Many of the athletes currently competing in the Olympic games have devoted most of their lives over several years to improving their skills in the hope of winning a medal at the games. But only a small number of those who compete are considered worthy of medals, and an even smaller number are worthy of gold medals. As the fifth chapter of the Revelation shows, the standard of worthiness is even higher in heaven:
I saw a powerful angel shouting with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll, and to break its seals?” No one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the scroll, or to look in it. And I wept bitterly, because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll, or to look in it. One of the leaders said to me, “Don’t weep. The Lion who comes from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed. He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Only someone who is perfect and who has prevailed against sin is worthy of opening the scroll, or of standing before God, or of even being in heaven. Perfection is not something that we can earn for ourselves, because all humans sin and fall short of God’s glory. But there is a way for us to become perfect: by accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, dying for our sins, instead of us, so that the effect of our sins has been cancelled.