Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 3

Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 3

Compiled by Grace Gems

Could you be so selfish--and so cruel? (G. Whyte, 1888)
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain!" Revelation 21:3-4
Would you call beloved departed believers back to earth again?
Would you wish them back--back from the presence of the Lamb?
Back from the sweets of glory--to the bitterness of time?
Back from those rivers of pure pleasure which flow at God's right hand--to the muddied streams in this valley of sorrow?
After they have reached the haven of rest--would you recall them to struggle again with the storms of life?
Could you be so selfish--and so cruel?
"They feast on the abundance of Your house! You give them drink from Your river of delights!" Psalm 36:8
"You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand!" Psalm 16:11
No dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement! (Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity, or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)
Throughout the Scriptures unholy people are branded, to their everlasting contempt--with the worst appellations. They are the most dangerous, and the most harmful beings in the world, and therefore are emblemized by lions--for they are cruel, Psalm 22:21; by bears--for they are savage, Isaiah 11:7; by dragons--for they are hideous, Ezekiel 29:3; by wolves--for they are ravenous, Ezekiel 22:27; by dogs--for they are snarling, Revelation 22:15; by vipers and scorpions--for they are stinging, Matthew 12:34, Ezekiel 2:6; by spiders and cockatrices--for they are poisoning, Isaiah 59:5; by swine--for they are intemperate, Matthew 7:6.
Remember this: that all these stinging expressions and appellations which disgrace and vilify unholy people, were inspired by the Holy Spirit and published in His holy Word.
The glutton is depicted as a swine; the fraudulent person is depicted as a fox; the lustful person is depicted as a goat; the backbiter is depicted as a barking cur; the slanderer is depicted as an asp; the oppressor is depicted as a wolf; the persecutor is depicted as a tiger; the seducer is depicted as a serpent.
Do you think that God admit such vermin as unholy people are--to eternally inhabit His holy Heaven? Surely not! God has long since resolved upon it--that no unclean beasts shall enter into Heaven--that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement! Certainly God will not allow such beasts and toads and snakes and serpents--to forever live with Him! Heaven is a too holy place to admit such vermin to inhabit!
"Nothing impure will ever enter it." Revelation 21:27
"Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:15
All in Heaven are holy: the angels holy, the saints are holy--and the Lord Himself above all is most glorious in holiness.
Now certainly it would be a Hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches to be their eternal companions! When the holy angels fell from their holiness--Heaven was so holy that it spewed them out! Certainly there will be no room in Heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy people are! 'Jerusalem above' is too glorious a habitation for beasts--or for men of beastly spirits, or beastly principles, or beastly practices. The city of the great God was never built for beasts. A wilderness and not a paradise--is fittest for beasts.
The grand object of the eye of faith! (Charles Spurgeon)
"We fix our eyes not on what is seen--but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!" 2 Corinthians 4:18
In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part--to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown--and onward is the goal. Whether it is for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love--the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith!
Looking into the future--the Christian sees sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of eternal glory. Looking further yet, the believer's enlightened eye can see death's river passed. He sees himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and made to sit together with Him on His throne!
Contemplation of my glorious future may well relieve, the darkness of the past, and the gloom of the present!
The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth!
Hush, hush, my fears!
Death is but a narrow stream--and you shall soon have forded it!
Death--how brief! Immortality--how endless!
Time--how short! Eternity--how long!
The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there!
"In the future, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me--but to all those who have loved His appearing!" 2 Timothy 4:8
What! (Henry Law, "Numbers" 1858)
Earth is affliction's home. A troop of sorrows compass us about. Tears stream. The bosom sighs. The brow is furrowed by the lines of care and worry. Death tears away the much loved friend. Sickness invades the frame. The home is desolate. The table is destitute. We look to the right hand, and there is trouble; on the left, and still fresh troubles frown.
But heaven is a wide sea of bliss without a ripple. All tears are wiped away. All faces beam with one enraptured smile. All lips confess, 'The cup of happiness overflows'. We bathe in oceans of delight.
In heaven sin is shut out; temptations banished; fears buried in an unfathomable grave; sorrow and unbelief have fled away; knowledge is perfect; our souls are purity; our bodies are imperishable beauty; we completely share the glory of our all glorious Lord.
Jesus is the crown of heaven! This is the pinnacle of bliss! The revelation of the Lord, without one intervening cloud, is the grand glory of the endless kingdom. Heaven is full heaven, because Christ shines there exactly as He is; seen and admired by every eye.
