Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 10

Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 10

Compiled by Grace Gems

A glorious termination! (From Winslow's, "The Aged Christian")
Never forget that the Christian pilgrimage has a glorious termination. We must keep this fully in view. We seek a city that is to come. We are not journeying to any uncertain, imaginary place. We are going to our heavenly mansion! We are traveling to the celestial city! O solemn thought! We are wending cur way to our glorious inheritance, and in a little while, it will burst upon us in its glory; blessed, indescribable, inconceivable glory; and we shall exchange an earthly pilgrimage, for the heavenly and eternal rest that awaits the people of God.
Heaven! Heaven! It is Heaven! (J.R. Miller)
An author tells of a French ship which had been lost for months amid storms in the southern seas. One morning land was espied from the mast-head. Passengers and crew gathered on deck, awaiting the sight of the coming shore in suspense. Vague outlines only were seen, so vague that the uncertainty almost broke the hearts of the watchers. Was it land? If so, what land? Could it be France? Was it indeed France? Or was it some strange country? Nearer and nearer they came. Clearer and more distinct became the outlines. After some hours, hours which seemed days, the lookout cried, "France! France! It is France!" The joy of the ship's company knew no bounds. They were indeed home after all their wanderings, and all their dangers and fears! So will it be with us believers, when, through the mists of that sea which we call death, we approach the shores of eternal life. After the dimness of dying--our eyes shall open to behold the banks of the celestial land! Then the shout will not be, "France! It is France!" but "Heaven! Heaven! It is Heaven!" The storms will all be past. We shall be in eternal glory. Then we shall have life in all its fullness. Then we shall be home forever! "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 Christian's hope! (James Smith, "Christ Exalted, Saints Comforted, and Sinners Directed" 1855)
"The hope which is laid up for you in Heaven" Colossians 1:5 Many Christians have but little in hand--but they have much in hope. They have little on earth--but they have unsearchable wealth in Heaven! The present is the worst state they will ever be in. All beyond death--is bright, blissful and glorious! The Christian's hope consists in both freedom and possession. The Christian's hope consists in freedom from all the pains which we now experience, both in mind and body; all the hindrances which are so thickly strewed in our way in this evil world; all the fears which now beset, agitate, and harass us, day by day; all the forebodings which often make our lives bitter and gloomy; all the sins which are now our plague, disease, and torment; all our needs, and all possibility of needing--for God will fully supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Oh, what a mercy it will be to enjoy such freedom--and to possess the inward consciousness that it will be enjoyed forever! The Christian will not only be free from all that is painful and distressing--but he will also possess perfect, settled, and everlasting peace; sinless faculties and immortal powers with which to serve and enjoy God forever; permanent, perpetual, and uninterrupted joy; the presence and enjoyment of Jesus--we shall see Him, be with Him, and be like Him; ALL that we can consistently wish or desire! Our hope is laid up for us in Heaven. This betokens its excellency--being kept in so excellent a place; its certainty and security--no thieves can break through to steal; its nature--it is spiritual, holy, Heavenly. O glorious hope! O blessed prospect! It leaves us nothing to long for--nothing to desire! What a mercy it is when comforts run short, when trials press sorely, when a dreary winter of affliction sets in-- to remember that we have a priceless inheritance--an inheritance that is kept in heaven for us--pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay! How this blessed hope should quicken our zeal, animate our spirits, and raise us above fear and despondency. It is not what we have now--but what we shall have in Heaven--which should affect us. Our glorious inheritance is vast beyond calculation--it is safe beyond the possibility of failure! The wilderness will soon be passed, the storms of life will soon subside--and eternal calm and unclouded sunshine, will soon be our happy, endless portion! All glory to free grace!
