How do you imagine it will be when you stand before the Throne of God in the Kingdom of Heaven? We will give an account, Scripture tells us (Matthew 12:36, Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13, I Peter 4:5) and everything will be laid bare. So do you imagine yourself standing before God with eyes downcast, while your sins are revealed one by one before all? Do you believe you will approach God’s throne with fear and shame? How does this view line up with the prophesies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, who both state God will no longer remember our sins (Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 31:33-34), or Psalm 103, which states, “12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”? Even Hebrews 4 goes on in verse 16 to say, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Approaching with confidence does not sound much like an image of trembling in fear and shame as your sins are paraded before your eyes.
As I Peter 1 explains: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. We are washed as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18) and stand before God’s throne holy and pure, made without blemish or defect by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Therefore, as I imagine approaching the throne, I turn to Revelation 4, which describes for us a place of such majesty and beauty that our words cannot express it adequately; John was left to draw analogies to our most beautiful gems and rainbows and crystal waters, but you can tell as you read his words that he knew he was barely capturing a pale glimmer of what was revealed to him. I imagine the Heavenly Host lining either side of a pathway leading to the throne, while all of the elders and living creatures sing, and I am walking down that aisle in raiment like a warrior bride, glowing like the Lamb with the glory of God, presented to the King as His, approaching His throne of grace with the confidence of one who knows she is loved beyond love, while the angels cheer and shout and sing hallelujahs. And I imagine seeing my son, Cody, again, running down that aisle with both hands raised, being honored and cheered like the greatest player of all time, with high fives on both sides as he runs victorious to greet me beside His Lord, Who says to me, “well done, good and faithful servant” to the clamoring acclaim of all present.
Our true nature, as created by God, will be fully realized and revealed, washed whiter than snow by the blood of the Lamb, and the account we give will be of our love for Jesus, because that is all that matters before the Throne of God. And because we know this, we can come before God now with the same confidence, knowing that He loves us completely and fully, and knowing that He has made us holy and present in the Kingdom of God now, which is within us.
