[b]What a wretched place would heaven be!
(Jonathan Edwards, "The Way of Holiness")
"Nothing impure will ever enter it." Revelation 21:27
Everyone hopes for heaven--and if everyone who hoped
for heaven actually went there--heaven would be full of
murderers, adulterers, swearers, drunkards, and thieves!
It would be full of all manner of wickedness and wicked
men--those who are no better than wild beasts, howling
wolves, and poisonous serpents. Yes, heaven would be
full of incarnate devils! What a wretched place would
heaven be--if it were so! That pure, undefiled, glorious
place--would be turned into a hell.
There would be no happiness there for those who are
holy--if they were all mixed up together with wicked
men and devils! How would one unsanctified person
interrupt their happiness--and fill those regions with
the loathsome stench of his sin and filthiness!
It is impossible that a God of infinite holiness, who
is perfect and hates sin with perfect hatred, who is
infinitely lovely and excellent--could embrace in
His arms--a filthy, abominable creature, a hideous,
detestable monster, more hateful than a toad and
more poisonous than a viper! So hateful, base, and
abominable--is every unsanctified man!
What a pitiable, miserable condition are they in--to
step out of this world into an uncertain eternity, with
an expectation of finding themselves exceedingly happy
and blessed in heaven--and all at once find themselves
undeceived--and sinking in the bottomless pit!