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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Goal of the Church
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
The traditional understanding of the goal of the Church, of the Christian discipleship, is eternal residence in Paradise. The truth is, no covenant of God, whether found in the Old Testament or the New Testament, has as its goal our eternal residence in Heaven. The most commonly held hope in all Christendom is that the Lord Jesus is our "ticket" to Paradise. If we believe in Jesus and if we try to be good we will go to Heaven when we die, there to live forever with God.
It indeed is true that our goal is to live forever in the Presence of God. It is true that our life, our hopes, our treasures, our joy are in Heaven in the present hour. It is true that our citizenship is in Heaven, that the saints are in Heaven around the Throne of God, and that our redemption is coming down from Heaven.
The Kingdom of God is of Heaven and will come down from Heaven. The spiritual Jerusalem, the "Zion" to which we have come, is in Heaven in the present hour. Our life is hidden with Christ in God in Heaven.
But our goal is not to go to Heaven to live forever. Our goal is to learn to live in the Spirit that is from Heaven, from God, so when the Lord Jesus returns to earth we may return with Him in the fullness of the glory and power of Heaven.
The goal of the Christian redemption is not a place . Our goal is the eternal Life that Christ Is. Our goal is to dwell in God, in the glory and joy of His Presence. Our final destination is the earth, for the Kingdom of God will be established on the earth.
This is not to say that in the resurrection we shall be restricted to the earth. God alone knows the joys and opportunities that await us. Our emphasis is that the Scriptures, especially the writings of the Prophets, point toward the glory that will come to the earth with the return of Christ. We prosper when we adhere to the written Word.
Going to Heaven will not satisfy the deepest longing of our heart. The deepest longing of our heart is to be one with Christ and the saints in God. It is the beauty and joy of Heaven that we are seeking, and that beauty and joy proceed only from the Presence of God in Christ.
One day the same beauty and joy will proceed from us, as God in Christ in us brings the nations of saved peoples of the earth into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21; Revelation 21:3,4).
To go to live forever in mansions in the spirit realm, there to have no responsibility, to perform no useful service, is not the goal of the holy Scriptures. The goal of mansions, and the accompanying idea that we achieve the goal by means of a one-time assent to the truth of Christ's atoning death and triumphant resurrection, have resulted in confusion concerning the necessity for our conversion to godly behavior. They have produced a continuing state of spiritual immaturity on the part of the believers.
To be continued.