HEAVEN!
William Nicholson, 1855
BELOVED of the Lord, listen! The melodious voice of your Redeemer breaks on your ear! Sweeter to you is its sound, than the music of the sphere, and dearer to you its import, than the gold of Peru! Listen!—it is the legacy of Heaven, "Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!"
Christ also prayed to his Father, that this happiness might be granted to all his disciples: "Father, I will, that they also whom you have given me, be with me where am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me!" And again, "In my Father's house are many, mansions; if it were not so, I would have told
you; I go to prepare a place for you; and, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come and receive you unto myself, that where I an; there you may be also."
How cheering such language is to the desponding believer! What a high and glorious destiny awaits him! What are the sufferings of time, when compared with the mansions of glory! Believer, gird up your mind; "be sober, and hope to the end; keep yourself in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life."
When we consider the greatness of this subject, we feel ourselves totally incompetent to explore the object of our research. The very moment we approach it, we are either so surrounded by clouds and darkness too dense for human vision to penetrate, or we are so overpowered by a light too effulgent for mortal eyes to endure; and by an excess of brightness, that we actually sink into a state of obscurity. "As it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man—the things which God has prepared for those who love him." But the scriptures have given us some account of the eternal abode of the righteous. Consider,
HEAVEN—THE PLACE OF THEIR HABITATION
In the final glorification of the saints, Heaven is the place appointed for their eternal residence. They have, in Heaven, a better and more enduring substance. If it is asked whether Heaven is a place or a state—it is replied that it is both. Its locality is expressed in the sacred oracles. It is termed a house in which there are many mansions. It is a building of God. It is a kingdom—a city—an eternal inheritance.
Besides, the bodies of Enoch and Elijah are already translated to the possession of celestial glory. The body, also, of Jesus Christ has ascended to the throne of his Eternal Father; and, at the general resurrection of the dead, the bodies of all the saints will enter this glorious habitation. Heaven is therefore a place.
And it is also a state. It is a state of pure, boundless, and unmingled delight. There the inhabitant shall never say, "I am sick." There they are as the angels of God. There they have fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, Psalm 16:11. There the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. The gates of the celestial city are pearls; its streets are pure gold; it has no need for the sun or moon to shine upon it, because it is illumined by the glory of God, and there is no night there!
In Heaven, the righteous derive all their happiness from the immediate hand of Jehovah; the effulgence of the Deity bursts upon their heads with its ineffable radiance; and the all-sufficiency of the Infinite Godhead renders their bliss complete. In the present world, we are, encompassed with infirmities, and daily exposed to a thousand painful vicissitudes; but, in the world to come, Jesus has determined:
To lift us from this abject to sublime;
This flux to permanent, this dark to day,
This foul to pure, this turbid to serene,
This mean to mighty.Thus, of the New Jerusalem, glorious things are spoken. She is the perfection of strength and beauty; and all the springs of the happiness of the Christian are in her. She is called the City of the living God, because in her is transcendently manifested the glory of that Great Being who alone has immortality, who alone is self-existent and independent, and who is the sole source of existence and enjoyment to every species of rational and intelligent creatures.
Of the glory and beauty of every other part of the universe, compared with the magnificence of Heaven, it may not unjustly be said that "even that which was made glorious, has no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory which excels." If the magnificence and beauty of this lower world are such as convince us that the hand which formed it is divine; if the arrangements made on the surface of our globe for the subsistence of irrational animals and of mortal and sinful creatures are such as fill us with astonishment and wonder; then how magnificent must be that place which the Almighty has created for the residence of pure and immortal beings, and where he reveals his presence in a peculiar manner to the noblest of created intelligences to angels who never sinned, and to righteous men whom he has redeemed from all sin, and purified from all iniquity!
The earth is full of the riches of God; but the earth is only his footstool; Heaven is his throne, and the place of his dwelling. If we consider the whole creation as his temple; then Heaven will be the holy of holies of that temple. If we consider the whole creation as his kingdom; then Heaven will be the palace of the Great King, or the metropolis of that omnipotent Sovereign whose empire is bounded only by the boundaries of the universe.
And with what admirable art must the city of the living God be constructed and adorned! With how much skill must the throne of God be erected! how great must be the majesty of that place where the whole art of creation has been employed, and where God has chosen to show himself in the most magnificent manner! What must be the architecture of infinite power, under the direction of infinite wisdom! The light of the sun, and all the glories of the world in which we live, are but as weak and sickly glimmerings, or rather darkness itself—in comparison to those splendors which encompass the throne of God.
As the glory of this place is transcendent beyond imagination, so probably is the extent of it. There is light behind light, and glory within glory. If he has made these lower regions of matter so inconceivably wide and magnificent for the habitation of mortal and perishable beings—then how great may we suppose the courts of his glorious house to be, where he makes his residence in a more especial manner, and displays himself in the fullness of his glory, among all the hosts of Heaven!
The entire personality of the righteous is worthy of consideration. With the exception of two individuals, they are only the spirits of the saints that are now exalted to the kingdom of God, and made perfect in his presence, Hebrews 12:23. But, in the morning of the resurrection, the bodies of the righteous shall return from the dust; they shall be reunited to the souls from which they were separated by the hand of death; and the whole man shall participate in celestial happiness. The material of this physical body shall be refined, purified, and adorned with the most exquisite beauty. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality."
Hence these hands shall handle of the fruit of the tree of life. These feet shall tread the golden-pavement of the holy city of the Lord. These eyes shall gaze, with ineffable delight, upon the King of kings, on his radiant throne in Zion. This tongue shall sing the song of Moses And the Lamb. This heart shall beat with ecstasy to his unspeakable honor. "For, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thessalonians 4:11.
Consider, again, their aggregate body of believers. The language a the Apostle conveys the idea of the vastness of the number of the worshipers of Heaven. "After this, I beheld, and lo! a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!"
The enemies of Christianity have often represented it as a scheme which exhibits the Deity as aiming at the happiness of a few, and consigning, without mercy, almost the whole of our race to perdition. And perhaps the dark and contracted notions of certain religionists have furnished them with some plausible arguments for supporting these imputations. But what was the design of the great Author of our faith, when he became the Mediator? To bring many sons to glory. To whom does Jesus wish his salvation to be offered? He orders repentance and remission of sins to be preached in his name, to all nations. The worth of the Lamb shall not be sung by a few solitary individuals. That song shall not rise before the throne, low and feeble. It shall be the song of the nations of those who are saved; and shall be louder than the sound of many waters and of mighty thunderings. Every tribe on earth shall send forth soldiers to Messiah's standard; and every language of the world shall proclaim his glory.
Heaven will be completely occupied, but sufficiently capacious to accommodate the general assembly of the church of the first-born, whose names are written in Heaven. It will be the grand rendezvous of all the wise and the good. The patriarchs and the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, the reformers, and the whole body of God's saints, will be gathered together from all parts of the world, from all the ages of time, and from all the diversified conditions of human life—to dwell with him in glory!
And are not such associations Heaven? Can you, Christians, be indifferent to the thought of meeting and conversing with the best and greatest of men that ever breathed our air, and trod our earth, and obtained a name in the records of inspiration?
If, in the language of the Old Testament, for a believer to depart out of life, is to be "gathered to his fathers;" if to be admitted into Heaven is to be received into "the bosom of Abraham;" what must be the delight of introduction to the father of the faithful, to the lawgiver of Israel, to the prophet who ascended to Heaven in a chariot of fire, to the man after God's own heart, to the disciple whom Jesus loved, and to a countless multitude of the imitators of God, "of whom the world was not worthy!" Oh! this is Heaven! They come from the east and from the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God! They sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb! It is Heaven, for there the guests are uniform; but when they assemble together here on earth, they come from all nations; they sit at different tables; call themselves by different names; speak a different language; and range under a different party. But there, collected from all quarters of the globe, they appear in one dress; they are called by one name; they meet in one place; they participate in one salvation; they are "of one heart, and of one mind."
Here on earth, they differ in talents; and even there, they shall probably "differ in glory;" but the glory of each shall be perfect in itself; and every happy spirit shall possess as much of glory that it can enjoy—shall contain a felicity overflowing all, according to the capacity of each. So that, while they differ in glory, they are alike and equal in enjoyment; each possessing as much as it can grasp. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." "No tulip bed," observes one, "exhibits a richer variety of colors than the heavenly bodies; yet this variety, while each has its own splendor, and is perfect in its kind, adds to the grandeur and beauty of the whole scene."
So it is in Heaven. The capacities vary, but the happiness of each is full; and the glorified state of each ministers to the profit and edification of the whole assembly, and richly displays the glory of God and of the Lamb.
HEAVEN—COMPANIONSHIP OF ANGELS
The saints, in their glorified state, will also be the companions of angels. "You have come," says Paul, with the anticipating spirit of prophecy, "unto mount Zion, and, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and, to an innumerable company of angels." Says John, "Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back." Revelation 4:4-6
In this passage, the same station is allotted to the Representatives of the Church, and the Representatives of the Angelic host. Throughout the book of Revelation, angels and glorified spirits are represented as dwelling together in the same glorious mansions, engaged in the same employments, and united in the same praise:
"Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:9-11
The angel interpreter, also, whom John, when overwhelmed by the vision of the New Jerusalem, attempted to worship, replied to him in these remarkable words, "Don't do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the sayings of this book." Angels, then, it is clearly evident, are the companions of the Redeemed in Heaven—a privilege which words cannot describe, nor imagination conceive!