In heaven Jesus ever stands conspicuous in one undiminishable blaze! Believer, what will it be to gaze on the manifested beauty of Him, who is so altogether lovely! What! to read clearly all the deep mysteries of His redeeming will! What! to dive down to the vast depths of His unfathomable heart! What! to fly upward to the very summit of His boundless love! What! to trace clearly all His dealings in providence and grace! What! to comprehend all that Jesus is! What! never to lose sight of Him; no, not for a moment! What! to be ever drinking fresh raptures from His present smile! What! to feel, that this joy is mine forever! This! this is heaven!
No mind has imagined (Thomas Brooks, "A String of Pearls" 1657)
Surely there is no believer but who finds that sometimes sin interrupts his joy, and sometimes Satan disturbs his joy, and sometimes afflictions 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.
Here on earth, our joy is mixed with sorrow; our rejoicing with trembling. The most godly have sorrow mixed with their joy, water mixed with their wine, vinegar mixed with their oil, pain mixed with their ease, winter mixed with their summer, 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.
"In His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11
Mark-- for quality--there are pleasures; for quantity--fullness; for dignity--at God's right hand; for duration--forevermore. And millions of years multiplied by millions, do not make up one minute of 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!
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! 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 such wonderful joys--as no rhetorician can utter, had he the tongue of men and angels!
Sometimes great crosses, sometimes hard losses, and sometimes unexpected changes--turn a Christian's harping into mourning.
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 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
The moment after our friends say we are dead (J. R. Miller, "Glimpses of the Heavenly Life" 1908)
No earthly language is adequate to describe the blessedness, the joy, the happiness of heaven! Perhaps no human word gathers and holds in itself so much of the truest meaning of heaven--as the word "home". Home is a place of love. It is a place of confidence. We have nothing to hide or conceal from each other, inside home's doors. We know we are loved. Our faults may be seen and known--but we are dear in spite of them. We find there sympathy with our sufferings, and patience with our infirmities and shortcomings. Heaven is our home! Into it, all God's children will be gathered. It is a place of glory, of beauty, of splendor, a holy place--but, best of all, it is a place of perfect love.
As we read the wonderful description of the heavenly life in the book of Revelation, we find that all heaven's glory comes from Christ! "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne!" Revelation 5:6
Whatever else heaven may mean to us, it will, first of all, mean being with Christ! Here we see Him only by faith, ofttimes dimly. We long to see Him as He is. Our hearts hunger for Him. "We would see Jesus!" is our cry all our days.
But when the veil which hides heaven from our sight is torn for us--and the glory is suddenly revealed--we shall see, first of all, before we look upon any of the splendors of the place--Him we have loved--our Savior and our Friend, Jesus Christ! And He will wipe away every tear from our eyes!
Being with Him--we shall need nothing else to make our blessedness complete. Seeing Him--we shall be satisfied. Seeing Him--we shall be like Him, changed fully into His image! Seeing Him --we shall then be with Him forever!
This dull bud will open--and a glorious rose will unfold in all its splendor! From this poor, feeble, struggling earthly life--will emerge a child of God, in glorious beauty! If only we could have a glimpse of ourselves--what we will be the moment after our friends say we are dead, could we go on living as if we were made only for the earth! Let us not grovel any longer! Let us who have this glorious future--not creep in the slime and dust! Let us live worthy of our exalted honor. When we see Christ, we shall be made like Him! "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is!" 1 John 3:2
This hope of heaven should strengthen us to overcome all earthly discouragements. No matter how hard the way is--the end is glorious! No matter how great the fierceness of the battle, the weariness of the struggle, the bitterness of the sorrow, the keenness of the suffering, glory is the final outcome! "And so we will be with the Lord forever! Therefore comfort and encourage each other with these words!" 1 Thes. 4:17-18
Distress in heaven? (James, "The Christian Father's Present to His Children" 1825)
Will it cause distress in heaven, to know that our unsaved beloved friends and relatives are forever lost?
The only way of solving this difficulty, is to realize that a perfect knowledge of God, and of the wisdom and justice of all His designs and operations, will constitute a chief part of the happiness of heaven. We shall be so convinced of the equity of His dealings towards the wicked, so divested of all the weakness of 'human sentimentalism', so absorbed in the love of what is right and just, that the absence of our loved ones from the world of glory, will cause no interruption of our heavenly bliss!
