 14:1-2 it says,

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

Then also in 1Thessalonians 4:17, speaking of the rapture of the church, Paul writes,

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (bold for emphasis).