(By: Norm Rasmussen)

What is the highest heaven going to be like? What will it be like to be in the presence of God where no evil influence will be allowed to enter?  

First off, before saying anything else, a person won't remain in the presence of God for very long, other than to receive their judgment, IF they aren't in Jesus Christ. No mere human can. To be qualified to be in God's presence for eternity, they must be identified with Jesus Christ. Why is that? Because sin is simply not allowed to remain in the presence of God for very long, and the Bible clearly states that all of us are born sinners, because of the sin nature of Adam and Eve passed down to each of us that we inherited from them at our birth.  

So once we make Jesus Christ our personal Lord and Savior because of our sin nature we inherited at birth and the sins we've committed since birth, we exchange identities with Him.  Positionally - we inherit immediately GOD'S likeness. God's likeness is maximized holiness - maximized righteousness, maximized obedience, maximized love, maximized joy, maximized peace, maximized patience, maximized kindness, maximized goodness, maximized gentleness, maximized faithfulness, maximized self-control.   

Biblical evidence? 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV): God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You might wonder: Well, if Christ literally 'became' our sin, what happened to it? Is Christ still carrying it around? No He isn't. When He died, it died with him. It was put to death, forever. Well, then if it was put to death by God Himself, why then do I keep on giving into temptations to sin this very moment in time? Strangely enough, God asks the same thing?

What shall we say then?  Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?  (Romans 8:1-2 NKJV) 

If you keep reading on through Romans chapter 8, you are hit smack dab with what not only happened to our sin, but with the question of all earthly questions. Why in the world do you and I keep trying to resurrect our sinful nature and give into sinning when Christ KILLED it by taking it to His grave? The only answer I can come up with is that I simply love being a rebel against God more than my peanut brain can possibly fathom. My goodness, could it possibly be that I need a Savior far MORE than what I care to realize? Ya think?!  

What I'm about to share I cannot prove Biblically. I could mention a few scripture passages that would lend credence here, but none to make a Biblically based iron-clan case. I share this only because I believe the Holy Spirit has given me His understanding of the matter.

At one end of the spectrum, for all eternity, those who are in Christ Jesus will have a sense of total unworthiness for the indescribable inheritance they have been given by God, yet on the other end of the spectrum; they will have the feeling of total - maximized royalty.   

They will have a clear sense of knowing that everything God has given them, they are not worthy of it. In fact, they will have a sense of knowing that the only thing they were worthy of was to spend eternity in hell as payment for their sins against Him. What would be the purpose of it, you might wonder? So we could appreciate feeling His royalty. Feeling His total, unconditional love. Feeling His total, unconditional acceptance. Feeling His total, unrestrained peace, etc. Which will trigger WHAT? It will trigger in us total, unrestrained, unspeakable JOY that is immersed in the glory of God that will take eternity to catch just a glimpse of its awesomeness!

Tears want to roll as I write this. I can see it in my spirit man so clearly. Once I'm with Him forever, when I gaze upon my Savior, I will have total, maximized awareness of just how unworthy I was and am to gaze upon Him, let alone be in His presence, yet because I AM in His presence, my sense of royalty will trigger in me a sense of joy that all of heaven will not be able to contain! I figure the reason in part - why the Bible tells us God is going to make new heavens and a new earth - He's going to have to ENLARGE the heavens so we can better express all the joy we'll be experiencing! Oh glory, glory to Him!

Yet there will be no pain with our feelings of unworthiness in His presence. God won't allow it. An awareness of it will be with us ' yet no pain nor regret will accompany it. It will serve as our eternal reminder of just how intensely deep the love of God is for us who are in Christ Jesus, even while we were yet sinners. Mind boggling.

Here is the greatest reason I believe WHY God will want us aware of our unworthiness. It will act as our eternal 'humbleness protector'.  It will be the very thing that will keep us from becoming sometime in eternity the very thing Satan and a third of the fallen angels lacked that caused them to fall into rebellion against God: A sense of unworthiness. 

