Did not Jesus counsel us to lay up treasures in Heaven? Indeed He did. This does not mean that Paradise itself is our goal or that we are going to live there forever. Our heart is to be in Heaven, for it is from Heaven that our salvation comes.

Our citizenship is in Heaven. When Jesus returns to establish His Kingdom, and the kingdoms of the world become His kingdoms, then we will return with Him and be at home once again on the earth. Where Jesus is, there is "heaven."

The heavenly treasures that we lay up come to us from Heaven and are of the nature of Heaven, the Nature of God. They include eternal life, freedom from sin, authority, power, our predestined rank in the Kingdom of God, abilities, opportunities for service, loving joyous relationships with God and people, and rest in Christ in God. These are the heavenly treasures we are laying up by our faithfulness to Christ in the world. Notice that they have to do with our state of being and with our relationships.

Our treasure is in Heaven. It consists of spiritual (not mineral) gold, silver, and precious stones. The pearl is the pearl of patience, not of the oyster. When the Lord returns He will bring our rewards with Him. It is not Heaven itself that is our goal, it is the treasures that have been laid up for us in Heaven—treasures that the Lord Jesus will bring with Him when He comes.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not so much where we are as it is what we are and whom we are with. When we are the eternal habitation of God in Christ, then "Heaven" is in us. As soon as Heaven has been formed in us, God will cause us to dwell in Paradise—both in the heavens and on the earth.

God will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

But if we do not receive Christ (the Kingdom of Heaven) into our life now, our environment will become increasingly miserable. Those who are in rebellion against God walk in dry places. After they die they are not fit for Paradise but for outer darkness—whether or not they call themselves Christians.

The Kingdom of Heaven is an eternal kingdom. We are to enter it today. If we enter the Kingdom today, being transformed into Christ's image and abiding in union with Christ in God, then we will continue in this glory in the Day of the Lord.

If we are not entering the Kingdom of Heaven now, are not being made a new creature in Christ, are not abiding in Christ and He in us, then it is neither scriptural nor reasonable nor possible that in the Day of the Lord we will enter glorious fellowship with God, Christ, the saints, and the holy angels in the splendor of Paradise. (from Entering the Kingdom of Heaven)