Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 16

Beautiful Heaven Quotes, Part 16

Compiled by Grace Gems

What is Heaven? (Octavius Winslow)
Beloved, what is Heaven? What is the final glory of the saints? It is the best place, the richest inheritance provided by the Father for the people ransomed and 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 will bestow 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 Heaven, 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, no sickness, no death, no parting. It will be the best part of the pure, radiant, glorified universe which God will assign to His redeemed people! 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! "In My Father's house are many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me--that you also may be where I am!" John 14:2-3
WHAT A CONTRAST! (Spurgeon, "Sons of God")
My brethren, what a contrast there is between the present and future estate of the child of God! The believer is here the brother to the worm; in heaven he shall be next of kin to the angels. Here he is covered with the sweat and dust which he acquired by Adam's fall. There his brow shall be bright with the immortality which is conferred upon him by the resurrection of Christ. Here the heir of heaven is unknown-- he is in disguise, full often clad in the garments of poverty. But there his princely character shall be discerned and acknowledged-- he shall be waited upon by angels, and shall share in the admiration which the universe shall pour upon the glorified Redeemer!
The bosom of His eternal Love! (Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects)
Oh, what heart can conceive, or tongue express, a thousandth part of that joy and glory which He has reserved for His people in the world to come, when He will bid them enter into His own joy, and He Himself will be their everlasting light and their glory! Oh, then we shall have the light of life, of glory-life, in such manner and measure as far surpasses all our present thought! Come, lie down by faith, in the bosom of His eternal Love! It is a sweet, soft bed, that will delight and refresh you exceedingly! Here is a basin of heavenly wine, or rather a sea of boundless bliss! Drink your fill, bathe your soul in pleasures---and shout the glories, the fullness, the praises of the strong Jehovah amid all your felt emptiness, weakness, and imperfections! So shall you be exceeding joyful and fruitful, and your obedience highly pleasing to your God and Father, in the Son of His love.
Short-lived, imperfect and unsatisfying (William Plumer, "Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness")
"In Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures! Psalms 16:11 Here on earth--our greatest joys are short-lived, imperfect and unsatisfying. Nothing continues in a perpetually happy state. All is unsettled, and easily marred. In heaven--all is as stable as eternity--all is as durable as the throne of God! All flows from the bounty of an infinite God and Savior. Here on earth--sorrows beset us in troops. In heaven-- all sorrows cease; sickness, sadness and sighing flee away; bereavement never desolates; tears never flow; tempests never rage; temptations never vex; poverty, war, and death never enter; rust never corrupts; thieves never steal; weariness and vanity are forever unknown; sin never defiles; peace reigns unbroken; "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." "Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!" Matthew 25:21
Entering heaven! (Spurgeon, THE DEATH OF THE CHRISTIAN)
Wait a little, beloved Christian. In a few more years you and I shall be carried through the ether on the wings of angels. I can imagine my death- the angels approach--- I am on the wings of cherubs. Oh, how they bear me up- how swiftly and yet how softly. I have left mortality with all its pains. Oh, how rapid is my flight! Just now I passed the morning star. Far behind me now the planets shine. Oh, how swiftly do I fly, and how sweetly! Cherubs! what sweet flight is yours, and what kind arms are these I lean upon. And on my way you kiss me with the kisses of love and affection. You call me brother. Cherubs; am I your brother? I who just now was captive in a tenement of clay- am I your brother? "Yes!" they say. Oh, hark! I hear music extraordinarily harmonious! What sweet sounds come to my ears! I am nearing Paradise. And, ah! there is the golden gate. I enter in; and I see my blessed Lord. I can tell you no more. All else are things unlawful for flesh to utter. My Lord! I am with you- plunged into you- lost in you just as a drop is swallowed in the ocean- as one single tint is lost in the glorious rainbow! Am I lost in you, you glorious Jesus! And is my bliss consummated? Is the wedding-day come at last? Have I really put on the marriage garments? And am I yours? Yes! I am. There is nothing else now for me. In vain your harps, you angels. In vain everything else. Leave me a little while. I will know you by-and-bye. Give me some years, yes give me some ages to lean here on this sweet bosom of my Lord; give me half eternity, and let me bask myself in the sunshine of that one smile. Yes, give me this. Jesus now speaks to me-- "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, and now you are mine! you are with me." Is not this heaven? I want nothing else. I tell you once again, you blessed spirits, I will see you by-and-bye. But with my Lord I will now take my feast of loves. Oh, Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! You are heaven! I want nothing else. I am lost in you!
Amends for all! (Spurgeon, "The Beginning, Increase, and End of the Divine Life")
Christian, there is a cheering prospect for you 'beyond the river death'. Faith shall give place to fruition. Hope shall be occupied with enjoyment. Love itself shall be swallowed up in ecstasy. My eyes, you shall not forever weep; there are sights of bliss for you. Tongue, you shall not forever have to mourn, and be the instrument of confession; there are songs and hallelujahs for you. Feet, you shall not always be weary with this rough road; there are celestial leapings for you. O my poor heart, often cowed and broken, often disappointed and trodden down, there waits for you the palm-branch and the robe of victory, and the immortal crown! Courage, Christian! The way may be rough, but it cannot be long. The 'end' will make amends for all the toil that you can endure when on the road.
Three matchless diadems are waiting for me! (Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)
