I was just thinking about heaven, and the eternal state. Have you ever wondered what is going to keep us from sinning once we’re there? Ezekiel 28:11-19 says:

11 The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.[b]
Your settings and mountings[c] were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more.’”

This passage is often thought to be in double reference; one speaking of historical person, the King of Tyre, and the other referring to the actual ‘personal’ power behind the King of Tyre; presumably, Satan.

The controversy surrounding the interpretation of the passage, notwithstanding; let me lift this pericope as an anecdotal picture of what I am after with the question of my post — viz. “What is going to keep you from sinning once you are in heaven?” If the “Guardian Cherub” was found with sin; being an angel of the highest order, one who guarded the very presence of Yahweh, what is it that will guarantee that you will not sin?

I think the answer is simple, but profound. This brings us back to the ground of what sustains us as resurrected humans in Christ. Indeed, it is the fact that we have union with Christ; that is the presupposition that must be assumed if we think we can ever enter into the presence of the LORD in the first place. Our humanity is not our own; it is a humanity that is given to us on an ongoing dynamic basis by the Spirit from the ‘gift’ of God’s grace bestowed upon us in Christ. It is the fact of election and the ‘wonderful exchange’. God in Christ elected our humanity for himself; in so doing he took our reprobate status and gave us his elect status as sons of God by grace.

So this is what will sustain us, and keep us from falling prey to the same mysterious trap that the ‘Guardian Cherub’ fell into. It is Christ’s righteousness, which we have been made participants of by his choice for us. The ‘Good News’ is that ‘it is none of us and all of him, thus God’s grace’ that anchors our souls to His!

Thomas Torrance writes this in providing further explication of who stands in our stead as guarantor of our salvation:

(ii) Justification, reconciliation and redemption are the act of God and man in Christ
Again throughout his theology, Torrance emphasises that in Jesus Christ we have the act of God and of man, of God as man in his one person. Justification, reconciliation and redemption therefore must be thought of not simply as the act of God for our salvation, but also as the real act of man, of God as man for us. the importance of this for Torrance’s theology and for understanding it cannot be overstated. Justification is not simply the act of God judging sin, atoning for it himself and declaring us righteous in his beloved Son, it is man saying amen to the righteous judgement of God and at the same time fulfilling all righteousness in his own perfect life and humanity. Reconciliation is thus not simply God reconciling the world to himself in Christ, but reconciliation worked out, achieved and realised by Christ as man within his own person, in his own mind, life, heart and soul. Redemption is the mighty act of God in which mankind is liberated from bondage and decay into the new creation through the resurrection of the man Jesus Christ from the dead in the fullness of physical existence. (T. F. Torrance, ed. Robert T. Walker, “Atonement,” xlv)

Salvation now and then are always already a dynamic relational reality that finds its ultimate “saving grace” in both Godward and manward movement found in the person of Christ. What is true of our salvation now, in Christ; is just as true as it will be then. In fact what makes our salvation true now, is because the “then” is already actualised in the person of Christ for us. The same reality that guarantees us a home in God’s life for all eternity, is the same reality that breaks into our lives in this in-between time now. Our Yes to the Father, and No to self (sin) is grounded in Christ’s Yes and No for us. This is great news! So don’t worry, you won’t find yourself in the same situation as the Guardian Cherub one day; you are safe and secure in Christ!