In order to live with a heavenly perspective, in holiness, it is important to keep our focus on God and heaven. I have five suggested ideas to do that. Here is the first idea.
Cultivate A Love For God And His Heaven
I think of cultivation as a farm word. It involves working the soil to promote the growth of whatever you are trying to grow. Love for God and His heaven grows best by working the ground of love—or by preparing the heart for love.
First of all, to do this the heart needs to be free of the weeds of the lust of the flesh and of the cares of this world (1Jn. 2:16). Then replace those thoughts with the thought that God has made us citizens of heaven and that He has paid for our citizenship with His own blood (Eph. 2:19).
Next, it would be good to do whatever you can to invest your time and money in heaven. That is, in bringing as many people into the kingdom of God as is possible; and then you will see your love for God and heaven grow. Then also, give your heart to worship and singing about heaven and your hope of heaven, and you will experience a great joy in the Lord.
So far, in previous posts, we have seen that we have the assurance of a heavenly inheritance; and we live now in the kingdom of God, which mysteriously is in us; Christ rules and reigns in our heart. And because we are born again spiritually we have a new life in Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
I would like to take some time now to break this verse down. What does it mean that we as Christians are new creatures? I think it just means that we, being born again spiritually, are a new creation of God. Or we could say that we are regenerated—which means to give new life to. Here are a few verses that may shed some light on this.
In John 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Yes, when we are born again it is only then that we can see and understand anything of God. By our new spiritual birth, we have a new understanding and a spiritual sight.
In Ephesians 2:1-5 Paul writes that we were dead to God in our sinful nature; we lived in sin. But God made us alive together with Christ. He gave us a new life.
In Titus 3:5 it says that we were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made us New creatures.
In 1 John 2:29 and 3:9 it tells us that all who practice righteousness are born of God; and all who practice sin are not born of God. Hence those who are born again and have a new regenerated life will love to do what is right; but those who do not have this new life in Christ are more prone to sin and follow their sinful nature.
The result of having this new self is that the old things of our past life are passed away—gone, and new thing have come. Now we still sin, but sin does not dominate or control us anymore. Our new nature is more dominate. We no longer live just for ourselves; we live for eternity and to please God. And we now have a spiritual mind—the mind of Christ. Let’s take some time now to list a few more things of our old life that are passed away.
Worldly values
Priorities that are worldly and selfish
Plans and ideas that are self-centered
Material thing that promote my popularity
And here are some things that have become new.
Values that are according to God’s word
Priorities that put God and others first
Belief that are in line with biblical truth
Plans and ideas that are according to what I think God would approve of
According to 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, I now have a new ministry of reconciliation and of proclaiming the gospel to others. I am now an ambassador for Christ.
Every believer when he is born again and is assured of an everlasting inheritance, is also miraculously, by the power of God, rescued from the domain of darkness and is transferred into the kingdom of God and of His Son. Paul in Colossians 1:13 writes, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
This kingdom, though it is grand and glorious, is not visible; it is a spiritual kingdom and it is within us—within every believer (Lu. 17:21). Christ sits on His throne in our hearts, and He will lead us and instruct us in right living; but only if we allow Him to. Hence, all who are obedient sons of God are led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14).
Now from time to time we will fall into sin; for we still have our sinful flesh. But we remain children of God who live in His kingdom, and because Christ has come into our heart and changed us—given us a new nature—we have His mind. Paul has written in 1 Corinthians 2:15-16,
But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
And with our new mind and by the powerful strength of God in us and around us we are protected from the devil and all evil—but only if we use that protection. Paul, in Ephesians 6, speaks of this Christian protection as the armor of God. It is available to us if we put it on every day. It is the Christian’s daily and life-long attire.
One of the most powerful pieces of armor available to us is prayer. Paul writes that we are to “pray at all times in the Spirit” (Eph. 1:18). James also writes about prayer. He said, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (Ja. 1:5). But then he goes on to say that we must ask in faith without any doubting. And this is the key to living victoriously in the kingdom of God—having faith in God and in Christ without doubting. It is a life of trust in Him.
that for the Christian there are two avenues to heaven: one is through death and the other is through the Rapture. And since death is what we see now, we will start there.
Entrance into heaven through death. Some would say that when the body dies the soul goes into a time of sleep until Jesus comes. They call if “soul sleep.” But that is a false teaching. In 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. In death the body dies but the soul lives on in heaven with the Lord.
