75. ON HEAVEN
Come, Oh my soul, and meditate on the joys and glories of the heavenly
world! Lift up your eyes unto the hills from where comes your help; those
everlasting hills, where all the precious flock of Christ will eternally
feed, and where the great Shepherd of the sheep immediately dwells. Nothing
tends more to ennoble the mind, and refine the faculties of the soul, than
frequent and pious contemplations on the grace of Jesus, on the love of the
Father, on the communion of the Holy Spirit, on the felicities reserved in
heaven for all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. When the mind is
once filled with these stupendous, yet endearing subjects, how contemptible
and trifling do all earthly things appear!
The word of God reveals much that is captivating to the soul, respecting the
abodes of glory; yet language cannot describe, nor the mind conceive, the
blessed reality. What heaven really is, we must die to know. All the glories
of kingdoms, all the beauties of gardens, all the splendors of palaces, yes,
all the riches of creation, form but a faint sketch of the sublime original.
Earth can only afford a shadowy representation of heavenly glory. The Holy
Spirit reveals far sweeter views to our minds, than those which are drawn
from sublunary scenes.
HEAVEN IS A STATE OF REST. "There the wicked cease from troubling, and there
the weary are at rest." How delightful is rest to the weary traveler, to the
sons and daughters of affliction; to those whose bodies are "chastened with
pain;" or whose souls are "filled with the scorning of those that are at
ease, and with the contempt of the proud."
How cheering is the prospect of rest to the persecuted followers of Jesus,
who find no abiding city here, being driven from place to place by the rude
hand of arbitrary power. How happy was the exchange for Lazarus, when
carried by angels from a leprous body, wasted with hunger, to Abraham's
bosom, to the mansion of the blessed, the paradise of God.
HEAVEN IS THE ABODE OF PEACE. Pleasing thought indeed, to those who are
constrained to dwell with Mesech, and have their habitation among the tents
of Kedar; who are compelled to say with David, "my soul has long dwelt with
those who are enemies to peace, whose tongues are sharp swords," wounding
the feelings, and destroying the happiness of all around them. But in
heaven all is harmony and love. There, every heart vibrates in unison, and
swells with pure affection.
The sons of peace shall dwell with their heavenly Father, who is the God of
peace; with Jesus their Redeemer, who is the Prince of Peace; with the Holy
Spirit, whose fruit is peace. The Triune God will cause their peace to
flow like a river fed by a perennial spring, whose waters fail not; ever
issuing, clear as crystal, from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
HEAVEN IS A STATE OF PERFECT HOLINESS. How ardently does the true believer
in Jesus pant after perfect holiness. Here, indeed, he cannot attain unto
it. Every moment bespeaks his infirmity. Too often, alas! his deep
corruption, inwardly felt and deplored, makes him cry out in bitter anguish
of spirit, "Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" In heaven, he
shall be forever delivered from the workings of inbred sin. In heaven, he
shall he perfected in holiness. He loves, therefore, to anticipate the bliss
of heaven, which consists in seeing God in all his unutterable glories; in
being made like him in the perfection of beauty; in being forever with him
in the enjoyment of his love.
In heaven, he will he pure as God is pure, holy as God is holy; not, indeed,
in degree, hut in nature. All the loveliness of the Savior will be reflected
from the heavenly bride, when, adorned with every grace and clothed in the
righteousness of her beloved Lord, she shall shake herself from the dust at
the morning of the resurrection, and arise and shine in the full splendor of
eternal glory.
Oh! how glorious will that period be, when all the elect of God shall be
gathered in; when not a grain of the precious seed shall be lost; when
every, even the feeblest lamb shall be housed from the storm.
HEAVEN IS A STATE OF UNMIXED HAPPINESS. No tears bedew the cheeks, no sorrow
rends the hearts of its blissful inhabitants. In those celestial regions
there is no pain, neither painful separation of kindred souls. All is
blooming health and immortal vigor. There, death shall strike its dart no
more; for death is swallowed up in victory.
Sin, which now embitters every blessing, cannot shed its baneful influence
over the glorified spirits surrounding the throne of God. Satan can find no
admittance into those realms of bliss. The world, and all which it contains,
shall have passed away. Every enemy shall be destroyed; and Christ shall
reign forever and ever.
HEAVEN IS A STATE OF NEVER-ENDING BLISS. This stamps a value, which all the
gilded happiness of this world cannot boast. "The perpetuity of bliss, is
bliss." Here, in this present world, all is transitory and unsatisfactory.
The utmost point of earthly enjoyment is vanity and vexation of spirit. He
who grasps the most, grasps only a delusive shadow. Nothing beneath the
eternal source of blessedness, God in Christ, can give abiding peace or joy.
