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February 2
HEAVEN
According to J. Preston Eby:
-“The English word “heaven” is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon term “heave-on,” meaning
to be lifted up, up-lifted. It means to be “heaved-up” or “heav-en.” In the scriptures, heaven is
used to describe three rather distinct and different realms. It refers to the earth’s atmosphere, outer space, and finally,
it speaks of where God dwells. Not only is God our Father, but He is our Father in heaven. By saying God is in heaven ( as
Jesus did say ), Jesus did not mean to localize or locate God. He was not telling us of a place where God is and where God
lives apart from any other place in the universe. Those who think of heaven as a place, usually think of Him as being very
distant. Somehow we have gotten the idea that heaven is a long way off. This error has crept into many songs sung by the church
world such as: “When We All Get To Heaven” and “Won’t It Be Wonderful There” ( just to name
a few ). Where did we get this conception of heaven from? Certainly not from Jesus or the apostles! When Jesus was talking
to Nicodemus, He said, “No man has ascended up into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man WHICH
IS IN HEAVEN” ( John 3:13 ). That is, Jesus claimed that while He was sitting and talking to this rabbi, He Himself
was actually in heaven. This means of course, that heaven is here and now. Heaven for the child of God is not a future hope.
It is a present reality. Jesus the Christ, when a man on earth, was at the same time in heaven. And so also are we who are
“as He is” ( 1st John 4:17 ). Our Lord was in heaven; He came down from heaven, and still was in heaven;
and this heaven is, in the Greek, OURANOS. It is something a person can be in, can descend from, and still possess. And the
meaning of the word is “elevation, height, exaltation.” ( To Be The Lord's Prayer, J. Preston Eby )
-Ephesians 2:6 states, … God has raised us up together, and made us to sit together IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST
JESUS … We are here told that the location of heaven, or the heavenly place that we desire is to be found IN CHRIST!
This is not a physical location, but a spiritual position of being IN CHRIST! We must STOP thinking of heaven, or the heavenly
place of God, as something that is “UP THERE, AND WE ARE DOWN HERE.” We must come to the realization that heaven
is where we are IN CHRIST!!! We must see heaven as a state of being that is available to us in the here-and-now. It is the
very ABUNDANT LIFE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! Many remain in hell ( Hades, unperception, the carnal mind, separation from God
in their mind ), thinking that one day in the sweet by-and-by they will finally get their mansion in the sky and be able to
experience God. Let us AWAKEN TO THE LIFE OF GOD IN CHRIST that is available to us now. Heaven is available to us now …
-IN CHRIST!-
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