1. A separate place away from the earth.
2. A place where Jesus is, and He is preparing for our arrival.
In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus says that Heaven is like the parable of the man who sowed the good wheat seed in his field. And then the enemy came and sowed weeds in the man's wheat field. You could not separate or pull the weeds from the field as the roots of the weed and the wheat were intertwined among each other. The wheat would be killed with the weeds if you pulled the weeds from the field. The bad weeds could only be separated from the good wheat at harvest time, when the weeds were bundled together and thrown into the fire. God will permit the evil to live among the good on earth. The good and evil will be separated at judgment day, when the good will go to Heaven to be with Jesus. Jesus said that He is the sower of the good seed, and the devil is the sower of the bad seed.
In the following verse we hear another version of what Heaven is, He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33 ESV) The leaven spoken of here is a very small amount of it that is hidden among the very large amount of flour. This little amount of leaven is hidden from view, but fully leavens the large amount of flour when mixed into it. He is saying that Heaven starts with the change on earth of the inner soul/inner heart of us. The insignificance of the tiny, hidden, inner change is actually very important in that it leads to Heaven.
So, we've learned that Heaven is:
1. A separate place apart from the earth.
2. A place where Jesus is, and He is preparing for our arrival.
3. A place for those who live by Jesus here on earth and also believe in Him as Savior.
4. It starts here on earth by us changing our inner heart, our hidden being, by following Jesus and applying Him to our lives.
More later. I'm going to finish watching the Seahawks and the Saints playoff game. Go Hawks!!!
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