Not saying that this isn't true, but for me, there is another dimension.
In reality, just as one can be closer or further from Christ, how that relationship unfolds and develops is most definitely affected by what you do, what you choose, and how you act.
We need to remember that the Old Testament was written down over a period more than several thousand years ago, and that the Gospels and the New Testament also, almost 2000 years ago.
Our capacity to understand information and process it with our intellect has developed over time, with each generation building on the previous ones. While revelation shares direct understanding from Heaven, and scriptures written down under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit share truth, the capacity of those who receive that content and convey it, or process it into human language, have had limited intellectual capacity. Certainly those reading those scriptures, or hearing those stories, also have had limited capacity in terms of logic, intellectual understanding of the reality of the material world.
Point is, what is expressed through scripture may be true, but people's capacity to grasp and understand what that actually means, is fluid, and relies on both the spirit but also the mind to shape concepts.
Hope this is clear where I'm going with this. Point is, "Heaven" and the concepts conveyed in the New Testament were understood, and recorded, by people who were of a certain stage of spiritual and mental development. What we understand today in terms of the nature of the material world, or even the psychological world, is far beyond what the saints understood or could even process 2000 years ago.
So while the truth which is perceived by the heart, and by the spirit, may be the same, capacity to process it is not.
"heaven" as a concept should be understood as expressing this reality: that because of sin and the fall of our ancestors, a spiritual realm under Stan's control was established, and all humans were trapped in that. Spiritual, God still exists, but we could not freely connect with or go to God. This is why the Father had to progressively re-build his connection with human beings focusing on one specific line - Adam - Noah - Abraham, then Israel, then Christians, by getting us (humans) to make offerings, as our responsibility to reconnect with him.
Adam's family made offerings, Noah made the Ark which was a massive offering, Abraham made offerings, and then under Mosaic law the hebrews made an offering of their lives: following the Law. When Christ came, he, as the True Offering, became the key to exiting that realm when Satan was master and entering in to the realm "heaven", when we are restored to relating with the Father in his true position as center of the Creation (including us).
Satan's realm of control - God's realm of control.
But despite these two large realms of governance, there are a billion shades of difference in the level of relationship - either with Satan, but also with God.
In God's realm, after having received salvation, we have exited Satan's realm of control BUT we then have to build and build and grow our connection to the Father.
A person who arrives at Ellis Island and is granted immigrant status to the US is then a US citizen, but what kind of life he or she builds in the US, and how much he or she avails of the opportunities, and contributes, well, there are millions of differences, right?
Conclusion: Salvation means our spirit has exited Satan's realm of control, but we still must struggle to rid ourselves of his influence (which he still does through our flesh) until Christ returns and then also removes our flesh from the Satanic realm.
Salvation through the Cross is real, but it is not complete. That is why Christ must return. Otherwise, why would Paul lament "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of Death?"
Not saying that this isn't true, but for me, there is another dimension.
In reality, just as one can be closer or further from Christ, how that relationship unfolds and develops is most definitely affected by what you do, what you choose, and how you act.
We need to remember that the Old Testament was written down over a period more than several thousand years ago, and that the Gospels and the New Testament also, almost 2000 years ago.
Our capacity to understand information and process it with our intellect has developed over time, with each generation building on the previous ones. While revelation shares direct understanding from Heaven, and scriptures written down under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit share truth, the capacity of those who receive that content and convey it, or process it into human language, have had limited intellectual capacity. Certainly those reading those scriptures, or hearing those stories, also have had limited capacity in terms of logic, intellectual understanding of the reality of the material world.
Point is, what is expressed through scripture may be true, but people's capacity to grasp and understand what that actually means, is fluid, and relies on both the spirit but also the mind to shape concepts.
Hope this is clear where I'm going with this. Point is, "Heaven" and the concepts conveyed in the New Testament were understood, and recorded, by people who were of a certain stage of spiritual and mental development. What we understand today in terms of the nature of the material world, or even the psychological world, is far beyond what the saints understood or could even process 2000 years ago.
So while the truth which is perceived by the heart, and by the spirit, may be the same, capacity to process it is not.
"heaven" as a concept should be understood as expressing this reality: that because of sin and the fall of our ancestors, a spiritual realm under Stan's control was established, and all humans were trapped in that. Spiritual, God still exists, but we could not freely connect with or go to God. This is why the Father had to progressively re-build his connection with human beings focusing on one specific line - Adam - Noah - Abraham, then Israel, then Christians, by getting us (humans) to make offerings, as our responsibility to reconnect with him.
Adam's family made offerings, Noah made the Ark which was a massive offering, Abraham made offerings, and then under Mosaic law the hebrews made an offering of their lives: following the Law. When Christ came, he, as the True Offering, became the key to exiting that realm when Satan was master and entering in to the realm "heaven", when we are restored to relating with the Father in his true position as center of the Creation (including us).
Satan's realm of control - God's realm of control.
But despite these two large realms of governance, there are a billion shades of difference in the level of relationship - either with Satan, but also with God.
In God's realm, after having received salvation, we have exited Satan's realm of control BUT we then have to build and build and grow our connection to the Father.
A person who arrives at Ellis Island and is granted immigrant status to the US is then a US citizen, but what kind of life he or she builds in the US, and how much he or she avails of the opportunities, and contributes, well, there are millions of differences, right?
Conclusion: Salvation means our spirit has exited Satan's realm of control, but we still must struggle to rid ourselves of his influence (which he still does through our flesh) until Christ returns and then also removes our flesh from the Satanic realm.
Salvation through the Cross is real, but it is not complete. That is why Christ must return. Otherwise, why would Paul lament "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of Death?"