One of the theological conundrums regarding the next life involves the question of free will and how that plays into the eternal salvation of believers. The Bible describes Heaven as a place of eternal peace where sorrow and death do not exist (Rev. 21:4), and where every desire of the human heart will be fulfilled in God. Though if Heaven is such a wonderful place where bad things no longer happen, we are left wondering whether free will exists there, and if so how it will be employed. Two prominent questions come to mind when trying to solve this riddle.

First, how could Lucifer and a third of Heaven’s legion rebel against God if they were in the direct presence of God and did not possess a sinful nature? After all, they experienced the full splendor of God’s glory! Second, if Lucifer and a third of Heaven’s legion rebelled against God, what does that say about our free will in Heaven? In other words, is it possible for us to be disobedient, and either be cast out of Heaven, or leave of our own accord? Let us tackle these questions one at a time.

The Rebellion of Lucifer and a Third of Heaven’s Legion

When it comes to the rebellion of Lucifer and a third of Heaven’s legion there are a few things that may assuage our concerns regarding our eternal security in Heaven (not to be confused with the doctrine of eternal security regarding the impossibility of losing salvation before entering the heavenly kingdom).

ANGELS ARE DIFFERENT BEINGS THAN HUMANS

First, I believe it is important to remember that angels are not the same kind of beings as humans. The word “angel” in both Hebrew and Greek means ‘messenger’ and denotes one of the fundamental purposes of their creation—that is to say, delivering messages from God to human beings. Though they also worship God (Ps. 148:1-2; Isa. 6:3; Heb. 1:6), serve God by executing judgment (2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:23), minister to people (Heb. 1:14), and engage in spiritual warfare (Ps. 91:11; Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:7-8).

Angels have a different nature than humans because they are spiritual (Heb. 1:14) and thus do not experience physical pain or death (Lk. 20:36). While humans are both physical and spiritual that is not the case with angels who are solely spiritual. They may at times take on the form of human beings, but such forms are not part of their essence any more than the burning bush was part of God’s essence.

Another difference between angels and humans is that they are not made in the imago Dei (image of God). Others even speculate that angels may not have souls like humans but we cannot know that for sure. When we consider what we do know about angels we can reasonably conclude that they are utterly unlike mankind.

The bottom line is that angels are not like human beings. It therefore stands to reason that there are things about angels that make them different from people, which could explain why it was possible for Lucifer and the other angels to foolishly rebel against a perfect and holy God. Whatever possessed them to commit such an egregious affront against the Almighty will not be something we contend with or are tempted to replicate.

ANGELS WERE NOT CREATED FOR SALVATION

Second, angels were not created for salvation and thus their fate is not something that should concern the eternal security of human believers. To illustrate this point, consider 1 Peter 1:10-12 which says:

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—angels long to catch a glimpse of these things (emphasis mine).

Peter explains that the blessings of the gospel are greater than anyone could have imagined or hoped for, not only by the Old Testament prophets, but even the angelic host. The Greek word parakyptō translated “glimpse” carries the connotation of peeking into something as an outsider and thus demonstrates the sheer fascination angels have regarding the plan of salvation and the emerging kingdom of God orchestrated, inaugurated, and consummated by God through Jesus Christ. They are fascinated in part because it does not pertain to them personally.

THE HEAVENLY REALM AWAITS COMPLETION

Finally, the most important piece of this puzzle has to do with assumptions regarding the heavenly kingdom. Usually what comes to mind when we think about Heaven is the wonderful place created for believers where they dwell with God. Though we must keep in mind that the place we are promised is the “new heaven and new earth” (Rev. 21:1-5) which is very different than the “heaven” mentioned elsewhere. The place where angels dwell with God might be understood as the heavenly realm, which is a spiritual realm that awaits the completion of all things, including the full realization of the new heaven and the new earth where we will dwell with our resurrected bodies for all eternity.

The point is that in this spiritual realm angels seem to have the option to utilize their free will to obey or disobey God. Though when all things are made new, and God’s creation is made perfect in the new heaven and new earth, and when evil and sin have been dealt with once and for all, then the desire to disobey will be no more because it will be a place where only righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13).

