April 29 I Monday

1 Kings 6-7

Luke 20:27-47

“In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…”   —1 Peter 1:3-4

We can say with absolute certainty that nothing on this earth is perfect and permanent, so it is impossible to conceive what heaven will actually be like. God keeps us in suspense, but He does drop clues. Aside from its magnificent beauty, Scripture tells us heaven will be perfect and permanent.

Just as Jesus lived a perfect life on earth in that He was sinless, we will be sinless in heaven. The capability to sin may be there, just as it was with Lucifer, but will we sin? Absolutely not! Not in eternity that God has planned for us. We know the utter sickness of sin, have seen it and experienced it. In heaven, we will have been made perfect like Jesus, and our attitudes will be such that even the thought of sin will be as grievous to us as it is to God.

Where there is no sin, there is peace, joy and harmony. Revelation 7:16-17 says, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst… For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘He will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” That is a glorious picture of heaven: no hunger, no thirst, no tears, suffering, pain or even discomfort. C. S. Lewis writes, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” It is going to be perfect, and it is going to be permanent.

Peter tells us that we have an inheritance kept in heaven for us, one that can never perish, spoil or fade. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said something similar when he talked about not being like the hypocrites who give, pray and fast to be seen by others. They have received their reward in full, but He said, “...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).

What are these treasures we are to store up in heaven, and can they be measured in the same way we measure treasure on earth? John writes that the great street of the city in heaven will be of gold, as pure as transparent glass (Revelation 21:21). What he is likely portraying is not that the streets are of such value they are paved in gold, but that gold will not be of any more value than to pave the streets with. All material worth in this life will be turned on its head in heaven. We only know there will be treasure for each of us, and that is all we need to know, because heaven itself will be treasure enough!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, heaven sounds like an absolute dream and a place I do not deserve, but I thank You for loving me so much that You have prepared a place for me there.