HEAVEN—CHARACTER OF BELIEVERS
The character of believers in Heaven is worthy of consideration. Body and soul will then be united, and be separated no more forever. It is sufficient to remark here, that the body will be liable to none of the needs, decays, disorders, or grossness, of our present animal frame; no longer will it retard our motions, or impede in us contemplation and devotion. It will be suited to, assist and increase the most sublime and rapturous joys of our souls to all eternity. However it may appear to us at present, we shall doubtless find the resurrection of the body to be an immense accession to our happiness, and to our capacity of enjoying and glorifying God.
HEAVEN—PERFECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS
The redeemed, in their glorified condition, are called just men made perfect. It is not implied here, that they will enter upon a state of existence which will allow of no increase of their mental powers, attainments, or enjoyments. Perfection, in this sense, is confined to Deity. But this sense of perfection implies that the mind will be the subject neither of fault nor error, neither of decay nor weariness; a state in which there will be nothing to lessen its usefulness, or impair its enjoyment; in which it will be entirely approved by itself, and entirely loved by its Maker. In Heaven, it will fill a station, and act a part altogether necessary, desirable, and honorable, and will perform everything perfectly, and better than it would be performed by any other being whatever. This is the perfection of angels, and the perfection of those who are declared by Christ, to be equal, or like, to angels. The improvement of both will be progressive through eternity.
"You have redeemed us to God!" is the acknowledgment of glorified spirits; and it declares that they were once rebels, and outcasts, and children of wrath, and were condemned by the law of God. It declares that they have been turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Every one has been washed in the Redeemer's blood, and renewed by the influence of the Divine Spirit. Thus they are a new order of beings in the Divine kingdom; being restored from endless sin—to endless holiness, and raised from absolute perdition—to immortal life. How amazing the change! How immense the deliverance! So amazing, so literally immense, that eternity will scarcely be sufficient to unfold the height and depth, the length, and breadth, of this unexampled salvation.
In this character, the Redeemer will behold them through interminable ages, as the travail of his soul, the hopes of his cross, and the gems in his crown of glory. Throughout eternity, he will look on every one as an immortal person whom he saved from endless turpitude and ruin, by shed his own most precious blood on the cruel cross! He will view us as people recovered by himself, to the divine kingdom, re-enstamped by his Spirit with the image of God, and thus furnished with an indefeasible title to eternal glory.
Hence, being his redeemed and adopted children, he will acknowledge them as heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, to an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading; an inheritance which is eternal in the heavens; a kingdom which is prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
Again, in their state of future bliss, the saints will be kings and priests unto God.
The name priest, in this statement, indicates the distinguished purity of they character; it teaches us that their thoughts, affections, and purposes, will be an unceasing and eternal offering of sweet incense the Sanctuary of Heaven.
The name King denotes their distinguished honor, and informs us that they will hereafter be elevated to princely employments and peculiar dignities in the Empire of Jehovah. "To him who overcomes," says Christ, "I will grant to sit with me on my throne; even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my rather on his throne." They shall all reign," said the interpreting angel to John, when describing the future happiness of the righteous; "They shall reign forever and ever!"
HEAVEN—DELIVERANCE FROM IMPERFECTION
In Heaven, the righteous will be delivered from all the numerous imperfections of the present state, and endowed with every excellence to secure their perpetual harmony. Without society, without fellowship with endeared friends and relatives—what is human life? If we were doomed to dwell in a state of continual solitude, our very existence would be an intolerable burden. "It is not good that man should be alone." But in this world, the pleasures of fellowship are sometimes interrupted by painful feelings. As the hand that is stretched forth to gather the beautiful rose, is occasionally met and repelled by the piercing of the thorn—so the very enjoyments of life are frequently the occasions of its deepest sorrows.
All professions of friendship are not sincere. We are so perpetually exposed to misunderstandings, so easily diverted from any particular object of our attention, and generally so capricious in our attachment to society itself, which is the very germ, and blade, and bud, and flower, and sweetest fruit of human life, that it is frequently embittered by disappointed hopes in its fellowship, and uncomfortable reflections in its results.
Besides, in our present state of imperfection, we find ourselves the subjects of social sorrows, as well as personal sorrows. We are commanded to bear one another's burdens, and to weep with those who weep. We naturally suffer under the afflictions of near and dear relatives and kindred. When the child is torn from the bosom of a tender parent by the relentless hand of death, it is neither possible nor desirable to refrain from grief that the loss occasions. "A voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children."
The King of terrors is always causing pain and anguish, by separating beloved friends from each other—husbands from wives, brothers from sisters, and pastors from people. But, in the final glorification of the redeemed, there will be:
no painful separation or bereavement to occasion tears of sorrow;
no insincerity of friendship to create distrust;
no misunderstandings to alienate esteem;
no fickleness of disposition to produce a change of principle.The individuals who compose the aggregate body of God's redeemed people, will be of one heart; and, in the whole range of Heaven, from its center to its circumference, each inhabitant will ever find himself surrounded by kindred minds, judicious associates; and faithful friends. The family of the redeemed in glory will be innumerable in its parts, and perfect in its unity as a whole. There will be no strife between Abraham and Lot—no contention between Paul and Barnabas. Among the countless myriads of glorified beings that occupy the kingdom of God, there is not one jarring interest to disquiet their repose; not one selfish passion to interrupt the spontaneous feelings of pure beneficence; nor one sordid spirit to lower the moral elevation of the general body. In Heaven they all possess the honor of priesthood, without a Korah to envy their dignity; and are crowned with royal diadems, without the possibility of rivalship to question the right of inheritance.
HEAVEN—DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL
Every cause of evil will be forever excluded from the state of blessedness to which believers aspire. There shall be no more pain, neither sorrow, nor crying; for the former things have passed away. The inhabitant shall never say, I am sick. There will be no more curse, and, therefore, no more death. Those bodies, once subject to pain and disease, shall now become the seat of felicity and joy. The holy martyrs, who were tortured upon the cruel rack, or consumed by devouring fire; those poor and oppressed members of Christ's mystical body, who, during their sojourn on earth, went through much tribulation—shall look back on their afflictions and conflicts, as a ship-wrecked mariner looks back upon the wreck from which he has escaped; or as the Israelites looked back upon the Egyptians, when they sunk like lead in the mighty waters. They will realize an ecstacy of joy, surpassing that which inspired the hearts of the Israelites on hearing Moses say, "Your enemies which you see today, you shall see no more forever."
The saints will look back upon their trials, as evils which exist only in recollection, and to heighten the transport, they will remember that they have overcome by the word of their testimony, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. When the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to the celestial Zion with songs, everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall forever flee away.
Heaven is created to be the residence of happiness. Everything which it contains will be beauty, grandeur, and glory to the eye, harmony to the ear, and rapture to the heart! Rapture which admits no mixture, and knows no termination!
HEAVEN—TRIUMPH OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Consider, again, the grand triumph of the righteous. They bear the palms of victory in their hands, and are termed even more than conquerors. We must recollect, however, that their
warfare was not a carnal conflict; neither were the weapons of their defense the instruments of pain and destruction to their fellow-creatures; their motives to action were not the subjugation of a distant foe, the plunder of a foreign territory, the effusion of human blood. Their triumph is not disgraced by the madness of ambition, nor the cruelty of revenge. It is not mingled with the pangs of the dying, the tears of the widow, and the orphan's lamentations.
It is a triumph not over men, but the triumph of principle. It is the triumph of wisdom over ignorance. It is the triumph of sound principles over the dictates of selfishness and over the mere impulse of passion. It is the triumph of Christian fortitude over cowardice that dares not to worship God, under circumstances of reproach or suffering in his cause. It is the triumph of a holy faith in holy things, over a base infidelity of heart. It is the triumph of truth over error, and piety over profaneness.
In short, the final glorification of believers is the triumph of all that is noble in sentiment, pure in conduct, brave in spirit, and generous in disposition—over all the bad motives, unholy tempers, and wicked practices of an ungodly world.
While the Christian warrior continues on earth, he defends the cause of Christ, in opposition to the combined efforts of earth and Hell. They can neither defeat him in the object of his pursuit, nor deprive him of that victory which shall lay sin, Satan, and even death, prostrate at his feet, as vanquished foes; and crown him with eternal honor!
Therefore, in the immediate prospect of martyrdom, Paul could boldly assert, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing!" The great Captain of salvation addresses his soldiers in these animated words! "Be faithful unto death; and I will give you a crown of life!" "To him who overcomes will I grant to sit down with me on my throne!"
The Christian is approved of God; he fights under the banner of his cross; he is led on by his Redeemer, from conquering to conquer, until every enemy is completely subdued; and then his triumph is honored with the acclamations of angels, the shouts of victory in paradise, a seat at the right hand of the Creator, and an eternal weight of glory!
