HEAVEN STARTS NOW

(A) 1 August

In our last sharing, we focused on the vision John saw in Revelation 19 – God allowed John to see the final dealing of God with evil and evil individuals; he also saw God’s just judgment, and God’s vindication of His people as well as the joyful wedding of the Lamb.
It is truly wonderful to see this wondrous hope fulfilled in the future; but lest we forget, heaven for Christians starts now!

The Holy Spirit is the ‘guarantee’ of our inheritance: He enables us to see the glory of Christ glorified, and to live in fellowship with him as our Mediator and with his Father as our Father, the Spirit introduces us to the inmost essence of the life of heaven. At the heart of our thoughts about heaven is the actual relationship with the Father and the Son that is perfected there. It is of this that the Spirit’s present ministry to us is the first installment.

By means of the ministry to us of the indwelling Spirit, heaven begins for us here and now as through Christ and in Christ we share in his resurrection life. “You have died,” Paul writes to believers, “and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). This “life” is eternal life, heaven’s life, which never starts anywhere else but here.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 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.” (Col. 3:1-4)

While we live in this fallen world, we are citizens of heaven. Paul urged us not to set our hearts on earthly things; also not to set our minds on things below but on things above. Oftentime, we are downcast, discouraged, down-trodden because our hearts and minds are set on the wrong things and on the wrong ‘country’. Those who are pilgrims, passing through, will not be weighed down by things and happenings on earth; they are looking for the ‘better country’ like Abraham and thus they walk by faith, and not by sight. Heaven begins now for them, and ‘heaven consummated’ welcomes them as they walk towards their eternal hope.

(B) 2 August

We noted that by means of the ministry to us of the indwelling Spirit, heaven begins for us here and now, as through Christ and in Christ we share in his resurrection life. How does this happen? Let us ‘piece out’ the details.

In order to have eternal life, and to partake of the blessings which are given forth by Christ, it is of absolute necessity, that we be united to Christ. Therefore, if we will have life from the Son of God, we must have the Son; that is, we must be made one with him. If there is no union with Jesus, there is no communication of life and no salvation from Jesus.
When we were regenerated and converted, God put us into Christ, and then blessed us in him, and through him; that is how heaven’s life begins in us here and now for believers.

In Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul sums up the whole of the Christian faith as entailing union with Christ. From election before the foundation of the world (vv. 3-4), to redemption by the blood of Christ (v.7), to the reception of the Holy Spirit, who seals us to the day of redemption (vv. 13-14, all happens in him, in Christ, whether it is particularly attributable to the Father, as in election and predestination (vv. 3-5), to the Son in redemption (v. 7), or to the Holy Spirit (vv. 13-14). Indeed the renovation of the entire cosmos is to occur under the headship of Christ (v.10).

In John 14:16ff., Jesus compares the relationship between his disciples and himself with his own relation to the Father. He and the Father are in each other, mutually, indwelling in the unity of the Trinity. Moreover, he and the disciples would indwell each other too. When the Holy Spirit was to come at Pentecost the believers would know that “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). To those who love him, and keep his word, “my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him” (v.23). Here the whole Trinity will take up residence with those who love Jesus and keep his commandments. The Son and the Father will make their home with them, while the other points to the coming of the Spirit as the occasion when this will take place – it is a permanent dwelling, not a temporary one.

Realise the special and wonderful privilege that we have in Christ! Unless we appreciate and experience this deeply, we will not understand why heaven starts now in the lives of believers; we will not appreciate what it means to be healthily detached from this fallen world and to realise the fullness of being in Christ, and Christ in us. God ‘invites’ us into the special and wondrous relationship in the Trinity – that is where ‘heaven is’, and that is where heaven will always be – in the life of the Trinity!!

(C) 2 August

The Bible reveals that God from the start has created with the end in view of living with the creature in his image. The purpose of creation is divine habitation in a cosmic palace-temple (the new heaven and earth).
But man’s rebellion and sin caused a deep rupture, resulting in the Fall. Hence the Triune God embarks on the salvation plan from even before the creation and that brings His Son Jesus into the world in the incarnation as the God-man to carry out this gracious and loving plan to bring fallen humanity back to God.
In the previous sharing, we looked at UNION with Christ in regeneration and how heaven starts now in the lives of Christians with the Triune God dwelling in the life of those born again; and this union continues in the progressive transformation of the believers to become like Christ.
Adam and Christ are essentially human but not commonly human. Commonly human beings are the result of a union of a male and female. Both Adam and Christ are in their own ways the first of a race of creatures. Adam comes before us as the head of the old covenant of humankind. Christ (who assumed unfallen human nature), in contrast, is the head of the new creation of humankind. Both Adam and Christ were innocent when facing the tempter – Adam fell; Christ did not. Christ’s mission as the Messiah, ending in his substitutionary death on the cross, opened the way for fallen man to be reconciled with God, to be incorporated into the new humanity with Christ as the head, to be adopted as God’s children with Christ as the elder brother, to begin to experience ‘heaven on earth’ as the Triune God indwells in those who love Him and obey His commandments. But the consummation of the new heaven and new earth is in the future when Christ comes again and makes ‘everything new’.

