In heaven there is perfect obedience

There is no failing, not in the least circumstance. “Now I know in part,” said the apostle, “but then (that is, when he should come to heaven) shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor 13:12). Peter when speaking of the new heavens said, “therein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet 3:13). For heaven is the holy place into which no unrighteous person can enter. … In heaven there are no tempters; … therefore also there are no temptations to sin.

The thoughts of this will moderate grief when we have friends which die in the Lord. For the place where death has made a passage for them is heaven. This does secure us, that they are there where they are made perfect, where they shall neither offend nor be offended.

Does not this meditation work in God’s children not only contentment, but a longing to lay down this tabernacle, to be translated when the Lord shall please, since the exchange will be so happy?

It is but a parting with a sinful miserable earth, for this heaven, wherein dwells perfect righteousness. It is leaving mortality for life, sin for grace, and misery for glory. In that place they shall neither be actors nor beholders of sin. There is no sin there, either to infect or vex them. When we are wearied and almost fainting in our combat against sin and this wicked world, we should only consider that before long if we do hold out manfully awhile, this sin and flesh shall annoy us no more. For when death comes, it is the portal to heaven. Death as certainly separates sin from soul and body for ever as it does the soul from the body for awhile. For our place is this heaven, where are angels, the patterns of our obedience. When we come there, we shall be as the angels (Luke 20:36), and shall ever be with the Lord.

—Henry Scudder
A Key To Heaven (London: Harper, 1633), 298-301.

Categories:

Tags:

Comments are closed

Archives