HEAVEN—UNINTERRUPTED REPOSE
In Heaven, the Righteous will enjoy an uninterrupted repose. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." "There remains a rest for the people of God." It is not however, the repose of apathy, or of indolence, or of selfishness, to which the righteous are destined in their final glorification. It is . . .
a rest from the burden of sin,
a rest from the toil of labor,
a rest from the dangers of warfare,
a rest from the anguish of guilt,
a rest from the torment of fear,
a rest from the power of temptation,
a rest from internal disquietude,
a rest from external assault from the world.In Heaven:
the passions that have agitated the bosoms of mankind in the present world, will be unknown;
the follies that have torn their very heart-strings asunder, will eternally cease;
the woes that have depopulated empires, and filled them with blood and carnage, will be no more;
rebellion will have spent all its force;
the iron rod of oppression will be broken;
the battle trumpet will have blown its final blast;
the last shout of battle will have expired;
calamities will have come to a perpetual end;
the olive branch of peace shall be continually waved on the wall of mount Zion;
and the Prince of peace himself shall secure its perfect tranquility.
"There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest!"
HEAVEN—FREEDOM FROM SIN
In Heaven, the righteous will enjoy perfect freedom from sin. Nothing embitters life more than the prevalence of indwelling sin in conflicting with which so many defeats and discouragements are endured. Paul exclaimed, "Oh! What a wretched man I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of sin and death!"
The burden of the innate depravity is worse than the heaviest affliction, and less easily endured; this is an internal enemy, from whom there is no escape by any change of outward circumstances. Like the house infected with the leprosy, no cleaning or purifying is sufficient; the inhabitant must be dislodged, and the edifice rased and rebuilt. "We who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened."
But, in Heaven, the righteous shall be sanctified in body, soul, and spirit! Yes, every disciple shall be as righteous as his Lord, who on earth was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. "Holiness becomes your house, O Lord, forever!" And this grandeur the righteous shall possess in all its excellence!
The subjects of God's celestial kingdom are assimilated to his likeness; they all bear his image upon their hearts, without the least stain of pollution. Their purity will be spotless. Their love will be intense in its exercise, sublime in its object, and immaculate in its nature.
Every sentiment of the mind, every feeling of the soul, every desire of the bosom, every expression of the tongue, every deed, and every purpose, of the righteous in Heaven, will be "Holiness to the Lord." Nothing impure will ever enter that city, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."
If this is the state of the righteous in Heaven, then Paul might well say, "To die is gain!" Most men are desirous of gain. Some make it the great object of their life, and will barter away their precious souls, for the perishable riches of the world.
Gain is the believer's great object; but remember, his gain is durable riches and righteousness.
He loses nothing by his espousal of true religion, but that which is evil and afflicting.
He loses sin, his greatest plague, his vilest incendiary, which has robbed him in every duty, and marred every pleasure.
He loses Satan. Grace puts a child of God out of Satan's possession. Glory puts a child of God out of Satan's temptation.
He loses his fears, which have armed him against himself, and seated deep melancholy on his brow.
He loses his tears, the effect of those clouds of sorrow which have gathered in his heart, and dropped from his eyes.
He loses his crosses, the weight of which has so pressed him down, that he has not been able to look up.
He loses his poverty, which was his dishonor among men, and deprived him of many comforts.
He loses his sicknesses, which incapacitated him for duty.
He loses his cares, which wasted his spirits, and broke his rest. He loses his spiritual desertions, which were his heaviest mental sorrows, that his God for a moment should forsake him.
And he loses the weariness of the pilgrimage, occasioned by the clouds and darkness, and storms, and enemies, which encompassed his path.
Oh yes! he loses them all! He shall see them no more, forever.
But his gain—who can reckon it? Paul was caught up into the third Heaven; but he informs us that the glories, the joys, the beauties, the society, the employments, are all unspeakable! Yet this we know, that the presence of Christ is the handkerchief which wipes away all tears. Yes, Christ's presence shall turn his sinful deformity into spotless purity, and his doleful lamentations into everlasting hallelujahs. Then he shall exchange . . .
his pilgrim's staff, for a palm of victory,
his helmet of salvation, for a crown of glory,
his perishing tabernacle, for an incorruptible inheritance,
and the day of his dissolution, for the day of his coronation!Oh! blessed gain! Gracious Savior!
Let others stretch their arms, like seas,
And grasp in all the shore.
Grant me the vision of your face;
And I desire no more!
HEAVEN—EXPANSION OF THE INTELLECT
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
Sometimes, indeed, we hear great things respecting the progress of literature, of the rapid march of science, and surprising attainments and discoveries of the present age. In their own estimation, some people have become so wise, so scientific, and so learned, that they think they need no revelation from God to teach them the way to Heaven. They have become skeptical of the doctrines of the Bible, and rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, as an insult to their understandings, and a libel on the natural dignity of man.
Proud vain mortals! After all this mighty elevation of the intellect, tell us what you can really comprehend? What do you really and accurately know of the essences of bodies, or the nature of spirits? Our ideas of human wisdom are the mere assumption of our pride and self-conceit. The real fact is, that sin has reduced us to a state of great mental debility; and we stand exposed to a thousand errors on every subject we attempt to investigate, and even on those with which we profess an intimate acquaintance.
The least object in the visible creation, baffles the skill of the most intelligent person; it possesses a substance which he cannot develop, and properties which his mind is too feeble to unfold. Among the greatest men, there are false ideas in science and religion. Hence they often mistake their imagination for reason, and shadow for substance.
"For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." 1 Corinthians 1:19-21
To man, the whole world is wrapped in mystery; the dispensations of Providence are frequently covered with darkness; and the plan of human redemption infinitely surpasses the utmost stretch of the most intelligent mind.
But the servants of God, when elevated to the heavenly world, are to be like God, because they are "to see him as he is." 1 John 3:2. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12
Their ideas, then, will not be limited to a few effects proceeding from hidden causes, nor their decision be the mere conjecture of an as learned probability; but they shall understand the nature, the order, the influence, the operation, and the reason, of things. "What I am doing," said Christ, "you do not now know, but you shall know hereafter." "For now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." 1 Corinthians 13:9-10
In Heaven therefore, the mental vision will never be darkened by the mists of ignorance, nor the moral atmosphere obscured by the clouds of unhallowed prejudice; but, as from an open and an ever-shining sun, the transcendent light of the glorious Godhead shall fill the place, and not an atom intervene to cast a shadow over its divine radiance, and eclipse its splendor.
There every understanding shall be matured; Jehovah shall be seen as he is, bodies known as they are, spirits comprehended, mysteries developed, their causes explained, and their consequences unfolded. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him!" 1 Corinthians 2:9
"The city and the streets of the New Jerusalem," observes one, "being of pure gold, as it were transparent glass, may be an emblem of the union in Heaven, of these excellencies which seem here to be incompatible. They will be splendid, and durable as the purest gold; clear and transparent as the finest glass. In that glorious world, the beauties and advantages which are here divided and incompatible will unite and agree. Our glass is clear, but brittle. Our gold is shining and solid, but it is opaque, and reveals only a surface. And thus it is with our minds.
The powers of the imagination are lively and extensive, but transient and uncertain. The powers of the understanding are more solid, but at the same time, more slow, and limited, and confined to the outside properties of a few objects around us.
But when we arrive within the veil, the perfections of the glass and gold will be combined; and the imperfections of each will entirely cease. Then shall we know more than we can now imagine. The glass will be all gold. And then we shall apprehend truth in its relations and consequences, not as at present, by that tedious and fallible process which we call reasoning, but by a single glance of thought, as the sight pierces in an instant, through the largest transparent body. The gold will
be all glass.
It is also beautifully observed by Dr. Dwight, "To the eye of man, the sun appears a pure light, a mass of unmingled glory. Were we to ascend, with a continual flight, towards this luminary, and could, like the eagle, gaze directly on its luster, we would, in our
progress, behold its greatness continually enlarge, and its splendor become every moment more intense. As we
rose through the heavens, we would see a little orb changing, gradually, into a great world! And as we advanced nearer and nearer, should behold it expanded every way, until all that was before us became a universe of excessive and immeasurable glory! Thus the heavenly inhabitant will, at the commencement of his happy existence, see Heaven filled with magnificence and splendor, and arrayed in glory and beauty; and, as he advances onward through the successive periods of duration, will behold all things more and more luminous, transporting, and sun-like, forever."
HEAVEN—DIVINE MANIFESTATION
It does not seem strange that the Scriptures should speak of one especial place as the peculiar and appropriate residence of God. Notwithstanding his omnipresence, (See Psalm 139) he has condescended to establish his throne in one particular place, and to exhibit himself there in the symbols of inaccessible light. There his holy angels attend upon him, and see his face. From that place he issues his commands, as princes do theirs from the royal palace. And from that throne, he is represented as observing the actions of his creatures, and pouring down blessings or vengeance, as their behavior requires. "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's seat is in Heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men." In that temple, "thousand thousands minister unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him," celebrating his praises, and rejoicing in the light of his countenance. In reference to this Divine manifestation, Christ said, "Blessed, are the pure in heart; for they shall see God!" And the Apostle John says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is!" Sight is the most noble, extensive, and effective sense, and therefore fit to indicate the clear, sweet, and satisfying, knowledge of God in Heaven.