The Christian hope is not for the individual alone but has cosmic implications. As for the individual, our material bodies have a ‘future resurrection’; we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we were saved.
Recall that our citizenship is in heaven; we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Phil. 3:20-21).

But the salvation plan is carried out when “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us… (John 1:14a).
The infinite became finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became mutable, the invisible became visible, the Creator became the created, the sustainer of all became dependent, the Almighty infirm. God became man.
God comes alongside, dwells with and travels with his people. The Son pitched his tent among us in real time and space. The thought of incarnation is stupendous, for it means the conjunction in one person of all that belongs to godhead and all that belongs to manhood. The Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through his transcendent love, become what we are, that he might bring us to be even what he is himself.
To hear Jesus is to hear the Word of God; to see Jesus is to see the character of God; to watch Jesus in action is to see God in action! (we need to have this perspective and approach as we study the Gospels). God no longer simply told HIs people about Himself, or even showed them by His actions. He came Himself and walked among them, and men saw the invisible God in a human body.
The biblical testimony calls for discipleship, doxology and great expectations as we live as God’s people in between the comings of the great king. We are to set our minds on things above (Col. 3:1); in this life, we are to walk by faith, in the world to come, by sight. There is a day coming when the veiling will no longer pertain. All will be revealed. In the meantime, ‘a wonderful piece of heaven’ has come down and dwelt within our hearts, but the whole and all will be fulfilled when the bridegroom consummated His relationship with the bride! For Christians, heaven starts now and will be consummated when Christ comes again.
But for many who claim to be Christians, are we living as those who are experiencing ‘heaven on earth’. Can we say, like the psalmist, “in thy presence is fullness of life, and at thy right hand pleasures forevermore”? Or are we like those who devote thousands of hours to the diligent study of Scripture and yet still somehow display an extraordinarily shallow knowledge of God? This can be seen in their ‘poor response’ to God when exposed to worldly temptations; in their miserable attitude when God allows difficult and pressuring circumstances in their life on earth; in their pursuits after worldly pleasures and their seeking of wealth, status, happiness, and popularity in this fading, temporal, life on this fallen planet.
If anything, evangelical activism poses a threat to spiritual formation and the enhancing of ‘heaven on earth’ and increasing knowledge of God. Energetic service is emphasised at the expense of prayer, solitude and meditation; the activist impulse can evolve into a lazy anti-intellectualism that seeks little beyond a handful of prepackaged “simple steps to spiritual success”; it ignores or diminishes God’s call for the renewal of the minds (Rom.12:1-2) and Jesus; command for us to love God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk. 12:30).

(D) 4 August

In previous sharings, we have considered the reality that heaven starts now in the lives of those who are converted and regenerated. We noted how the Holy Spirit unites us with Christ at regeneration, and that through the ministry of the Spirit, the Father and the Son come to dwell with the believers (Jesus himself said that for those who love him and obey his commands, he and the Father would make their dwelling place with them) – the Trinity dwells with Christians through the ministry of the Spirit, and the Christian enjoys the inmost fellowship and relationship within the oneness and harmony of the Trinity.

The Bible affirms that believers are citizens of heaven – they should set their hearts and minds on things above and not things below – hence they are pilgrims passing through this fallen world, seeking and going to a country prepared by God for them in the eternal future – hence the things of this world and the circumstances in this world need not ‘weigh them down’, for they are not setting their stakes and ‘homes’ in this fallen world – they are just passing through.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
For those who believe in Jesus, the Son forever changed the way we view death. The mission of Jesus was to free us from the fear of death! Death is the last enemy; Jesus came to turn an enemy into a friend, a terrifying journey into the anticipation of a welcome reunion.
And how could Jesus accomplish this on our behalf? Only if he himself became one of us, so that by his death he would destroy the fear of death that the devil used to enslave us. Satan’s weapon of fear was taken from him when Jesus died and rose again. The Resurrection is proof that death need not terrify; the grave has been emptied of its power. Standing at the empty tomb, we are assured of the triumph of Jesus on the Cross; we are also assured that he has conquered our most fearsome enemy. Yes, death can still terrify us, but the more we know about Jesus, the more we experience ‘heaven on earth’ as we nurture our relationship and fellowship with the Triune God, the more the power of death fades.

That is why the apostle Paul could say, ” Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55) Jesus freed us from the fear of passing through the parted curtain. Death, Paul says, has been “swallowed up in victory” Brethren, do we believe this; more specifically, do we enter into this reality and experience of being freed from the bondage of the fear of death? Realise that this has much to do with experiencing “heaven starting now in our life when we believe in Jesus”.

Jesus conquered death but many Christians live as if He did not. We comfort the grieving with Christ’s claims of life beyond the grave, but we fear our own death – or the death of our loved ones.
The early Christians scoffed at death, calling it a tyrant who had been overthrown by Christ. They knew that the end of their earthly life was a glorious beginning and that the best was yet to come. Can we believe the same? Can Christians today face death with the same boldness, peace, and triumph?

