Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary: Collated from his Diary by Benjamin FunkKline, John
Religion
Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary: Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk
Kline, John
Kline, John, 1797-1864
We often wonder about heaven. But I will tell you, Brethren, what I
believe about it. I do believe in my very soul that every Christian
man, after the death of his body, finds himself in the very heaven he
takes with him from this world; and that every man's heaven is the
LOVE and the TRUTH that abound in his mind and heart. If his heart is
filled with _love_ to God and to his brother, and his mind stored with
the _truth_ of God as revealed in his Son Jesus Christ, that man's
heaven is _in_ him. Do you remember, Brethren, that when Jesus was on
earth he said that he was also at the same time in heaven? Now let me
show you this. He says to Nicodemus: "No man hath ascended to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, _even the Son of man_ WHICH IS IN
HEAVEN." John 3:13.
And right here a difficulty confronts us which we must try to settle.
Did not Elijah ascend to heaven? How about Moses? These two redeemed
saints were both of them in heaven at the very time our Lord said this
to Nicodemus. Very shortly after this conversation they made their
appearance, not only to Jesus, but to Peter and James and John on
the holy mount in glory. How had they gotten there? I will tell you
just what I think our Lord meant. He meant to teach that stupid,
_materialistic_ Nicodemus that people do not go to heaven by merely
ascending, like as one would ascend or go up from a lower room in a
building to a higher one. He meant to teach him that heaven must be in
the man, inwrought into his character and life. This follows in
perfect harmony with what he had just before told him about the new
birth and a change of heart. "That which is born of the flesh is
flesh," and nothing more. But Paul says: "Ye are not in the flesh, but
in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Elijah
had not _really ascended_. The Lord just took him up as he had taken
Enoch many years before. He was in heaven whilst on earth, just as
Jesus was. The only change he underwent in his departure from this
world was a change in the relations of his state. While here his
_state_ was a _heavenly_ state, but surrounded by earthly things.
After his departure from earth his _state_ was the same; but his
surroundings were heavenly, and he could feel at home.
THE ANGELS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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