Will we still possess the knowledge of, and desire for, sin and evil even when we are in heaven?
In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we read these words from the Lord in Genesis 3:17-19, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: CURSED IS THE GROUND for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
In Revelation 20, we are told about the Great White Throne judgment where all the unsaved are brought before the Lord “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Verse 15) The next chapter tells us of the eternal state. Revelation 21:1-4 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be NO MORE DEATH, NEITHER SORROW, NOR CRYING, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY MORE PAIN: for the former things are passed away.” We then read in Revelation 22:1-3, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.”
We see that in the eternal state, all things that were the result of sin in the world will be done away with. Finally, the curse that was placed upon the earth because of sin will be lifted. We will dwell in the Glory, the perfect environment. Will we still have a knowledge of and desire to sin? We are told in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for we shall see him as he is.” This doesn’t mean that we will be gods; that is impossible. But, we will have the same sinless nature of the Lord Jesus when we see Him. 1 Corinthians 15:49 tells us, “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” We read in Philippians 3:21, “Who shall change OUR VILE BODY, that it may be fashioned like unto HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
We read of the Lord Jesus in 1 John 1:5, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Our nature will be the same as His when we see Him, having no darkness at all. There will be nothing in us that could possibly be attracted to sin. There will be no desire for sin in us AT ALL. Of that glorious eternal city in which we (believers) will dwell, we read in Revelation 21:27, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (224.8)