HEAVEN IN THE SKY

[Soul2verse]

1 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. 2 His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here." 3 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah's prophecy: Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road smooth and straight! 4 John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. 5 People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. 6 There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.

7 When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: "Brood of snakes! What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? 8 It's your life that must change, not your skin! 9 And don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. 10 What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire. 11 "I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama - compared to him I'm a mere stagehand - will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. 12 He's going to clean house - make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned." (Matthew 3:1-12)

When we were children my sisters and brothers and I were under the assumption that heaven was in the sky. We thought that the angels lived in this great and wonderful city called heaven just above the clouds. What a lovely picture we had painted in our minds of a place where the streets were paved with gold. There were trees, flowers, meadows, flowing streams, and beautiful homes to live in. We imagined that there was a variety of wonderfully delicious food there and that we would never be hungry or thirsty again. Such a great all you can eat buffet banquet where we would see no more government issued canned spam and big rectangular blocks of welfare cheese. Once we arrived there it would be more fabulous than any thing or place that we could ever imagine.

The Bible states that 'when I was a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put childish things away. One day while I was a young man I was watching this show on television called 'Star Trek'. This show was about a group of universal explorers that traveled to many galaxies within the universe just to explorer and go where no man has ever gone before. As I watched this imaginative saga about unbounded journey and travel I started to question myself about the existence and proximity of heaven. If heaven was in the sky would I be able to get into a star-ship and travel to the edge of this galaxy or the next one and arrive at this destination heaven?

"In 1929 Edwin Hubble made the landmark observation that wherever you look, distant galaxies are moving rapidly away from us. In other words, the universe is expanding." (A Brief History Of Time, Stephen Hawkins-1988, p. 9) As I began to understand the dynamics of the universe as it pertains to our solar system and the countless galaxies that exist then heaven in the sky did not make any sense at all. What concept or truth would now hold a place in my understanding? According to some of the science that we know now the universe consist of billions of galaxies and the many solar systems within them. There is an understanding that this universe that we exist in is ever expanding thereby creating more galaxies. So, beyond which cloud and from planet would I reach this wonderful heaven.

Are we to understand heaven within spiritual enlightenment or terms as compared to physical matter and scientific terms? Then our knowledge and new experience will begin to lead us to the perception and conception of heaven as a place within a spiritual realm. A place which is unseen but parallel to our universe. Some of us are taught or lead to believe that in order to reach heaven we must first die physically so that our spirits can be released to that realm and point of origin. It is there in this place called heaven we will live and be with God our Father and Creator forever. I am not here to dispel this understanding. If I could I would like to open a door of truth in the room of truth that we reside in right now.

For one moment let me take you into a door of spiritual thought and unaltered consciousness. Walk with me into an already existing realm of reality. John the Baptist stated that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is within. Does this heaven that we search and long for exist around us and within us? If so how do we tap into and have access to it? What significance does it have to our daily lives?

John the Baptist talked about the Kingdom of Heaven as it relates to Christ existing and walking amongst them. He was requesting and asserting for man to turn around from thoughts, actions and way of life that was leading them from the path and will of God our Father and Creator. He was also stating that the Kingdom of Heaven was near. It was not in some far, unreachable, unattainable, or distant future place. It was right there amongst them and with them. He was interested in people changing their old lifestyles into that of kingdom or righteous living while they were alive in the here and now. John the Baptist was preparing the people for a most radical change within their lives. Is this heaven also an alternate reality?

The charges of the religious leaders have against Jesus Christ are blasphemy and disregard of convention and authority. He a mere man, declared himself to be one with God. He was an insurrectionist of the Spirit and Truth. He submitted only to the inner authority of truth, the voice of the Father dwelling inside of him, telling him what to say and what to do. It was this inner kingdom of which he was the king; a kingdom in the world but not of it. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray there was one part of the prayer that signifies our daily connection between the Kingdom of Heaven and our earthly existence. He used this opportunity to elevate his disciples spiritual consciousness. "Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".(Mat. 6:10) This prayer is for the coming of God's kingdom and God's rule. On earth as it is in heaven expresses the desire to reflect God's priorities in our actions and relations. This directive should lead us from conceptual to practical living. We should live today as if we were already present in that spiritual realm of Heaven with God our father. Why wait for heaven to come when it is already here? Is it possible for us to connect our earthly existence with Divine living principals. Yes, with the renewing of our minds we can have a new understanding and relation to living in spiritual kingdom consciousness. So then why should we wait to live with God in a glorious form after life when we can choose to live with Him today. The Omnipresent God is right here right now with us. The principals of the Kingdom as lived and taught by Christ can be applied to our lives right now.

©Gregory Roberson 2008