Here on earth, when we endeavor to contemplate the Divine character, it is seldom that we can dwell upon it long together, as the subject is go vast and stupendous. In the present state, we neither possess a sufficient degree of spirituality or mental ability; when the attributes of God engage our meditation, we are soon lost and bewildered; and cannot long retain a subject of which we can form no adequate or distinct conception; and we feel ourselves repelled from the investigation.
Here on earth, the objects of glory are humbled to the perception of sense. Hereafter, the sensible faculties shall be raised and refined, and made the subjects of glory. When divine light shall shine with direct beams, and the thick curtain of flesh shall be spiritualized and made transparent, the soul will enjoy the clearest vision of God. Even the glorious gospel, when compared with the revelation of God in Heaven, is but as the twilight of the morning, when the light of the day is obscured by the shadows of night. But, in Heaven, God shall be seen, "face to face;" that is, there will be the clearest manifestation of his glory, and of his favor to the blessed ones. The Apostle says, "we shall know, as we are known." But this statement is not to be understood so literally as some might suppose; for the sun may as easily be included in a spark of fire, as God can be comprehended by our finite faculties. Beyond the fullest discoveries we can receive of the Deity, there remains infinity of perfections not to be known by the most intelligent spirits. To know 'as we are known,' expresses similitude, not equality of knowledge. The light of a candle as truly shines as the light of the sun, but not with that extent and splendor.
We shall have such a perfect knowledge of God as our minds can receive, and as our hearts can desire! In Heaven, believers will see what they now believe concerning the glorious nature of God, his counsels, his providence, and his workings. All things of a supernatural order shall then be revealed. The great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, the union of the Divine perfections with the innocent infirmities of the human nature, the contrivance of our redemption, in which we see a harmonious concurrence of the principal attributes of the Deity that appeared irreconcilable; yes, that production of the Divine wisdom which is the joy and wonder of the church, and mysterious even to angels, shall then be unfolded. The Divine counsels in governing the world, the designs, the ways, the order, the operations—of God's providence shall be conspicuous. God will no longer appear on his throne, with clouds and darkness round about him; he will come forth, and present himself as the God of light; and all the mysteries of his providence shall vanish.
Why the light of the gospel was never visible to so many nations, the unsearchable ways and incomprehensible judgments of God, the dark and inscrutable providences which have sometimes threatened to shake the faith of God's people—all these shall be understood in such a manner that light itself will not be more clear. How often, in the midst of such perplexities, do saints exclaim, "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself!" A steadfast faith in the providence of God—that he does all things well, will calm their passions, and change the tempestuous ocean into a pacific sea. But, when they are admitted into the council of state above, and see the immediate reasons of his proceeding, then what heavenly wonder, what exquisite pleasure, will fill their minds! When the original fountains of wisdom, as clear as they are deep, shall be opened—what sweet satisfaction will pervade their hearts! They will see the beauty of providence in disposing temporal evils to promote their eternal felicity. As in a splendid picture, the darkest tints are so crafted as to give life and grace to the orient colors, so it will then appear that all the afflictions of the present state were but shadows of trials to render their faith, and love, and, patience more resplendent, and their reward more excellent.
What Christ said to Peter, is applicable to the impenetrable dispensations of providence towards us in our moral state; "What I do, you know not now, but you shall know hereafter."
Then the secrets of his counsel shall be unsealed; and we shall be able to expound the perplexing riddle, how "out of the eater came forth meat, and how out of the strong came sweetness." We shall understand that his overruling providence is most eminently glorified in extracting good but of evil; for we shall know, even as we are known!
HEAVEN—PRESENT WITH CHRIST
In Heaven, the righteous shall be with Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, who is seated at the right hand of God. And, Oh! what a rapturous enjoyment this will be—to see the King in his beauty! When, in this world, he was upon the holy mount, and one vanishing beam of his glory appeared in his transfiguration; Peter was transported at the sight, and he forgot the world and himself.
How ravishing will be the sight of Jesus in his triumphal majesty, when believers themselves shall be transfigured!
To be with Christ, is to see him perfectly. It is impossible for you, Christians, to be with him, without beholding him. Here, you see him by faith. This telescope of faith assists your mental vision. "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor." The sight, which faith gave you, of his beauty and glory, ravished your hearts, carried your affections to Heaven, and filled your souls with bliss. "Whom, having not seen; we love. In whom, though now we see him not—yet believing, we rejoice with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory."
It is recorded of a pilgrim who was going to Jerusalem, that, in passing through Constantinople, when that city was in its glory, he met with a friend, who, wishing to detain him in the eastern metropolis, took him around to see the beauties of that celebrated place. And when his friend asked, "What do you think of this?" "Very splendid," exclaimed the pilgrim; "but this is not the holy city." In the same way, the Christian pilgrim says of all the views he has of Christ on earth: They are very splendid, as he is altogether lovely; but this is not the perfect view I shall have of him in the holy city!
There are three impressions which describe this sight of Christ. "We shall see him as he is," not as he was—a poor man, accompanied with twelve men; but as he is now—crowned with light and majesty, with thousands of thousands ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him. Oh! what a sight will this be!
And again, it is said "they shall see his face!" They shall see the smiles of it, see the scars upon it; and see the beauty of it; that face which was more marred than any man's, now brighter than ten thousand suns, beaming with infinite delight upon his people, as the purchase of his blood and the travail of his soul!
Then, Christians, you will see what is the great object of his intercession; "Father, I will that those who you have given to me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory!" And what glory is this? It is the glory of Jehovah, in the face of Jesus Christ. All, the glory of the Father, all the glory of the angels, all the glory of paradise—are consecrated to the Son of righteousness.
"I will show you all the glory of Greece," said an ancient to his friend; and, so saying, he took him to Solon, the Spartan lawgiver. "And is this all?" said his friend. "Yes," replied the ancient; when you have seen Solon, you have seen all." And so, when the saints see Christ, they see all the glory of Heaven in him; "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, is the light thereof."
But what must it be to see this glory; to see the glory of him who made all things, who governs all things, who upholds all things by the word of his power!
What must it be to see the glory of him before whom all the kings of the earth, with all their glory and, splendor, are the insignificant dust of the balance!
What must it be to see the glory of him who laid the riches of that glory aside, that, for the sake of sinners, he would become poor. What must it be to see the glory of him who loved them and gave himself for them, and, by the shedding of his infinitely precious blood, redeemed those who shall surround his throne—from sin's slavery, death, and Hell; now, for the suffering of death, invested with glory, and honor, and might, and majesty, and dominion!
What must it be to see the glory of those wounds he received in suffering for us, each like a diamond, sparkling with the glory of his love, and power, and faithfulness to his chosen people!
What must it be to see that head which was crowned with thorns, now crowned with the many crowns of his redeemed, as the proofs that they all joy fully ascribed all the glory of their salvation to him? Oh! this is Heaven!
What crowding and effort are manifested to obtain but a glimpse of an earthly sovereign, or of a war hero? And shall a believer not be equally anxious to be present with Christ, that he may behold his glory?
Christians! When you enter Heaven, you will not only see Christ, but you will also fully enjoy him! If the Redeemer pronounces those blessed who have not seen, and yet have believed; then how much greater must their happiness be, who, after believing on earth, do see him in glory! Your enjoyment of Christ, on earth, by the appropriation of faith, is very great—but you receive that happiness through the channels of ordinances—the word, meditation, prayer, and the Lord's Supper. Faith assures you that all is true which is spoken of him in the word. Faith is the eye by which you discover his beauty. Faith is the mouth by which you really taste his sweetness. Faith produces an inexpressible joy and peace in the soul, known only to the children of God.
Many, under the holy enjoyments which this precious grace of faith has brought, have sung in the house of their pilgrimage, and envied not the imagined pleasures and transitory happiness of the richest monarchs! Listen to their animated language, "I sat under his shadow, with great delight; and his fruit was sweet unto my taste." "My soul magnifies the Lord; and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior." "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a princely crown, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels!"
"I live—yet not I, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Ah! could they but always live in this sunshine of divine favor, outward circumstances would affect them but little; the darkest day of adversity, if illumined with beams of spiritual light and joy, would be preferred to all the delights of the world, or which health and success could impart. "Let us but live," they would say, "in your presence, O our Savior! Whisper that we are yours, and afflictions shall be more welcome than all the prosperity that gilds the path of life, and dresses in fair enchanting colors, this vain and fascinating world!
But this worldly happiness is subject to great interruptions while on earth. Providence sometimes places them at a distance from the ordinances; and, through their infirmity, they often become dry streams. Bodily disease keeps them from the house of God. The weakness of their faith, and the imperfection of their knowledge, limit their happiness and confine it within very narrow bounds. So that, in their present state, sorrow and joy, prosperity and adversity, peace and conflict, are mingled.
