In Can We Experience Heaven on Earth, we established that heaven is a state rather than a place. Should we pursue how we can know what it’s like and how we can experience it on Earth? Where can we turn?
In How Can a Man be God? and in Video 25 – Why do many people dismiss the claim that Jesus is the Son of God? – followed by Videos 26-28, we saw how reasoning, spiritualism and religion all establish our knowledge that Jesus Christ was God Incarnate. Would not how He described, what He called the Kingdom of God, be a pretty good place to start? Jesus used several similes to teach us what He knew is beyond our capabilities to comprehend.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matt 13: 31-32) What do you make of this? To me, at our birth, a bit of heaven is planted in each of us, which we experience on Earth as the capability of selfless love. As we grow our selfless love for God and neighbour, we experience more and more of the earthly state of heaven. When we die, if we have grown that love as well as we are able, we are invited to experience our nest of love in the state we call heaven.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven “… is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. (Luke 13: 20) What does this mean to you? To me, our humanity is the three measures of flour. The leaven is the Word of God which Jesus taught us. For it to work, we must internalize the Word of God. When we do, nothing can stop our rising.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven “… is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matt 13: 44) How do you understand this? For me, heaven is hidden in each of us to seek and find. It exceeds everything we experience on Earth. The more we find of it, using all the gifts we have been given, the more we leave all that we have behind and buy into the state we call heaven.
Jesus said the kingdom of heaven “… may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” He invited ”… both good and bad” but “… saw there a man who had no wedding garment.” The king told his attendants to “… cast him into the outer darkness.” What does this mean to you? To me, the wedding garment is our preparation of ourselves for the time when we will be called. When we have not adequately prepared, God’s correct judgement
will be we are not yet ready. The outer darkness will be the resulting absence of God in our lives while we remain inadequately prepared. Jesus summarized, “ … many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt 22: 2-14)
What does all this say to you? Is the earthly state of heaven selfless love? Do we experience it more as we search for more opportunities to selflessly love? Is our search our preparation for the state of heaven beyond Earth? When our search is less than our gifts enable, will we be judged as not yet ready? Could that be why “many are called but few are chosen”?
Del H. Smith conducts research into life’s meaning and is the award-winning author of the AMAZON Best Seller, Discovering Life’s Purpose.