We Will Not Need To Confess Sins Or Ask For Forgiveness

 I suppose the greatest difference in our prayers will be the absence of confession of sins, and the absence of praying for deliverance and forgiveness. None of those prayers will any longer be necessary.  Revelation 21:4 says, “‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”

Randy Alcorn explains: “Since ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23), the promise of no more death is a promise of no more sin.  Those who will never die can never sin, since sinners always die.  Sin causes mourning, crying, and pain.  If those will never occur again, then sin can never occur again.”

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains that because of Christ’s death for us on the cross, when our sinful body dies and we are resurrected to a new life, “death is swallowed up in victory.” In verses 56 and 57 he says, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yes, Jesus died for our sins, and when we received Him He made us righteous in Him. Now when I say that we are righteous in Him, I don’t mean that there is any part of us now that is righteous—without sin.  What I mean is that we are now, as Christians, able to carry within us Christ’s righteousness—and so we say that we are righteous in Christ.  Also, being in Christ, our inner self (our soul) is being renewed day by day; we are becoming more like Him.  And when we see Him, when we look into His face, He will wipe all our sins away from us, and we will be righteous through and through (2 Cor. 4:16-5:8).  And because of our righteousness in Christ we will be just like God, not able to sin.

Alcorn states, “We’ll have the very righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). We won’t sin in Heaven for the same reason God doesn’t.  He cannot sin.  Our eternal inability to sin has been purchased by Christ’s blood.”

Likewise, 1 Corinthians 15:52 tells us that we will be incorruptible—immune to corruption. There won’t be the slightest possibility of being corrupted by sin or even tempted by sin.  In fact, God has prepared a place for all sinners, a place outside the gates of heaven, a place called the lake of fire.  All sinners and all sin and death will be cast into this place and will exist there forever.  Sin and death will never be allowed to enter heaven (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15).  Hence, we will never have to confess a single sin in prayer.

But I can’t say that we won’t have any memory of our sins. God may preserve the memory of our sins so that we can better praise Him for saving us.  Since we will be completely righteous like God, we won’t ever be tempted to sin.  We need not worry about that.  But I think God may allow us to forever remember the ugliness of our sins and the trouble and pain it has caused us so that we will always have a fresh memory of His grace, of the great sacrifice of His love.  Thus whenever we recall the pain of sin, the memory of His sacrificial death will rush in to overwhelm our minds with gratefulness.  And so we will over and over again praise Jesus for dying for us and for delivering us from hell.

We Will Praise Him More

The nature of praise and thanksgiving won’t ever change; however, the frequency of our praise will greatly change. Our thoughts and conversational prayers will be full of praise and gratitude. In everything we do—in our work and play—we will worship Him. And everything on the new earth and in the universe will prompt us to praise Him.

We will not only praise Him individually as we go about our daily activities (and as we enjoy our daily adventures), we will also have special times when hundreds and thousands of us gather together to sing and praise Him. Scripture indicates that both during the millennial reign of Christ and in heaven, great multitudes will be gathered together for the single purpose of singing to Him and praising Him. What a wonderful time that will be! (Praise in the millennium: Is. 2:3; 66:23; Zech. 8:21, 22; 14:16-19; Ps. 86:9; 22:27. Praise in heaven: Rev. 5:13-14; 7:9-12)

Our Requests Will Be Answered Immediately Without The Need Of Persistence and Earnestness 

The main thing about our prayers of petition that will change is that we will no longer need to pray with persistence and earnestness. In fact, in heaven prayers will be answered immediately, even before we ask.  In Isaiah 65:24 it says, “‘It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.’”

This will be true of course because we will be righteous and without sin. We will be perfectly abiding in Christ.  Hence, the promise in John 15:7 will have its ultimate fulfillment—“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

Now when we pray, prayers take time to be answered, because Satan is so entrenched in this world, and our faith is so weak. It takes time to build up our prayers and our faith.

But in heaven our hearts will always be soft toward God, our faith will always be strong, and Satan will nowhere be found. Therefore, time will never be a factor.  Our desires will always be instantly met.  Whenever we have a desire for anything, God will instantly, gladly provide it for us.  We won’t ever have to verbally ask for it.  As soon as we have the thought (with the desire) that we want something, it will be ours.