Perfected

You asked:

1. Is there any evil (or lack of good) in Heaven?
2. Is there any free will in Heaven? On the part of the worshippers there I mean.

I'm not that good at the doctrine and theology of Heaven. So all I can do is guess, based on other things I've heard and read. My guess is there is no evil in Heaven. It is a place where we are perfected in our sanctification and we are then allowed to stand in the presence of God. I am to understand that evil could not bear to be in that position ... I am thinking of the several instances in the Bible where people on Earth are given the opportunity to catch a glimpse of God. Isaiah's response:

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!" For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:5, NIV, emphasis added.

John in Revelation writes:

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid." Revelation 1:17, NIV, emphasis added.

That is the response of those who see the glory of God but who are not themselves fully "good." The chasm between the perfect goodness of God and the flawed nature of themselves is overwhelming. But, I am to understand, in Heaven we are perfected ... we take on the full righteousness of Christ and can then stand in the presence of the Lord.

Note: How then does Satan stand before God, as reported in Job 1:6? I have no idea. :-)

Is there Free Will in Heaven? I would guess yes. We would still be free to reject God ... but here's the key: we would not want to. In Heaven our will -- so weak and rebellious in this life -- would be perfected and our wants and desires would align with God's perfect wants and desires.

That, I think, is the heart of this -- there is a notion in this world that "free will" means the ability to do what we are not supposed to do. We want the opportunity to rebel if we choose to. But the idea is, I think, that in Heaven we will not want to rebel. Our hearts and desires will be so perfectly aligned with God's that our wants will be his, and the notion of rebellion will not be present.

This is all abstract stuff to me ... I am only reporting what I have come to understand, weakly, through reading and other sources. But I think I have a grasp on the essence of Heaven if not the details -- it will be a place where we finally come to possess the wants and desires that God designed us to have. One pastor once said: "What God wants is for us to really want what He wants for us." It is like you and your daughter: you want her to be happy and fulfilled, and in your wisdom you know that the best route to achieve that is to avoid things like drugs and abusive people and the like. You do your best to teach her these things, but you do not take steps to force her. Your desire is for her to want those same things.

The same, I think with God -- he is our Heavenly Father who knows perfectly well what is the best for us. And rather than forcing us to do what is best for us, he offers us the chance to learn what is best. He honestly and truly wants us to want what is best. But he does not make us.

When I think about the notion of Free Will and such, I think somewhere at the heart the purpose of free will is this: when I am given the opportunity to freely choose the gift God offers (Grace), I am in a better position to appreciate and value that gift. I don't have that notion any more fully formed than that ... but Free Will is itself a gift to us because it allows us the opportunity to enjoy God more completely. That is, if we choose to.