This, I acknowledge, is now hard to conceive. The day shall reveal it. "Now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." 1 Cor. 13:9-10
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments!" And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever!" Revelation 19:1-3.
All will be pure, unmingled happiness--or pure, unmingled misery! ("Life's Shortness and Vanity", A funeral sermon by Samuel Davies)
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment--but the righteous to eternal life!" Matthew 25:46
In this present world, our good and evil are blended. Our happiness has some bitter ingredients, and our miseries have some agreeable mitigations.
But in the eternal world, good and evil shall be entirely and forever separated! All will be pure, unmingled happiness--or pure, unmingled misery!
But what gives infinite importance to these joys and sorrows is--that they are enjoyed or suffered in the eternal world, and they are themselves eternal. Eternal joys! Eternal pains! Joys and pains that will last as long as the King eternal and immortal will live to distribute them! As long as our immortal spirits will live to feel them! Oh what joys and pains are these!
And these eternal joys or pains, my friends--are awaiting every one of us! These pleasures, or these pains--are felt this moment by all our friends and acquaintances who have died before us! And in a little, little while--you and I must feel them!
Alas! What then, have we to do with time and earth? Are the pleasures and pains of this world--worthy to be compared with eternal pleasures and pains? "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" The enjoyments and sufferings, the labors and pursuits, the laughter and tears of the present state--are all nothing in comparison. What is the loss of an estate, or of a dear relative--compared to the loss of a blissful immortality?
And if our heavenly inheritance is secure--what does it matter, even if we should be reduced into Job's forlorn situation? What does it matter, even if we are poor, sickly, racked with pains, and submerged in every human misery? Heaven will more than make amends for all!
But if we have no evidences of a title to heaven, the sense of these transitory distresses may be swallowed up in the fear of the horrible miseries of eternity!
Alas! What does it avail--that we play away a few years in mirth and gaiety, in grandeur and pleasure--if when these few years have fled, we lift up our eyes in hell, tormented in eternal flames!
Oh what are all these transitory things--to a candidate for eternity! An heir of everlasting happiness--or everlasting misery!
If we spend our immortality in eternal misery--what sorry comfort will it be that we laughed, and played, and frolicked away our few years upon earth!
As Christians, we are to be nobly indifferent to all the little amusements and pleasures of so short an earthly life.
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment--but the righteous to eternal life!" Matthew 25:46
Meditate on HEAVEN! (William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")
Meditate often on these four last things: Death, which is most certain. Judgment, which is most strict. Hell, which is most doleful. Heaven, which is most delightful.
Meditate on HEAVEN, which is most joyful.
"Then the King will say to those on His right--Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world!" Matthew 25:34
"Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!" Matthew 25:21
Heaven is a place where all joy is enjoyed! In Heaven, there will be: mirth without sadness, light without darkness, sweetness without bitterness, life without death, rest without labor, plenty without poverty! Oh, what joy enters into the believer--when the believer enters into the joy of his Lord!
Who would not work for glory with the greatest diligence, and wait for glory with the greatest patience?
Oh, what glories are there in glory! Thrones of glory, crowns of glory, vessels of glory, a weight of glory, a kingdom of glory!
Here on earth--Christ puts His grace upon His spouse! There in Heaven--He puts His glory upon His spouse!
In heaven the crown is made for them, and in Heaven the crown shall be worn by them!
In this life believers have some good things--but the rest and best are reserved for the life to come!
Oh, sirs! meditate upon Heaven, for meditation on Heaven will make us heavenly!
Heaven is not only a possession promised by Christ--but a possession purchased by Christ!
When our contemplations and minds are in Heaven--then we enjoy Heaven upon earth! To be IN Christ is Heaven below; to be WITH Him is Heaven above!
There cannot be a better thing for us, than for us to be with the best of beings! "To me to live is Christ--and to die is gain!" Philippians 1:21
Let our condition now be ever so great--it is Hell without Christ! let our condition now be ever so bad--it is Heaven with Christ!
"I had rather be in Hell with Christ--than in Heaven without Him!" said Luther.
Hell itself would be Heaven--if Christ was in it! Heaven would be Hell--if Christ was out of it!
That which makes Heaven so full of joy--is that it is above all fear! That which makes Hell so full of horror--is that it is beyond all hope!
The vessels of grace--shall swim in the ocean of glory!
We may talk of the greatness of our crowns--but we shall never know the weight of our crowns--until they are set on our heads!