The perfection of Heavenly bliss!

(Charles Simeon)

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" Revelation 21:4

We are born for higher things than this poor world can afford us.

We know by sad experience what pain and sorrow mean; and frequent are the occasions on which tears flow down our cheeks. Death too, that king of terrors, warns us of the pains which we shall speedily endure in our conflicts with him.

This whole world is little else than a valley of tears. At best it is a chequered scene, and sorrows are continually intermingled with our joys.

But in Heaven there will be no more pain, or sorrow, or crying; our happiness will be uninterrupted and without mixture.

Nor will there be any termination of our Heavenly bliss; for "there will be no more death." Whatever tears bedewed our cheeks in our departing hours, they will all be wiped away by God Himself; who will, from the instant of our entrance into His presence, seat us on His throne, put an unfading crown of glory upon our head, and invest us with all the glory and felicity of His kingdom.

When joy and gladness have thus taken possession of our souls, not only will sorrow and sighing flee away-but all occasion for them, all scope for the exercise of them, will vanish forever!

The crowning jewel of that blissful state is that the Lord Jesus Christ, in all the glory of His person, and in all the wonders of His love, will be made clear to us as the sun at noon-day. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is!" 1 John 3:2. O beloved, what a rapturous state will this be!

O that we were able to speak of it as we ought! But we feel the subject far too great for our feeble grasp.

We should contemplate Heaven as the main object of pursuit. What is there in the whole universe that is worthy to be put in competition with it? O! blush that you can have your heart engaged about the trifles and vanities of time and sense, and that these eternal realities occupy so little of your attention.

It is a wonder that you can be content to live in this poor wretched world, when there is such blessedness awaiting you at your departure from it.

Let us only think how near we are to that blissful state-and nothing will be able to damp our ardor, or retard our progress, in the pursuit of it.

"Our citizenship is in Heaven; we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who . . . will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body!" Philippians 3:20-21

   ~  ~  ~  ~

We have published both Testaments of "Charles Simeon's Devotional Commentaries". In hardcopy this is well over 10,000 pages in 21 volumes. These gems can be used for either daily devotional reading, or for sermon/lesson preparation. Editor's note: This is my favorite commentary set.