HEAVEN CAME TO YOU

Friday 27 December

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. John 3:13 (NKJV)

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. John 6:46 (NKJV)

You may be wondering about the title of today’s devotional. Maybe you thought that there is a special place called heaven and one day you were going to go there when you die. Before we go any further I challenge you to find one single scripture that talks about people going to heaven. The truth of the matter is there is not one verse in all the Bible that supports this notion.

There are some who believe that heaven is up in the sky somewhere and that the Father and Jesus live there and one day we are going to live there too. Also there are a lot of mansion building projects going on up there because the angels are busy building them for Christians so they have a place to live in, even though there is no night or crime there. Sounding familiar?

Jesus used the terms ‘kingdom of God’ and ‘kingdom of heaven’ to explain the concept of heaven to the Jews.

Luke 17:20-21 says ‘Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.’

According to Jesus, you can’t observe the kingdom as a physical structure. Neither is it a place you go to. In other words, it is not a location either.

What else did Jesus say?

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you (Matthew 12:28).

This is truly extraordinary! After saying that you can’t see it or go to it, Jesus tells us that it comes to you. Casting out demons was the physical action that signified the kingdom had come. Jesus was the manifestation of the kingdom.

So heaven comes to you, you don’t go to heaven. Do we see any other evidences of this in the gospels or the New Testament? Yes. In the book of John Jesus described God as a spirit which was equivalent to the term heaven in Matthew. Heaven was more a Jewish mindset but in John Jesus was speaking to a Gentile woman and used the word ‘spirit’.

Why is this important? Because of two things that Jesus would say in John chapter 14. Firstly in verse 2-3 He says ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.’

Mansions here mean dwelling places not buildings in the sky just in case you were wondering. He then says ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ The next part is amazing. ‘I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also.’ Where are these dwelling places? Let’s find out.

Then Jesus says in verses 15-18 “If you love Me, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Did you catch it? The Spirit that is heaven will be in you. Then Jesus says. ‘I will not leave you… I will come to you. This tells us something huge. The Spirit i.e. heaven will be in you and His name is Jesus. Therefore Jesus and wherever He dwells is heaven and He dwells in every believer. So where is heaven? In the believer!

In the same way that whatever aircraft The POTUS is in automatically becomes Air Force One for as long as the President is in that vehicle, you are the vehicle that Jesus lives in which makes you heaven and He lives and abides in you forever. You’re not going to heaven, heaven has come to you.

APPLICATION

Live with a daily consciousness that your body is the headquarters of divinity because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit and you have become the habitation of heaven on earth.