How endearing, then, are the words of the Savior; "These things I have
spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace." "These things have I
spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you; and that your joy might be
full."
HEAVEN IS THE ASSEMBLAGE OF ALL THAT IS LOVELY AND EXCELLENT. There dwell
the cherubim and seraphim; the angels and archangels; principalities,
thrones, dominions, and powers. There will all the friends of Jesus, who
have lived in successive ages of the world, meet in blissful harmony and
adoring praise. There all the holy intelligences will have one mind, one
voice, one will, one spirit. All will be filled with the love of God. All
will be holy, and all will be inexpressibly happy.
The divine image, which is the real excellence and beauty of the moral
creation of God upon earth, will be seen in all its glory, when the bride,
the Lamb's wife, the church triumphant, shall be presented to the heavenly
Bridegroom, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Oh! my soul, rest not day nor night, until the Lord makes you fit for the
inheritance of the saints in light. To taste something of the blessedness of
heaven, I need not travel in imagination over mighty kingdoms, or picture to
my mind the varied beauties of are and nature; I must descend into my own
heart, and there, in "secret silence of the mind," contemplate by faith the
infinite loveliness of the Savior, until a flame of holy love warm every
affection, and a beam of holy joy gladden every power of my soul. Such
glimpses of uncreated glories; such tastes of redeeming grace; such views of
Jesus and his great salvation, purifying the heart, and raising the
transported spirit above this poor, polluted world; may well be called—a
heaven begun below.
If it be heaven to behold God without a veil; to bear his image; to dwell in
his presence; then the preparation for heaven, and the foretaste of it, must
consist in beholding God now by the eye of faith, as revealed in his holy
word; in being now transformed by the renewing of the mind; and in holding
daily converse with him by a diligent perusal of the Scriptures and by
prayer. This is the life of faith. All profession of religion, without this,
is mere delusion. Such barren profession may be full of words, while
destitute of works; full of notions, while devoid of holy affections; full
of zeal for doctrines, while empty of all saving graces.
But Oh! how calm and tranquil is the humble Christian, who enjoys an assured
hope of glory! He resembles a person standing on some mighty eminence. Above
him shines the sun, without an intervening cloud; while far beneath his
elevated station, roars the dreadful thunder.
The great mass of mankind is compared in Scripture to the sea. This emblem
is most accurate. The sea is always varying in its form; ever restless, ever
fluctuating. Its waves, at one time, rage with tremendous fury; at another,
they undulate in gentle motion, or subside into a peaceful calm. Thus the
heart of man is compared to that element, which, with the most appropriate
significance, denotes deceitfulness, instability, and change. In the blessed
world of glory, which John saw, when wrapped in vision in the isle of
Patmos, "there was no more sea." No turbulent elements, no ungovernable
passions, no wild uproar to disturb its everlasting rest, no bar to
communion or sweet communion among the heavenly hosts.
The true Christian is a citizen of the New Jerusalem. He daily walks with
God by faith. His heart is separated from a vain and noisy world, through
which he is indeed hastening, but to which he does not belong. He needs not
to busy himself about its passing vanities, or to contend about its fleeting
honors. He shuns the angry disputes of fiery politicians, and the crowds of
maddening multitudes. He feels the force or the prophet's exhortation, "Let
the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth;" and seeks to lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; well knowing that
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God his Savior.
He has a nobler conquest to obtain than that which occupies the worldling's
mind. He labors to obtain the conquest over himself; since "he that is slow
to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit, than he
that takes a city." He has to contend against those very evils which are
fostered by the world, and which lead the heart directly from God.
He honors and obeys the laws. the cheerfully submits to the powers that be,
not only because of punishment, but also for conscience's sake. He regards
his neighbor's welfare as his own, and studies to be quiet, and do his own
business. He wishes to "owe no man any thing, but to love one another."
Love, he considers to be a debt which he should always be laboring to
discharge, although he knows it can never be fully paid.
Such is the believer in Jesus. Such is the heir of glory. He is a son of
peace, and is hastening to the mansions of peace. As his life is, so is his
death. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that
man is peace."
There is a world of rich delight,
Where warm affections glow;
Where reigns the everlasting light,
Where crystal waters flow.
Those happy saints securely dwell
From Satan's deadly power;
Their bliss no mortal tongue can tell,
"Unfolding every hour."
They dwell with Jesus, and behold
The beauties of his face
Secure in the celestial fold,
And crowned by sovereign grace.
From earth, and all it's empty joys,
Blest Jesus, set me free;
How vain the worldling's painted toys,
Compared with heaven and thee!
You are my hope, my way, my bliss,
My glory, and my crown;
Descend, Oh blessed Prince of Peace,
And make my heart your throne.