A String of Pearls
The Best Things Reserved Until Last
by Thomas Brooks, June 8, 1657
The glorifying of our BODIES is reserved
until last.
I shall a little hint unto you the glory and blessedness
of the bodies of the saints when they shall all meet in heaven. I shall not
focus upon the privative blessedness of glorified bodies, which
consists in their freedom from all defects, deformities, diseases, and
distempers which here on earth they are subject to. Here on earth our bodies
stand in need of clothes to cover them, food to feed them, sleep to refresh
them, medicine to cure them, air to breath them, and houses to shelter
them—from all which glorified bodies shall be free, Rev. 7:16-17. But I
shall only speak of the positive blessings and heavenly endowments
which glorified bodies shall be invested with. As,
(1.) They shall be like the GLORIOUS body of Christ.
Philip. 3:21, "He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them
into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will
use to conquer everything, everywhere." Our bodies shall be as endearing and
lovely, as bright and glorious—as the body of Christ is. Chrysostom says,
that the bodies of the saints shall be seven times brighter than the sun.
Certainly saints shall be as handsome-bodied and as lovely-featured as
Christ is. Though their bodies are sown in dishonor—yet they shall be raised
in glory, 1 Cor 15:43. If Stephen's face did shine as if it had been the
face of an angel, that is, bright and glorious, Acts 6:15; and if there were
such a luster and glory upon Moses' face, that the children of Israel were
afraid to come near him, and he forced to put a veil upon it until he had
done speaking with them, Exod. 34:29-36; I say, if there were such a glory
upon the face of these two mortals, Oh then! how will the faces and bodies
of the saints glitter and shine when their bodies shall be made conformable
to the glorious body of Jesus Christ! "Then the godly will shine like the
sun in their Father's Kingdom!" Matthew 13:43.
Certainly, as the light and glory of the sun does far
exceed the light of the least twinkling star—so much and more shall the
glory of the saint's bodies excel that glory and splendor which was upon the
faces of Moses and Stephen. The bodies of the saints in heaven shall be
surpassingly lovely, well-favored, beautiful, and amiable. Plutarch, in the
life of Demetrius, says, That he was so fair of face and countenance, as
no painter was able to draw him. I am sure that I am not presently able
to paint out the beauty and glory which shall be upon the bodies of the
saints in that day of glory, wherein the saints shall shine as so many suns.
But,
(2.) Their bodies shall be SPIRITUAL.
1 Cor. 15:44, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised
a spiritual body." Their bodies shall be spiritual, not in regard of
substance—but state and condition. Spiritual in the text is not
opposed to visible—but to natural; for their bodies, though in
a sense they are spiritual—yet they shall be as visible as the glorious body
of Christ. When I say their bodies shall be spiritual, you must not think
that I mean that their bodies shall be turned into spirits. Oh no! for they
shall keep their bodily dimensions, and be true bodies still. Look! as in
the restoration of old and broken vessels, the matter is the same, only the
color is fresher and brighter, and the fashion newer and better—so in the
day of glory, our bodies shall be the same for substance that now they are;
they shall retain the same flesh, blood, and bones, and the same figure and
members, that now is—only they shall be overlaid or clothed with spiritual
and heavenly qualities and prerogatives; their bodies shall be glorious, of
a due and lovely proportion, of an exquisite feature and stature, of a
lively color, of cheerful aspect, and full of beauty and glory, splendor and
favor!
1. Now the bodies of the saints shall be spiritual,
first, in respect of their full, perfect, and perpetual freedom from all
heats, colds, hungerings, thirstings, sickness, weakness, wants. Here on
earth one cries out, Oh my back, my back! another, Oh my belly, my belly!
with the prophet, Hab. 3:16; another, Oh my head, my head! with the
Shunamite's son, 2 Kings 4:19; another, Oh my son, my son! as David for
Absalom, 2 Sam. 18:33; another, Oh my father, my father! with Elisha, 2
Kings 2:12.
Everyone here on earth has some ailment or other, some
infirmity or other, some grief or other—which fills his eyes with tears and
his heart with sorrow. But when these natural bodies, these animal or carnal
bodies, shall be made glorious, then they shall be fully and perpetually
freed from all manner of miseries and calamities; they shall be as the
angels, not subject to any sickness, weakness, or infirmities: Rev. 7:16-17,
"Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will
not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of
the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living
water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev. 21:4, "God
will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow
or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever." In
this respect their bodies may be said to be spiritual.
2. But, secondly, they may be said to be spiritual in
respect of their spiritual agility and nimbleness. Now, our bodies are
lethargic, dull, and heavy in their motion: and by this the soul is many
times hindered in its lively operations; for when the soul would mount up on
high, and busy herself about eternal objects, the body, like a lump of lead,
keeps it down. But now, in this glorious state, the body shall put off all
lethargy, dullness, and heaviness, and be exceeding agile, light, and swift
in motion, far beyond the swiftest bird which flies, Isaiah 40:31; 1 Thes.
