Heaven

[Ronald David Bruno]

The world seems to think you can't go to heaven till you die. Jesus, of course, said otherwise:

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17 RSV

So is the world right or is Jesus right?

When John was baptizing people, he said "repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Later he said, He who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
So that is when the Kingdom opened up. Those who believed from Pentecost on, entered into the "Kingdom" of Heaven, spiritually. We didn 't travel to Heaven and experience it, we entered the kingdom. While still possessing flesh, we could not yet enter this realm (with the exception of chosen ones who have been given visions or left their bodies and returned).
We are "in Christ" but not yet fully redeemed as to our inheritance: new eternal bodies and heaven itself (a perfect spiritual realm).
We experience moments/ glimpses and manifestations of light in this dark world. We see it in people, in our churches and spread throughout. Love, peace, hope ... fruit of the Spirit.
So to be clear, we are in the Kingdom but not in Heaven.
"In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also be. " John 14:2-3.
So, He went to another realm (that they could follow enter yet), to prepare a place, the place called Heaven. Yet, at the time Jesus spoke those words, there were already many mansions, so the job wasn't finished. The thief who died next to Jesus was promised Paradise TODAY. The OT saints who passed were there,m: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, etc. Enoch and Elijah were taken up to heaven before they died. But obviously not their flesh. ?? When Stephen was stoned to death, he said "Lord, receive my spirit." That is where he went, Heaven.
When Christians die, they go to be with the Lord - this is a fundamental truth. Paul said, to be absent the body is to be present with the Lord and he desired to go but stayed the course, for our sake, which was his mission.
So, in the kingdom but not yet heaven.
My Pastor used to say, "We are in the already but not yet state."

 

[Enoch111]

Yet we are given evidence that the abode of Satan and his angels is in Heaven.

Which heaven? That is the key. There are three heavens, the third heaven being God's Heaven (where His throne is). So Satan was cast down into the first heaven (the atmospheric heaven) and that is why he is called "the prince of the power of the air". Air is in the atmospheric heaven. So Michael and his holy angels cast down Satan and his evil angels from the atmospheric heaven down to earth in Revelation 12. And that unleashes the power of Satan and the Antichrist on earth for 3 1/2 years.

 

[Bob Estey]

When John was baptizing people, he said "repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Later he said, He who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
So that is when the Kingdom opened up. Those who believed from Pentecost on, entered into the "Kingdom" of Heaven, spiritually. We did 't travel to Heaven and experience it, we entered the kingdom. While still possessing flesh, we could not yet enter this realm (with the exception of chosen ones who have been given visions or left their bodies and returned).
We are "in Christ" but not yet fully redeemed as to our inheritance: new eternal bodies and heaven itself (a perfect spiritual realm).
We experience moments/ glimpses and manifestations of light in this dark world. We see it in people, in our churches and spread throughout. Love, peace, hope ... fruit of the Spirit.
So to be clear, we are in the Kingdom but not in Heaven.
"In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also be. " John 14:2-3.
So, He went to another realm (that they could follow enter yet), to prepare a place, the place called Heaven. Yet, at the time Je spoke those words, there were already many mansions, so the job wasn't finished. The thief who died next to Jesus was promised Paradise TODAY. The OT saints who passed were there,m: Abraham, Moses, Elijah, etc. Enoch and Elijah were taken up to heaven before they died. But obviously not their flesh. ?? When Stephen was stoned to death, he said "Lord, receive my spirit." That is where he went, Heaven.
When Christians die, they go to be with the Lord - this is a fundamental truth. Paul said, to be absent the body is to be present with the Lord and he desired to go but stayed the course, for our sake, which was his mission.
So, in the kingdom but not yet heaven.
My Pastor used to say, "We are in the already but not yet state."

I suspect the kingdom has been open from the beginning. All we have to do is repent.

 

[Davy]

Which heaven? That is the key. There are three heavens, the third heaven being God's Heaven (where His throne is). So Satan was cast down into the first heaven (the atmospheric heaven) and that is why he is called "the prince of the power of the air". Air is in the atmospheric heaven. So Michael and his holy angels cast down Satan and his evil angels from the atmospheric heaven down to earth in Revelation 12. And that unleashes the power of Satan and the Antichrist on earth for 3 1/2 years.

There are only 2 heavens mentioned in God's Word, the sky around the earth is called one heaven, and the other Heaven is God's invisible abode and the abode of the angels.

What Apostle Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 12 with Paradise and the "third heaven" is NOT about 3 levels nor 3 types of heavens.

It is about the future 3rd heavenly-world-earth-age, i.e,. the future new heavens and a new earth. That is the time Paul was transported to in the Spirit (I believe Paul was speaking of himself, since he was at one time stoned and left for dead.)