Once when I was really concerned about my own spiritual condition, I asked God to make heaven more real to me. I believe heaven is the home of every child of God.

I have never met a child who did not have a rather clear idea about his own home. A child might not know the street outside, but he knows his own home. I think one of the marks of us, as God’s children, is that we feel at home in relationship to heaven. This earth is beautiful; this life is exciting. But this world is not our final resting place.

The great saints of God were looking ahead, out of time and into eternity, and they had some glimpses of what was to come. Physical death was not going to be a jump into the unknown. They had some clear revelation of what they could expect. I am looking forward to the temple. I am looking forward to the angels. And I am looking forward to the four living creatures. There is so much that I am looking forward to. I think that the sea of glass mingled with crystal is going to be very exciting (see, for example, Revelation 3:5; 4:6–8; 7:15). There will be no dull moments in heaven.

1a4:T828,

“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? Has My hand not made all these things?’” (Acts 7:48–50)

God dwells in a temple made not by hands but by divine workmanship, according to divine purpose. That temple is the body of the believer, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. As Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 6:13:

“Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

This verse talks about food for the stomach and the stomach for food. In Proverbs, it says:

“The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul” (Proverbs 13:25)

We who are righteous do not overeat. Why? Because our bodies are the Lord’s temple, and we are not to defile them by gluttony, drunkenness, immorality, or any other form of misuse. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. When I present my body to the Lord, then I have the rights of the Lord for my body.

Let’s use this analogy: If I purchase a piece of property, I become responsible for its maintenance; but if I live in a rented property, the landlord is responsible. If we just let Jesus have a temporary right over our bodies, He does not accept responsibility for their maintenance. But if He owns them, He is responsible to maintain them. That is the relationship He desires.

1a5:T8b6,

“For we who have believed do enter that rest [or are entering into the rest], as He has said [quoting from Psalm 95]: ‘So I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest;’’ although [God’s] works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’; and again in this place: ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Hebrews 4:3–5)

In that passage, “believed” is in the past tense; “e

Declaring God's Word

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