Heaven…streets of gold…no more crying or pain…living forever…no sin. Wow! Dwell on those things for a few minutes. Revelation 21 gives us quite a description of heaven. It sounds like an awesome place! With my  parents passed on, they are in heaven right now. I John 5:13 gives me that assurance. It will be great to see them again. We will all have perfect bodies (whatever that means) and will get to spend eternity with God. Makes me smile. I can see that picture very clear in my mind of being in heaven some day…

BUT SIN MAKES THAT PICTURE UNCLEAR. Sin muddies the water. It makes a mess of thing.

Here is what we have so far:

It all starts with Jesus Christ. He is the Person of Hope that will never let us down.

There is also a Plan of Hope which is the fact the Jesus is Coming. He will come back for us!

But right now…Jesus is Constructing. He is in heaven right now, the Place of Hope!

We are not in heaven yet. Therefore, sin is still an issue. But wait, didn’t Jesus break the power of sin? Did not the cross of Christ take the penalty of sin? YES! The power and penalty of sin have been broken! Praise God!!!

It is the presence of sin that still invades this world. It is this author’s opinion that the best part of heaven will be the absence of sin. We have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Forgiveness (I John 1:9) is there for us. The power of sin has also been cancelled. See Colossians 2:13-15. It is the presence of sin that remains.

Go back to chapter 21 in Revelation. Verse 27a says,

“Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,”

There will be no sin in heaven. We won’t have to fight our fallen nature. The struggle for freedom is done. The war is complete. And that is the Place of Hope.

Why should we see Jesus as the Person of Hope? Why is there a Plan of Hope? Why can heaven be the Place of Hope?

Rest assured, there is the Purpose of Hope.

May God go with you this week.