All That's Required to Enter Heaven Is Perfection

The Bible tells us the exact number of sins it takes before a person no longer deserves to go to heaven, but rather deserves its overheated alternative.

One.



That's right. Romans 6:23 teaches that the wages of sin, what one has earned for it, is death (separation from God). Just one sin, and a person is disqualified from deserving to go to heaven. This idea is offensive to many, so they don't believe it. They believe in heaven, but oddly enough they don't believe what the One who created it says about who deserves to enter and who doesn't.



Now the notion of perfection being a requirement to enter heaven is a disturbing truth, obviously. Last I checked, the number of perfect, sinless people worldwide was hovering somewhere around zero. And yet millions of them will go to heaven. (By now the logicians among the vast reading audience of The Scripturist are screaming, "But that doesn't make any sense!" Keep reading.)



Suppose you're checking out at the supermarket and your total comes to twenty bucks. You suddenly realize that you've left all your money at home and you haven't a red cent. Seeing your despair, the friendly and independently wealthy person behind you hands the cashier a twenty and you're on your way home with much-needed groceries. The cashier didn't argue that this wasn't fair. She didn't say, "No! It has to be your own money that pays for this!" Nope. The requirement of twenty dollars was satisfied and that's all she cared about.



The same principle will get people into heaven. It was not stated above that no one is going to heaven, but that no one deserves to. Those who enter into heaven will be those who received Jesus as Lord and Savior while on earth. Their admission price of perfection will be paid by Jesus himself.



Put another way, Jesus has traded places with us. We gave him our sin, and he clothed himself in it. While he was on the cross, God the Father looked upon him and saw the sins of mankind, and he let fall on his own Son the wrath and punishment that we deserved. Similarly, Jesus gives to believers his perfection and holiness. We clothe ourselves in it, and when we stand before the throne on the Day of Judgment, the Judge will not see our sinfulness, but will see the perfection of Jesus. He suffered a punishment he didn't deserve so we could enjoy an eternal life that we don't deserve.



Want to go to heaven? Be saved, and have the perfection of Jesus himself credited to you. The alternative is to reject him and be left to suffer your own everlasting punishment for sin.