A DIFFERENT VIEW OF HEAVEN

A DIFFERENT VIEW OF HEAVEN             

 

The old paradigm of the church has always placed more emphasis on heaven as our ultimate goal than I believe is proper. Yes, if we are a follower of Jesus, we will go to heaven when we die and be with Jesus, because that's where He is right now. But heaven as it is presently described in scripture, is not always going to remain where it is now, but will be located here on earth just over the natural city of Jerusalem. (Rev 21:2,10). It will no longer be called heaven, but "New Jerusalem" will be it's new name for eternity. So heaven is a temporary abode, so to speak, for the children of God, until all of "God's Elect" are gathered in at the end of life as we know it on earth. A careful reading of Matthew 24, and other connected scripture portions that describe the End Times on earth, should help to correct this old paradigm of the church. Many of the hymns and songs we love to sing give the impression that heaven is that wonderful place over yonder somewhere, that Jesus has gone to prepare a "mansion" for each of us. That is definitely a wrong impression, as I understand it, do in part to the translators of the KJV of the Bible using "mansion" in verse 2, and "abode" for the same Greek word in verse 23 of John 14. People have let their imaginations run wild in picturing some elaborate mansion that they will live in for eternity, when I believe Jesus has been building His "Church", from His position at the Father's side, with the help of the Holy Spirit, who took His place here on earth. This "True Church" is what we see coming down from heaven to earth in Revelation chapter twenty-one !

 

While Jesus was here on earth for some 33 years, He was the representative of God on earth. "For  in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body" (Col 2:9). Now that Jesus has gone back home to be with His Father, and has been replaced here by the Holy Spirit, the scriptures are clear that the Church He is building is His Body on earth, while He is the head in heaven. Paul helps us understand this great mystery in his letter to the Ephesians. We may not understand it completely, but that is where we must accept and believe it by faith, and fulfill our role as "ambassadors" of His Kingdom on earth!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer