This is His reason for creating man.
This is His reason for creating man.
God cannot find a home, a resting place, or install His throne in us until we set aside our own will and do His will cheerfully, completely, and promptly at all times.
I have covered the same material in other writings. But the simplicity of my thesis can be hidden under a multitude of words.
Therefore in this essay I will strive for clarity.
For two thousand years eternal residence in Heaven has been the goal of salvation. We are "saved" so we may go to Heaven when we die.
However, the Old and New Testaments do not present eternal residence in Heaven as the goal of our salvation.
The goal of our salvation is entrance into God's rest, as the Book of Hebrews states. This is expressed by the Apostle Paul as being crucified with Christ and living now in His resurrection Life.
Am I claiming there is no Heaven? Of course not. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to us from Heaven. We are to place our treasures in Heaven.
But eternal residence in Heaven is not the goal of the Christian salvation.
As I said, for two thousand years Heaven has been presented as the goal of the Christian salvation. How did this concept begin, when it is not found in the Scriptures?
My guess is it was introduced into Christian thinking during the early years of the forming of the Christian religion; just as the practice of building special buildings for Christian worship was commenced some three hundred years after the birth of the Church--- or so I have been led to believe.
We have created a religion, using the name of the Lord Jesus, that is not scriptural in some instances. Our Lord did not teach us to build a religion but to change our ways so they correspond to the moral image of God. Isn't that so?
It may be true that a simple group of disciples meeting and observing the Lord's supper, without setting up a religious organization, no longer is possible, given human nature. But that pattern of worship may be restored to us as we see, even in America, the rejection of Christ and His Bible.
In any case, one of the major innovations that has been introduced into Christian thinking is the idea that we are saved in order to live in Heaven forever. Yet the New Testament teaches clearly that the Kingdom of God will be established on the present earth when Jesus returns---not today, as some are erroneously teaching. At the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the Kingdom will be established on the new earth.
These facts being indisputable, at what point would we be living in Heaven, other than during periods of transition?
You know, we have no idea what Heaven is like. We may assume it will be some sort of Paradise, such as was true of the Garden in Eden.
The Lord promised that He would bring the thief to Paradise along with Himself.
The Apostle Paul visited Paradise and heard "unspeakable words."
But our born-again spiritual nature already is in Heaven, isn't it?
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3,4—NIV)
It seems from the above that when the Lord Jesus next appears, we also will appear from Heaven with Him.
Next Part And what about the following?