Tickets to Belvoir, Entry to Heaven

I went to visit my old mate John Manners last week. He’s otherwise known as the Duke of Rutland and lives at Belvoir Castle. This is a stunning Leicestershire palace, the kind of fairy tale castle young children are apt to imagine, with its soaring turrets and fanciful gateways. I peered in at the dining room, bedrooms, hall ways; unlike most stately piles, this is still the family home, and framed photos of grinning children bedeck sideboards, while flatscreen TVs sit in front of huge four-poster beds. I thought the good duke might be there to meet me in person; his website, after all, had ‘invited’ me to his home. On my way back to the carpark, I was passed by a portly gentleman in tweed racing past in a red range rover, bearing a personalised number plate RUT. I can only imagine his grace was running late for our appointment. Sadly, I had not the time to head back and accept his apologies.

Astute readers will have guessed that I wasn’t a guest of the duke at all, but a ticket-waving visitor. My fifteen pounds had purchased the right to visit the castle and gardens between 1.30 and 4pm on an pre-arranged day. I had bought a right of entry which was temporary and bound to expire. I cannot turn up again this week, for the day is passed and the ticket is spent.

This is why entry to the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be bought or earned. Its environs are even more magnificent than Belvoir’s, so the ticket price is well beyond our means. Only a totally righteous life could procure entry. This is a price which none of us can afford. Some of us may have some savings in the bank, but every human is born into terrible debt. Since the Fall, we have lived on an overdraft; our level of righteousness is not zero- we are well and truly into the realms of minus. Even if the best of us could afford a brief visit, by 4pm, we’d be asked to leave, our ticket having expired, our funds inadequate. 

Unlike his grace the Duke of Rutland, the gracious King of Heaven invites sinners to His mansion free of charge, and for ever. He Himself paid the price; His righteous life is reckoned as ours, the ticket is purchased in full, with no expiry, terms or conditions. And unlike the ducal castle, there’s no parking to pay even after admission is arranged.

In my Father’s house are many mansions.