But what happens to the soul at death? Is there any need for a change to the soul? To make it pure and holy? Yes. Since the soul is the entire nature of man and is his entire personality, the soul as well as the body is sinful. When we are saved, salvation comes to our soul (Ja. 1:21), but even after our conversion, the soul is affected by sin the same as our body is. Hence, the soul of the righteous, entering heaven needs a full cleansing. According to the Westminster Confession of Faith,
The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, (which neither die nor sleep,) having an immortal substance, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies.”2
Now, there is also the question of the intermediate state, or the intermediate heaven.
The intermediate heaven.This state is the state of the soul without the body, from the time between the death of the body to the point at which the body is raised and transformed at the Rapture. There is much false teaching on this subject, such as soul sleep—as previously mentioned. And there is also the Catholic doctrine of purgatory: that after death the soul goes to a place to be purged from sins by much pain and suffering, so to be purified for heaven. But this is such a slam to God, teaching that the sufferings of Christ were not sufficient to atone for our sins, that we must add our own sufferings to His. Really, we can add nothing!
However, aside from false teaching, there are some things that we can consider a bit regarding the intermediate state. I say “a bit” because Scripture in not clear on the subject; and it gives us no definite teaching. Nonetheless, here are two passages we could examine for maybe a small bit of truth.
Luke 9:30-31. Here is the Mount of transfiguration, where while Jesus was praying (with Peter, James and John present), His face was changed and His clothing became white and gleaming. And then suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and they were talking to Jesus about His departure (His death). Now we know that both of these men died a long time before this; but here they stand in some kind of a glorified body. I would say that this is definitely an example of the intermediate state of heaven.
Here is what we may observe from this passage regarding what the intermediate state is.
It is having some kind of a glorified body.
It is being able to speak in a normal language. They did not use any kind of heavenly language.
It is having friendly communication with Jesus. They were talking with Jesus as a close friend; they were discussing His departure. This suggests that we may have regular communion with Jesus and will be discussing whatever is on our heart.
Revelation 6:9-11.Here is a passage revealed to us as the Lamb (Christ) broke the fifth seal during the Tribulation. It opens up to us the conversation of certain people who were martyrs for their faith. In verse ten we have a portion of that conversation—a prayer to God. They cried out to Him with a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
And then in verse eleven is the response by God. “There was given to each of them white robes and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer…”
Here is what we may observe from this passage regarding what the intermediate state is.
There will be prayer in the intermediate state. These martyred souls were waiting on God to avenge their blood and were crying out in prayer to Him. We may also conclude that there will be a sense of anticipation for God to make all things right.
They will know what is happening on earth. These martyrs seem to know what is happening on earth—that God was refraining from judging (v. 10). It may be this way for all who die before the Rapture.
They will have bodies that are able to wear clothing. They were given white robes.
They are holy and pure—cleansed from all sin. The white robes are symbolic of purity; Jesus will give them these garment to remind them of their holiness and of His shed blood for them.
We will be at rest in the Lord. They were told to rest for a while longer. This state of rest is confirmed to us in Revelation 14:13 of what this intermediate state basically is—that we will rest from our labors; the labor of keeping the commandments of God and having faith in Jesus. So, here in this state we will have glorified souls perfected in God, and we will no longer have a need to persevere in the faith. We will be at rest in the Lord and waiting for our new glorified body.
Entrance into heaven through the Rapture. When God sees that the time is right for the dead to be raised, and for their souls to be united with new bodies, and for the living to be rescued from what is to come on this earth, then He will…
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
This passage (above) pretty much lays it out, but let me summarize it in chronological order.
1. All believers from all ages of history who have died, they will be raised up and their decayed bodies will be transformed into imperishable, new bodies (1Cor. 15:53-54).
2. And the souls of those resurrected dead will merge with their new transformed bodies, so they will at last be souls with new bodies. Hence, this will be the end of their intermediate state (as previously discussed).
3. Then those who are alive will be changed (transformed) very quickly— “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). And they will be caught up (snatched up) together with those previously dead.
4. And then we will all meet the Lord in the air; and we will from then on, and always, be with the Lord in heaven.
2 John MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1996), p. 71.
Stephen Nielsen 