The church of God in this world is like the tabernacle in the wilderness. Within it is lit up with the glory of God's presence. We are the temple of the living God. God dwells in our midst. God the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of his people. And the one Person who always attends the assembly of the saints is the Son of God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever two or three gather in his name, he is present with them (Matt. 18:20). To gather as a church in the name of Christ means much more than merely wearing his name, saying his name, or claiming the authority of his name. Those who gather in Christ's name come together trusting his name, trusting his blood and righteousness as their only acceptance with the holy Lord God. They come together for the worship of his name, calling upon him in adoration, prayer, praise, and faith. To gather in his name is to gather for the glory of his name, with the intent of making his name known.
Without, God's church is guided and protected by the fiery and cloudy pillar of God's eternal providence. As God led Israel in the wilderness, fed them, protected them, and defended them under the symbol of the fiery and cloudy pillar, so he leads, feeds, protects, and defends his church today.
Yet, outwardly, to all outward appearance, the church of God in this world is a common, unattractive, despised thing. In so far as the nations were concerned the tabernacle was nothing but a crude tent. God was there, but they knew it not. The altar was there, but they had no use for it. The sacrifice of atonement was there but they despised it. The mercy-seat was there, but they could not see it. All they could see was a poor, homeless people, who had no place to worship but a crude tent, and a people who claimed to be the only true worshippers of God in the world. Faithful Israelites would not worship at any other altar. They refused to acknowledge as brethren any who would not worship their God. They acknowledged only one way of salvation - Blood! For these things, they were always despised, persecuted, and mocked by the world around them.
The tabernacle in the wilderness was, in these ways, a symbol and picture of God's church in this world. God dwells in his church. Christ Jesus guides and protects his church. But the world, and all the religions of the world, mock and despise the church of God. That shall not always be the case.
There is a day coming when the tables will be turned. In the last day, the Lord God will reveal his glory in his church and glorify his church before all the universe (John 17:22-23; Eph. 2:7). in Revelation 21:10-27, John shows us the glorified church of God in the last day. Paul speaks of the same thing in Ephesians 5:25-27. Christ loved his church. He died to redeem his church. He sanctifies his church. He will perfect and glorify his church. And in the last day, the Lord Jesus will present his church, in all the resurrection glory he puts upon her, to the Father's throne. Then all the world shall marvel at the glory and grace of God in Christ bestowed upon and revealed in his church.
Study John's description of her glory. We shall be presented before the throne of God, before the adoring angels, before satan, and before the eyes of the damned as...A Virgin Bride (v. 9)...The City of God (vv. 10-11)...A Walled Fortress (v. 12)...A Great, Massive City (vv. 12-17). A Perfect, Complete City (v. 16)...An Indescribably Wealthy People (vv. 18-21)...A Perfectly Happy, Satisfied People (vv. 22-23). A Universally Honored, Glorious Church (vv. 24-26).
The church of God shall be the crowning glory of the new creation in eternity. "As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). No tongue can tell, because no mind can conceive the glory that awaits the church of God in heaven's eternal bliss. Write my name among these blessed ones. My soul thirsts for the living God and the glory that awaits his church in heaven. To dwell in the presence of Christ, to be where he is, to be like he is, to behold his glory, this is the very heaven of heaven!
Yet some will never enter into the glory and bliss of heaven. It is written, in verse twenty-seven, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Heaven is an eternal estate of perfect holiness into which nothing but perfect holiness can enter.
Here is A VERY SOLEMN FACT – "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." Heaven will never be polluted by sin. God almighty is holy, righteous, just, and perfect. That which dwells with him forever must be holy, righteous, just and perfect. In order for anything, or anyone, to enter heaven it must be perfect. Any lack of absolute, total perfection will forever exclude us from the presence of God. Perfect holiness cannot tolerate anything less than perfect holiness. When sin defiled Eden, Eden was forever destroyed. God's law requires a perfect obedience from man and threatens any lack of perfection with death. The law required a perfect sacrifice for atonement. Even God's own dear Son, when he was made to be sin for us, was forsaken by God and slain. God requires perfection. Heaven is a world of perfection. Defilement, abomination, and deceit shall never enter into it. Sin shall never darken the kingdom of light. Sin shall never defile the city Beautiful.
It is only right that all evil be excluded from heaven. It is not at all a matter of bigotry or harshness to declare that heaven shall never be defiled by sin. It is only a matter of righteousness and justice to which every rational man must give assent. Everything in heaven, everyone in heaven, and everyone going to heaven is in full agreement with this decree – "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." We have seen what sin has done to the world of the angels, the physical world, and our fallen race. We would not see heaven ruined by it.
The essence of heaven's bliss is the total absence of sin in that blessed estate.
God's saints in heaven are citizens of a land where there is no sin. We are going to an eternal world, where sin shall never be found. One of heaven's greatest attractions and most cherished glories is total freedom from sin. There we shall enjoy perfect communion with Christ. There we shall have perfect conformity to Christ. There we shall exercise perfect consecration to Christ. Should sin be permitted to enter, all would be ruined! Sin would forever disrupt the peace of heaven, destroy the joy of heaven, and defile the beauty of heaven.
This exclusion of sin from heaven is the exclusion of all who are sinners. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth! No person who defiles, no fallen spirit, no sinful man can enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. No tendency to sin, no thought of sin, no will to sin, no desire for sin can go to heaven.
