Not so sure we ever leave this earth. We are born into it. We live in it. We die and our bodies go back to it. Then, in the resurrection, we come back to it again, because heaven is coming on earth. The veil is rent. Heaven is pouring in. “And God separated the waters above from the waters below, and He called the waters above heaven”…
The life we receive now is the same life we will always have. it is expanding from within us like the leaven in the dough. The aperture is opening wider and wider.
“Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” is the vision and the goal.
“Yet once more will I shake the heavens and the earth until only that which cannot be shaken remains”
“And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
And what is the temple of God that is in heaven?
"In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit:…“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
And what is the ark of the covenant that appears in the temple?
“Christ crucified”, the Word in the wooden box within which the branch that was cut off still bears blossoms of life and the manna from heaven- crowned by the cherubim on either side of the mercy seat where God came to receive the offering of the blood of the spotless firstborn lamb
“I shall be their God and they shall be my people and I will live among them and walk among them”
Yea, I dont think we are “going to heaven”, I think heaven is coming to us.
“But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
That is why the whole creation groans in the pangs of childbirth even until now.
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time."(Peter at Pentecost)
What was Pentecost all about but the pouring out of heaven into the earth, and as Christ was lifted up in them, they lived as if the new heavens and the new earth had come among them- because it had…
"And they were all as one soul…no one among them had any need…great grace was upon them all…signs and wonders took place at the hands of the apostles.
"Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord… And you shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit… ""Whom the heavens must receive UNTIL the period of the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS spoken of by all the prophets since ancient times.
To me it all sounds like it is "coming down out of heaven
“Lift up ye gates, and be lifted up you eternal doors- that the king of glory may come in…who is this King of Glory- the Lord strong and mighty”
The kingdom of heaven is within, and the deeper the higher, “Deep calls unto deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls O Lord!”
“And I heard His voice and it was like the sound of the rushing of many waters, like the praises of ten thousands od ten thousands of His holy ones”
“Come, all you that thirst, drink freely of the water of life”
“He that believes in me, out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, this He spoke of the Spirit that should be given to all them that believed, but the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”
“And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.”
Christ in us, the hope of glory.vNot so sure we ever leave this earth. We are born into it. We live in it. We die and our bodies go back to it. Then, in the resurrection, we come back to it again, because heaven is coming on earth. The veil is rent. Heaven is pouring in. “And God separated the waters above from the waters below, and He called the waters above heaven”…
The life we receive now is the same life we will always have. it is expanding from within us like the leaven in the dough. The aperture is opening wider and wider.
“Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” is the vision and the goal.
“And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
And what is the temple of God that is in heaven?
“In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.”
And what is the ark of the covenant that appears in the temple?
“Christ crucified”, the Word in the wooden box within which the branch that was cut off still bears blossoms of life and the manna from heaven- crowned by the cherubim on either side of the mercy seat where God came to receive the offering of the blood of the spotless firstborn lamb
“I shall be their God and they shall be my people and I will live among them and walk among them”
Yea, I dont think we are “going to heaven”, I think heaven is coming to us.
“But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
That is why the whole creation groans in the pangs of childbirth even until now.
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time."(Peter at Pentecost)
What was Pentecost all about but the pouring out of heaven into the earth, and as Christ was lifted up in them, they lived as if the new heavens and the new earth had come among them- because it had…
"And they were all as one soul…no one among them had any need…great grace was upon them all…signs and wonders took place at the hands of the apostles.
"Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord… And you shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit… ""Whom the heavens must receive UNTIL the period of the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS spoken of by all the prophets since ancient times.
To me it all sounds like it is “coming down out of heaven”
“Lift up ye gates, and be lifted up you eternal doors- that the king of glory may come in…who is this King of Glory- the Lord strong and mighty”
The kingdom of heaven is within, and the deeper the higher, “Deep calls unto deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls O Lord!”
“And I heard His voice and it was like the sound of the rushing of many waters, like the praises of ten thousands od ten thousands of His holy ones”
“Come, all you that thirst, drink freely of the water of life”
“He that believes in me, out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, this He spoke of the Spirit that should be given to all them that believed, but the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”
“And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.”
Christ in us, the hope of glory.
“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
“Lift up ye gates, and be lifted up you eternal doors- that the king of glory may come in…who is this King of Glory- the Lord strong and mighty”
The kingdom of heaven is within, and the deeper the higher, “Deep calls unto deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls O Lord!”
“And I heard His voice and it was like the sound of the rushing of many waters, like the praises of ten thousands od ten thousands of His holy ones”
“Come, all you that thirst, drink freely of the water of life”
“He that believes in me, out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, this He spoke of the Spirit that should be given to all them that believed, but the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”
“And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.”
Christ in us, the hope of glory.
"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
Sounds like heaven on earth to me