As we continue our look at Heaven in the Lord’s Prayer, we continue our look at the inhabitants of Heaven. This devotional reading looks at how the Church fits in.
Nuggets
- Only those who accept salvation and endure the Sanctification Road will become the Church and eventually reside in Heaven.
- At a specific point in the future, God will stop individually calling us home to Heaven and call the Church as a whole.
- The Church will be judged upon reaching Heaven.
- There will be no church/temple in Heaven.
This group of devotions is focusing on Heaven in the Lord’s Prayer. After looking at Heaven being the dwelling place of God, we started in the last devotion looking at the inhabitants of Heaven.
In the last devotion, we looked at angels. In this devotion, we will look at the Church. In the next devotion, we will look at God and Jesus as inhabitants of Heaven.
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 series.
Devotions in the Commit to Grow Our Habits study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
Preparing the Church for Heaven
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
Only those that accept salvation and endure the Sanctification Road will become the Church and eventually reside in Heaven.
We as humans are not entitled to Heaven. It can only be gained one way.
That is to accept God’s gift of salvation. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Once we submit to God, Satan will use trials to try to tempt us to disobey Him.
Spencer cautioned us that these trials are not to be unexpected. He wrote, “There is nothing said in the Scriptures which gives us any reason to suppose that it is an easy thing to be faithful Christians.”
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The difficulties of trials doesn’t mean that God wants us to fail. He doesn’t. He wants us to endure.
Enduring through these trials is how we gain Heaven. “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1: 12 ESV). We gain strength to resist Satan through the process of sanctification.
Temptation is a suggestion in our mind that would lead us to sin rather than following God’s Will. It is also that period of time between conception and execution of doing what is sinful.
Sanctification is the transformational process of the mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
We just talked about consistency. Our reward for enduring as we navigate the Sanctification Road so that our character becomes more like God’s is to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
Prayer is the constant through all this. We cannot gain salvation without prayer. We endure the Sanctification Road through prayer.
Making the Transition from Church to Heaven
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4: 17 ESV)
At a specific point in the future, God will stop individually calling us home to Heaven and call the Church as a whole.
It isn’t going to take much to call the church home to Heaven. All Jesus will have to do is sound the trumpet.
Then everyone who has ABCDed will have a change of address. We will now be living in Heaven.
This is called the second coming of Christ. He is coming for His saints.
So, what does living in Heaven mean? Well, we don’t get an extended, in-depth explanation.
We know we will reach perfection/maturity. Davison explained some of what that means. He wrote, “It is not only to see Him and live in His house, one of His family, always in His presence; it is the getting rid forever of what unChristlike in character, the gaining of the real perfect sympathy with the Christ life.”
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Davison went on to say that it isn’t about being in the same place as Him. Our thoughts, love, and life have to reflect Him.
I think it is a safe bet to believe that God will be teaching us throughout eternity. He will continue to reveal Himself to His children.
We will see God’s truth as it becomes clearer to us. It cannot be clear to us until we have bodies that have been perfected.
But that emphasizes the fact that we will live with God forever. Eternity is a long time – and we will spend it with Him.
Judgment for the Church in Heaven
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (II Cor. 5: 10 ESV)
The Church will be judged upon reaching Heaven.
Many think that disciples won’t be judged in any way when we reach Heaven. They think that we get to pass go and just collect the $200, as in Monopoly.
Paul said, “Not so fast.”
Jesus said that we would be separated into sheep and goats. That is a judgment as to whether or not we have ABCDed.
Glossary
Stanley helped us realize the image Paul was painting here. Paul was describing the tribunal of the Roman magistrate. This is where justice was decreed.
Stanley described it this way. He wrote, “The ‘Berea’ was a lofty seat raised on an elevated platform, usually at the end of the Basilica, so that the figure of the judge must have been seen towering above the crowd which thronged the long nave of the building.”
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What was the purpose of this judgment? Stanley told us that, too – to glorify God’s grace. “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1: 13 ESV).
We have to remember that Jesus is just, as God is. He knows right from wrong, and His providence judges accordingly.
Manton told us the four attributes of a judge – wisdom, justice, power, and authority. Jesus has all of those.
Resource
- “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4: 13 NIV).
- “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him” (I Jn. 1: 5 CSB).
- “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 24: 13 ESV).
- “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Mt. 28: 18 NIV).
Read the verse from Corinthians again. There are a couple of absolutes.
- The judgment is going to happen.
- It is going to happen to everyone.
- Our service and sins will be made known.
- We will be judged accordingly.
- Huntington wrote that Jesus and God will be the Judges. Well, they are One (Jn. 10: 30).
Resource
I don’t see us as being able to call witnesses on our behalf. I don’t even see us defending our own actions.
I just see this as the indictment and sentencing phase.
No More Church in Heaven
“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Rev. 21: 22 ESV)
There will be no church/temple in Heaven.
I know I’ve read this verse before, but it never hit me until now. Church as we know it is going to change in Heaven.
Yes, there will still be worshiping and praising of God. Music is going to play a big part.
But we won’t need church as we did on earth. We may never hear Amazing Grace again. We may never hear Waymaker again.
Related Links
Carrie Underwood
Michael W. Smith
The temple was where God lived among us. We don’t need the temple because we will be living with God.
We won’t need to go to God’s house to meet God – we’ll already be there.
There won’t be a distinction between those who have ABCDed and those who haven’t. We all will have because those who haven’t will be burning in hell (Rev. 20: 15).
Only saints will be in Heaven.
Hall says that all of heaven is the temple. We won’t need anything else.
Resource
This is important. Don’t miss it.
The Homilist said that, in Jewish culture, a city without a temple should be avoided. So if there is no church/temple in Heaven, it would have to be avoided.
Resource
But if Heaven was the temple, it would be fine.
We won’t need the institutions and ceremonies anymore. They were for our sake.
We already know we don’t need sacrifices anymore. Jesus shedding His blood negated that need.
We don’t need the symbol when we have the real thing.
Plus, we won’t need to sacrifice to atone for our sins. There won’t be any sin in a Heaven.
We may be singing Scripture instead of songs.
So, what will we be doing? Boyd talked about the difference between earth and Heaven. He wrote, “Now, all the means of grace — and God’s house, with its praises, prayers, and exhortations, among the rest — are just as steps towards heaven. And when the soul has reached heaven their need is over. The church and its services are no more than the means, and when we can have the end without the means we may well be content.”
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This makes sense to me. Here, we can’t see God, so we have to focus our worship differently. There, we will be perfected, so earthly worship practices aren’t going to cut it. We won’t need reconciliation — we already will be reconciled.
Making the Connections
Doing the first section, I was struggling again on not earning salvation through works, but needing to work after salvation. How do those mesh?
Spencer helped me understand. He wrote, “Grace is a gift, but it is the nature of grace to improve by action. No man can be of strong body whose muscles have not been used to hard work. No mind can attain much vigour without much severe exercise. And the temptation which tries grace may be necessary for that perfection of grace which fits for heaven.”
Resource
Our doing ensures the growth of our faith. While that doesn’t give us salvation, it ensures that our salvation stays healthy. What doesn’t grow, dies.
How Do We Apply This?
- Watch for Jesus’ second coming to take us home to Heaven.
- Comfort those who have recently lost a loved one.
- Witness to non-believers.
- Constantly meditate on Christ.
- Constantly imitate Christ.
- Realize that life is short, we are going to die, and we will be judged – act accordingly.
Resource
Father God. Your Church is awaiting the time when You call us home to be with You. We pray that day comes soon, but we also pray that we endure here on earth until it does. Help us to grow to be like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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