WHY MUST WE ENDURE THIS LIFE BEFORE GOING TO HEAVEN?

 

 

What is the purpose of this life if those who are saved at the very end are also going to share the heavenly rewards?

Part of the reason for this life is training for heaven. The lessons we learn here are necessary for our new life in heaven:

 

·       For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (ESV)

 

This life serves as preparation for our eternal abode with the Lord. How? The content and conviction of our faith is being refined for heaven:

 

·       …you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6–7; 4:12–13)

 

The result of the purification of faith is that our eyes will be opened to His “glory and honor.” Consequently, we will adore and rejoice in Him forever more (Jude 24), the result of the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrew 12:10-11).

 

But what will be the condition of those who are saved at the end of their lives or at the coming of Jesus? Certainly, they will not possess the fruits of the Spirit as a result of living for our Lord for decades prior. It seems that they will have to endure a painful crash-course in sanctification:

 

·       “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me [fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus - Mt 3:3; 11:10; Mk 1:2, 3; Lu 1:76]. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.” (Malachi 3:1–3)

 

The only way to refine silver and gold is to melt the ore down so that the impurities rise to the surface and be removed.

 

His coming will prove so painful to those who continue to hate His light (John 3:19-20) that they will flee (Psalm 1:5; 15:24; Luke 21:36; Isaiah 2:20-22; Revelation 6:15-16). Others will painfully endure the purification process:

 

·       In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:2–4; 1:25-27; Zechariah 13:9)

 

This will also be the fate of the Gentile nations who remain after the final war culminating in the return of our Lord:

 

·       Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. (Zechariah 14:16; Joel 2:33; Jeremiah 31:7; Micah 4:7; Zechariah 8:12)

 

There will then be a great salvation (Romans 11). Why will some endure, and others freely choose to flee to their own torment and destruction? There seems to be only one answer – the Lord, who has mercy on whom He will!

 

(Admittedly, eschatology is a difficult study. Therefore, I’d gladly welcome any Biblical feedback. Thanks in advance!)