Even in heaven we are to continually improve. Then is it not essential that we cultivate our characters in this life? You must be prepared for a place in the family of God. When you are complete in Christ, you will not give yourself up to such entirely needless experiences as you have had.—Letter 100, 1895, p. 4. (To Elder S. N. Haskell, circa October 10, 1895.)6MR i.6

The ability to enjoy the riches of glory will be developed in proportion to the desire we have for these riches. How shall an appreciation of God and heavenly things be developed unless it is in the life.—Manuscript 28, 1899, 6. (“Think Not That I Have Come to Destroy the Law,” typed March 19, 1899.)6MR i.7

Christ bore the sins of the whole world. He endured our punishment,—the wrath of God against transgression. His trial involved the fierce temptation of thinking that he was forsaken by God. His soul was tortured by the pressure of a horror of great darkness lest he should swerve from his uprightness during the terrible ordeal. He could not have been tempted in all points like as man is tempted had there been no possibility of his failing. He was a free agent, placed on probation, as was Adam and as is man.6MR i.8

Unless there is a possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation. Temptation comes and is resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action, and knowing that he can do it, resists by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power. This was the ordeal through which Christ passed. In his closing hours, while hanging upon the cross, he experienced to the fullest extent what man must experience striving against sin. He realized how bad man may become by yielding to sin. He realized the terrible consequence of the transgression of God's law; for the iniquity of the whole world was upon him....6MR 2.1

By giving his only begotten Son to die on the cross, God has shown us the estimate he places on the human soul. All that the world admires, all it calls precious, sinks into insignificance when placed in the balance with one soul; for a matchless ransom has been paid for that soul. All heaven has been given in one gift.—Manuscript 29, 1899, 4, 5. (“Sacrificed for Us,” typed March 17, 1899.)6MR 2.2

As becomes the beings to whom God has given the faculties of reason and of action, we should use our powers in accordance with the divine purpose. God desires to be honored and glorified in the work of His hands. Every human being will have to give an account to God for the way in which he has used his entrusted talents. We are under obligation to use our powers aright that we may be qualified for eternal life in the kingdom of God. God demands perfection from every human being. We are to be perfect in this life of humanity even as God is perfect in His divine character.6MR 2.3

God made every provision in man's behalf, creating him only a little lower than the angels. Adam disobeyed, and entailed sin upon his posterity; but God gave His Son for the redemption of the race. Christ took on him the nature of man, and passed over the ground where Adam fell, to be tested and tried as all human beings are tested and tried. Satan came to him as an angel of light, to induce him if possible to commit sin, and thus place the human race entirely under the dominion of evil. But Christ was victorious. Christ was victorious, and man was placed on vantage ground with God.6MR 3.1

When the Father gave His Son to live and die for man, he placed all the treasure of heaven at our disposal. There is no excuse for sin. God has given us all the advantages he could possibly give, that we may have strength to withstand the temptations of the enemy. Had man, when tested and tried, followed the example of Christ, he would have given his children and his children's children an example of steadfast purity and righteousness, and the race would not have deteriorated, but improved.6MR 3.2

God is the owner of man. He required the human family to perfect faultless characters, and leave the results to future generations. Many in this our day act as though this were a matter of small importance; but had the human family, even after the fall of Adam, worked according to the example of Christ, every father and mother would leave their children an example how to conduct themselves so as to fulfil their obligations to God. Then the world would have been as Eden. The earth, now a desert of sin, would have rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.—Letter 143, 1900, pp. 5, 6. (To N. McClure, typed November 5, 1900.)6MR 3.3

Heaven, I long for heaven; Christ is the center of attraction. Our future state is a continuation of our work in coming to God in probationary time. Heaven is the ceaseless approaching to God through Jesus Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. The eternal weight of glory is not taken in all at once, but it pours its tide, wave after wave, of glory into the mind and heart. When Christ said, Come unto me, he means us to walk with him in this life, and be filled with love, satisfied with his presence in this world. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here. But what is this compared with the hereafter. “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”—Manuscript 14, 1895, 1, 2. (Untitled, August 10, 1895.) 6MR 4.1

A Word of Explanation

Perfection of Christ vs. Perfection of Man