The Holy Spirit has come to bring the atmosphere of heaven into our hearts. Under the old covenant, they could only have laws that enabled them to live a life that was very righteous compared to the life of the rest of humanity. But now, we have more than just Divine laws to guide us, we have the Divine life itself to govern our actions.

Heaven is heaven because the presence of God is there. Where God is, there is heaven. Where God is not present, that is hell. Here on earth, the presence of God is still found everywhere. And that is why we find some goodness even in unconverted people. But in hell, those very same people will be quite different. There, their selfishness and their pride will be unrestrained, and they will be known as they really are, without the restraining influences of God's goodness.

In heaven, there is blessed fellowship. There is no lording it over others there. Everyone is a servant of others. Those like Lucifer who want to rule over others will never be found in heaven, for his attitude was, "It is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven." That is the essence of the spirit of Satan - the desire to rule over others. Therefore, husbands who rule their wives like tyrants and wives who do not submit to their husbands are creating a hell in their own homes. Those brothers who lord it over others in their churches bring hell into their churches too and build Babylon.

Heaven has a totally different spirit, because God is a Father there. He does not dominate people but lovingly shepherds them and serves them. That is the nature we are to partake of. We are promised crowns in heaven if we are faithful now. What does that mean? Does it mean that we will then rule people? No, not at all. It means that we who had a longing to serve our brothers here on earth, but could not do it perfectly because of various limitations, will find all those limitations gone in heaven, and we will be able to serve others perfectly. Thus the longing of our hearts will be fulfilled.

The greatest Person in heaven will be Jesus Himself, and He will be the greatest servant of all. His spirit will forever be the spirit of service. The church has been placed by God on earth to be a little sample of heaven for others to taste of. It is something like a biscuit-company sending you a small sample of their biscuits and asking you to taste it and see whether you want more. God also has sent us to earth to show forth the values of His kingdom to others so that they may be attracted to Him. What taste do others get from us?

When Jesus walked on this earth, people saw and tasted a little sample of the life of heaven. They saw His compassion, His consideration for others, His purity and His selfless love and humility. Heaven is like that. God is like that - full of compassion for sinners and for those who have failed in life.

At the same time, Jesus revealed the Father as One Who was ruthless with religious hypocrites and with those who make money in the name of God and sends them to hell. Heaven won't have a single person who pretends to be holy but who has no mercy on others.

When heaven comes down into our churches, our churches must manifest this kind of life. When Jesus (the Second Person of the Trinity) came down to earth, He needed a body to manifest the life of God. Now that the Holy Spirit (the Third Person of the Trinity) has come down, He needs bodies too, to manifest the life of heaven in. If Jesus had been on earth without a body, think what limitation there would have been in His earthly life. No-one would have been able to know what God was like then. Thank God that Jesus had a body. This is why it is so precious that we have bodies - because through them the life of God can be manifested to others by the Holy Spirit.