Were it possible for a sinner to go to heaven, he could never enter into the heavenly state. The essence of heaven is a condition, not a place. It is a condition of worship, holiness, and delight in God. If a sinner could get to the place of heaven, he still could not be in the condition of heaven. He would be out of his element. Heaven would be misery for him, if he should enter it in his natural condition of sin, rebellion, and enmity against God.
Our own hearts must give full assent to this exclusion. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." If I might enter into heaven as I am at this moment with my sinful heart and nature, it would be a horrible crime for me to do so; for my presence there would defile the city of God. A man with a highly contagious deadly disease should never be allowed to mingle with healthy people in society, lest his disease infect everyone. Sanity demands that such carriers of death be quarantined.
This exclusion of sin from heaven is the absolute exclusion of all who defile, make abomination, or make a lie. John is telling us that sinners of every kind must be forever excluded from the Paradise of God. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." No evil thoughts, words, or deeds shall enter heaven. Those who enter the city of God must be free of these things. If we are defiled, in anyway, by sin we cannot enter heaven. No unclean thing shall enter the temple of God (Isa. 52:1). However, the exclusion goes far beyond moral corruptions. It reaches the spiritual corruptions of Babylonian religion.
"There shall in no wise enter into it anything that worketh abomination." Abomination in the scriptures usually refers to idolatry, the making of idols, the worship of idols, and the service of idols (1 Kings 11:4-8). The most abominable thing in this world in the sight of God is false religion, idolatry! If your religion is false, if you worship strange gods, you cannot go to heaven. A strange god is a god who wants to save, but lacks the power to do so without the aid and assistance of man. A strange god is a god who sends people he loves to hell. A strange god is a god whose will is frustrated, whose purpose is defeated, whose power is limited. A strange god is a god who sacrifices his own dear Son for many who shall never taste his grace!
"There shall in no wise enter into it anything that maketh a lie." All false prophets and false teachers, inventors and perpetrators of religious lies shall be damned (1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Thess. 2:11-12). I say this because it simply must be said, every preacher of free-will salvation, every preacher of works religion, every preacher of conditional grace, of whatever sect or denomination is included in this exclusion. Hear this very solemn warning. Realize its meaning and lay it to heart. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."
In the light of these things, I set before you A PLAIN, OBVIOUS, AND REASONABLE DEDUCTION. The deduction is just this - None of us can, by any possibility, enter heaven in our present condition. You who are without Christ are without hope (Eph. 2:11-13). You cannot go to heaven as you are. Should you die without Christ, there would be no hope of you being saved. There is no promise of mercy for you. There is no covenant of grace for you. There is no blood atonement for you. There is no pardon for you. There is no hope of life for you. All these things are in Christ, but you are without Christ. And being without Christ, you are without hope.
That which we have seen in the Word of God most certainly slays forever all hope of self-salvation (Jer. 13:9). Can a sinful man wash away his own sins? Can a dead man give himself life? Can a guilty man make righteousness for himself? Can a wicked man purge his own heart? If any of us are saved, we must be saved by grace (Eph. 2:8).
Even those of us who are saved by the grace of God must undergo a great change before we can enter into heaven. Many are of the opinion that God's saints in this world get riper and riper for heaven in progressive holiness and sanctification, until at last they are ready for heaven. That simply it is not so. No saved sinner ever imagines that he is attaining greater holiness! Long after God had saved him, and after many years of faithful service in the cause of Christ, the Apostle Paul described himself as the very chief of sinners in whom no good thing dwelt (1 Tim. 1:15; Rom. 7:18). Our only holiness is Christ, without whom no one shall ever see the Lord (1 Cor. 1:30; Heb. 12:14). Before we can enter into heaven we must drop this robe of flesh in death and be transformed into his likeness.
Yet, John gives us, by divine inspiration, A BLESSED WORD OF HOPE. We have seen that nothing evil shall enter heaven, nothing and no one who defiles, works abomination, or makes a lie shall enter heaven. No one has the right to enter by nature. And no one can ever earn the right to enter. Yet there is hope. God has written a book of election, and all whose names are written in that book shall enter in. No one shall enter into heaven "but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."
We must know one thing: Are our names written in that book? If they are, all is well, If it is not, we must be forever damned. Are our names written there? This is certain - If our names are written there, they were written there in eternity, written there because of a covenant, and written there permanently. The Lamb's book of life is the book of God's election. It is the record of redemption by the blood of the Lamb. It is the promise of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised in Christ before the world began.
Let me speak personally. I trust that you who read these lines can personally relate to what I am about to say. Yes, my name is written in that blessed book. I know it is because I trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusting Christ, I have life. By God's free grace in him, I have all that God requires for entrance into heaven (Col. 1:12; 2:9-10). He is my worthiness before God. I am complete in him. In Christ, I have atonement for all my sin (Rom. 5:10). In Christ, I have perfect righteousness. His righteousness has been imputed to me in justification and imparted to me in sanctification. How can I speak with confident assurance about such great, weighty, eternal matters? I believe God. Faith in Christ is the substance of my hope, the evidence of God's grace in me, and the solitary basis of my assurance before God (Heb. 11:1; 1 John 5:1-13). Because I trust him, in Christ, I am assured of a glorious change. When death comes, when I am absent from the body I shall be immediately present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:1-9). Then, when Christ comes again, I shall be transformed into his image in resurrection glory in the totality of my being (1 Cor. 15:51-58).
Will you, or will you not, enter into heaven at last? None will enter into heaven at last who do not enter in by faith in Christ now. He alone can give you life. Christ alone can pardon our sins. Only Christ can make the defiled undefiled, the unrighteous righteous, and sinners saints. May God grant you faith in Christ.