For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (RSV)
Folk ask when we know we have entered the Kingdom, and will we recognize heaven? Most consider this an event that will come at the end of days when the Lord returns in all His glory. It is a popular notion and most incorrect.
Yes, the Lord will come again to judge the living and the dead. At His coming will be the new heaven and the new earth where sin, suffering, sickness, and death will not even be a memory—a Christian longs for that day when the Lord comes.
But we have already touched the Kingdom, come before the living presence of the Risen Lord, and begin the celebration of heaven. As with all the generations of believers who come to the Supper of the Lord, we are our foretaste of the feast to come. As we gather around the Supper, we are joined by all who have gone before, by the saints living in the far-flung corners of the planet, in our witness to our crucified and risen Lord.
Though human hearts and minds may struggle at so great a mystery, each time we come to the Supper, it is truly the Body and Blood of the Lord we receive. We hear the promise Jesus made at the Last Supper, 'given for you, shed for you", confident that is not only His true Body and Blood but that the Lord Himself proclaims it to us.
The Blessed Luther instructs us that our hearts and spirits long for this heavenly food. We would seek it at all times, coming joyfully to the Supper, for in it we not only have life and salvation but are joined to the eternal feast the Lord has set before His holy saints.