Are there degrees of reward in Heaven?
I heard a recent discussion about degrees of reward in Heaven. It was most interesting. It is clear to me that some Christians are troubled by this. But I believe we have missed the point if we think of degrees in Heaven. It is true, we will have to give an account of how we conducted our lives. It is also true that there are degrees in Hell (Luke 12:48). But let us not forget that the reward of Heaven is based purely on grace.
I read of no secondary joys in Heaven. Nowhere do I read of God’s people being placed in the back settlements of Canaan. I do not read of second class citizens in Heaven. The dying thief, for example, had no good works by which to claim anything from God, yet he entered Heaven, was accepted and rewarded by God in exactly the same way as any other of God’s children are saved, through the merits of Christ.
Heaven, in all it’s fullness, is altogether the reward of grace. All the people of God are loved with the same love - perfectly. There are no degrees in God’s perfect love. We were all redeemed with the same precious blood, with the same price. We were all made the very righteousness of God in Christ and we are all the same children of God by the same spirit of adoption.
So why should there be degrees in Heaven? Can there be degrees in perfect glory? Certainly not. This is the promise given to those who believe, both for time and eternity, ‘All things are yours’ 1 Corinthians 3:21.
When the Lord Jesus presents us faultless and without blame before God, we shall all be perfect, having no spot of sin, and no good thing shall be with-held from us.
Yours in Christ
Pastor
I read of no secondary joys in Heaven. Nowhere do I read of God’s people being placed in the back settlements of Canaan. I do not read of second class citizens in Heaven. The dying thief, for example, had no good works by which to claim anything from God, yet he entered Heaven, was accepted and rewarded by God in exactly the same way as any other of God’s children are saved, through the merits of Christ.
Heaven, in all it’s fullness, is altogether the reward of grace. All the people of God are loved with the same love - perfectly. There are no degrees in God’s perfect love. We were all redeemed with the same precious blood, with the same price. We were all made the very righteousness of God in Christ and we are all the same children of God by the same spirit of adoption.
So why should there be degrees in Heaven? Can there be degrees in perfect glory? Certainly not. This is the promise given to those who believe, both for time and eternity, ‘All things are yours’ 1 Corinthians 3:21.
When the Lord Jesus presents us faultless and without blame before God, we shall all be perfect, having no spot of sin, and no good thing shall be with-held from us.
Yours in Christ
Pastor