“His rule is eternal – it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14, NLT
All the chaos and suffering in the world are to open our eyes to the stark truth that we are living in hell on earth. We are all infected by the virus of sin and live in guilt and in fear of death. We do not have love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, humility and self control because we are driven by lust, guilt, fear, anger, greed, envy, apathy, pride and gluttony. We are living under the judgment of God:
“So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.” 1
The good news is that Jesus Christ came to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a huge, shining and frightening statue of a man and Daniel’s own dream of the four beasts. Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered – this was the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. God was showing the king what would be happening in the future.2
In his dream during the first year of King Belshazzar, Daniel had visions of the Ancient of Days sitting on a throne of fiery flames and someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He was given authority, honor and sovereignty over all the nations of the world. People of every race and nation and language would obey him and his rule is eternal. His kingdom will never end and will never be destroyed.3
The stories in the Old Testament are the testimonies of people of faith who died without receiving what God had promised them but they saw heaven from a distance and lived as strangers with no permanent home on earth. And God has prepared a city for them.4 We are not homesick for heaven when we are so comfortable in hell on earth and have misconceptions about the truths of heaven. There is a war in our mind that must first be won before the fire of love in our heart can be kindled. We are in heaven when we walk in the Lord’s presence as we live here on earth.5
In prayer we seek the Presence of God to open our eyes to the awe (a wonderful experience) of God. It is the fearless listening and total obedience to the perfect will of our Heavenly Father that leads us into the kingdom of heaven. It is not trying to see inner spiritual things with our mind but to see the truth that the things of this world are only temporary. Ideas about God blinds us to the mysteries and wonders of heaven.
As a human being seeking spiritual experiences, we are like a caterpillar trying to find heaven. We need to be reborn again to be a child of God living in the kingdom of heaven – to become like a butterfly carrying the pollen of God’s love in a dark and loveless world. There are two ways to see and live our life here on earth – to be tempted by Satan to see things from a human point of view or to follow Christ and to see life from the cross. To follow Christ to the cross is to enter the chrysalis to be transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Jesus taught that following Him is to let Him be in the driver’s seat. We are to embrace suffering and not to run away from it. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way to finding our true self. We are to live out the truth that Jesus will return with all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This is not a pie in the sky by and by. Jesus’ promise is that some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen and see with their own eyes the kingdom of God.6
Poverty and persecution are the two pillars of the kingdom of heaven. The spirit of poverty is the antidote to the lust of power. We need to confess our powerlessness to be filled with the power of love. We will face persecution and we need the spirit of humility to see our trials from God’s perspective instead of reacting from our egoistic instincts. Jesus taught us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth and painted for us a picture of what life is like in the Kingdom of Heaven. The first and last beatitudes enclose the other six beatitudes which describe the be-attitudes of the citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven.7
Heaven is not a pipe dream, a figment of our imagination – it is a reality that is found deep within our hearts. Instead of speculating on the second coming of Christ, we would be living fuller and fruitful lives by remembering that we are called to be the ambassadors of God’s kingdom here on earth. The hallmark of God’s kingdom is love. We are to follow Christ with radical humility – to turn to Him so that we can live with radical simplicity to demonstrate true love here on earth. To keep turning our eyes upon the cross of Christ and to share the wonder of God’s perfect salvation to weary and troubled souls in a world that is dying:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”8
SDG
Notes:
- Romans 1:24-25, NLT
- Daniel 2:27-45, NLT
- Daniel 7:9-14, NLT
- Hebrews 11:13 – 16, GW
- Psalms 116:9, NLT
- Luke 9:23-27, MSG
- Morton T. Kelsey, What Is Heaven Like? page 19
- Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Helen H. Lemmel
Reflections On Following Christ 