Are you holy enough to enter heaven?
In both the Old and New Testaments, references to God’s holiness are made.
Revelation 4:8 states, “Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
Isaiah 6:3 reads, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole is earth is full of His glory!”
It is clear the LORD is holy. How holy are you?
Believe it or not, this little question holds eternal consequences and is a question none of us should take lightly. You see, our holiness determines our destiny.
Unless we are holy, we will not enter heaven.
Until we completely understand that God’s standard for entrance into His Kingdom, heaven, is holiness, we may never see the need to live holy lives. Friends that is exactly the life the LORD is calling us to live as His bride. Jesus is hoping to present us to His Father in such a way. Ephesians 5:27 states, “that He might sanctify and cleanse her (His bride) with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” That passage gives us a good indication of what holiness looks like.
Are you holy? Holy enough to enter heaven and spend eternity with the LORD? I know that I’m not. Not on my own. Praise be to God who sanctifies us through Jesus. We receive holiness when we are sanctified by Jesus.
I would like to share two scriptures with you that both reference the process of sanctification, but before we do, let’s look at the word sanctify. Sanctify can be a big word for people who haven’t been to church, but sanctify is a good word. It simply means to set apart as or declare holy. It also means to free from sin and to purify. So if we are sanctified, we are sin free and holy.
How do we become sanctified?
We are sanctified through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. His shed blood sanctifies us. Let’s look at Hebrews 13:12 – “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” Jesus’ act on the cross sanctifies us completely once and for all. It was a perfect work!
We are completely sanctified once and for all by Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 confirms Jesus’ work is complete. It reads, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior in faith, we become holy and heaven bound. Then we begin to work out our salvation in our daily lives with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), and our salvation is finally secured when we meet our savior face to face and receive our new heavenly bodies (2 Corinthians 5:1).
The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15). I look forward to being with Jesus forever. I hope to see you there!
Until we meet again – love like Jesus!