What kind of bodies will they have? (Octavius Winslow, "Morning Thoughts")
"How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" 1 Cor. 15:35 The identical body that was sown, yet so changed, so spiritualized, so glorified, so immortalized, as to rival in beauty the highest form of spirit, while it shall resemble, in its fashion, the glorious body of Christ Himself! We can form but a faint conception, even from the glowing representations of the apostle, of the glory of the raised body of the just. But this we know, it will be in every respect a structure worthy of the perfected soul which will inhabit it. Presently, 'the body' is the antagonist, and not the assistant of 'the soul'--its clog, its prison, its foe. The moment that Jesus condescends to "grace this lowly abode" with His indwelling presence, there commences that fierce and harassing conflict between holiness and sin, which so often wrings the bitter cry from the believer, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Oh, what a encumbrance is this body of sin! Its corruptions, its infirmities, its weaknesses, its ailments, its diseases, all conspire to render it the tyrant of the soul, if grace does not subdue it, and bring it into subjection as its slave. How often, when the mind would pursue its favorite study, the wearied and over-tasked body enfeebles it! How often, when the spirit would expatiate and soar in its contemplations of, and in its communings with God--the inferior nature detains it by its weight, or occupies it with its needs! How often, when the soul thirsts for divine knowledge, and the heart pants for holiness--its highest aspirations and its strongest efforts are discouraged and thwarted by the clinging infirmities of a corrupt and suffering body! Not so will it be in the morning of the resurrection! Then shall "the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality!" Mysterious and glorious change! "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet," the dead in Christ shall awake from their long sleep, and spring from their tombs into a blissful immortality! Oh, how altered! Oh, how transformed! Oh, how changed! "Sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." "A spiritual body!" Who can imagine, who describe it? What anatomy can explain its mysteries? What brush can paint its beauties! "A spiritual body!" All the remains, all the vestiges of corrupt matter--passed away! "A spiritual body!" So regenerated, so sanctified, so invested with the high and glorious attributes of spirit, that now sympathizing and blending with the soul in its high employment of obeying the will and chanting the praises of God--it shall rise with it in its lofty soarings, and accompany and aid it in its deep researches in the hidden and sublime mysteries of eternity!
I would not live here always! (Thomas Guthrie, 1803-1873)
"Arise and depart; for this is not your rest--because it is polluted!" Micah 2:10 In his best hours, home, his own sinless home--a home with his Father above that starry sky--will be the wish of every Christian. He looks around him--the world is full of suffering; he is distressed by its sorrows, and vexed with its sins. He looks within him--he finds much in his own corruptions to grieve for. In the language of a heart repelled, grieved, vexed--he often turns his eye upward, saying, "I would not live here always!" (Job 7:16) Not for all the gold of the world's mines; not for all the pearls of her seas; not for all the pleasures of her flashing, frothy cup; not for all the crowns of her kingdoms-- would I live here always! Like a bird about to migrate to those sunny lands where no winter sheds her snows, or strips the grove, or binds the dancing streams--the Christian will often in spirit be pruning his wing for the hour of his flight to glory! "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23
The best!
Winslow, "Christ's Presentation of His Church to God"
Beloved, what is heaven? What is the final glory of the saints? Is it not the best place, the richest inheritance provided by the Father for the people ransomed and brought home to glory by His Son. Heaven is a place designated by God, chosen and consecrated by Him for the Church redeemed by the precious blood of His dear Son. And when we enter there, we shall enter as children welcomed to a Father's home. It will be the best that God can give us! He has ever bestowed upon us, who deserved the least, the best in His power to bestow: the best Savior, the best robe, the best banquet, the best inheritance. In the new heaven and the new earth there will be nothing more to taint, nothing more to sully, nothing more to embitter, nothing more to wound; no serpent to beguile, no Eve to ensnare, no spoiler to destroy, no sin to defile, no adversity to sadden, no misunderstanding to alienate, no tongue to defame, no suspicion to chill, no tear, nor sickness, nor death, nor parting. It will be the best part of the pure, radiant, glorified universe which God will assign to His people! Saints of the Most High! let the prospect cheer, sanctify, and comfort you! It will not be long that you are to labor and battle here on earth. It is but a little while that you are to occupy your present sphere of conflict, of trial, and of sorrow. The time is coming; oh, how fast it speeds! Soon the Lord Jesus Christ will bring you home to heaven, and will present you a part of His glorious Church to His Father! Oh, then, then, will come the reward of grace which Christ will give to all those who have confessed Him here on earth; who have witnessed for His truth, endured suffering on His behalf, and have proved faithful unto death. The Lord grant that in that day we may be found among the presented ones, to whom He will say, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!"