But "in your presence, O precious Redeemer, there is fullness of joy!"
Yes, Christian, the perfection of our knowledge will enable us to perceive:
the dignity of his person,
the depth of his humiliation,
the honor of his offices,
the efficacy of his atonement,
the value of his righteousness,
the height of his exaltation,
the eminence of his example,
the perfection of his beauty,
and the transcendence of his love!From thence our perfect joy will arise. We loved him from the mere report of the gospel, and delight in him for the living likeness drawn of him there. But when we see him, and find that he is infinitely above all that was represented—it shall raise our love and delight to an unspeakable height!
The presence of the Redeemer makes Heaven, as the king's presence constitutes the court. All the stars could not make day without the sun; nor would all the cherubim and seraphim in glory make paradise, without Christ. Though the whole army of saints in Heaven will instrumentally contribute to the believer's bliss—yet they are not his adorable Jesus! All their felicity was his gift. Their beauty and glory are the fruit of his wisdom, the beautiful tints of his pencil, the exuberant gifts of his bounty. There are many perfected spirits in bliss, whom the Christian loves; but he has only one original Fountain, whence all his and their happiness flows. When, therefore, he enters Heaven, he forgets father, and mother, and patriarchs, and prophets, and martyrs, and friends, and says, "Whom have I in Heaven but you?" He would prefer Christ without Heaven, to Heaven without Christ!
So Christ describes heavenly felicity, "to be with me, where I am." And this is the extreme point of happiness to which the Christian aspires. For, as the rays of the sun impart glory and cheerfulness to the creation, so the presence of the Sun of Righteousness will glorify and ever exhilarate all his redeemed people.
O beloved, you might gaze upon a king, and never became a king by gazing at him; but the sight of your adorable Jesus will be transforming! You will "be like him; for you shall see him as he is!" "We shall be glorified together with him!" "His glory shall be revealed in us." You shall be as holy, as happy, as Jesus himself.
You see, then, Christians, that heavenly joy will not be derived from the channels of ordinances; and that the fluctuations arising from the ebbing and flowing of those channels shall cease. Heavenly bliss will be derived from the immediate presence of Christ—from the overflowing Fountain of happiness itself. Enrapt with wonder and joy, you shall behold his countenance beaming with smiles of love, and every action expressive of infinite goodness and tender mercy. Your sun shall no more go down; but the days of your mourning shall be ended. O beloved, Heaven is no painted harbor, at which saints shall only gaze, and long to be admitted to hear the enchanting music, and to pluck the fruits and flowers which grow on the ever green boughs. No! They themselves "shall enter into the joy of their Lord." Here on earth, joy entered them; in Heaven, they shall enter into joy, as an atmosphere created by the presence of Christ, in whom they live, and move, and have their spiritual being!
Glorious Savior in Heaven—we shall behold you! Glorious Deliverer! It is by your death, that we live! It is to your foul infamy on the accursed tree, that we are we indebted for our honor and dignity! It is to your humiliating descent into the grave, we are we indebted for a glorious resurrection.
But in that day when death shall remove the veil of this vile body, and permit the soul to gaze on your glory, the bitterness now mixed in the cup shall be exhausted; and with all the ardent gratitude and admiration which your glorious appearance will inspire, we shall behold you raised infinitely above all your enemies, and superior to all the sufferings once endured on the cross for us—crowned with glory and honor!
HEAVEN—MUTUAL RECOGNITION
It is very pleasing to the mind in considering our glorified state in Heaven, and in pondering that universal perception which we shall take of others, and others shall take of us, to institute such an inquiry as this: "Will Christian brethren and friends then meet? Will they know each other?" This is a very important inquiry; and, if it can be proved from reason and scripture, that the righteous shall possess such knowledge, it must ever be replete with consolation to the whole family of God on earth, and especially to those whose path is occasionally or frequently encompassed with sorrows.
We must think of Heaven as an existing reality. We should endeavor to bring it near to ourselves; for our brethren and our kinsmen, sainted and glorified in Heaven, have their present beatitudes, their present splendors, their present songs. Think of them as only separated from you by a veil, and as absolutely and as truly thinking and feeling as yourselves. That veil will soon be torn aside; you yourselves will soon have entered the region of bliss. Will there be those who will be ready to welcome you? Shall there be those whom you yourselves can remember? This is not a barren speculation; it is that which must engage every thinking mind, and every susceptible heart.
To assert that the saints will not know each other in Heaven, would imply a destruction quite opposite to the dealings of God with our nature. If they do not know in Heaven, those whom they have known here—then there must be some breach of judgment, some abridgement of the memory, some failure in the mental constitution. Now, it cannot be supposed that that has taken place without immediate Divine agency; but, if we deny mutual recognition in Heaven, it will represent God as blotting out some of the exercises of the mind and of the recollection. But this seems quite opposite to his ordinary dealings with us; there is no such law as destruction in his universe; there may appear to be decay; but that which is decayed, is always reproduced in its own or in some foreign form; and therefore, unless there was the strongest evidence that we would not know each other, we should argue that it was contrary to all that might be inferred concerning the Divine conduct, and that it proceeds upon the idea of mutilating and injuring the human mind; making it something inferior and unequal to what we see it now is.
The heavenly state, we generally suppose, and suppose upon scriptural evidence, is the consummation of our present happiness; differing in degree, but not in nature. And what makes us happier, upon earth, than mutual acquaintances? "I have no greater joy," said the beloved disciple, "than to hear that my children walk in the truth." And was that "joy" entirely torn from his spirit, and was there no comparable gain bound to his crowd, when he passed from this world of trial, to that element, and region, where, like himself, all was serenity and love? Therefore, if we have pleasure in such knowledge and recognition now, it is not a forced or violent inference that that pleasure will be heightened and confirmed where all is happiness, because we believe all is recognition and friendship.
Again, it is impossible to think that all will be without a history and without a name. Some, we know, will be pre-eminent, will be distinguished; we shall sit down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob, in the kingdom of God. And will all others,
spirits flit before us, unstoried and nameless, so that we can recollect nothing in their history, and identify no association in our thoughts? Were we to adopt only this more general evidence, we would be almost obliged to adopt the conclusion that spirits meet and recognize each other in bliss; because the contrary supposition implies an imperfection of absolute enjoyment, a mutilation, by the Author of the human mind, of the mind itself. Because the contrary supposition, that the sorrows of the lost aggravate their own misery by such knowledge, scarcely ever has been disputed; and because, also, future happiness is but the carrying on an enlargement and perpetuity of present happiness; and because some will bear with them a name and interests, and a thousand recollections and sacred associations; so we can easily imagine that the happiness of Heaven will be augmented by its not being confined to a few, but being true of all.
But this doctrine is proved by Scripture. When David thought of his dying child, he agonized in fasting and prayer; when that child was taken away, he summoned his resolution; he found encouragement; and this was the language of his song; "Now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him; but he shall not return to me." Did he mean that his head should recline on the same clod? or that his body should be devoured by the same reptile? Much more is meant. His language gives an intimation of immortality, and implies the communings, of two spirits in that immortality.
And the same remark may be made (however common the phrase) when the pious are said to "die and to be buried with their fathers." It is chilling and repulsive to think that the grave is only referred to, and that there is no mingling of the departed, except in the dust of the sepulcher.
The New Testament contains many phrases which are absolutely decisive. "Knowing," said Paul, "that he who raised up Jesus Christ, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.", And again, he adjures those to whom he writes, "by our gathering together unto Jesus Christ." Analyze each statement; reduce it to whatever shape you please, try it by whatever rule you please, there seems to be a banishment of all point and of all spirit, unless you suppose that they will know each other when raised up, and "be presented together," and "gathered together," unto Christ.
A very conclusive argument to prove mutual acquaintance in Heaven, arises from the language of Paul to the Thessalonians. He and his fellow-laborers were stimulated in the performance of their duties, by the expectancy of a reward, not of this world—not of its withering palms or its uncertain riches. It is a reward which embraced the conversion, the salvation, and the glory, of those spirits whom they had instrumentally rescued and saved. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming? For you are our glory and our joy." "That I may rejoice in the day of the Lord Jesus, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." "Look to yourselves, that you receive a full reward." "That you may present every man perfect in Christ."
Here, then, is the most conclusive evidence that the Apostles anticipate a reward, and that the reward cannot for a moment, be separated from the knowledge of those who were the fruits of their ministry and the seals of their zeal.
But, when it is necessary to impart kindly and soothing solace more distinctively and more impressively into the mind, the veil is raised—and the eternal world is developed. "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The heathen sorrowed without hope; being destitute of a well-founded assurance that their departed friends were enjoying a glorious immortality; their friends, once dead, appeared to be lost forever. But if pious friends did not meet and recognize each other in Heaven, the Christian would be as much without hope of beholding his beloved and dead companions, as even the heathens themselves; and, if not lost to happiness, they would be lost to him.
But the language of Paul speaks of these friends being happy, of their coming with their Lord, and then of them and those they left behind being with him forever. Can this imply anything less than a happy re-union in his presence?
