Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 8

Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 8

Compiled by Grace Gems

What an ocean of glory is here! (James Smith, "The Believer's Companion in Seasons of Affliction and Trouble" 1842)
"Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory!" Romans 8:17 The spiritual mind is like a bird locked up in a cage, while burdened with a body of sin and death. We cannot do the things that we desire--so we long, pant, and pray for liberty. Liberty, glorious liberty is before us! Perfect and entire freedom from all sin--and temptation to sin! Every corruption will be slain, and completely rooted out of body and soul! No dark clouds of ignorance will any more hover over the understanding. No sinful or selfish principles will any more influence the will. No corroding guilt will again obtain a place in the conscience. No unworthy objects will be presented, or have power to captivate any of the affections. No profane or forbidden subjects will any more be found in the memory. Reason will be correctly informed. "Now we know in part, and prophesy in part--but then shall we know even as also we are known." Holiness will enter into the very nature of body and soul! We shall be separated completely and forever, from everything that is painful, defiling, or injurious--and united closely and forever to all that is holy, happy, and beneficial. Tried believer! What an ocean of glory is here! Adam's paradise was nothing compared to this! All things are yours! God is yours! Heaven is yours! The glory of Jesus is yours! Your end will be glorious--though your present situation is painful and distressing. You will soon be delivered from every fear, from every foe, from every impediment, and from evil in every shape and form! "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
I shall lie prostrate at His feet! (adapted from Mary Winslow's, "Life in Jesus")
In heaven I will see my own most precious Redeemer, enthroned in all His glory, His countenance radiant with ineffable love, and a welcome beaming from every feature! So shall I behold Him who loved me with an everlasting love and landed me at last in the kingdom of glory! The redeemed shall all be encircling the throne, and basking in the full sunshine of the Redeemer's countenance; while I shall lie prostrate at His feet in wondering joy and adoring love at the matchless grace that brought me there!
We would not be such muck-worms! (J. C. Philpot, "The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation")
"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened--in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you--what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to His people." Ephes. 1:18 If the Spirit would but enlighten the eyes of our heart, how this would lift us up out of the mud and mire of this wretched world! We would not be such muck-worms, raking and scraping a few straws together--or running about like ants with our morsel of grain! We would have our affections fixed more on things above. We would know more of Christ, enjoy more of Christ, be more like Christ, walk more like Christ walked, and look forward to our glorious inheritance. If these things were brought into our hearts with divine power--how they would sweeten every bitter cup, and carry us through every changing scene, until at last we were landed above--to see the Lord as He is, in the full perfection of His infinite glory!
A place where sorrow cannot live--and joy cannot die! (Thomas Watson, "Time's Shortness")
"But this I say, brethren, the time is short." 1 Corinthians 7:29 Here his honey for the godly. The time being short, their sinning time cannot be long. Sin is a troublesome inmate. Paul, that bird of paradise, sighed and groaned under corruption. (Romans 7:24) A child of God mingles sin with his duties. He cannot write a copy of holiness, without blotting. There's a part of a regenerate heart, which sides with Satan. But be of good comfort--the time is short! It is but for a short while, Christians, that you shall be combating a proud, unbelieving heart. Death does to the godly, as the angel did to Peter--it smites them, and makes their chains of sin fall off! The time being short, their working time cannot be long. But here is the saint's comfort--their working time is short. Revelation 14:13: "They will rest from their labors." When their bodies return to dust--their souls return to rest. The time being short, their suffering time cannot be long. Life is laden with trouble, "How frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble!" Job 14:1. You may as well separate weight from lead--as trouble from a man's life. We come into the world with a cry--and go out with a groan! Everyone has his yoke, and it is well if there is not a nail in it. Though the cross is heavy--we have but a little way to carry it. Death will give the godly a writ of ease. The time being short, their waiting time cannot be long. The godly shall not be long out of heaven. While the blessed angels see the orient beauties which shine in God's face, believers live far from court, being imprisoned in the body. Here they rather desire God--than enjoy Him. But the time is short, perhaps a few days or hours--and the saints shall be solacing themselves in the light of God's countenance! They shall leave their pillow of thorns--and lay their head on Christ's bosom! Faith gives a propriety in God; death gives a possession. The wagons and chariots came rattling to old Jacob--but they were to carry him to his son, Joseph. Death's chariot wheels may come rattling to a believer--but it is to carry him home to his Father's house! In that paradise of God, a Christian shall have more than he can ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20). He can imagine, "What if--every mountain were a pearl, every flower a ruby, every sand in the sea a diamond, the whole globe a shining gem?" But all his thoughts are too low and dwarf-like, to reach the glory of the celestial pyramids. The heavenly reward (as Augustine said) exceeds faith--and, as the time is short, a Christian shall be in heaven before he is aware. Then he shall bathe his soul in those perfumed pleasures of paradise, which run at God's right hand forevermore! God sets three crowns upon the elect: grace, joy, and glory. What should we thirst after, but this incomprehensible bliss! If our thoughts dwelt above--we would live sweeter lives! Heaven is a place where sorrow cannot live--and joy cannot die!
