Heaven Pt. 47

“The LORD also said to me, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.'” Deut. 9:13,14 NLT

I am a little shocked by how many verses connected with the word “Heaven” tie in to the theme of judgment. I suppose I shouldn’t be; Judgment belongs to the Lord and it is His tool to ensure the eternal purity of His Kingdom. Still the thought that many will  be blotted out of memory from under Heaven is a little shattering. It is even more shattering to realize that those whom God was about to blot out in Deut. 9 were not “sinful, wicked, reprobate Canaanites.” He was referring to His own back-slidden people freshly delivered by the supernatural hand of God from slavery in Egypt!

That sobering thought echoes down through the ages until it is picked up again in Hebrews 10

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”  and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ” Hebrews 10:28- 30 NIV 

I know it may be unpopular to speak of this but I am convinced there are people today who think of themselves as Christians who are going to be turned away at Heaven’s gates because they’ve trusted in their church membership rather than Jesus’ blood. Some will stand before God with a list of good works and find out that their charity counted for nothing because it was not founded on the cross. Some will expect entrance into Heaven even though they refused to follow Jesus because they gave large donations to the church or worked hard in their community. To them Jesus will say:  ”I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Ma 7:23 NIV

Entrance into Heaven is not based on what we do or don’t do (though a by-product of the Christian life is righteousness). It’s not based on how much we give or how frequently we go to what church. It is based on totally selling out to Jesus and trusting that His death on the cross takes away our sins! Everything! Everything! Everything! in real Christianity flows out of that watershed truth. Basing our hope in anything else only promises that we will be among the blotted out!