The church is in heaven as to title and its privileges, and on earth as to fact and its duties. On the earth, the church ought to be the manifestation of the activity of God’s love and of His holiness, according to the power of the Holy Spirit. As we have seen, the church by resurrection in Christ is in heaven, but in fact it is also on the earth. If we had ascended to heaven to receive the Holy Spirit, the unity would be only for heaven, but the Holy Spirit having descended to the earth to form the unity, that unity is here below.
J. N. Darby