By Zac Poonen
In each of the 7 glimpses of heaven given in the book of Revelation, we see the inhabitants of heaven continuously praising God with a loud voice – sometimes as loud as thunders and as the noise of roaring rivers. This is the atmosphere of heaven – one of continual praise, without any complaints or demands. And this is the atmosphere that the Holy Spirit desires to bring into our hearts, our homes and our churches as well. It is thus that Satan will be driven away from all these places.
One of the aspects of heaven is seen in Revelation 4:10 . There we read that the elders “cast their crowns down before God”. No-one but Jesus will have a crown on His head in heaven. All the rest of us will be ordinary brothers and sisters there. There are no special brothers or sisters in heaven. Those who seek to be special brothers or sisters in the church bring the atmosphere of hell into the church. We will also never boast of anything when we stand before the Father. Everything that we have, we will cast down before Him. In heaven, no-one will ever say “This is mine”, concerning anything he may have (not even concerning the crown that he received). When the atmosphere of heaven begins to pervade our churches, we too will never again say concerning anything that we may have, “This is mine”. Everything will be considered as God’s and therefore as available freely for the spread of God’s kingdom on earth.
How is God’s will done in heaven? Let me mention four things. First of all, the angels are in a perpetual state of WAITING UPON GOD for His commands. They wait for God to speak first – and only then do they act. So, when we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” (Mathew 6:10) it means, first of all that we want to hear what God has to say to us. Secondly, when God speaks, the angels obey IMMEDIATELY. Then thirdly, when God commands something in heaven, it is done COMPLETELY. And finally, the obedience of the angels is JOYFUL.
In Heaven, there is blessed fellowship. There is no lording it over others there. Everyone is a servant of others. 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. The most valuable brother and sister in any church is the one who can bring the atmosphere of heaven into a church and who can build fellowship between the brothers and sisters in that church. And this need not necessarily be the elder brother. All of us have the opportunity to become such valuable brothers and sisters. Think if there is a brother or a sister in a church, who whenever he/she comes into a meeting or into a home, is like a pure breeze from heaven blowing through the room. What a precious brother/sister such a person is! Even if he stops by and visits you for just five minutes, you feel refreshed. You feel as if heaven came into your home for five minutes! He may not have given you a sermon or even a word of revelation from the Scriptures. But he was so pure. He was not moody or gloomy and had no complaints against anyone.