There will be no night there! (Rufus Wheelwright Clark, "Heaven and its Scriptural Emblems" 1853)
"There will be no night there!" Revelation 21:25 Is it not a blessed announcement that there is a world in which "there will be no night!" No night of crime, deceit, treachery or temptation! No night of sorrow or affliction! No night of pain, sickness or death! Oh, tell it to the weary believer, who is struggling against the evil habits and depraved inclinations of a wicked heart; who, on life's fierce battlefield, is striving to win an immortal crown! Oh, tell it to the dying Christian, who, restless upon his bed, through long, wearisome nights, is trying to learn the lessons of submission, and faith, and moral discipline, which his sufferings are teaching--who longs for light to break through the dark clouds that are gathering about him. Oh, hasten with the tidings to the bereaved family, and assure them that there is a world where these griefs shall be lifted from their oppressed spirits, and their present afflictions, if rightly improved, shall work out of them "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!" For where God is--there can be no night. Where bright, holy angels throng--there can be no sorrow. Where celestial music rolls through the galleries and arches of temples filled with the effulgence of the Deity--there can be no sighing. Where Jesus reigns in His majesty and glory, "all tears shall be wiped away!" No night in Heaven! Then no sad partings are experienced there, no funeral processions move, no death-knell is heard, no graves are opened, no mysterious providences will there perplex us, no dark calamities will shake our faith. But we shall walk the golden streets of the eternal city, surrounded with perpetual brightness, breathing an atmosphere of heavenly purity and love, and free to enter the palaces of our Savior-King, or climb to heights over which no shadow ever passes! I am going to prepare a place for you. (John MacDuff, "The Words of Jesus") "I am going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am." John 14:2-3 What a wondrous thought! Jesus is now busied in Heaven in His people's behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He says, "I will make a new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special kingdom. I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have redeemed with my blood!" Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation will be heard no more. Soon He will come again, to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be everlasting partakers with Him in His crown!
What a cluster of sweet hopes! (Octavius Winslow, "Evening Thoughts")
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." Revelation 21:4 What a cluster of sweet hopes is here! What a collection of bright beams, throwing, in focal power, their splendor over that cloudless day! Heaven will be a state of perfect freedom from all sorrow! Child of sorrow! Sick ones dear to Christ! Bereaved mourners! Hear these precious words, and let music break from your lips! God will dry your tears! As the mother comforts her sorrowing one, so God will comfort His. Yes, child of grief, there will be no more weeping then; for, oh, ecstatic thought! "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." And "there shall be no more death." No more rending asunder of affection's close and tender ties; no more separations from the hearts we love; the mourners no more go about the streets; for death is now swallowed up in victory! "Neither sorrow, nor crying." Grief cannot find existence or place in an atmosphere of such bliss. No frustrated plans, no bitter disappointments, no withered hopes, no corroding cares, there mingle with the deep sea of bliss, now pouring its tide of joyousness over the soul! "Neither shall there be any more pain." Children of suffering, hear this! There will be no more pain racking the frame, torturing the limbs, and sending its influence through the system, until every nerve and fibre quivers with an indescribable agony. "The former things are passed away." It will be a day of perfect freedom from all sins. Ah! this methinks will be the brightest and sweetest of all the joys of heaven. The Canaanite will no more dwell in the land. Inbred corruption will be done away; the conflict within us will have ceased; no evil heart will betray into inconsistencies and sorrows; not a cloud of guilt will tarnish the unsullied purity of the soul. You holy ones of God! weeping, mourning over indwelling and outbreaking sin, the last sigh you heave will be a glad adieu to pollution; to be tormented with it no more, to be free from it forever! "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness." This is heaven indeed!
