How intimate is the connection between Heaven and Earth? Does Heaven begin now?
The joy of Heaven does, because Christ is our joy, who tells us “I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20, Phillips). We do not now fully appreciate that joy, but it is here, because the very life of Heaven, the very life that flows from the Vine into the branches, is here. If it is not here in us now, it will not be there in us then. If Heaven is not in us now, we will not be in Heaven forever. For Heaven is where God is. God determines where Heaven is; Heaven does not determine where God is. God contains Heaven; Heaven does not contain God. If God is in our souls now by faith, then the very life of Heaven is here in us now, in seed form. That is what Jesus came to preach about and to give, the focus of all his sermons: “the kingdom of Heaven.” It is the “pearl of great price,” the thing for which the whole world is far too small a price to pay. And it is free.