The passage which Paul addresses to Philemon, is very conclusive on this subject. Onesimus had wronged him; by a providential course, the blind had been led by a way which he knew not; and, directed by the Apostolic preaching, he had become "a brother beloved in the Lord." How was the wrong to be repaired; and how was the injury to be overlooked? "For perhaps," said the apostle Paul, "Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever-- no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother." This would be altogether insignificant and unsuited, unless there was, in the heavenly world, such a recognition as that for which we contend, where Philemon should see his converted slave, who had departed from him for a season, that he might (so had Providence overruled, and grace directed it,) receive him forever.
It is necessary to complete this soothing consolation, to think of the world which the saints inherit, and to anticipate our union with them. "Here," said the Apostle, to those who were about to endure all the perils of Jerusalem's siege—all the horrors and all the afflictions which were coming upon the devoted city, "here we have no continuing city; but we seek one which is to come." In the mean time, charity was to "cover the multitude of sins;" they were to "let brotherly love continue." How unnatural to think that this was all pent up within the present earth, and that, in Heaven, those amiable feelings would enjoy no scope and no expatiation!
The process of judgment seems to include this knowledge of each other. A cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of Jesus, shall not be without its reward. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Now, this is reflected in the persons of those who are in the crowd. "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
Then, if we think of the triumph which has taken place over the monster death, we find that the sacred writings abound in evidence. "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" This language implies that all the evil produced by death shall be compensated; that death shall be deprived of the sting and the victory. But what has been a more bitter consequence of death than bereavement—the separation from relations, and the loss of dear Christian friends? How, if that is never repaired, can it be said that death has no sting—that the grave has no victory? How is it that you are enabled to shout, who cry over the coffin, and over the hearse, and over the mausoleum, but that the dead shall live—arise from the dust; and that you shall know them, when re-organized and re-animated, when you shall meet them in glory and bliss?
The very triumph, therefore, which is to be achieved, implies that bereavements, caused by death, shall be made up to us. And how can the breach be repaired, but by the re-union with those from whom we are now severed?
But contemplate the happiness of the heavenly world. Will all the remembrance of that world which we have left, be suspended? Shall we not think of the means of our conversion—what we have done for others—what others have done for us? Hear the new language; "You have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Is not this a rush of the past upon the soul? Is not this like living again? And how could we conceive of the zest and the vividness of the transport, but by the contrast which earth with all its vicissitudes, and sin with all its sorrow, will supply?
Thus the doctrine is confirmed by Scripture, that the minister in Heaven shall recognize his flock; and the pious parent shall recognize his pious child whom he trained for Heaven.
Brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, relatives and friends, much and mutually beloved, on earth, and, helpers of each other on the way to glory—shall renew their friendship with each other there, and find in the society of each other, new delight infused into the bliss even of eternity!
FAMILY ASSOCIATION IN HEAVEN
Assuming, then, the fact that saints will know each other in the celestial state, let us endeavor to imagine what must be the joy attendant on the final meeting of Christian friends in Heaven.
What a glorious state it will be to behold all Christ's recleemed family in Heaven! Now they are separated. Part of them are in Heaven, and the other part are yet on earth; but there is a time coming, when they will be gathered out of all nations, and tongues, and people. Oh! blissful morning, when my eyes shall gaze on this whole redeemed family! My heart has often thrilled with joy to see a penitent—to see an heir of glory—to see a saint made fit for Heaven; but then I shall see them all, and partake of their felicity!
Then, the unspeakable blessings imparted through the operation of Bible societies, will be brought to light. Then, all the multitudes who have been converted by the instrumentality of missionaries, will be seen clothed in white robes, and with palms hi their hands. Then, ten thousand times ten thousand voices will be lifted up in praise to God, for the circulation of religious tracts. Then, amidst the celestial harmony, there will be children crying, 'Hosanna,' on account of the gospel instructions they received in a Sabbath School. Then, parents who trained up their children in the ways of piety, will be seen with rapture beaming in their eyes, while they exclaim, "Here am I, and the children whom you have given me!" And, near the throne, close by the Redeemer, will be seen the prostrate, grateful, affectionate, and devoted preacher of the gospel, giving up his account with joy, and receiving the gracious approbation of his Master, "Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!"
How happy will you be, Christian, perhaps to see yourselves in Heaven, and every member of your family with you—not one missing! Father and mother, sons and daughters brothers and sisters, servants and apprentices—all there! All who surrounded the family table; all who kneeled together round the family altar, however separated by distance of time; yet meeting in Heaven at last! Oh! What a happy meeting this will be!
Reader, is there any prospect that this will be the case with you? Have you ever any doubts respecting it? See to have these doubts removed. Have you any hopes respecting it? See that your hopes are well-founded. Are you unconcerned about it? Ah that is dreadful indeed!
Heaven is not to be trifled with! Hell is not to be trifled with! Remember, the day is coming—it is near at hand, when you will see and know that these things deserved your chief attention.
Oh! it is rapturous to think that, if the whole family meets in Heaven, they will meet as "Spirits of just men made perfect." The best-regulated families on earth will sometimes meet with interruptions of their domestic enjoyment. We all have some imperfection or other, some infirmity of temper, or some impropriety of manner, from which, through lack of caution on one part, or lack of forbearance on the other hand, occasional discords will disturb the harmony of the whole. But in Heaven we shall all be perfect. We shall see nothing in others to censure, and feel nothing in ourselves to lament. "We shall have," observes Dr. Dwight; "all that veneration and love for each other, which shall arise from the mutual perception of unsinning holiness. We shall mutually see reflected the image of God from our character. There will be everything lovely to attract esteem, and the most perfect love to show it. Every one will possess those holy virtues which are loved, and the delight by which they are beloved. Every one, conscious of unmingled purity, approves and loves himself for that Divine image, which, complete perfection and with untarnished resemblance, is stamped upon his character! Each, in every view which he casts around him, beholds the same glory shining and brightening in the circle of his parents, his brothers, and his sistiers. Out of his character grows a series, ever-varying and ever-improving, of all the possible communications of beneficence, fitted in every instance only to interchange and increase the happiness of all. In the sunshine of infinite delight, the light of the New Jerusalem, the original source of all their own beauty, life, and joy, this happy family will walk forever!"
The joy of that meeting will arise from beholding each other in the possession of that happiness and glory which the Redeemer purchased for his people. In a family where genuine affection prevails, the happiness of one branch is the happiness of the rest; and each has felicity multiplied by as many times as there are happy members in the circle.
In Heaven, where love is perfect, how exquisite will be the bliss of each, arising from being the constant witness of the bliss of all; where parents will see their children basking in the sunshine of Divine love, receiving the warmest expressions of the favor of Christ, shining in the beauties of unsullied holiness, and abounding in the fields of unfading light; and where children shall see their parents and each other in the same happy circumstances; where each shall see all the rest in the full possession of the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away—the exceeding great and eternal weight of glory.
If the whole family should meet in Heaven, how great will be the delight of parents to see the fruit of their prayers, instructions, and concerns, constantly before their eyes, in honor of the felicity of their glorified children! With what emotions of transport and delight will they hear those children ascribing all their salvation to them, instrumentally considered; giving a high place, in the anthems of praise, to the names of their father and mother! And, on the other hand, it will raise the felicity of the children to the highest pitch, to see those parents near them, to whom they owe, under God, their possession of Heaven. With what mutual interest will both parties retrace the circuitous ways of Providence, which led to such a termination of the journey of life! How will they pause and wonder at those mysterious links, now invisible, but then plainly seen—which connected the events of their history, and united them into one perfect whole! Oh! with what intense excitement will they mark each effort of paternal anxiety for the salvation of the children, and see the individual and collective results of all! The revolutions of empires, the fate of armies, will then have less to engage and charm their attention, than the influence of religious advice and instruction administered on earth, and which were effectual in impressing the heart, awakening the conscience, converting the soul, or in forming the character.
When the whole family shall meet in Heaven, it will be a transporting reflection that they will meet forever! It will take place in a world where adieus and farewells are a sound unknown!
"What an interruption," says Mr. James, "does it now form to the enjoyment of domestic fellowship, that the different branches of the family cannot always be beneath the same roof; or in the vicinity of their parents. One member after another goes from the parental abode, and settles at a distance—until countries, and perhaps kingdoms, separate them from each other. Rarely does it happen, where the children are numerous, and grown to maturity, that they can all meet together. Occasionally this does happen, perhaps, on a parent's birthday, or at some festive season of the year; and then home puts forth its charms, and pours out in copious streams, its pure and precious joys! Such a circle is the resort of peace and love, where friends and near relations mingle into bliss. The parents look with ineffable delight upon their children, and see their smiles of love reflected from the faces of the happy group. Piety gives the finishing touch to the picture, when, before they part, they assemble around the domestic altar, and, after reading in the Book which speaks of the many mansions in our Father's house above, where the families of the righteous meet to part no more; and after blending their voices in a sacred song of praise to Him who has united them both by the ties of nature and of grace—they receive the blessings, and join the prayers of their saintly and patriarchal father, who, over the scene that surrounds him, feels a divided heart; one moment thinking he has lived long enough in that he has been permitted to witness it, but the next moment breathing an aspiration to Heaven for permission to witness it, a few years longer.