Luxuriating forever! (from Winslow's, "The Glory of Christ in Heaven")
Beloved, the Lord Jesus intends that His people shall be near unto Him in heaven. His satisfaction of soul will not be complete until He clusters around Him in glory all for whom His soul travailed in suffering on earth. Nothing shall separate Him from His people! Not a jewel from His crown, not a lamb from the fold, shall be missing from the Father's house! You will drink of the pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb! You will eat of the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, yielding its fruit every month! You will behold Christ in His glory, enjoy God forever, be perfected in purity, and swim in the ocean of infinite and eternal blessedness! There Jesus will take you, dear saints of God. And there shall be no more exile, no more sorrow, no more neediness, no more parting, no more sickness, no more death, and no more sin. You will be luxuriating forever amid the glories and plenitude of the new Jerusalem!
If you admit a pig into your parlor among your friends (John Newton's Letters)
"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful--but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life!" Revelation 21:27 If we do not exactly know the particulars of what Heaven is--then we know to a certainty what it is not. We are sure that it is not like earth--there are no ale-houses, gambling parlors, or theaters there. How then could those whose hearts are set upon these things--possibly be happy even in Heaven, where they would be separated forever from all that they love? Heaven must be a Hell to an unhumbled, unsanctified sinner--even if he could be admitted there. The company, the employments, the enjoyments--are of the same kind with what he despised on earth. If you admit a pig into your parlor among your friends--he would find no pleasure there. He would rather be in the sty, or wallowing in the mire in a ditch! Well, such were some of us--yes, such were all of us once! And you, my dear friends, though you were not vile profligates like me--you were carelessly swimming down the stream of the world, and, when upon the edge of the whirlpool which would have eternally swallowed you up--He snatched you with a strong hand, set your feet upon a rock, established your goings, and has put a new song in your mouth! "By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10
All these things shall have no place in Heaven! (J.C. Ryle, "Shall We Know One Another in Heaven?" 1870)
I pity that man who never thinks about Heaven. I mean by "Heaven" the future dwelling-place of all true Christians, when the dead are raised, and the world has passed away. Cold and unfeeling must that heart be, which never gives a thought to that dwelling-place! Dull and earthly must that mind be, which never considers Heaven. We may die any day. "In the midst of life, we are in death." We must all die sooner or later. The youngest, the fairest, the strongest, the cleverest--all must go down one day before the scythe of the King of Terrors. This world shall not go on for ever as it does now. Its affairs shall at last be wound up. Now, what will Heaven be like? The question, no doubt, is a deep one, but there is nothing presumptuous in looking at it. The man who is about to sail for Australia or New Zealand as a settler, is naturally anxious to know something about his future home, its climate, its employments, its inhabitants, its ways, and its customs. All of these are subjects of deep interest to him. In the same way, you are leaving the land of your nativity--and you are going to spend the rest of your life in a new world. It would be strange indeed if you did not desire information about your new abode. Now surely, if we hope to dwell for ever in that "better country, even a heavenly one"--then we ought to seek all the knowledge we can get about it. Before we go to our eternal home--we should try to become acquainted with it. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. All who are found there, will be of one mind and of one experience: chosen by the same Father, washed in the same blood of atonement, and renewed by the same Spirit. Universal and perfect holiness, love, and knowledge--will be the eternal law of the kingdom. Heaven is the eternal presence of everything that can make a saint happy--and the eternal absence of everything that can cause sorrow. Sickness, and pain, and disease, and death, and wickedness, and poverty, and labor, and money, and care, and ignorance, and misunderstanding, and slander, and lying, and quarrels, and envies, and bad tempers, and infidelity, and superstition, and heresy, and schism, and wars, and fightings, and bloodshed, and murders, and law-suits--all, all these things shall have no place in Heaven! On earth, in this present time, they may live and flourish. In Heaven even their footprints shall not be known. "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!" Revelation 7:16-17