These eternal fountains! (William Nicholson, 1862)
"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!" Revelation 7:17 "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!" Numerous are the sources of sorrow here on earth--but God will dry them all up in Heaven. There will be no mourning Christian to drop tears there, "for all sorrow and sighing shall flee away!" There is nothing in that happy residence to distress or annoy. Jeremiah will utter no plaintive language there. Transgressors will grieve the holy no more. Bartimeus is the poor blind beggar no more. Lazarus's sores have been replaced by immortal beauty. The weeping widow is no longer crushed to the dust by the heavy hand of poverty. The orphan child is no longer forsaken and homeless. Pinching poverty and wasting disease are unknown. The distressing complaint will never accost the ear, "I am sick!" The sting of death and the terrors of the grave will never present themselves there. There are no graves in the land of eternal life. There is no death of friends there. Martha and Mary go to no beloved brother's grave to weep. Yonder, there is no deceitful heart, no secret foe, no fascinating world, no artful Satan! The former things have passed away, and the era of immortality has arrived. God shall give them everything calculated to secure, continue, and increase their happiness. "He will lead them to springs of living water," which shall never be exhausted. A spring is termed living water, because constantly bubbling up, and running on. These "springs of living water" indicate endless sources of happiness, which Christ will supply to His redeemed people from His own infinite plenitude. These eternal fountains will make an infinite variety for the enjoyments of the blessed. There will be no sameness, and therefore no weariness to the spirit. Every moment will open a new source of pleasure. And as God is infinite, so His attributes are infinite, and throughout infinity more and more of those attributes will be unveiled--and the discovery of each will be a new fountain of enjoyment. These sources will be ever-opening through all eternity--and yet, through all eternity, there will still remain, in the absolute perfections of the Godhead, an infinity of them still to be opened! Such bliss is enough to make the Christian say, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23
No longer will there be any curse! (Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880)
"No longer will there be any curse!" Revelation 22:3 Our beautiful world, filled with the wonderful works of God, bears evident traces that it is not what it was created at first. It bears everywhere, the marks of a great change--which change is accounted for in the Bible by the fall of Adam. God made everything very good--but man sinned, and the curse came upon himself and the whole creation! Though still beautiful, yet how much is its beauty marred and defaced! Now, thorns and thistles spring up--where once were only lovely flowers and sweet fruits. The wild beasts of the forest, though still beautiful in outward form--now possess violent and ferocious dispositions; and the beasts of burden groan under the tyranny of man. Man himself is subject to labor and toil, to sorrow and sickness and death. Even his most innocent enjoyments are marred by sin! But thanks be to God, the promise of deliverance from the curse sounds in our ears in this blessed Scripture, "No longer will there be any curse!" Where, then, is this land of blessing and perfection? It is that Paradise which Christ has gone to prepare for His people; that "Rest which remains for the people of God." Here on earth, even our very blessings are mixed with signs of the curse. But there shall be no more curse in our Heavenly home: no more toil and labor, no more weariness and faintness, no more hunger or thirst, no more bitter cold or burning heat, no more disappointment, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness, no more death! In Heaven, there shall be no more curse, but all will be the perfection of bliss. Who can conceive the happiness of such a state? For this, the whole creation groans and travails in pain, eagerly waiting for its consummation. Let us, then, who have such exceedingly great and precious promises, when sighing under the effects of the curse in any of its forms--gladly turn our thoughts to meditate on Heaven's glorious realities! And when admiring the beautiful works of God, which still exist to show us what they once were--let us also turn our thoughts to the greater beauty and glory of our Paradise above!