Why God would allow angels to disobey is another question beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that God wants free creatures who choose to obey instead of disobey in order for their faithfulness to be genuine instead of forced. He further knew that while disobedience would transpire, it would ultimately lead to the salvation of the world.

Understand that this does not mean that God created evil for His own purposes, but rather He allowed the free-will decisions of angels and humanity to play out which resulted in sin and death. Though because God is merciful and gracious He used the sinful decisions of creatures to bring salvation to the world once and for all.

If We Have Free Will in Heaven Does That Mean We Can Lose Our Salvation?

The next question naturally follows the first. If Lucifer and many other angels had the free will to reject God, then how do we know that we will not reject God sometime throughout eternity? The conundrum has to do with how we understand free will. In order to choose something, there must be at least two options of which to choose. Naturally, logic leads us to wonder if it is possible to choose disobedience if we are to have free will in the heavenly kingdom.

Here detractors of Christianity like to force a dilemma: either free will does not exist in Heaven, and believers are nothing more than mindless automatons who are forced to serve and worship God, or there is free will in Heaven which could lead to apostasy. Though we have no reason to believe that these are the only two scenarios. I am convinced that this conundrum can be solved in such a way that we will have free will while at the same time never be at risk of choosing disobedience. To that end the following arguments should give us peace of mind.

WE WILL HAVE A NEW NATURE

First, we will have freedom and security in Heaven because we will have a new nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.” The good news about salvation is that it entails sharing in the life and nature of Christ which is incorruptible. With such an incorruptible nature we will no longer be at risk of “the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.”

The moment we accepted Jesus into our hearts we were born again (1 Pet. 1:3) and were made into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) that entailed being clothed in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:27) and taking upon His righteousness (Phil. 3:9). On this side of Heaven, we are still growing in holiness and enduring challenges and failures, but when we are resurrected into our glorified bodies there will be nothing left of our old nature to cause us to stumble. We will only have the perfect and sinless nature of Jesus Christ.

WE WILL NO LONGER BE TEMPTED TO SIN

Second, due to this new nature we will no longer be tempted to sin, and therefore sin will be no more. Consider what Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-7:

Are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin (emphasis mine).

Paul says that when we accept Jesus that our old natures were crucified with Jesus on the cross. The benefits are that we are no longer ruled by sin because sin becomes powerless! We have been freed from sin! In Heaven the process that began on Earth will be completed once and for all, which means that sin will no longer be an option for us because it will no longer have a hold on us or even exist in the first place. Praise God!

WE WILL HAVE TRUE FREEDOM

Third, in Heaven we will finally have true freedom. The truth is that the way we think about free will and freedom is usually incorrect. By that I mean that people assume that free will requires the option to choose good or evil. Though the reality is that our sinful nature makes us slaves to sin (Jn. 8:34; Rom. 6:16). We are bent on sinning and cannot help but sin and therefore we are not truly free. However, accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior sets us free from sin and consequently, we become slaves to God which leads to eternal life (Rom. 6:22). 

Renowned apologist Dr. Normal Geisler explains this well:

Though heaven makes sin impossible, it does not destroy but instead fulfills our freedom. Heaven completes our freedom to completely love God, just as (analogously) marriage here on earth frees us to love the one to whom we belong. True freedom is not the freedom to do evil, but the freedom to do good. The essence of free will is self-determination, and if one’s self chooses to do only the good, then the fulfillment of it in a place where only good can be done is not the destruction of freedom, but the completion of it.

God is both free and unable to sin; it will be likewise for us when we become most godlike, for the perfection of our freedom is the freedom from sinning, not the freedom of sinning. The best freedom is the freedom to do the best; beholding and loving the absolute best (which makes sin impossible) is the best thing we can ever do (Systematic theology: In one volume, 1257).

Surely this resonates with every follower of Jesus Christ. Is not the sincerest and most supreme desire of our free will to be free from sin and free to love and be loved by God? Who could claim that being spared from the evil inclinations of the heart, which leads to sorrow and suffering, contradicts free will? To make this point clear allow me to offer two examples.

