Heaven is a place of holiness and of peace. There is no conflict.

 

There is not discord, dissension, conflict, or oppression in God’s house. Now, the church is to be just like this.

 

We were called by the foreknowledge of God.

 

1PE 1:1-5

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

Born again to a living hope - our Lord is resurrected and seated in heaven.

 

Our inheritance is with Him; protected by Him. Our blessings all come from heaven. They are holy and spiritual.

 

1PE 1:13-16

Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

 

We are to be like Him as He has given us His life and made us priests according to His own unique order.

 

Our High Priest has made us priests in His tabernacle in heaven.

 

The church is a kingdom of priests due to the work of our Lord.

 

1PE 2:1-5

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 4 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 

Our bodies are the temple of God in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.

 

All the terms of God’s dwelling we find in the Bible - temple, tabernacle, habitation, sanctuary, and dwelling place - have a common denominator, or one basic characteristic often specifically expressed, and that is holiness. We were each called that we should be holy and blameless.

 

Our calling, our home, and our King who made the home are all interconnected.

 

All the elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. Hence, in heaven, forever are we united in a family relationship bearing the image of God’s Son. 1JO 3:2, It does not yet appear what we shall be, but when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He is.

 

God’s habitation will be a dwelling place, a house, which is filled with intimate relationships between individuals and God. God’s house is not a collection of inanimate objects, (which shows us what a house really is) - monetary value of the place or the things in it are of no consequence. This great group of individuals enjoys the most intimate and precious fellowship with God and with one another. It is also eternal, not interrupted by sickness, change, or death.

 

PSA 84:1-2

How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!

2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

 

PSA 15:1-2

O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent?

Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?

2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

 

PSA 5:7

But as for me, by Thine abundant lovingkindness I will enter Thy house, At Thy holy temple I will bow in reverence for Thee.

 

What is under consideration in passages like these is something more than the worshipper’s physical presence in the temple. Some have discredited psalms written by David when he says, “I shall dwell in the house of Yavah forever” because David lived before the temple was built. They fail to see that David was referring to true, deep, and real fellowship with God. The higher privilege under consideration is that of venturing into the personal presence of God in true fellowship.

 

It is not trivial that when Christ ascended to heaven after His resurrection, He returned in a human body that He did not leave with. Heaven and the future were changed to include mankind in the realm of God’s kingdom of holiness.

 

Again: Realization is seeing your calling coming into focus. Its reality is beginning to be experienced.

 

The first letter written by Peter was one of encouragement and consolation; the second is full of warning.

 

Danger had arisen from some boasting in pride to have a deeper knowledge of the truth that wasn’t knowledge at all, but a well-constructed and fanciful lie. Teachers had risen in the church who professed to have a deeper and more mysterious interpretation of the doctrines of the Christian faith. Peter’s antidote to this poison was a seeking after the true-knowledge (epignosis). And, as Peter will show us, as did Paul and John:

 

He shall have the true-knowledge of the Lord who loves to do His will. Study and walk worthy and you shall know the doctrine.

 

2PE 1:1-4

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers [partners or fellowshippers] of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.