Heaven # 2

Heaven # 2

We presume in Heaven we shall love and delight in some more than others. Special sympathies will link certain souls together. There are men described in the Bible, and in Church history, to whom our affections are peculiarly drawn forth. And why may not their society be ought hereafter above that of others? Is it idle speculation to suppose that fellowship with them may receive the highest zest, from the gratification of curiosity respecting their manner of life, opinions, achievements, trials, and history?

And will not those who have been friends here, be friends there? It is true that "they neither marry nor are given in marriage;" but these words of Christ plainly refer simply to the matrimonial bonds hereafter between those who have sustained the relationship on earth.

I see no reason why those who have been dearest friends on earth should not, when admitted to that happy state, continue to be so, with full knowledge and recollection of their former friendship. If a man is still to continue a social being, and capable of friendship, it seems contrary to all probability, that he should cast off of forget his former friends, who are partakers with him of the same exaltation. He will be changed, and so will they -

"That so before the judgment seat,
Though changed and glorified each face,
Not unremembered we may meet
For endless ages to embrace!"

There are some whom we fully expect to meet in heaven, who have been our fellow-laborers and sufferers in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. What a joy it will be to recognize those dear ones. There are some whom we hope to meet, though at present they give no signs which are decisive of their having the new life of the Spirit of God; but we look for the answer to our prayers, and the crown of our labors when we are gone, in their salvation and union with us in Life's realm of light - and what a joy it will be to meet them there!

There are others, respecting whom we have little or ho hope at all, who are living earthly, sordid, sensual lives, who seem to be rejecting holy influence; but, when the grass shall have grown some summers, and the winds whistled some winters over our grave - a sermon may strike them, a book arrest them a thought penetrate them, and awaken remembrances of truths they now labor to forget - they may turn to God after all. What joy to recognize them hereafter! to find them by our side - to say "And are you here? Thank God, indeed."

To meet in Heaven with friends and relatives who have gone before us, or who may be left behind us; to embrace some on the shores of immortality, like mariners escaped from shipwreck; to meet such as were part of ourselves, our children; "No traveler lost - a family in heaven" - this speaks to the deepest sensibilities of human nature; this brings before us an element of bliss enshrined among our dearest hopes.

The circulation of feelings that constitute on earth the soul of domestic happiness, and the secret of intimate friendship, is sometimes injurious in its influence by drawing away the heart from God. The lovely gourd under whose shadow we repose, may hide from us the beams of the Son of Righteousness. The friends with whom we take sweet counsel, may occasion us to forget our resting place. Sympathy and love may prove a snare. But in Heaven the affections will be balanced. Friends will be loved, but not supremely. God will be the chief object of regard, and gratitude, and praise: "Oh glorious state and coming time, wherein all evil shall be done away, and all good perfected! when the intensity of human affection shall no longer interfere with the bright serenity of holy love, but both be conjoined in one inexplicable bond! where myriads shall be loved as now we love our friends, and friends be loved as now we ought to love our God; and God be loved and admired and worshiped, and understood and delighted in, with a reverence and a rapture, an affinity and a comprehension, with human sentiment purified, and divine capacity superadded, more than ever saints conceived - more than ever angels knew!"

In the Bible the manifestation of the Divine presence and glory is exhibited as the mainspring of celestial bliss. The psalmist in contemplating the subject exclaims, "In Your presence is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand pleasures for evermore!" Paul represents the glory of God as the principal object of the believer's hope. Of the manner in which the Divine Being will reveal Himself to the saints after the resurrection, it is impossible to conceive. Doubtless there will be methods of communication employed suited to their perfect nature, methods at once spiritual, distinct, and impressive. Is it not reasonable to suppose that, introduced to the immediate presence of God - imperfections of the Divine glory will be received, such as even the Bible could never impart? May not the apostle have had this thought in his mind when he says, "We shall know, even as we are known!" And did not John entertain a kindred idea when he employed the astonishing expression, "We shall see Him as He is!"

~John Stoughton~

(continued with # 3)