If heaven’s for clean people, it’s vacant.
“If heaven’s for clean people, it’s vacant.” This simple song lyric shows up in a song by Matthew Good called “Load Me Up.” Matthew Good, in my opinion, makes some wonderful music. He is also, from my observation, an unfortunately troubled man in need of salvation. His songwriting is characterized by cynicism and despair. And yet is it not fascinating when partial truths come from the mouths of atheists? Matthew Good likely does not believe in the actuality of heaven, but he understands the first half of the gospel: that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). He may not even know it as biblical, but based on his observation of the world in which he lives he has come to this conclusion of truth: if heaven is for clean people (which it is), it’s vacant (but it isn’t).
Without the gospel, this lyric would be true and no more would need to be said of the matter. But something is missing. There is a factor which has not yet been taken into account. There is a way for unclean people to become clean, and His name is Jesus Christ. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...” (Ephesians 2:4-6) But God. Heaven has to be for clean people since it is the dwelling place of perfectly holy God. So God did what was necessary (sending Christ to take our punishment) in order to make us clean so that heaven might not be vacant. Without the bad news of our sinfulness, the good news of the cross is obsolete. But in light of our sinfulness, the cross is central to everything else in eternity.
The world accepts half of the gospel. They know the problem but not the remedy. Both halves are important, but only as they relate to each other. Understanding the sinfulness of man without the hope of eternity leads to despair, and so it is no wonder that we find such words, half-truths, coming from men like Matthew Good. Revelations like this instill in me a burden for the unsaved and provide a strategy for introducing the light of salvation into the lives of the lost.
Father, thank You that heaven is not vacant. Thank You for sending Your Son to bear the full weight of Your wrath, which I deserved, to secure for me an eternity with You. Thank You for making me clean. Give me boldness and passion to declare the full truth, this good news, to the lost in my life, for the glory of Your name.
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