The essence of Heaven is the Glory of God in Christ. When we are in the Presence of the Lord Jesus and of those whom we love we already possess the best part of Heaven. All for which we are yearning is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ and in those whom Jesus in His love has added to us.

The mature saints understand this because they are coming to know Christ.

When we are children we play with toys. When we become adults we put away our toys.

It is time for the Church of Christ to receive the understanding that our goal is not to go to a beautiful environment. Our goal is the fullness of the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit realm by itself could never satisfy us no matter how glorious it may prove to be. Our hearts are thirsting for God, for the love that flows from Him.

Christ did not come preaching we are to seek to go to Heaven. Nowhere in the Gospel accounts is this His message. Rather, Jesus, John, and the Apostles preached entering, or inheriting, the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is a state of being based on our relationship to God and to people.

The Scriptures teach that God's Kingdom is coming to the earth. His will shall be performed in the earth. The last two chapters of the Book of Revelation reveal that the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be located for eternity on the new earth, not in the new Heaven.

How would you like to be kept in the spirit Heaven when God and Christ and the saints have descended to live on the earth? Would you choose to remain in the spirit realm above? Not if your heart is bound up in Jesus and in people!

At God's right hand there are pleasures forever. These pleasures always are based on our relationship to Christ and to people. The outside environment eventually will become pleasant when our relationships are according to the Lord's will.

There actually is a place termed "Heaven." However, the peace and joy for which we thirst can be found only in relationships.

There is one more aspect to consider. The present beautiful earth is becoming a hell. Why is it a hell? Because of the sin and rebellion that abide in the personalities of people. Because of sin and self-seeking our relationships do not possess unclouded joy. Because of our lusts we fight among ourselves. Even in Christian families there often is much strife.

The problem with the earth is not a lack of beauty in the environment, it is that the personalities of people have become disfigured through the sin and rebellion into which we have been born.

Forgiving human beings and lifting them into the spirit Paradise can never bring the peace and joy they seek. A change in location is not the answer.

We can find "heaven," we can enter peace and joy, only as we acquire the right kind of relationships with God and people. But these right relationships, these foundations of "heaven," come into being only as we are purged from all sin and all self-seeking.

To be continued.