The Only Imperfection in Heaven

Life has a tendency to beat us up. People wound us. Health challenges cripple us. Circumstances leave us battered and bruised. Perhaps this is why my pastor/husband’s statement one Sunday morning echoed in my ears long after he’d moved on to another point in his sermon: 

“The only imperfections in heaven are Jesus’ scars.” 

Remember Jesus, in his resurrected body, appearing before the doubting disciple Thomas? He invited him, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27).

This same Jesus, in a body of supernatural human flesh, walked and talked with his disciples for 40 days before he ascended into heaven, carrying with him the nail holes in his hands and feet and the gash from the spear in his side.

Profound in its exclusivity, this statement, by omission, reveals a great and precious truth: 

If Jesus’ scars are the only imperfections in heaven, then when our turn comes to depart this earth, we will shed the wounds of life like the leathery skin of a reptile, empty and unneeded, because all things will have become new. 

That broken heart? Whole again. 

That sick body? Healed. 

That depressed mind? Tormented no more. 

Those thousand sleepless nights? Resting quietly in the arms of the Savior. 

The wounds of persecution? Erased. 

Jesus, the one who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, whose punishment brought us peace, and by whose wounds we were healed bears our scars so we won’t have to (Isa. 53:5). 

And one day soon, “he will wipe every tear from (our) eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 

"I am making everything new!" he says. "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." (Rev. 21:4-5). 

The apostle Paul understood this. In Romans 8:18 and 21 he said, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. . . . For the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” 

No scars. No SCARS. NO SCARS! 

But until then, we place our battered and bruised selves into the hands of the One who died for us and wait in hope and trust. We say with Paul, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3:8-11). 

If you’re feeling the pain of your scars and the angst of living in this sin-sick world, take heart. This life is but a vapor. But the next one is forever. 

And in heaven, the only imperfections will be the scars of Jesus. 

Now it’s your turn. Which precious truths of heaven comfort you? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

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