A String of Pearls
The Best Things Reserved Until Last
by Thomas Brooks, June 8, 1657
The best SIGHT and
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD is reserved for believers until they come to heaven.
I readily grant that even in this world the saints do
know the Lord, inwardly, spiritually, powerfully, feelingly, experimentally,
transformingly, practically; but yet, notwithstanding all this, the best
knowledge of God is reserved for heaven, which I shall evidence by an
induction of particulars, thus:
(1.) First,
They shall have the CLEAREST knowledge and revelation of God in
heaven. Here on earth our visions of God
are not clear; and this makes many a child of light to sit and sigh in
darkness, Lam. 3:44. God veils himself, he covers himself with a cloud. Man,
when he is silent concerning God, seems to be something—but when he begins
to speak of God, it plainly appears that he is nothing.
Simonides being asked by Hiero, the tyrant, what God was,
asked a day to deliberate about an answer; but the more he sought into
the nature of God, the more difficult he found it to express; therefore, the
next day after being questioned, he asked two days, the third day he asked
four, and so from that time forth doubled the number; and being asked why he
did so, he answered, that the more he studied, the less he was able to
define what God was, so incomprehensible is his nature.
Our visions of God here on earth are dark and obscure.
Augustine, asking the question, what God is? gives in this answer: Surely
it is he, who, when he is spoken of cannot be spoken of; who, when he is
considered of cannot be considered of; who, when he is compared to anything
cannot be compared; and when he is defined, grows greater by defining of
him. It is observable, that it was not the Lord which the prophet
Ezekiel saw, it was only a vision, Ezek. 1:28. In the vision it was not the
glory of the Lord which he saw—but the likeness of it; nay, it was not the
likeness of it—but the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,
which made him to fall on his face, as not being able to behold it. Sin has
so weakened, dazzled, and darkened the eye of our souls—that we cannot bear
the sight of the glory of the Lord, nor the likeness of it, no! nor the
appearance of the likeness, of it.
But when believers come to heaven, then they shall have a
more clear vision and sight of God: 1 Cor. 13:12, "Now we see things
imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with
perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I
will know everything completely, just as God knows me now." Now we see God
obscurely, as in a poor mirror—but then we shall see him distinctly,
clearly, immediately; we shall then apprehend him clearly, though, even
then, we cannot comprehend him fully. Some sense those words, just as God
knows me now, thus: Look, as God knows me after a manner agreeable to
his infinite excellency, so shall I know God according to my capacity, not
obscurely—but perfectly, as it were, face to face; and this is the greatest
height of blessedness and happiness.
Then, all veils shall be taken off, and we shall have a
clear prospect of God's excellency and glory, of his blessedness and
fullness, of his loveliness and sweetness. All masks, clouds, and curtains,
shall be drawn forever, that saints may clearly see the breadth, length,
depth, and height of divine love, and that they may clearly see into the
mystery of the Trinity, the mystery of Christ's incarnation, the mystery of
man's redemption, the mystery of providences, the mystery of prophesies; and
all those mysteries which relate to the nature, substances, offices, orders,
and excellencies of the angels, those princes of glory, who still keep their
standings in the court of heaven; and all those mysteries that concern the
nature, immortality, spirituality, excellency, and activity of our own
souls; beside a world of other mysteries which respect the decrees and
counsels of God, the creation of the world, the fall of Adam, and the fall
of angels.
Now the most knowing men in the world are much in the
dark about these things; but when we come to heaven, we shall have a close
and a clear sight and knowledge of them. Then we shall know—as we are known;
we shall see God face to face. Oh blessed sight! to behold the King of
angels, the Holy of holies, the God of heaven, the Ruler of the earth, the
Father of the living! Oh blessed vision and contemplation, wherein we shall
see God in himself, God in us, and ourselves in God! But,
(2.) Secondly, As in heaven they shall have the clearest
knowledge of God, so in heaven
they shall have the FULLEST knowledge of God.
Here on earth our knowledge of God is weak, as well as dark—but in heaven it
shall be full and complete. "Here we know but in part; but there we shall
know as we are known," 1 Cor. 13:12. As the apostle speaks, here on earth we
are able to take in but little of God. Either sin or Satan, or else fears,
doubts, and scruples, or else the pleasures or profits, the comforts or
contentments of this world—do so defile the soul, and so fill the soul, that
it is able to take in but very little of God. "How little a portion," says
Job, "is heard of him!" Job 26:14. It is but a portion, a little
portion, that we can conceive of him. The Hebrew is a little bit,
nay, it is said, a little piece of a word, or particulam alicujus, a
little piece of something, that we do hear of him.
