Can We Fall Away in Heaven?

Some time ago a family member asked me a question that I think would be good to address here. The gist of the issue is that Lucifer was created good, but yet fell without any external temptation. In the future kingdom of God in heaven there will be no sin or temptation, but since we would still have free will, is there a danger of us falling away from God even when we get to heaven?

In answering this, it would be good to read my recent listing called “Born Again by the Word of God” to lay the groundwork for the answer, but I believe the issue really resolves to the whole question of “free will” vs. free and sovereign grace. The Arminian view is that even unredeemed sinners have a free will that enables them to “accept” the gospel when they hear it. The Biblical and historical view (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, …) is that man is spiritually dead and totally incapable of turning to God, and that his will is not really free. At best he is free to decide what kind of sinner he will be (whether a brutal savage, or a civilized, polite, and dignified sinner), but has no ability to change his corrupt nature, or to simply decide to be born again. Men are born by the Spirit through the word of God according to his own sovereign will and purpose, and that new, regenerated nature is what “turns on the light” so a person will respond to the gospel, believe on, and receive Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It is this regeneration that reveals the extent of his sin before God, that shows him the redemption purchased by Christ on the cross, and leads him to despise his sin, confess it, and forsake it.

Furthermore, the “free will” advocate puts the responsibility on us to “keep ourselves saved” by the continued exercise of our will to walk with God. The better view is to agree with all the warnings to “keep ourselves in the love of God”, to endure to the end, to persevere, and never to forsake our confession of Christ, but to recognize that it is God’s preservation that enables us to persevere. He is literally keeping us, and enabling us to endure persecutions, sometimes even to death, without denying him.

Here are the main observations from John 6:37-47, taken from my earlier post:

1.       Nobody can come to Jesus, unless the Father draws them (6:44).

2.       All that the Father gives to Christ shall come to him (6:37).

3.       Jesus will reject not a single one who comes to him (6:37).

4.       Every one who sees and believes on Christ has everlasting life (6:40, 47).

5.       Of those who come to Christ, none will be lost (6:39-40), and

6.       They will be raised up at the last day (6:39, 40, 44)

I would recommend that the reader actually looks this section up in John 6, to “check it out”.

I suppose the Arminian view is that the keeping of our salvation is determined by our free will now, but that in the future state we will be confirmed in righteousness and so will never fall away from God once in that eternal state.

Rev. 22:11 – “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

Actually we on the other side also believe in this confirmation in holiness and righteousness, and so do not fear the possibility of sinning once in heaven. The big difference is that we recognize that it is God’s hand right now that is keeping and preserving us. Why would he preserve his elect all the way through the darkness of this world, and then allow us to apostatize once we are with him in eternity?

We recognize that our salvation is totally of God, beginning from before the foundation of the world. He foreknew us as individuals who he would most certainly bring into his kingdom, with no regard for our worthiness. He did not foresee who would believe, and then choose them – he chose us based completely on his own sovereign will. Then from that foreknowledge and election he predestinated all things that would bring us to Christ, he called us to himself, justified us through the blood and resurrection of Christ, and glorified us. How can it say “glorified” when our glorification is yet future? Because by God’s will and action it is so certain that it can be said to be done. It is complete in his eyes, in his purpose.

John 10:28 – “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

1 Peter 1:3-5 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

So to summarize, we are not saved by our “free will”, neither are we kept in the way of salvation by our free will (though it is our responsibility to persevere), but by the sovereign hand of God. He chose his elect, gave them to the Son, drew them to him, regenerated them, gave them faith and repentance, and preserves them all through this darkness, enabling them to persevere. Jesus rejects not a single one who comes to him by the Father’s drawing, he gives them everlasting life, they will never perish, and he will raise them up at the last day.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for his unspeakable gift.