Is Our Goal On Earth To Make Heaven?

Many Christians all over the world believe that their sole aim is to make heaven. They believe they must live a sinless life on earth so they won’t be hindered from spending eternity in heaven. Some, in synch with this idea, believe that once they become saved, they must begin to win souls for Christ so others can made heaven ready just like them.

However, from the start, the message that God tried to communicate to us in Genesis; the message Jesus communicated in the gospels isn’t preached by most pastors on earth today. They mostly believe that our goal as Christians is to make heaven or win souls to drag others into heaven.

To understand this message, we must first understand God’s intent for creating man in the book of Genesis and putting him on the earth. God’s intent for creating the earth and man in it was because he wanted to establish His Kingdom in a physical world, without having to come visibly into that world Himself. Hence, the message of His heavenly kingdom being manifested on earth is the purpose and message of God that man needs to come to grasp with.

If the big picture is missed, then everything becomes faulty. We preach faulty messages, look for faulty, religious means to reach God, use faulty methods to achieve our goals, steal from people to satiate our selfish needs—all because we preach and believe the wrong message. Clearly, the message that has been emphasized is not the message of the kingdom, but prosperity, healing, and every other message that characterizes egocentric, me-first, paganistic, what-is-in-it-for-me gospel.

The role of the church is to dominate the system of the nations of the earth with the kingdom principles, not messages that gratifies our sensual cravings. Imagine if we start doing what God wants by seeking him and revealing him to our world—through his will and principles, won’t we have a better world? Our missions isn’t to use God to meet our selfish needs, but to ask God what his desire for the earth is and fulfilling that desire. Do you think God is in charge of the earth, no. Otherwise, he’ll solve all the problems of the earth even without us praying. But the sad truth is, he won’t and he can’t. God needs earthly license to interfere in the affairs of men on the earth. And even when he interferes, he needs a man whom he can work and reveal himself through. Men are God’s channel on the earth today. Men are responsible for the earth.

Man’s responsibility is seen in God’s sovereign declaration over man, just after creating man. This is seen in Genesis 1:26.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

The earth is our workplace. Man is supposed to be the solution to the problems of the earth. And, this solution, certainly comes from a Kingdom that’s greater than our—the Kingdom of God.

Many people ask this question: Where is God when the whole world is going out of hand? Is God responsible for the problems that we experience on earth today? We have many people homeless. Several people die every day of hunger. Depression kills a lot of people every year. Daily, people lead a life that thrives on rapaciously taking either the life or property of another man through all kinds of social vices and criminal activities.

But the solution to this problem is not God, neither is he the problem. The solution is man. Man is the god on the earth. God lives in heaven, while we live on earth. He’s owns the universe but he gave planet earth to man to govern. We are literally stewards to God’s property, which is the earth. God created the earth an extension or replica of heaven. He wanted the earth to replicate and resemble heaven. Hence, he decided to use man, that’s got his image and resemblance to accomplish this purpose. He deposited a part of himself in man so he could function like God on the earth.

Just like the glory of God keeps heaven beautiful, man is supposed to keep the earth just like God is keeping the heaven and the universe—beautiful and in order. When we become just heaven minded, we lose earthly relevance and our purpose for being on the earth becomes neglected.

In the Garden of Eden, before the fall, Adam was responsible for the earth, not God. When Adam sold out his authority to Satan through disobedience, God couldn’t do anything about it because Satan took ownership legally, not illegally. However, by the redemptive power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus conquered the earth and resorted the authority back to man. Hence, we could exercise authority over Satan in the name of Jesus.

If God really wanted anything done on the earth today, he’ll do it through us. Spirits aren’t permitted to function on the earth, man is the one permitted to rule the earth. However, spirits can rule the earth when they possess man. This is why, when God, who is a spirit, wanted to come to earth, he had to do so through a man, Jesus. He was God in a physical body. This is also why God sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. He wants to dominate the earth through us.

In the Old Testament, only Kings, Prophets, Levites and Priest had God’s spirit in them. But God now dwells in people in the New Testament. We are the house of God, where he functions and dominates the earth from.

Therefore, God, who is a spirit, isn’t to blame for the problems in the world today; it’s man that’s being irresponsible, not God. Man has misplaced priorities. Man is both preaching and seeking heaven. Jesus prayed to God, Let Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10). It’s the kingdom that’s his priority—establishing it on the earth as it is in heaven. It appears we have a different priority than what God desires.

John the Baptist and Jesus’ first public message had something in common: They both emphasized the kingdom (Matt.3:2, 4:17). Furthermore, Jesus affirmed, after listing and condemning all the vain things that man had pursued and sought after all his life, “But seek first His kingdom…” Need I say more? Jesus has given us a priority.

Seeking first the kingdom means to be after the advancement of the kingdom of God on the earth; it doesn’t mean to be after making heaven. When you discover your purpose on the earth, you become a manager of a sphere of influence on the earth.

Heaven was never promised in the bible. Heaven is not our purpose. Heaven is not our goal. Heaven is already a reality. We can’t be promised what we already have. The bible says we’re citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), and it would be sardonic to promise you what you already possess: Heaven’s citizenship. We’re currently heaven’s representative on earth, that’s why we can legally enforce the kingdom of God, heaven, upon the earth. We don’t live right because we want to make heaven; we live right because we are by nature righteous as heavenly citizens. Hence, it’ll be counter-commonsensical to act in opposition to our nature.

Heaven on earth, however, is our goal. Heaven is the prototype and the earth is the copy. Earth is supposed to be an expression of the kingdom of god; a replica or miniature extension of heaven (the kingdom of God), just like in the Garden of Eden. Since we’re already citizens of heaven, we ought not to be after making heaven, that’s a done deal. Instead, we ought to be after producing an extension of heaven on earth, thus fulfilling our purpose for being here.

The only reason you are not in heaven is because you are needed on earth. Your purpose on earth is to reveal God and his kingdom, just as it is in heaven. Everything good things that benefits man comes from God in form of an idea including I Phone, Airplane, Train, chairs, clothes, and many physical things. People get a taste of God through the acts, creativity, talent, work and productivity of man.

Our roads ought to remind us of heaven. Our hospitals ought to remind us of heaven. We, as Christians, ought be the leaders in production of goods and services that betters the life of man. We ought to be the leaders in invention that captivates the heart and prospers our land.

Every spiritual experience we have must be converted into its physical equivalent before it can benefit man. We ought not to be just religious and spiritual without impacting our physical world. The whole earth is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19).

We don’t come to church to find or worship God, we are God carriers already. There is a portion of the uniqueness and Glory of God in every one of us that we ought to manifest. The heavens declare the glory of God; we ought to do the same. The birds that fly; the fishes that swim; the whole of nature displays the glory of God; we ought to do the same on the earth. Our purpose for being on the earth is the avenue through which we manifest the kingdom. When we find our individual purpose, we begin establishing the kingdom of God on the earth.