Heaven would be an intolerable hell

(Charles Spurgeon, "The Treasury of David")

"Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous!" Psalm 1:4-5

Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there! All our congregations on earth are mixed. Every church has at least one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no threshing-floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners MIX with saints—as dross mingles with gold.

God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with worthless pebbles. On this side heaven, righteous Lots are continually vexed by the wicked men of Sodom. Let us rejoice then, that in heaven above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul.

The wicked cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element. Sooner could a fish live in a tree—than the wicked in Paradise! Heaven would be an intolerable hell—to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter. But such a privilege shall never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and a place in His courts above!

May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous! "For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish!" Psalm 1:6