Is this world “just a scaffold” for constructing something better?

George MacDonald tucks an amazing spiritual message within a fictional work: “Wouldn’t you think, perhaps, that God, having gone so far to make this world a pleasant and comfortable place to live in, might not have gone farther and made it quite pleasant and comfortable for everybody?” … “What if it were not meant to stand, then? What if it were meant only for a temporary assistance in carrying out something finished and lasting, and of unspeakably more importance? Suppose God were building a palace for you and had set up a scaffold, upon which he wanted you to help him; would it be reasonable in you to complain that you didn’t find the scaffold at all a comfortable place to live in? that it was drafty and cold? This world is that scaffold…” (The Vicar’s Daughter, chapter 24)