The first example that someone has used is that of a stray dog. When such an unfortunate creature is left to fend for itself in the wild it develops aggressive behaviors and struggles to survive. The life of such a dog is difficult and undesirable even if only by instinct. Though if someone catches the dog and gives it a warm place to live, and plenty of nutritious food to eat, as well as much affection, then that stray dog will cease to be a stray dog. On its own it was a slave to hunger and survival but under the care of a loving person the dog is finally free to choose a life of peace and plenty.

The second example that someone else has offered is a scenario where someone has a pantry and refrigerator full of food. If someone was hungry and lacking food, then they might be led to steal for substance and survival. On the other hand, if they lack nothing whatsoever then there would be no need to steal. They would be completely satisfied. To be sure, what led Adam and Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden was the deception that they lacked something that could only be had by partaking of the forbidden fruit.

The correlation with Heaven is that there will be no temptation to deviate from God’s will. God’s kingdom is characterized as a place without the kind of temperaments or circumstances that lead to sinful impulses. One of the reasons for that has already been mentioned, which is the new nature believers receive that destroys their desire to sin. Another reason is because God will supply us with everything we desire which means that there will no longer be impulses such as lust, greed, strife, hatred, or competition. God will satisfy every longing of the heart to such an infinite capacity that there will no longer be a need for anything else.

To be sure, why would believers use their free will to choose things that pale in comparison to the things of God? Things that never last and only disappoint? Things that are mere counterfeits of the genuine article? How would it even cross the minds of the children of God to sell their eternal and bountiful birthrights for a mere bowl of porridge? The children of God will never want to return as stray dogs to the harsh streets of sinfulness after experiencing the glories of their Master’s home.

WE WILL EXPERIENCE THE FULL GLORY OF GOD

Fourth, in Heaven believers will experience the full glory of God all the while being unhindered by sin, which will be so wonderful that the faithful would never dream of leaving His presence even for a moment. Know that whatever joy and blessedness you have experienced due to God in this life is a mere fraction to what you will experience in Heaven.

The truth is that Heaven is not about mansions or golden streets. Nor is it about perfect golf courses or fishing holes. The blessedness of Heaven is fundamentally about being in the direct presence of God and experiencing the full spectrum of His glory. Medieval theologians referred to this as the beatific vision which translated means “to make happy or bless,” and refers to the matchless blessing of seeing God face to face.

To experience and understand and even share in the infinite spender of God’s holiness, loveliness, beauty, wisdom, knowledge, and goodness will be so overwhelmingly wonderful that no one would want to jeopardize leaving His divine presence. No one will be able to imagine something greater or more desirable. What is more is that even the mere thought of sin and disobedience would never cross the mind of someone completely saturated in holy bliss. To be sure, in the light of God’s presence everything will fade into the background as secondary blessings. To see God for who He truly is (1 Jn. 3:2) and share in the transcendent love of this God will so transform and orient every desire to please God that there will no longer be room, or the capacity, to choose anything or anyone other than God Himself.

In the final analysis we have no reason to be concerned about the security of our eternal salvation. Why? Because in the heavenly kingdom only the nature of Christ will be present within us, which will render all sinful inclinations impossible and moot due to the fact that we will finally be free—truly free—to only choose what is good and pleasing to God, which is only compounded by the fact that we will never be in want of anything more than the heavenly pleasures we receive, and especially due to the infinite bliss of being in God’s glorious presence and being loved by Him.

While there are some things that we cannot know on this side of Heaven, we can trust in God’s promises and provisions. Indeed, if our salvation was so easily jeopardized it would make a mockery of Jesus’ selfless sacrifice on the cross that secured salvation for all those who believe. We know that it is God’s desire that everyone be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). Thus, salvation is not something God makes difficult but as easy as possible at His own expense. All that is left for us to do is believe and pursue sanctification until our holy transformation and glorious transition into God’s kingdom is complete, which should not only give us peace but unbridled joy.