"This scene, and it is not an uncommon one, is one of the purest to be found on earth. It is, as nearly as it can be, paradise restored; or, if it be, as it certainly is, still, outside the gates of Eden, it is near enough to the sacred enclosure to receive some of the fruits which drop over the wall.
What is wanted here? PERMANENCE. It is an earthly bliss only for a season. It is a day that will be followed with a night. And the heart is often checked in the full tide of enjoyment, in the very meridian of its delights, by looking at the clock, and counting how rapidly the hours of felicity are rolling away, and how soon the signal of parting will be struck.
But the meeting in Heaven shall be ETERNAL. The family shall go out more, forever, from the mansion of their Father above. Their fellowship shall not be measured or limited by time. They shall meet for one day; but then that day will be everlasting, for
"there is no night there." They shall spend eternal ages together. Neither the fear nor the thought of parting shall ever pass like a cloud over the orb of their felicity, nor let fall a passing shadow to disturb the sunshine of their heart. 'We are met,' they shall say one to another, 'and we shall part no more. Around us is glory! Within us is rapture. Before us is eternity.'
In connection with this subject, what a cheerful circumstance it is when one in a family has chosen Heaven for his portion! Look at that man; mark him well. Set it down as a certainty that he will not go to Heaven alone. He cannot be satisfied to walk solitary on the way to Heaven. He must have companions; and, through God's blessing, he will make them. Great things are anticipated from such a character; for God says to every new convert, "I will, bless you; and you shall be a blessing." From the day of his conversion, he begins to pray; and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails mach.
He also begins to shine, and to give light to all who are in the house. Perhaps it would be difficult to find a family containing one pious and consistent disciple, without finding, also, that he is beginning to make a favorable impression on the minds of his relatives, by softening down their prejudices; drawing away their attention from the world, and leading them to think, more than formerly, on things divine.
All is not done that his heart could wish; but there appears a change—a beginning. Go forward! O heavenly minded one. God does not despise the day of small things; neither must you. Think of the prophet, when his servant said, "I see a little cloud rising up out of the sea, about the size of a man's hand." That was enough. The prophet took it for granted his Lord was come. You do the same. Look out for the marks of God's blessing. Trust him, and be not afraid; salvation has already come to your house. All the people in it are, in some measure, given to you. Oh! watch for their souls. Let the hope of bringing a whole family to Heaven, animate and quicken you. "In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength!" And when you are leaning simply on him, he will make you almighty. Forget your own weakness, by his assurance that his arm is omnipotent!
When part of a family is already in Heaven, what a powerful influence should it have on survivors! Oh! it is a solemn and instructive event, when one member of a family is taken to glory. What effect ought it to have upon those who remain here a little longer! Perhaps some have half of their families already in Heaven. Others have a father, or mother, or wife, or husband, or son, or daughter, there! And shall not this produce an effect? Oh! it ought! Yes! it ought! It ought to loosen their hearts from earth, and raise their souls to Heaven! There our best friends and kindred dwell. There God our Savior reigns!
O Christians, will you join this happy company? Soon, soon you will leave this earthly state—and where will you go? Will you join your family in Heaven? Have you any preparation for it? "Except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Are you born again? What is there about you which indicates the heavenly birth?
Recollect that the removal of one member of a family to Heaven, has, sometimes been overruled, by Divine providence, for leading all the other members to seek mercy through faith in Christ, and to walk humbly with their God, until a voice from above said to them, "Come up hither!" This was a happy event.
To others, the removal of a part of their family to glory, has been greatly sanctified. Though they were pious before—yet they never thought so much of Heaven, nor wished so earnestly to be there, as they have since their much-loved relatives were taken thither. This loosened the cords which continually bound them to earth, and gave them to see that there is no abiding on earth. Happy, unspeakably happy, it is when the death of friends is attended with such quickening influence! O Rachel, weeping for your children, because they are not—let your tears flow on; but let it be in a stream of mingled grateful submission, and adoring love!
What an alarming thing it is when only one in the family gives evidence that he is not preparing for Heaven! What a blank it will cause to see a whole family in Heaven, but one! Perhaps the youngest—the darling, not there! Or it may be the first-born, the child who first diffused joy through a parent's heart, not there! Whom would we select to be that miserable absentee? Which child should we pitch upon? Which brother should we mark as the victim? The very thought is enough to make the blood run cold, and to cause the very heart to shudder! Are not parents ready to exclaim, "Let not this misery fall on one of mine?"
See the fond father looking around; his soul rejoices over one, two, three, four; but where is Absalom What! is he not here? O Absalom, my son, my son, are you not here? No!
Oh if the eye could weep in Heaven, it would shed a flood of tears over an absent child. But now, parents, now is the time. Is there one in your family not preparing for Heaven? What ought to be done in his case? Shall you let him alone? Oh! no! How did the man act who had a hundred sheep, and one of them went astray? He left the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and went to seek that which was lost; nor did he give up his search until he had found, it. And when he had found it, all tattered and hungry, and faint, he took it on his shoulders, and returned with it, rejoicing.
Here then is a pattern for you. Let your tears flow. Let your prayers ascend. Let your hearts melt. Let your language pierce his soul. Oh! follow him. Determine never to give him up, until you have reclaimed the prodigal; until you have snatched the fire-brand from the flame! Then you may go on your way, rejoicing in hope that all your family may meet in Heaven!
THE EXPERIENCE OF A BELIEVER, WHEN HEAVEN IS FIRST REALIZED
"Time is no longer!" The world has receded and disappeared. I find myself in Heaven, for which Christ has prepared me, and which I so earnestly coveted. I am in an unbounded flood of bliss, a spacious sea of glory, lost in wonder amidst ineffable beauties, and transported with the raptures of seraphic harmony! Jehovah here keeps his royal court in person. I "see him as he is." His dwelling-place is magnificent beyond all description; being enriched with an infinite profusion of his love and the brightest displays of his goodness. Oh! what glorious displays of his perfections, what delightful communion between him and the trophies of his grace, do I now witness and joyfully realize!
What buildings are these? They are the palaces of the great King, the mansions of Immanuel, of which there are many in his Father's house. They are all magnificent, founded in grace, and adorned with glory. Age shall never enter here; and nothing shall decay. What a beautiful city is the New Jerusalem, of which the Lord God and the Lamb are the light! How glorious are its gates, where pearls of essential beauty sparkle, and all the attributes of God blaze divinely bright! Here trophies of eternal triumph lie beneath Immanuel's feet. He is my Savior, my elder Brother, my near Kinsman; and this is the relation from which my grandeur springs, and my unceasing happiness flows. My heart beats with ecstasy as the Redeemer takes me by the hand, and presenting me to his Father, says, "This is my brother, whom I have saved and for over glorified." Oh! the transforming rays of glory that emanate froth him, producing assimilation in me! I see him and am like him! I am like him, and supremely love him; I love him, and am eternally happy!
Compared with Paradise, what was the world but a dreary wilderness, a dry and thirsty desert, a land of heat and drought? Now I dwell in the heavenly Canaan, where the, rivers of pleasure overflow their banks forever. Oh! love! Oh! rapture! Oh! ecstatic joys! Oh! everlasting Heaven!
Here I associate with the "general assembly and church of the first-born," who are equal to angels; and angels, and cherubim, and seraphim, are my companions as well. One principle actuates us all—it is LOVE! And God himself dwells among us all! Oh! ineffable glory! to dwell forever in the royal pavilion of Heaven, in the most intimate communion with the King, eternal, immortal, and invisible!
Whence comes that music? What are those rapturous notes I hear? The song of Moses and the Lamb. My soul dissolves in praise; my heart pours forth its sweet Hosannas; all Heaven is melody; angels reiterate the song. Oh the exhilarating anthems of glory! Oh! the exquisite strokes of the harpers around the sapphire throne! The song of redeeming love is the song of songs. I will sing it while eternity lasts. Weeping endured a little, through the short night of time; but joy has come in the morning of He resurrection. My tongue shall utter the hallelujahs of praise, and never be silent. Sing, O inhabitants of eternity; shout from the mountains of myrrh and hills of frankincense, where you rest, and are refreshed forever. Here is the life of angels. These are the warbles of eternal noon. I shall never rest, day or night, to sing your praises, O Immanuel!
Sweet is my satisfaction with Divine Wisdom. The darkness of earth bas passed away. The complexities which I thought characterized Providence and Grace, are removed. The mysteries of creation and of the universe are unraveled. I now see the why and the wherefore of these complex matters. The God of light has come forth from his pavilion; and, shedding his radiance upon them all, has compelled me to say, "You have done all things well!" The perplexing contingencies of my transitory life now shine with harmony, wisdom, and goodness, through the whole.
