Disciples will be rewarded when they endure during this life. This devotional reading looks at a partial listing of our reward in Heaven, which is unimaginable to us now.
Nuggets
- Disciples will have freedom from evil that affects the quality of our lives.
- We can’t imagine the splendor and reality of Heaven.
We’ve been talking about our struggle when we wonder if we are really saved or not. This devotion is the second one in the Christ’s Care Over His People Reaches the Day of Their Resurrection series.
We’ve been looking at how God’s justice judges, condemns, and punishes the wicked. In this devotion, we are going to finish up by looking at how God’s justice will raise the saints.
The next devotion will be the last in the study. It will look how we use our habits to ensure our salvation.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the The Surity of Our Salvation study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this study is Beveridge’s sermon The Believer’s Safety
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The title and headings are Beveridge’s words.
With Freedom from All Evil
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21: 4 ESV)
Disciples will have freedom from evil that affects the quality of our lives.
We just talked about eternal life. That isn’t just about quantity – when it starts. It talks about quality.
We are supposed to start the quality now.
Revelation 21: 4 gives us a good description of what that quality is all about.
No Tears and No Crying
When we get sad, the waterworks start. True, it might take a whole lot of sad to get them flowing good, but there is a continuum between a few tears and a lot of tears.
True, there are also tears of joy. This is the other extreme.
But think about it. God wants us to be sober minded – even keeled.
We know it isn’t because God doesn’t want us to be joyful. Joy comes from Him.
God wants us to be content in whatever feeling we have. “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil. 4: 11-12 ESV).
Still, we usually associate the tears with sorrow.
God will remove our tears. There are no tears in Heaven because there is no sin in Heaven.
Every source of sorrow will be eliminated. Only God can do both.
Jeffrey told us about the reasons for tears to be eliminated.
- Christ is present.
- We have been perfected.
- ·We will be with other saints for eternity.
- Heaven will be joyful.
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We can’t belittle the fact that we will be with saints. Now, we are constantly surrounded by worldview people.
Tears will be eliminated for eternity.
What is the purpose of removing the tears? Jay told us that. He wrote, “Nothing shall be seen but joy and gladness — nothing heard but thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
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God will clean out all the sin so that we will be allowed to worship. Peace and joy will remain.
No Death
Death brings much sorrow and many tears.
We focus on physical death. We hate the thought of losing our lives and the lives of our loved ones.
But die, we all must. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9: 27 ESV).
We fear death. It may be because we have no experience with what happens next — the dying part.
It may be because we fear it will hurt. Diseases and accidents can be very painful.
The Christian Treasury had an interesting take on why nature hates death. Their sermon, What Is Death, said, “Death comes because nature has been outraged, because the heart of man has revolted against his God; and the rebel must therefore encounter all that is terrific, since he supposed there was a more excellent way than living in amity and walking in love with his Maker.”
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We’ve long said that death was a consequence of the original sin. Death only entered the world when mankind rebelled against God.
- “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2: 16-17 ESV).
- “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked …” (Gen. 3: 6-7 ESV).
So, we could say our desire to gain knowledge that was above our station was what brought death into the world.
But there is something worse than death. Judgment is worse if we have not put our faith or trust in Jesus. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23 ESV).
We no longer have to fear sin and death. Christ has conquered it. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (I Pet. 2: 24 ESV).
That is logical that Heaven won’t see sin and death. Death is the product of sin. Sin cannot exist in Heaven, eliminating tears and sorrow.
No Mourning
Do you see a pattern emerging here? We mourn when the death of a loved one occurs.
They aren’t going to continue to die — hence, no more mourning.
Beyond that, we do not have to mourn spiritually. When we did the The Beatitudes Show Us How to be Docile series, we talked about how we should cry out because of our sin.
When we sin, we should mourn that we have broken God’s laws and commandments. We should be sad that we were not obedient as God expects — that we keep sinning.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Sin will be eliminated, removing the necessity for mourning.
No Pain
Many of us are allergic to pain. We avoid it like the plague.