"I have many things to say unto you," says Christ, "but
you cannot bear them now," John 16:12. Man is a poor, low, weak creature,
and is not able to bear any great or full discoveries of God. As weak
shoulders cannot bear heavy burdens, nor weak stomachs digest strong meats;
no more were they able to bear the revelation of many high, spiritual,
precious, and glorious truths—which Christ was willing to discover to them.
Those who have weak eyes, or who have a defect in their eyes, cannot
discern things aright. Now we have all weak eyes, we have all one defect or
another in our eye, which hinders us from a full sight and knowledge of God,
and of his excellency and glory.
Oh! but in heaven, we shall have a full and perfect
knowledge of God; there shall be no sore eyes, no clouds, no mists to hinder
us from a full sight of the Sun of righteousness. In heaven, our
understandings shall be full of the knowledge of God, our minds
full of the wisdom of God, our wills full of the righteousness and
holiness of God, and our affections full of the love and delights of
God.
Here on earth we have but weak and shallow apprehensions
of God—but there, as Bernard speaks sweetly, God will fill the soul with
light of wisdom, the heart with righteousness, and the mind with perfect
tranquility.
If a man did dwell within the body of the sun, surely he
would be full of light; if a man did dwell in the midst of a fountain,
surely he would be filled with that fountain; so when the saints come to
heaven, they shall dwell as it were in the body of the Sun of righteousness;
and therefore they cannot be but full of light; they shall dwell in the
midst of the fountain of life; and therefore they shall surely be full of the
fountain. But,
(3.) Thirdly,
The sight and knowledge that we
shall have of God in heaven, will be IMMEDIATE,
1 Cor. 13:12. Here on earth our knowledge of God is mediate; here on earth
we see him—but it is either through the mirror of his word, or the mirror of
his works. Sometimes through the mirror of his word God shows himself;
sometimes through the mirror of prayer God gives some representation of
himself to his people; sometimes through the mirror of the Lord's supper he
reveals some rays and beams of his glory. All the sight and knowledge that
we have of God in this world is through some mirror or other. Now there is a
vast difference between seeing an object directly, immediately, and in its
own proper colors—and beholding it through a mirror. The sight of an object
through a mirror is very weak and unsatisfying. One direct view of the Lord,
one immediate sight of God, will infinitely transcend all those sights and
views that we have had in this world, either through the mirror of his word,
or the mirror of his works, either through the mirror of ordinances, or the
mirror of the promises, or the mirror of providences, Mat. 5:8.
One real direct sight of a friend or relation, does more
cheer, quiet, and satisfy us, than a thousand representations of them in
pictures. In heaven we shall see God face to face, without the interposition
of men or means; and this direct and immediate sight of God, is that
which makes heaven to be heaven to the saints. All the glory of heaven
would be but a poor low thing in the eye of a saint, had he not a direct and
immediate sight of God there. In heaven all mediums shall be removed, all
mirrors shall be broken, and the glorified saint shall behold God with open
face; all curtains being forever withdrawn from between God and the soul.
The redeemed in heaven are like the holy angels, who are still beholding the
face of God, Mat. 18:10. As God is still a-looking upon them as the jewels
of his crown, so they are still crying and looking upon God as their heaven,
yes, as their great all, and that by a direct and immediate act of their
souls. But,
(4.) Fourthly and lastly,
The sight and knowledge that they
shall have of God in heaven, shall be PERMANENT and CONSTANT.
While on earth, saints have a happy sight of
God, and at another time they have lost it; this hour they have a precious
sight of God in the mount, and the next hour they have lost this sight.
"Behold, he who should comfort my soul stands afar off," Lam. 1:16; and "he
has covered himself with a cloud, that our prayers cannot pass through,"
Lam. 3:44. Our visions of God here on earth are transient and vanishing. The
visions, the glimpses of majesty and glory which Moses and Peter saw in the
mount, were not permanent but transient; their sun was quickly clouded, and
both of them soon after were found walking in the dark; and therefore well
says Augustine, Happiness may be obtained here—but here on earth we
cannot have permanent happiness.
Oh but in heaven, our sight of God, our knowledge of God
shall be permanent, it shall be lasting; there shall be no sin, no cloud, no
mist, no curtain, to hinder us from a constant sight and vision of God;
there we shall see God clearly, fully, eternally! The spouse's question,
"Did you see him whom my soul loves?" Cant. 3:3, shall never be heard in
heaven, because God shall be always in their eye, and still upon their
hearts; nor Job's complaint, "But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I
go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not
see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows
the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job
23:8-10. Heaven would not be heaven, were not God always present with the
soul. Did not the soul live in a constant sight and apprehension of God—all
the glory of heaven could not make a heaven to a glorified soul.