I shared some time back that I am now 75 years old. The Bible tells us that the average life-span of an individual is three scores and ten i.e. 70 years old, but I have passed that mark, and everyday is now a bonus from God.
I would like to share personally God’s grace and mercy in teaching me the reality of facing death as a believer, and also the subject of death itself. Recently, my sister-in-law passed away. On the morning before the evening service at the wake, the Lord impressed upon me that I should use the opportunity to share the gospel, about life and death from the biblical point of view. I was aware that many who will turn up are not Christians; some have some Christian background or Catholic background, some are syncretic, believing in all ‘religions’. Among many things, I shared that physical death, as a result of man’s rebellion affects all, whatever our status and standing. Spiritual death – a breaking of relationship with God the author of life who holds the key of spiritual eternal life – is also the consequence of sin.
The verses focused on are from John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Here the Lord was referring to spiritual eternal life – those who believe in him will live eternally and spiritually with him even though they die physically; and whoever lives by believing in him will never die spiritually even though physical death would overcome them.
Jesus clearly explained that unless we believe in him, we shall die in our sins. Most of us believers would attest to this truth, but the reality and experience of it may be different for different individuals.
When I was a young doctor, I was posted to the neurosurgical ward in TTSH. In one particular ward, there was a patient who suffered from Torula meningitis, and I was told not to go near this patient unless I put on my complete PPE (fully masked, fully gowned and gloved), for this illness is very contagious and deadly.
However, in one of the ward rounds, the patient collapsed and stopped breathing. I rushed, on impulse, to resuscitate him, forgetting even the instruction to approach him only in full PPE. Also, at the back of my mind, I knew that he had only about 3 minutes or so before he became ‘brain-dead’. My superior actually chided me for doing so, and warned me that if I develop a fever for the next week or so, I am dead. That week was not an easy week to pass through and I had to struggle with the Lord regarding the real possibility of death. But I recalled when I was a believer for several years during my medical student days, I came to a point when I told God on my knees that I was willing to give my whole life to Him, including my career, my relationships and the rest of it. This was one such incident that tested my commitment to Him. When I first became a Christian, I was told to leave home unless I gave up my faith – I did not, but remained quietly at home and I depended on God to live out my faith, and my parents subsequently realised that I was for real in my conversion.

Another encounter with the possibility of death took place when my son was about 3 years old. I had just started pastoring a new congregation as one of three elder-pastors. I was the only one in tent-making ministry, working as a medical doctor as well as a pastor. On one occasion, I became very ill, with difficulty in breathing and chest pain. It did not subside even after several days and I had to be admitted to TTSH, and subsequently to ICU, The night in the ICU was full of ‘activity’, several patients collapsed and succumbed; the staff was busy resuscitating and it was not conducive for any sleep, coupled with my chest pain and laboured breathing.
I told the Lord that I was not ready to die; I had just started a church with two other elders; as a young doctor, I had no health or life insurance, and I did not even own a flat; and my son was so young and my wife had to manage all alone. In the midst of the dialogue with the Lord God, and my physical struggles, God graciously ‘met me’ and gave me a peace beyond my understanding after I again reaffirmed my commitment to take whatever He deemed fit for my life. To my surprise, I drifted off to sleep. When I recovered, and was wheeled back to the normal ward, I was told that I was probably ‘down with myocarditis’ of viral origin, and I was warned to change my heavy schedule lest I collapse suddenly if my heart could not take the strain.
Again I had to ‘debate’ with God whether I should ‘slow down’ my involvement with the ministry in the church, this not being the first time, and I decided to trust Him and carry on the next 30 years or so in this ministry. There were more such incidents of the possibility of physical death on various occasions and particularly during the SARS outbreak when GPs could not get hold of PPE in the earlier weeks of the outbreak and we had to see patients without the protection of the PPE. I had one case of SARS who died and by God’s grace, I just received my supply of PPE just before he came to see me in my clinic.

Such incidents help me to evaluate my readiness to face physical death, and I am thankful to the Lord that the biblical truths shared in this sharing regarding the bondage of death and the fear of death were faced personally, with God’s grace and enabling. My purpose in sharing is to affirm that indeed, Jesus truly frees His children from the fear and bondage of death – someone rightly said that when you are face to face with death, you cannot pretend that there is no fear and that you are ready to go, if there is no reality of God’s presence and peace at that point of time. Death has been the weapon of the devil to instil fear and bondage in the lives of people; even kings and emperors seek to live forever and not face death. Woody Allan, a well known personality, was quoted to have said that he is not afraid of death but he does not want to be around when it happens. Thanks be to God – death has lost its sting and victory. Christ has conquered and if we remain united with him, we too shall conquer and be victorious in Him!

For the believer, death is not the end but the beginning; if heaven starts now in our life, then death is just the doorway to experiencing the fullness of heaven in the presence of God. May the Lord use this simple sharing to bless you in Christian fellowship – may He receive all the honour and glory for making ‘heaven’ real in our lives, from the moment of regeneration to blossoming it at the consummation when the Lord Jesus comes again. Truly, when the Word became flesh, ‘heaven’ came down and glory filled our souls!