I loved Boyd’s definition of pain. He wrote, “Pain may be taken to mean everything that you would shrink from, from whatever source it may come everything that implies suffering, sorrow, anguish.”
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At this point, I am wondering why I thought to to separate all these out. Pain causes sorrow and tears, making us mourn.
But Boyd pointed out that pain was strictly physical. Since the physical will be eliminated in Heaven, pain will be, too.
But let’s look at it this way. In this life, we endure the pain of fibromyalgia and other diseases. We are called to endure this life to truly gain salvation. “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 24: 13 ESV).
We won’t have to endure anymore once we get to Heaven.
For the Former Things Have Passed Away
The things of this life that hurt us now won’t be present then.
Praise be to God! One day all the tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.
Storrs gave us some encouragement for this life. He wrote, “The former things are always passing away as one advances in knowledge and character and power.”
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How do we do that? We navigate the Sanctification Road. We mature in our faith.
The world as we know it isn’t just going to end. It is in the process of preparing for that even now. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us …” (Gal. 3: 13 ESV emphasis added).
Redeemed — past tense. But since salvation is one of those words that have past, present, and future elements, the curse won’t be totally removed until the future.
With the Confluence of All Good
“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (I Cor. 2: 9 ESV)
We can’t imagine the splendor and reality of Heaven.
We really have no clue what Heaven is going to be like. We don’t know what it will look like or how it will be run.
That is by design. If we knew now, we would have sight, not faith.
Adam and Eve had sight, but they still disobeyed God.
We may not be able to see it, but it has been written. God has revealed to us what we need to know now.
The rest can wait.
When we get there, Heaven will be more than we can imagine now.
Heaven will be reserved for those who truly love God. Only those who have submitted to Him will be blessed.
Jesus said that Heaven was being prepared for us. “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” (Jn. 14: 1-4 ESV).
But really, is Heaven being prepared, or are we being prepared? If Jesus said it, there is some sort of preparation going on.
We know we have to be prepared. That means salvation and sanctification.
That means what we see with the eyes of our hearts and hear with the ears of our hearts. It is all about the heart level.
Making the Connections
“If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (I Pet. 4: 18 ESV)
Beveridge said to just look at First Peter 4: 19. But verse 18 really fits the study.
We’ve talked before about how disciples think we shouldn’t have trials and persecutions. We think – once we’ve made the commitment to serve God – we should have smooth sailing.
It doesn’t work that way.
What if not working that way means doubts are part of the difficulties?
I could see this as playing out when we do doubt — and we will. Does this mean we lose our salvation? Does it mean God can no longer — or won’t— forgive us?
Is doubt the unpardonable sin? Maybe, depending on the depth and focus of our doubt.
If we are doubting that Sovereign God can forgive us or fix us, I can see that being described as quenching the Holy Spirit.
If we are doubting why God would want to mess with us and spend His time fixing us when we have been fixed before but broke again, I would say no.
It all boils down to “If the righteous is scarcely saved …” (I Pet. 4: 18 ESV). True, not exactly the point of the verse, but it does apply here.
The depth of our doubt puts into question the depth of our salvation. Are we a little saved or a lot saved?
Don’t get me wrong. A little faith is okay, too. “[Jesus] said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Mt. 17: 20 ESV).
Jesus wasn’t chastising the disciples for their little faith but explaining why they couldn’t perform a miracle. Instead, He told them even one with little faith can accomplish great things.
I loved what Sedgfield had to say. He wrote, “
That going to heaven is not so easy a thing as some imagine. It is not an empty profession of religion that will serve the turn.
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The Sanctification Road that leads to Heaven is going to be rough, but we can’t get stuck on mustard-seed faith — or less.
We have to commit to growing our faith. We need God’s grace to accomplish it.
How Do We Apply This?
- Praise God for the times we don’t have tears, sorrow, or pain.
- Comfort those who do suffer and mourn.
- Watch for sin that causes the pain and sorrow.
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Father God. You have said that, if we endure in this life, You will reward us throughout eternity. Help us to endure the trials and temptations now so that we can live with You forevermore. Amen.
What do you think?
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