Let me leave you, and fly into His arms! (James Meikle, "Converse with the Unseen World")
Where, dear angels--where do you carry my soul--which just left its dying body? "Commissioned from your Father's throne, we come to carry you safely into His immediate presence." What dismal howling is that I hear behind us? "It is the last yells of hell's old lion, at your safe escape." Ah! where am I now? What wonders rise around me! What fragrance meets me from the mountains of myrrh, from the hills of frankincense! I hear the voice of my Beloved! Sacred guardians--let me leave you, and fly into His arms! Am I the one who lately lay tumbling and tossing on a deathbed--who now walks in beds of roses, and on banks of bliss? Am I the one who a little while ago, had weeping friends around his bed--who now am surrounded with angelic song, entranced with heavenly harmony, and ravished with delights? Am I the one who lately lay struggling with the pangs, and trembling at the approach of death--who now am above the reach of fear, and stroke of death? But, O Majesty of heaven! I blush at my very entrance into Your courts--that I have been such a stranger here. What precious time have I wasted on toys and trifles, and despised the joy of angels and the work of heaven! Where are all the things of time now, which could once challenge God, for the possession of my heart? Why did not Your glorious being feast my meditations? Why did not Your love attract, constrain mine? Why did not the joys of heaven drown the fleeting joys, and dissipate the imaginary sorrows of the world? Why did I prostitute the temple of my soul to the idols of time? Why did I permit the world and self a place in that temple which the Godhead is to inhabit forever? There are none before the throne but supreme lovers of God--a name I dare not claim; then, let me retire to the outmost confines of the land of bliss, as unworthy to be nearer. Ah! no! At your throne I will dwell forever, and glow in ardors, and dissolve in love! And the sacred spark, which sin and Satan, the world and self, smothered while below--shall burn a flame intense and strong through everlasting day!
Having nothing--possessing everything (William S. Plumer)
"Known--yet regarded as unknown; dying--and yet we live on; beaten--and yet not killed; sorrowful--yet always rejoicing; poor--yet making many rich; having nothing--and yet possessing everything." 2 Corinthians 6:9-10 The Christian is a paradox. Because he has Christ, he has the unsearchable riches of Christ. Believers have full and free forgiveness of all their sins; are fully accepted in the Beloved; are clothed in Christ's spotless righteousness; are adopted into the family of God; have a perfect title to heaven through Christ; have God for their Father, have Christ for their Savior, have the Holy Spirit for their Comforter, have heaven for their home; shall be like Christ and with Christ forever; shall inherit all things; are sure of ultimate victory over sins, the world, the flesh, the devil, all sorrow, death, hell.
