The question we rarely ask

Imagine that you are applying for an important position. You submit your application. Your qualifications are examined and your experience is considered. References are contacted, and you are interviewed. Then something even more revealing may happen: the company wants to know what kind of person you are.

Why? Because qualifications are not enough. A company may employ someone for their skills, only to discover later that their character is completely incompatible with the organisation. A highly qualified employee who cannot be trusted can become a liability. A talented employee who is dishonest can destroy relationships. A brilliant employee who refuses correction can become impossible to manage, and a successful employee who treats others with contempt can damage an entire team. So the company asks questions that go deeper than “Can you do the job?” It also wants to know whether you fit the character and values of the organisation.

Heaven is a kingdom

That simple illustration helps us to understand something about God’s kingdom. Heaven is not merely a destination. It is a kingdom, and every kingdom has a character. Paul says that the kingdom of God “is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). God’s kingdom is built on principles that are completely contrary to the selfish principles that dominate our fallen world.

The world says: Look after yourself. Christ says: Love your neighbour. The world says: Get even. Christ says: Forgive. The world says: Promote yourself. Christ says: Humble yourself. The world says: What can I get? Christ asks: What can I give? The world often measures greatness by power. Jesus measured greatness by service. When James and John asked for the best seats in His kingdom, and the other disciples became angry, Jesus called them together:

Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

That is the character of heaven.

He is preparing us for the place

Here is a thought that we must allow to settle deeply into our minds: God is not merely preparing a place for us. He is preparing us for that place. On the night before His crucifixion Jesus comforted His disciples:

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

We find enormous comfort in those words, and rightly so. But while Christ prepares the place, He is also doing a work in His people. He is preparing them to live in the presence of God. The letter to the Hebrews is plain about what that preparation involves:

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

Isaiah in the presence of God

Isaiah shows us what it means to stand before God. In the year that King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up, and heard the seraphim calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). Isaiah was a prophet, a respected religious man. He did not respond with pride in his record. He responded like this:

So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

In the presence of perfect holiness he did not feel prepared. He saw himself as he was. And then God acted. A seraph touched his mouth with a live coal from the altar and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7). Isaiah did not cleanse himself. God cleansed him, and then Isaiah could answer, “Here am I! Send me.” That is the pattern we will see throughout this book: God shows us what we are, God does the cleansing, and God sends us out changed.