4:17.
I know not by what to set forth the agility of glorified
bodies; a swift runner, a bird, a torrent—are too short to set forth their
agility. Luther says that a glorified body shall move quicker than a
thought. And Augustine says that the body will presently be here and there,
wherever the soul would have it.
Certainly the speed and motion of glorified bodies will
be extraordinary and incredible. A glorified saint desiring to be in such or
such a place a thousand miles off or more, he will be there in such an
incredible short time, that one calls it imperceptible, hardly to be
discerned: in which respect their bodies may be said to be spiritual.
3. But, thirdly and lastly, they may be said to be
spiritual, because of that perfect, full, absolute, and complete
subjection that they shall delightfully and perpetually yield to the Spirit
of God. Now they often vex and grieve, affront and fight against the
Spirit of God. The members of our bodies, as well as the faculties of our
souls, do often make war upon the Spirit of grace, as the apostle fully
shows in that Romans 6. "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to
the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are
in conflict with each other," Gal. 5:17. Now the body says to the soul, "Be
not over-righteous; neither make yourself over-wise: why should you destroy
yourself?" Eccles. 7:16. The body is often apt to say to the soul, You
are over-righteous, O soul! You argue and dispute against this sin and that
pleasurable way, and this comfort and that enjoyment, more than is
necessary. And the soul seems to answer, ver. 17, "Be not over-much
wicked, neither be foolish—why should you die before your time?"
But now in heaven the bodies of the saints shall be
fully, perfectly, and delightfully—under the command, conduct, and guidance
of the soul; and therefore may truly be said to be spiritual. As the spirit
serving the flesh may not unfitly be called carnal—so the body obedient to
the soul may rightly be termed spiritual. Glorified bodies are spiritual,
not in their essence—but in condition and quality, as being fully and
perpetually under the government of the Spirit.
Now on earth, the tongue grieves the Spirit, and
now the deaf ear is turned to the voice of the Spirit, and now the
eye is roving, when it should be reading the things of the Spirit; and
now the feet are wandering when they should be walking in the ways of
the Spirit; and now the hand is idle which should be diligent in the
work of the Spirit, Eph. 4:29-31, Isaiah 63:10.
Oh! but when in heaven—the tongue, the eye, the ear, the
hands, the feet—shall be all brought into an angelical, willing, and
delightful obedience to the Spirit; upon which account glorified bodies may
truly be termed spiritual. But,
(3.) Their bodies shall be IMMORTAL—they shall be
INCORRUPTIBLE. 1 Cor. 15:42, 54. Here on
earth, these carnal bodies of ours, by reason of their earthly and dreggish
composition, are subject to mortality and corruption. Indeed man is so poor
a piece, that he no sooner begins to live—but he begins to die; his whole
life is but a lingering death. Death every hour lies at the door. This
sergeant, death, constantly attends all men, in all places, companies,
changes, and conditions. Petrarch tells of one, who being invited to dinner
the next day, answered, I have not had a tomorrow for this many years.
Many dangers, many deaths, every hour surround these
lives of ours. Here, says one, we enter into the world; we follow one
another in the world; we depart all out of the world. Oh! but in heaven
we shall have immortal bodies! Luke 20:36, "They will never die again. In
these respects they are like angels." By the power, presence, and goodness
of God—their bodies shall be so perfumed and embalmed, that they shall never
corrupt, nor be subject to mortality. Manna, by a divine power, was kept
many hundred years in the golden pot without putrefying or corrupting, and
so shall the glorified bodies of the saints be preserved and kept pure and
immortal.
The immortality of glorified bodies shall far excel that
of Adam's in paradise, for they shall be free from all possibility of dying;
for they shall be perfectly and perpetually freed from all corruptible and
corrupting elements. Glorified bodies shall have no seeds of corruption
in them, nor any corruptive, harmful, malignant, or afflictive passion
attending them. Adam in his noble estate was in a possibility of dying—but
the saints in their glorified condition are above all possibility of dying.
This is a happiness which Adam could not reach to, in his state of
integrity. This great blessing lies upon all who shall come to glory.
It is reported of the Duke of Bouillon and his company,
that when they went to Jerusalem, as soon as they saw the high turrets they
gave a mighty shout, which even made the earth ring, crying out, "Jerusalem,
Jerusalem!" So when the saints shall all meet in the heavenly Jerusalem, oh
how will they make even heaven to ring again, crying out, Immortality!
immortality! immortality!
And thus, I suppose, I have clearly and fully made good
that great truth, namely—that the best and greatest things are reserved for
believers until they come to heaven.
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