I once murmured at trials; I once groaned under afflictions—yet now I adore his conduct, and confess that I was ignorant. I am beginning to know the import of that amazing contrast, "light affliction which is but for a moment"—followed by "an exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" This glory fills the souls of myriads here with rapture and praise. "Though we passed through fires of persecution, through the waters of adversity, yes, through the rapid stream of death at last—yet you have brought us to a wealthy land; so that we have a goodly heritage, and the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, being led to the goodly mount which your right hand had purchased for us, O Immanuel."
My possessions here are worthy of the liberal Giver. I inherit a kingdom which cannot be moved. I have an unfading and undefiled inheritance. I have a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. I have garments of glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown of life! I have the tree of life to feed upon, the fountain of life to drink of, and the garden of God to walk in. I have a life above the reach of death, health secured from sickness, pleasure without pain. My soul is immaculate, my senses are sanctified, my conceptions are spiritual, my faculties are enlarged, and my whole soul is replenished with divinity. I am above all fear, beyond anxiety and doubt, and fixed above all change. My service is sincere, my adorations are ardent, my knowledge is profound, satisfying, and still progressive. Rapture rushes in at every part. My eyes are ravished with seeing the King in his beauty. My ears are ravished with hearing the songs of the inner temple. My nose are ravished with the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon, the Plant of Renown. My feet are ravished with standing in his holy place. My hands are ravished with handling of the word of life. My mouth are ravished with the wine of my beloved, which causes my soul to shout aloud for joy, and these lips, once silent in death, to sing, and never cease. My fruition of his fullness, my vision of his perfections and glory, my interest in his offices, my relations to him, my union and communion with the Godhead—all this constitutes my exalted bliss, and is the Heaven of heavens!
My happiness here is infinite; and I now perceive that all the figures, metaphors, and language, employed on earth to describe it, were totally inadequate. Oh! what are golden harps, compared to the raptures of these celestial songs? How dim are streets of paved gold, compared to these paved walks of glory! What are the reflections of clearest crystal, compared to to the bright effulgence of unclouded glories? What the languid sparklings of all the precious gems, compared to the noon-day blaze of uncreated perfections? What are the most delicious fruits, compared to that spiritual feasting on divinity itself, which the saints enjoy above? What is the tree planted on both sides celestial stream, compared to to him who over-shadows all his chosen ones? What is a river, compared to to him who overflows eternity, fills immensity, and is the plenitude of every ransomed soul?
In one word, what are all things compared to God? Receiving my fullness of bliss from the divine plenitude, as a conduit supplied by the fountain; I shall pour out perpetual streams of praise and torrents of love, and be more capacitated, enlarged, and replenished, by this everlasting employment!
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN, ETERNAL IN ITS DURATION
The brevity of this present life, eclipses the glory of all sublunary greatness, and casts the splendor of the king's diadem into the shadows. "For here we have no continuing city." "Behold! you have made my days as a hand-breadth; and my age is as nothing before you; truly, every man at his best state is altogether vanity!" Psalm 69:5. "You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-- though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered." Psalm 90:5-6 "For what is our life? it is as a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away." It is the mere shadow of existence, the dawn of being, or the state of childhood, from which the redeemed shall rise up to manhood, in their final glorification, and there they become immortal.
The pious Hervey said, "Oh! eternity, eternity! How are our noblest, our strongest thoughts lost and overwhelmed in you! who can set landmarks to limit your dimensions, or find plummets to fathom your depths? Arithmeticians have figures to compute all the progressions of time; astronomers have instruments to calculate the distances of the planets; but what numbers can state, what line can measure—the length and breadth of eternity!" As Job said of the existence of Deity, so it may be said of eternity: "It is higher than Heaven; what can we do? It is deeper than Hell; what can we know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea."
It is also observed by the eloquent Saurin: "When I endeavor to represent eternity to myself, I avail myself of whatever I conceive most long and durable. I heap imagination upon imagination, conjecture on conjecture. I go from our age to the time of the publication of the law; and from the law to the flood; and from the flood to the creation. I join these epochs to the present time; and I imagine Adam yet living. Yet this is not eternity; all this is nothing compared to eternity! I proceed from imagination to imagination, from one supposition to another. I take the greatest number of years that can be imagined. I add ages to ages, millions of ages to millions of ages. I add all these into one fixed number; and I stay my imagination. After this, I suppose God to create a world like the one which we inhabit. I suppose him creating it by forming one atom after another, and employing, in the production of each atom, the time fixed in my calculation just now mentioned. What numberless ages would the creation of such a world require! Then I suppose the Creator to arrange these atoms, and to pursue the same plan of arranging them as of creating them. What numberless ages would such an arrangement require! Finally, I suppose him to dissolve and annihilate the whole, and observing the same method, in this dissolution, as he observed in the creation and disposition of the whole. What an immense duration would be consumed! Yet this is not eternity! All this is only a point, in comparison of eternity!"
Therefore, in Heaven the happiness of the righteous shall endure forever. Their honors shall not fade through ceaseless ages. Their names shall stand engraved upon imperishable monuments, amidst the glories of paradise, as the heroes that have vanquished the mighty powers of darkness, and have triumphed over sin, Satan, the world, and death. And their persons shall no more be assaulted by enemies, endangered by affliction, nor exposed to the possibility of grief.
Whatever, therefore, shall be the employment of the citizens of Heaven; whether it is meditation upon the works and attributes, of Deity; or conversing upon the wonders of creative wisdom; or the reign of Jehovah's grace; whether it be admiring and adoring the ineffable glories of the Godhead; or uniting, with ten thousand times ten thousand angels, in one grand chorus to the praise of him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb; they shall never be exhausted with fatigue, never be languid in their energies, and never require a repose for the renewal of their strength.
Eternity is the duration of their being.
Eternity is the perpetuity of their undiminished power.
Eternity is the consummation of their desires.
Eternity is the completion of their highest hopes.
Eternity is the stability of their glorious inheritance.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
"Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands!" 2 Corinthians 5:1.
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!" 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
"For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you." 2 Peter 1:11
"Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name!" Revelation 3:12
"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end!" Isaiah 60:19-20
Your happiness, Christians, in Heaven, consists in not only being with Christ, and enjoying him there for a season, but to abide with him forever! Having crossed over river Jordan, you shall be in the promised land. On earth the air did not suited your constitution, and you sought a more congenial climate. Circumstances obliged you to move from an old and beloved habitation; and, on another occasion, the pillar and cloud seemed evidently to direct your abode in another part of the kingdom. But now the promise will be accomplished, "I will appoint my people a place, and they shall move no more."
Home has always something enchanting, however plain. When the mariner, who for many years has been tossed on the ocean, reaches the shore of his native country, and hastens towards the home where he formerly dwelt, his heart leaps for joy when the chimney of his father's humble cottage appears through the trees in the distance.
How much more, tempest-toss soul, shall you rejoice when death rends the veil from your eyes, and the Mansion which Christ went to prepare, first bursts upon your ravished sight—that mansion which was purchased by his blood, built by his grace, prepared by his intercession, and reserved, by his faithfulness, for all his people!
Many of the favored visits of Christ to his disciples on earth, though unspeakably sweet, are short. This is oft their language "O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble, why are you like a stranger to us? Why are you like a traveler passing through the land, stopping only for the night?" Jeremiah 14:8
Gladly would they have detained him in the sanctuary, when they saw 'his power and glory. When they have ascended the mount of communion, and to the eye of their faith he has been transfigured before them, appeared in his glory, and uttered the melodious notes of his own sweet promises to their sorrowing hearts! Oh! how their joyful spirits said, it is good to be here! Like Peter; gladly would they make a tabernacle, that he might abide with them forever, or, enrapt in ecstasies with the celestial vision, say,
"My willing soul would stay
In such a frame as this;
And sit, and sing herself away
To everlasting bliss!"But they have been obliged to come down from these hallowed heights, and enter again into the cares of domestic life. The business of a vain world, clouds of darkness and spiritual desertion, conflicts with the powers of Hell, the treachery of deceitful hearts, and the snares of ungodly men-prove that this poor world is not their rest. "Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy!" Micah 2:10
Their rich enjoyments of Christ's presence were intended to strengthen them as strangers and pilgrims, that they might bear up under their crosses, and encourage their way to the kingdom where he eternally abides. But, having once reached those mansions, "so shall we ever be with the Lord." The worship shall never end! Communion shall never cease! The Sun of Righteousness shall never be clouded! Conflict shall never be renewed!
As when Noah entered the ark, it is observed, by the inspired historian, "the Lord shut him in;" so when he sends his messenger death to bid us came up higher, and we are safely arrived in his presence—the Lord shall shut us in, shall make us pillars in the temples of our God; and there shall be no more going out forever! So shall we ever be with the Lord!"
With him, as captives redeemed by his blood, from the slavery of sin!
With him, as children who have finished their education, and are now returned to their Father's house!
With him, as sinners cleansed by the purifying influences of his Holy Spirit!
With him, as servants who shall serve him day and night, where our service shall never fatigue!
With him, as conquerors who have overcome all enemies, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony!
With him, as justified souls adorned with the glorious robe of our elder Brother!
With him, as songsters whose melody springs from love to the crucified Savior, and whose songs shall never cease!
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped." Revelation 5:11-14