But it is not enough to have a city composed of beautiful buildings, for the worth of a city is judged by the inhabitants of that city. The new Jerusalem will reflect in its every detail the perfections that are being wrought in those who will be its eternal inhabitants.

The perfections are being created now. The Lord's jewels are being formed through tremendous heat, pressure, and patience. The holy Jerusalem is in the spirit realm today. It will remain in the spirit realm until the thousand-year period has ended, for much reconciliation to God is to be accomplished during the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

Some have stated, and we believe it is true, that the holy city, the new Jerusalem, our "Heaven," is constructed in levels. The more we grow in Christ the higher we can go in the city. It is not that we are attempting to outdo our brothers, it is that Christ has called us to His throne.

If we attain the first rank of the saints, to the place of the overcomer, then we will be in total union with God and with others, as God appoints. We will be filled with eternal life, with authority, with power, with status in the Kingdom, with the most marvelous and gratifying opportunities for service. We will be installed by the Lord as pillars of His eternal Temple. We lay up these treasures today by our conduct in the Lord Jesus.

One of the greatest mistakes that can be made by a believer in Christ is to view his salvation as a ticket to Heaven, and then just wait for the day he dies so he can "retire" in Heaven. To neglect the daily lessons of the Holy Spirit, to shun the life of cross-carrying obedience to the Lord Jesus in the hope we will be saved by "grace," is to miss the process of redemption. When we die we will be dealt with according to our folly.

There are no lazy, careless people in the Kingdom of Heaven. The least member of the Kingdom is greater than any of the Hebrew Prophets were in their day because he has been created a living stone, a room in the eternal Temple of God.

But the Prophets will enter the Kingdom of Heaven along with us.

The Kingdom of Heaven basically is not a place, it is a kingdom. It is the Presence of God in Christ dwelling in the saints, through whom God is made approachable to the peoples of the earth.

Neither the Prophets, nor John, nor Jesus, nor Jesus' Apostles, ever preached dying and going to Heaven as being the objective of the plan of redemption. All of the witnesses of God have announced the coming of the Presence, the rule, the Glory of God to the earth.

The goal of redemption is the transformation of the human being such that every vestige of Satan is removed from his personality; he is created in the image of Christ; and he is brought into total, complete union with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued.