When we think of Heaven, two thoughts come to mind. One is the place in the spirit realm we term "Heaven." The other concept is that of the glory, love, joy, and peace in which God, Jesus, the angels, and the deceased saints dwell in the present hour.

The heavenly Jerusalem fulfills both of these ideas concerning Heaven. The heavenly Jerusalem is a place in the spirit realm in which we shall experience glory, love, joy, peace, God, Jesus, the holy angels, and the saints.

One could go to the spirit realm and not find glory, love, joy, God, Jesus, or anything or anyone else we associate with Heaven.

Satan and his angels are in the spirit realm. Sin came into being in the spirit realm.

It is not enough to die and pass into the spirit realm. Our objective is to enter through the gates into the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem in Heaven is all we mean by the word "Heaven." There is no other paradise of God.

One day, Heaven, Jerusalem, is coming to the earth.

It is interesting that whenever the Prophets described the blessings that are to come with the new earth they limited themselves to Jerusalem.

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 65:25)

"In all my holy mountain."

The Glory of the Lord shall fill the earth in the ages to come. But what we think of as Heaven will be found in Zion, in Jerusalem, in the holy mountain of the Lord.

It is not just the spirit realm that is our mother, it is Jerusalem the Jerusalem that today is in the spirit realm.

Whenever the Lord speaks of the glory to come He always speaks in terms of Jerusalem, of Zion; never of anything or anywhere else.

Every person who is abiding in Christ already has come to the Jerusalem that is in Heaven. Our physical body is dead because of the sin that dwells in it. But our born-again spiritual nature is drawing its life from the heavenly Jerusalem.

We already have come to Zion, to God's holy mountain, if we have become part of Christ. We have come to the city of God and to the numerous angels who perform God's will.

We now are part of the general assembly, of the whole family of God of all ages.

God judges all who come to Mount Zion. If we have been a believer for any period of time we are experiencing the Divine judgment as the sins of our personality are pointed out by the Holy Spirit.

The spirits of people who dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem are righteous. But it is not enough that they are righteous, they must be made perfect. God leaves the bodies of His saints dead in sin on the earth while He concentrates on the perfecting of their spiritual nature. The spiritual nature receives its Divine nourishment and guidance from its position in Christ at the right hand of the Father.

This is why God is dealing with you continually and severely. Stay with it. Your reward will be great in the Kingdom of God. (from Entering Through the Gates)