Sitting reading, I became aware of a little bird in my room. It was trying to escape. From wall to wall and against the closed window it dashed. At last it escaped through a window in the back of the house. Poor little thing, how frightened it was of me! It had no desire for the near company of a human being.
I said to myself, "This is just how a sinner would feel if he could get into heaven unsaved." The presence of God would be intolerable. The poor man would be out of his element, and have no desires suitable to that holy place. His one thought would be to escape. Yet we hear people say, "Oh, of course, we all hope to go to heaven!"
In heaven all believers in God's dear Son are conformed to His blest image, and there all is unsullied righteousness around and within each heart. It is where God in all His glory reveals the fullness of His love to those who "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Rev. 7:1414And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14).
There the great multitude of the redeemed delight to raise their song of praise to "Him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb forever." Sin, sorrow, suffering, and death have no place there, and partings shall be no more. The presence of God and His Son make heaven home.
To be at home in God's company you must possess divine fitness and divine affections; without these you would only be miserable there, like the little bird in my room.
You could not join in heaven's song of praise to the Lord Jesus: "Thou art worthy." You would have nothing to praise Him for. The very heavens we see shall pass away; the earth we live on shall be burned up, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:1313Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2 Peter 3:13))
Would heaven be home to you, then? If you are not washed in the Savior's blood, your presence in heaven would defile it. You cannot have a place inside.
God sent His beloved Son into the world to prove His love to man by dying to put away sin; in righteousness He poured out His wrath against it on the sinless One made Him to be sin for us. Now sin has been judged to the uttermost, for Christ has died to establish God's righteousness, and made it available for everyone who believes. God is now just in justifying him who believes in Jesus. (Rom. 3:2626To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26))
This is the only fitness which will count with God to save a sinner from hell, and take him to heaven, for it is provided by Himself, and in His grace, it flows to us through a righteous channel, even through the crucified, risen Lord, and is possessed by the believer. So-called "good works" will not save.
Believe God's record, and you will be happy now in His presence, for His perfect love casts out fear. You will love Him because He first loved you, and Heaven will be home to you, dear sinner, saved by grace. There you will sing the song that begins on earth: