Now he is God not of the dead but of the living, for to him all of them are alive.
Luke 20:38
Dear members and friends,
Love is the central teaching of Jesus. Yet historically, what people may remember the most is Jesus’ message on the reality of heaven. “Just in case there is heaven, I would like to believe in Jesus!” I heard this phrase from a good number of seniors in Christian communities both in Korea and the U.S. In a way, what they are expressing is both their hope to enter a life of paradise in heaven after their life on earth ends, and their challenge to believe in something that does not appear to be quite real to them. One factor that may cause some confusion is the emphasis on heaven as a reward despite the fact that Jesus teaches in the Gospels that heaven is a state of being. There is a significant difference in believing in heaven either as a reward or as a state of being. The former is transactional, while the latter focuses on one’s inner cultivation.
According to Emanuel Swedenborg, heaven is neither in space nor in time. More specifically, heaven is a spiritual reality that is composed of what is good and what is true from the Spiritual Sun, which is the apparent presence of the union of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the spiritual realm. What this means is that anyone who enters heaven must have formed a reality of heaven within themselves before entering it. Therefore, heaven is the reality of being that is composed of goodness and truth originated from Creator God; humans are created as vessels able to receive these. The best and only way to form an inner reality of goodness and truth from God is to live a life of love toward other beings. Thus, those who are living a life of love are already living in the reality of heaven.
My brothers and sisters in God, let us take a moment of time this week and reflect deeply on the matter of heaven. What is heaven to us? Let us pursue a life that is forming heaven within us.
Blessings,
Rev. Junchol Lee