A String of Pearls
The Best Things Reserved Until Last
by Thomas Brooks, June 8, 1657
The perfection of GRACE is reserved for glory.
Though our graces are our best
jewels—yet they are now imperfect, and do not give out their full luster; they
are like the moon, which when it shines brightest, has a dark spot: 1 Cor.
13:9-10, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." "Here we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," Isaiah
64:6. Oh the stains, the spots, the blots, the blemishes, which attend our
choicest graces and services! Our best personal righteousness is stained with
much unrighteousness. Perfection of grace and holiness is reserved for heaven,
Eph. 5:25-27; Jude 24; Eph. 4:13. In the work of conversion, God lays the
foundation of grace in the souls of his people—but the putting on the top-stone
is reserved for heaven. Grace here on earth is but a king in the cradle—but
in heaven it will be a king upon its throne.
For the making this truth more fully out, I will only
instance in the JOY of the saints, and that thus:
[1.] First, The joy of the saints in heaven shall be
PURE joy. Here
on earth--our joy is mixed with sorrow, our rejoicing with trembling. Psalm
2:11: Mat. 28:8, "The women departed from the sepulcher with fear and
great joy." This composition of two contrary passions is frequently
found in the best hearts. Here on earth the best have sorrow with their joy,
water with their wine, vinegar with their oil, pain with their ease, winter
with their summer, and autumn with their spring, etc. But in heaven, they
shall have joy without sorrow, light without darkness, sweetness without
bitterness, summer without winter, health without sickness, honor without
disgrace, glory without shame, and life without death. "God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no longer; grief, crying, and
pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away."
Revelation 21:4 But,
[2.] Secondly, As they shall have in heaven pure joy, so
they shall have in heaven
FULLNESS of joy. Here on earth all joy is at an ebb—but in
heaven is the flood of joy, there is fullness of joy: Psalm 16:11, "In his
presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for
evermore." Here shall be joy above joy, joy surmounting all joy. Here shall
be such great joys, as no geometrician can measure; so many joys, as no
arithmetician can number; and so wonderful, as no rhetorician can utter, had
he the tongue of men and angels. Here shall be joy within you, and joy
without you, and joy above you, and joy beneath you, and joy about you. Joy
shall spread itself over all the members of your bodies, and over all the
faculties of your souls. In heaven, your knowledge shall be full, your love
full, your visions of God full, your communion with God full, your enjoyment
of God full, and your conformity to God full, and from thence will arise
fullness of joy.
If all the earth were paper, and all the plants of the
earth were pens, and all the sea were ink, and if every man, woman, and
child, had the pen of a ready writer--yet they would not able to express the
thousandth part of those joys which saints shall have in heaven. All the joy
which we have here in this world is but pensiveness, compared to that joy
which we shall have in heaven. All the pleasure which we have here in this
world is but heaviness, compared to that joy which we shall have in heaven.
All the sweetness which we have here in this world is but bitterness, compared
to that joy which we shall have in heaven. "No eye has seen, no ear has
heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love
him." 1 Corinthians 2:9. But,
[3.] Thirdly, The joy of the saints in heaven shall be
a LASTING joy, an UNINTERRUPTED joy. Here on earth their
joy is quickly turned into sorrow, their singing into sighing, their dancing
into mourning. Our joy here on earth is like the farmer's joy in harvest,
which is soon over, and then we must sow again in tears, before we can reap
in joy. David's joy was soon interrupted: "When I felt secure, I said, "I
will never be shaken." But when you hid your face, I was dismayed." Psalm
30:6-7. Now David had the oil of joy and gladness, and by and by the spirit
of heaviness and sadness: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation," Psalm
51:12. Jacob had much joy at the return of his sons with grain from Egypt;
but this joy was soon interrupted by his parting with his dear Benjamin.
I might show you this truth in other instances, as in
Abraham, Job, and other saints. Surely there is no believer but who finds
that sometimes sin interrupts his joy, and sometimes Satan
disturbs his joy, and sometimes afflictions and sometimes
desertions eclipse his joy; sometimes the cares of the world, and
sometimes the snares of the world, and sometimes the fears of the
world, mar his joy. Sometimes great crosses, sometimes hard losses, and
sometimes unexpected changes--turn a Christian's harping into mourning, and
his organ into the voice of those who weep. Some worm or other is always
a-gnawing at the very root of our joy--like the worm which made Johan's
gourd to wither.
Some say of Rhodes, that there is not one day in the year
in which the sun shines not clearly on them. Surely there is hardly one day
in the year, yes, I had almost said one hour in the day, wherein something
or other does not fall in to interrupt a Christian's joy.
But now in heaven the joy of the saints shall be
constant. Nothing shall come in to disturb or to interrupt their joy. Psalm
16:11, "In your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are
pleasures forever more." Mark, for quality--there are pleasures; for
quantity--fullness; for dignity--at God's right hand; for duration--for
evermore. And millions of years multiplied by millions, make not up one
minute to this eternity of joy which the saints shall have in heaven! In
heaven there shall be no sin to take away your joy, nor any devil to take
away your joy, nor any man to take away your joy! John 16:22, "Your joy no
man takes from you."
The joy of the saints in heaven is never ebbing—but
always flowing to all contentment. The joys of heaven never fade, never
wither, never die, nor are they ever are lessened or interrupted. The joy of the
saints in heaven is a constant joy, an everlasting joy, in the root and in
the cause, and in the matter of it and in the objects of it. Their joy lasts
forever whose objects remains forever. Isaiah 35:10, "And the redeemed of
the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joys
upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and
sighing shall fly away."
In this world not only the joy of hypocrites and the joy
of profane people—but also the joy of the upright, is oftentimes "as the
crackling of thorns under a pot," or as the blaze of a brush faggot, now all
in a flame, and as suddenly out again; or as the least ephemeron,
which dies on the day it is born. But the joy of believers in heaven shall
be like the fire on the altar, which never went out. When Caesar was sad, he
used to say to himself, Remember--you are Caesar! So when your hearts
are sad and sorrowful, oh! then think of these everlasting joys which you
shall have in heaven. But I must hasten.