Had Satan and all the angels that rebelled with him against God had a sense of unworthiness that they were even given a chance to be created as angels and be in His presence in the first place, that might have been the very thing that would have kept them from their rebellion.  

No angel was ever created of God because they were worthy of it, by the way, any more than a human was created because we were worthy of it. Yet those angels who have remained obedient to God since they were created certainly express their thankfulness to God BY their obedience to Him. Satan and a third of the angels that rebelled with him lost the importance of being thankful to their Creator. Not good, not wise.

I believe God, in His unfathomable wisdom, decreed a long time ago once that happened that it was NEVER going to happen again. NEVER. And the plan He executed, at least for us humans, is the very topic we're on: Unworthiness but royalty. Think of it. God knew Adam and Eve were going to sin. It didn't catch Him by surprise. He knew they were going to sin before He even created them. And the FACT that they were going to sin was allowed by Him because He knew from the moment after they sinned, they would never ever again feel worthy as they once did to be in His presence. Their feeling of royalty was now diminished, and would continue to diminish for all eternity.  

Would there be no hope of ever regaining their sense of Godly royalty? Yes there would be! Their hope was forced to be born in a cold manger at the animal stable because humanity had no room for Him in at the warm, comfortable Nazareth Inn.  

I assume Adam and Eve now stand in the presence of God this very moment with the feeling of maximized royalty once again because the message of eternal salvation was communicated to them in the spirit realm by none other than the Prince of Peace born in the manger at Nazareth who had recently been crucified just a few hours before and they reached out and embraced it.    

Along with Adam and Even, so do all the saints of old experience Godly royalty yet feel unworthy of it who looked forward to the one day coming Messiah who would 'save them from their sins.

I couldn't begin to tell you if the angels who never rebelled against God have a sense of unworthiness. Because they've never sinned, never rebelled against God's rule and will - I'm guessing not. But I can assure you they are THANKFUL! They know the eventual fate of Satan and all the demons. But I'll bet there will be one thing we'll be able to do BETTER when we are in God's presence that they will NEVER be able to do as well as we do, and that is to feel greater joy than they are capable of experiencing because of the royalty we have been granted, knowing we are the very least and last to deserve it.  

God has said He will dry all our tears in the highest heaven. I'm assuming those will be the tears of earthly regret. He'll purge us of them. Most likely soon upon our entry into His presence. But once I get there, I'm going to ask Him if I can bend the rules. I'm going to ask Him to allow me to cry when I want. Why? To express my fullest appreciation of thanks to Him and all others there that of all created beings I know of, I'm the least deserving to be granted the very highest royalty of God, FREE OF CHARGE NO LESS!

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, (endure the trials He allows to test - refine - purge - purify us - conform and make us) that we may be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:16-18 NKJV). 

When was the last time you thanked God for the suffering you've experienced to date?  (Without passing our tests ... we have no God-glorifying testimony).

God has stored up for us immeasurable blessings in eternity that we can presently hardly imagine let alone comprehend, saints ... because He has allowed us to inherit His Godly royalty in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. Yet can we be trusted with that royalty status once it is made available to us? God alone knows -- we surely don't. Let us trust God to do in our lives as He knows is best for each of us to make us more trustworthy, as a loving Father and Mother knows what is best for their children to help prepare them for adulthood.  

And what would be the most important quality we as parents could instill in our children to qualify them to function best as adults? Trust in their Creator (The KING) and wise obedience to His authority and mankind's authority as He has ordained.

It's EASY to obey authority when my will easily messes with my authorities' will, isn't it? But when my authority expects me to do something I'm in disagreement with ... that's where the rubber meets the road and it becomes apparent just how rebelliously self-willed I'm really going to be, isn't it?

There is no earthly king who will trust his/her power and authority for very long to an heir who can't be trusted with it. Can we expect The KING of KINGS to be any different?

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Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)