Christians have sometimes been described as “so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good”—that is, overfocused overmuch on the life to come and not concerned enough with the here and now. Some believers, reacting to that accusation, have instead sought to emphasize the here and now, becoming uninterested or even agnostic about the life to come.
When we search the Scriptures, though, we discover a healthy balance. In fact, if anything, it’s safe to say that the opposite of that old saw is closer to the truth: The problem for most people is that they are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly good. A biblical understanding of the promise of heaven actually empowers a life of righteous action on earth.
We can see this dynamic at play in Paul’s thinking as he seeks to encourage the church in Philippians 3:17–21.
The Believer’s Designation
In Philippians 3:20, Paul says of himself and the Philippians believers, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” Now, Philippi was a colony of Rome, and its people were, by worldly reckoning, citizens of Rome. Their dress, their language, their laws, their protection, their government, and their religious establishment all pointed away to another place that gave Philippi its identity.
This same dynamic is at work in Christian identity. Yes, the believers lived in Philippi, in the Roman Empire, in the world; yet they were citizens of heaven, subjects of heaven’s King, practicing a heavenly culture. The church, both back then and still today, is a heavenly colony in the world, drawing on that heavenly identity to inform and empower a life on earth.
What a contrast this is to the people Paul describes in verses 18–19! He says, “Many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” Their minds are fixed upon the earth, and they are motivated by the appetites of the flesh—with the result that they will go the way of all the earth and die in their sin.
The church is a heavenly colony in the world, drawing on that heavenly identity to inform and empower a life on earth.
Our citizenship is not an accident of our birth; it is a consequence of spiritual realities. Whoever would be a citizen of heaven must be born again of the Spirit of God and enabled to set their minds on heavenly things. By nature, we are citizens of the world, dead in our sins. But when God forgives us on account of the cross and transforms us by the power of His Spirit, we become new creations (2 Cor. 5:17).
The Believer’s Expectation
As citizens of heaven, we are able to live in this world without counting on it. The wealth of the world needs not tempt us, since we have the promise of heaven’s riches. And the dangers of the world need not frighten us, since we trust that our life is hidden with Christ in God, and we will appear with Him in glory (Col 3:3–4). Paul thus says of our heavenly home, “From it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
In other words, Christians live in a sphere of hope that transcends our present location. We live in this foreign land with the confident expectation that our own Sovereign will come here. That expectation determines and directs our affections as we wait. Like the saints in Hebrews 11, we are not fixated on the promises of this world. No, we “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16).
The Bible is reserved in its descriptions of heaven. After all, how could we possibly begin to understand it? Even the most exalted language is inadequate. You can’t explain to a tadpole what it’s going to be like to jump around as a frog or to a caterpillar what it will mean to one day have wings. The story’s told of a young boy who made his first journey into the countryside. He saw a songbird on a branch, and he said, “Poor little bird! He has no cage to live in.” His perspective was governed by the understanding of life as he knew it.
Our confidence of heaven today lies not in our ability to visualize it but in the total reliability of the one who promised it. Jesus said to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2–3). The Christian hope, in the end, is ultimately the hope of Jesus, the Savior we eagerly await.
The Believer’s Transformation
When our Savior arrives, He “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). Our bodies are exposed to the curse of sin, to sickness and weakness and death. But He will remake them in the form and nature of His gloriously risen and ascended body.
Our confidence of heaven today lies not in our ability to visualize it but in the total reliability of the one who promised it.
Many in our world worship at the shrine of their bodies, making every effort to prop up sagging youth and hold on to fading beauty. Yes, we ought to be stewards of our bodies—but the time and money many of us spend on them reveals the truth that we have set our hopes on them. Soon they will be gone! But if our hope is in Christ, we will have new bodies with just the right shape (and not the world’s idea of the right shape!), free of sin, free of death, free of frailty. We shall “bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49)—that is, the Lord Jesus Himself.
And Jesus will do this “by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:21). The risen and ascended Jesus is the Master of everything. He made the world, so there is no problem about His changing us. If we know that this is our certain destiny, we will hold our earthly bodies with an open hand and cling to Jesus with all eagerness.
Three Questions
As we consider our heavenly citizenship, we ought to ask ourselves three questions:
- Are we looking forward to being transformed? Do we understand the promise of physical resurrection and transformation, or are we still slaves to the fear of death (Heb. 2:15 )?
- Do we await our Savior? Does the hope of the return of Jesus Christ purify our minds, motivate our action, and give us a zealous love for our brothers and sisters?
- Do our answers to the first two questions give us confidence that we are indeed citizens of heaven? Have we been born again—our sins forgiven and our minds transformed?
The Lord Jesus will come again. Before He does, let us be found in Him—among His people—so that we may set our hope on His coming.
This article was adapted from the sermon “The Best Is Yet to Come” by Alistair Begg.
