Reservation in Heaven...for One
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
—1 Peter 1:4 (NKJV)
Reserved in heaven—not on earth...not here, not in the now. Peter could not be more precise. It is stunning how little the average believer thinks of heaven—not the real one, but the one constructed in their own mind, shaped by sentiment, culture, and self-comfort.
A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 73% of U.S. adults believe in heaven. However, only about 31% of U.S. Christians assert that their religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven, while 58% believe that multiple religions can lead to heaven. Two short years later, a Gallup poll from 2023 reported that 67% of Americans believe in heaven, a decrease from previous years. Heaven in the hearts and minds of the average American is declining, but this isn’t unique to the unbelieving world.
In case you don’t believe me: a 2020 survey by Probe Ministries revealed that over 60% of self-identified born-again Christians believe that paths to eternity in heaven are not exclusively through Jesus Christ but can also include following figures like Buddha or Muhammad. There are countless surveys like this. Similarly, a 2021 survey reported that nearly 70% of born-again Christians disagree with the biblical position that Jesus is the only way to God (Probe Ministries). This deception is increasing. Christians are getting farther away from the heaven they are aspiring to or mistakenly think they have.
For the Christ claimer, most have allowed their imagination saturated in this world, formed by the things of this life because they refuse to soak in the scriptures and have a reformation of mind—be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:1)—to dismissal, denial and disregard for heaven, eternal life, paradise with King of Kings and Lord of lords. This is their responsibility in the faith and thus their fault. It likely means you have imagined a heaven that accommodates your lifestyle rather than convicts it. That is not hope; it is hallucination.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
—Colossians 3:2 (NKJV)
Failure to do this is the sine qua non evidence that the “Christian” is still of the world, not just in it, but all in and undeniably of it. They’ve added an “L” to the Word, and now they follow the world. “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” (Luke 8:14, NKJV). Churchgoers, pseudo saints are believing in and following after a gospel of sentiment and a god of suggestion.
Tragically, there is something more catastrophic.
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness… who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
—Romans 1:24–25 (NKJV)
The exchanging of truth is a volitional transaction. This is not just sin. It is idolatry dressed in Christian clothing. The church has made a god of their own making, which produces a heaven of their own imagining, then heaven fades and dies with them. It was never real, because the god they served was not Yahweh. It was another Jesus, another gospel. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:4, NKJV). How believers are not merely tolerating this different gospel, but they are holding fast to it, snuggling up with it.
If your version of heaven does not align with Scripture, it is not heaven. It is deception. Rest assured, you will reside in the heaven you are living for.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” —Matthew 6:19–21 (KJV)
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” —2 Peter 3:13 (KJV)
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away… And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband...And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
—Revelation 21:1–2, 23 (KJV)
Heaven is something we cannot even imagine because it will be something that has never existed before: the new heaven and earth. Seems like it will not suit the lifestyle of many Christians today. Did you notice that Yahshua is the center of it all. If He is the center of heaven and earth then, it stands to reason that believers who live as He is not the center but somewhere on the side are unsuited for heaven later. The church and the modern pastor will not say that to you, but the scriptures do.
“The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” —Revelation 21:8 (NKJV)
There is no room for rebellion or sin in heaven; there is no way Christians who accommodate sin or a fleshly, carnal, moral yet of this world life set their minds on the true heaven later. The atmosphere of the real heaven is holiness. If your happiness doesn't accord with scripture and being holy, yet you believe hevaen awaits you, today is the day of your salvation. Consider rightly.
The warnings against false versions and misrepresentations of that which Christ came to set straight and are right before us in Scripture are not small suggestions or light reminders. They are distinguishing those bound for heaven and those bound for hell despite their misconceptions.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
—James 1:16 (NKJV)
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
—1 Corinthians 6:9 (NKJV)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
—Galatians 6:7 (NKJV)
Misconception will bind one to hell and not loose them to heaven. This is not just about earthly behavior as many use this text to suggest. Reality is, you may not reap sorrow on earth. You may sow to a high profile life filled with vocations, smiles and happiness. Did you know happiness is the apex of human achievement that everyone is chasing? It’s the why behind everything. Contradictorily, this is not thy why of the scriptures, was not the why Yahshua, the apostles, or anyone who truly follows Christ.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24, NKJV)
This is about eternal position. That makes you insecure, unsure, doesn’t it? It is the opposition of ternal security. Yahshua made it very clear: if. If you sow to the good life now at the expense of suffering and sacrifice for the kingdom, you will reap a fading heaven because you lived for a fading world. If you follow truly not deceitfully, then... There is an if-then clause. It is conditional. So, just meet the condition and follow Him truly and then you can be secure.
Peter wrote to a scattered, despised, persecuted people. "Think of heaven!" It is truly divine thinking.
“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.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2-3)
Yahshua, on the eve of His crucifixion and departure from this life through death, speaks of heaven as real estate, prepared and promised. He is telling His disciples to ponder on heave, think of heaven, rest your hope in heaven through Me! So, too, you and I, think of heaven! Just think of it!
Peter, like Yahshua, didn’t offer the dispersed Christians relief. He offered them a scope of reality: you are missing nothing here. What you must not miss is the true heavenly vision. That vision is not now. It is not here. It is reserved. It is there. Ponder on, think through, soak in the scriptural version of heaven. Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. (Rev. 4:2). Heaven is the place where Christ reigns and is worshipped. We are to live in the kingdom of heaven. We, now, are the people who live under His reign and worship Him. If you have claimed to be His people, but do not live under His rule and authority, then repent and come to faith.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
—Hebrews 13:14 (NKJV)