There’s the story that after death, we’ll stand at heaven’s gate. And God asks the qualifying question for entrance—“What have you done with my Son?”

The reality, though, is that we believers already have entrance into heaven. Having been justified as innocent and made righteous through the act of Jesus’ obedience, we have our heavenly passports already in hand.

In Jesus, it is an objective spiritual fact that our old selves have been crucified with Him and buried with Him through baptism into death. As a result we have newness of life.

In Jesus’ resurrection, we have been made alive together with Him. It is said that he who has the Son has life. Jesus is eternal life. Therefore we possess that life now. It’s a life that will lift us physically from the temporary first death, and that will give keep us from ever having to taste the permanent, eternal second death. (Keeping Jesus’ eternal life in this world depends on us overcoming by keeping and walking in faith. Rev. 2: 7, 11, 17, 26; 3: 5, 12, 21; 21: 7.)

As it now stands, we have been spiritually raised with Jesus and seated with Him in heaven (Ephesians 2: 6). You see! We’re already there. We have access to the Father at any time. In fact, when we pray, it’s not so much that our prayers are ascending to heaven. Seated there in Christ, we pray right next to the Father, to His face.

Heaven is our home; our real home. Right now we are registered there in the book of life as its citizens. Spiritually, we can go back and forth between here and there any time we want to.

Admittedly, these corruptible bodies now prevent us from clearly seeing and enjoying the splendors of heaven. But that will change when we inhabit the holy city in our glorified bodies.

Presently though, the pearly gates are wide open to us.