It is deeply important to realize that, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we are not only saved from judgment, but we are called to heaven—“partakers of the heavenly calling.” The apostle does not exhort us to partake of the heavenly calling; he says we are partakers. The believer is as much a heavenly man as he is a saved man.

But we have with shame to own that our conduct is not always becoming to heavenly men, any more than it is always consistent with being saved men. We gladly own that our salvation is not of works, but, “by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8–9). In like manner we partake of the heavenly calling, not by our works, but by His grace. So we read, God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace” (2 Tim. 1:9). Our walk and ways neither secure our salvation, nor make us a heavenly people; but the fact that we are saved, and partake of the heavenly calling, will greatly affect our walk and ways.

The common thought even in evangelical Christendom is that the gospel relieves us from our guilt, and then sets us up on earth as better men, and better citizens, in improved circumstances, and finally takes us to heaven when we die. There seems to be little appreciation of the great truth that Christianity takes us completely out of the world, gives us a new place in heaven, and thus makes us strangers and pilgrims on earth.

The grace of God, firstly, meets our needs as sinners, and relieves us of our guilt and judgment; secondly, it brings us under a new power by which we are cared for and kept waiting for the coming of the One who has saved us; thirdly, it connects us with our new place in heaven so that even now, while yet on earth, we are partakers of the heavenly calling.