The secret of being content (Thomas Brooks, "A String of Pearls" 1657)
A man needs very little of this world's goods to carry him through his pilgrimage, until he comes to his home--until he comes to heaven. A little will satisfy the demands of nature; though nothing will satisfy a man's lusts! "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content--whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need." Philippians 4:11-12 A Christian, in the midst of all his worldly delights, comforts, and entertainments, says, "Oh these are not the delights, the comforts, the contentments which my soul looks for, which my soul expects and hopes to enjoy. I look and hope for choicer delights, for sweeter comforts, for more satisfying contentments, for more durable riches! A Christian's motto always is, or always should be, "I hope for better things! I hope for better things than any the world can give to me, or than any that Satan can take from me!" "They admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Instead, they were longing for a better country --a heavenly one." Hebrews 11:13, 16
The sufferings of this present life (James Smith, "Gleams of Grace" 1860)
Cheer up Christian, every day you are so much nearer to your eternal home! Never was the end of the journey so near as now; never were there so many troubles behind you, and so few before you, as now. It is all up hill until you reach the celestial city--you will therefore find it more or less difficult unto the end. But, when you arrive at home, when you enter into the holy city, when you see your precious Lord Jesus, when you enjoy the presence of God --then all will be well, and well forever! You will be in your Father's house--your holy, happy home! You shall know no lack, nor will your desires remain ungratified. There will be no toil there, no crosses or burdens to carry there, no foes within nor without to face there, no tears or pains there, no conflicts to endure there. Five minutes with Jesus--and then what shall you think of all your earthly temptations, toils, trials, and troubles? One hour in Heaven, with the certainty of being forever holy, and forever happy--what will all your earthly afflictions be then? Then, then, shall you understand the apostle when he says, "I consider that the sufferings of this present life are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be conferred on us!" Romans 8:18
I can conceive of no higher heaven (John Angell James, "Christian Hope" 1859)
In the sublime visions of the Apocalypse, where heaven is opened to our view, it is Christ who is represented as the glory of that place lighting up all countenances with joy, filling all hearts with gladness, and making all tongues vocal with praise. Jesus is the sun of that blessed world--the orb of that nightless, cloudless, and eternal day! "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" This was the heaven Paul longed for. That one idea of 'being with Christ' filled his soul. To be absent from the body, and present with the Lord--was the prevailing wish of his truly Christian heart. Jesus is the object of the Christian's supreme regard. Are there not moments when he has such views of Christ's glory, such conceptions of His amazing mercy, such a sense of His love, such feelings of gratitude and affection, that he is ready to say, "If I feel all this now, when I only believe, what must be the felicity of beholding His full-orbed glory, of gazing upon His face, and hearing His loving voice! I can conceive of no higher heaven, no more perfect paradise, than to be in the presence of Him who died for me upon the cross!" There is something wonderfully impressive and delightful, in thus resolving the bliss of heaven into a one state of mind, consisting of an adoring and grateful love, for a being to whom we are indebted for redemption from an infinitude and eternity of torment, and to an infinitude and eternity of bliss; and who adds to all these claims upon our gratitude, additional claims upon our homage and admiration--for His own infinity and eternal glories!
Salvation (J. C. Philpot, "The Accuser of the Brethren)
And they were shouting with a mighty shout, "Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!" Revelation 7:10 The sweetest song that heaven ever proclaimed, the most blessed note that ever melted the soul, is salvation. Saved FROM death and hell; the worm which never dies; the fire which is never quenched; the sulphurous flames of the bottomless pit; the companionship of tormenting fiends and all the foul wretches under which earth has groaned; blaspheming God in unutterable woe; an eternity of misery without end or hope! Saved INTO heaven; the sight of Jesus as He is; perfect holiness and happiness; the blissful company of holy angels and glorified saints; and all this during the countless ages of a blessed eternity! What tongue of men or angels can describe the millionth part of what is contained in the word salvation? Beloved, soon, O how soon! all that now loads the heart with care, and wrings it with sorrow; all that dims the eye with tears, and renders the day anxious and the night sleepless, will be as though it had never been! Emerging from the entanglement, the dreariness, the solitude, the loneliness, and the temptations of the wilderness, you shall enter upon your everlasting rest, your unfading inheritance, where there is no sorrow, no declension, no sin, no sunset, no twilight, no evening shadows, no midnight darkness, but all is one perfect, cloudless, eternal day, for JESUS is the joy, the light, and the glory thereof! "And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into His glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy! All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to Him, in the beginning, now, and forevermore! Amen." Jude 1:24-25 from Winslow's, "The Lord, the Keeper of His People"