Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
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Occasionally you hear a story of someone who trains hard for years and years to qualify for the Olympics. The day finally arrives for the competition and tragically they either injure themselves or are disqualified. What a disappointment! but one I will never face. I will never be disqualified from Olympic competition – because I was never qualified in the first place!
I have the same assurance when it comes to spending eternity with God. Nothing can disqualify me from heaven – because I was never qualified in the first place! I will be allowed the joy of spending eternity with the Lord because Jesus qualified. My hope and faith is in Him and His qualifications.
Hebrews 13:8 then brings me a confidence that my qualification, in Christ, will remain secure throughout all eternity. He will not change, will not somehow be disqualified at some date eons in the future. He remains true and a solid foundation for me to build my hope of eternity on.
By my own effort I can never qualify for heaven. The standard is perfection. God does not grade on a curve. “Well, I am not perfect but I am better than most”, just does not make the cut with God. Heaven is a place of perfection and requires perfection to enter. To allow imperfection to enter would spread death and decay there just as it has here on earth.
My perfection is found in Jesus Christ and by placing my hope in Him I am allowed to exchange my imperfection for His perfection, my sin for His sinlessness. A great exchange takes place – He takes my sin (and in a sense, nails it to the cross where He died) and gives me His righteousness in return. Because He is the same yesterday, today and forever my hope and salvation are eternally secure in Him.
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Colossians 2:13, 14
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.