It is beyond astonishment, that three matchless diadems are waiting for me! 1. John tells me of the Crown of Life. Revelation 2:10 That is, life at its strongest, its purest, its best. Life buoyant, elastic, unwearied. The griefless life, the sinless life, the deathless life--the life which is life indeed. The old victory-wreaths faded quickly: the roses entwined for the revelers, the laurel of the conquering soldier, the oak-leaves for the well-deserving citizen of his country, the myrtle-sprays which were the bride's adorning, the pine-shoots that garlanded the victor in the games. But of the wreath which Christ has won for me, and which by and by He will place on my brow, I can say, "It will be mine through the ages of the ages!" 2. Peter predicts the Crown of Glory for me. 1 Peter 5:4 Perhaps the reference is to my own person. I shall be transfigured, as my Master was on the Holy Mount. I shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of my Father. Obscured and hidden graces, crude and half-developed virtues--will leap to new effulgence and splendor! Or perhaps the allusion is to the dominion with which I shall be invested. I shall sit on my Lord's throne. That old kinghood over the world, which my first parents threw wantonly away so long ago, will be restored to me; and I shall reign forever and ever. I can but dimly conceive this Crown of Glory; but the prospect of it should make my heart burn with joy! 3. Paul prefers to think of the Crown of Righteousness. 2 Timothy 4:8 It is not enough that there should be overflowing life. It is not enough that there should be festal gladness and wide-extending rule. I desire the cessation of iniquity. I crave the possession of all holiness. Here on earth, even after precious Blood has redeemed me, and the divine Spirit has made me His temple, I stumble and fall. But there I shall be stainless and spotless. There the banner of the Golden Prince floats from the highest turret, and His sovereignty penetrates to the inmost citadel. It is all as unspotted, as the gates of pearl and the foundations of precious stones. The Crown of Righteousness is the climax and culmination of my hopes!
Weep not for me! (The following was written by Matthew Henry, and was found after his death.)
Would you know where I am? I am at home in my Father's house--in the mansion Jesus prepared for me there. I am where I want to be--where I have long and often desired to be. I am no longer on a stormy sea--but in a safe and quiet harbor. My working time is done--I am resting! My sowing time is done--I am reaping! My joy is as the joy of harvest! Would you know how it is with me? I am perfect in holiness; grace is swallowed up in glory! Would you know what I am doing? I see God; I see Him as He is; not as through a glass darkly, but face to face. The sight is transforming, it makes me like Him! I am in the sweet enjoyment of my blessed Redeemer, whom my soul loved, and for whose sake I was willing to part with all. I am here bathing myself at the spring-head of heavenly pleasures and unutterable joys; and, therefore, weep not for me. I am here singing hallelujahs incessantly to Him who sits upon the throne, and rest not day or night from praising Him! Would you know what company I have? Blessed company--better than the best on earth; here are holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. I am here with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God; with blessed Paul, and Peter, and James, and John, and all the saints. And here I meet with many old acquaintances that I fasted and prayed with, who came here before me. And, lastly, would you consider how long this is to continue? It is a garland that never withers; a crown of glory that never fades away; after millions of millions of ages, it will be as fresh as it is now; and, therefore, weep not for me!
Evil will not die until our Lord returns! (Henry Law, "Psalms")
"O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked, and make the righteous secure." Psalm 7:9 Sights and sounds of evil are anguish to a pious heart. They pain him, because they are abhorrent to his new nature. He turns from them as images of Satan; he loathes them as rebellion against God. Hence he burns with desire that they may be repressed. Hence he wearies heaven with cries that God would drive iniquity into outer darkness. But evil will not die until our Lord returns! Only then shall the wickedness of the wicked reach its end. Faith waits expectantly for the blissful reign; it visits in anticipating thought the new heavens and the new earth. In heaven, there is no form of sin; its hideous features are forever gone. The reign of righteousness has come. Each heart is holy. Each look reflects God's image. Every sound is pure. All is transcendent happiness, for all is holiness. No evil will pollute the glorious scene. Outside is sin and all sin's slaves. Within is the Lamb's bride, all glorious in her robes of white!
Our Heaven! (Spurgeon, "Christ's Marvelous Giving")
Our heaven will be Christ himself, for he gave himself for us. Oh! he is all that we want, all that we wish for! We cannot desire anything greater and better than-- to be with Christ, to have Christ, to feed upon Christ, to lie in Christ's bosom, to know the kisses of his mouth, to look at the gleamings of his loving eyes, to hear his loving words, to feel him press us to his heart, and tell us that he has loved us from before the foundation of the world, and given himself for us.
Soon! (Octavius Winslow, "The Holy Spirit Glorifying the Redeemer")
Heaven is before you! Soon you will be freed, entirely and forever freed, from all the remains of sin. Soon the last sigh will heave your breast. Soon the last tear will fall from your eye. Soon the last pang will convulse your body. Soon, oh how soon, will you "see the King in His beauty," the Jesus who loved you, died for you, ransomed you, and loves you still! Soon you will fall at His feet, and be raised in His arms, and be hushed to rest in His bosom! Soon you will mingle, as a pure and happy spirit, with all who sleep in Jesus, who have gone but a little before you. See how they line the shores on the other side, and wait to welcome you over! See how they beckon you away! Above all, sweetest and most glorious of all, see Jesus prepared to receive you to Himself!
Look forward to your sinless and perfect home! (William Nicholson, "Death, the Believer's Gain!" 1862)
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain!" Philippians 1:21 At death, the Christian gains holiness without sin. In Heaven, the very existence of sin will be destroyed, "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 Here on earth, sin is the ruin of man--the ruin of his immortal soul. It has blighted and blasted the world, and filled it with impurity, misery, and death! The Christian has here to struggle and wrestle with sin in his members, with his depraved heart, with sin in his family, with sin in his neighbors, with sin in his business transactions, with sin in society at large. He feels its evil operations, and laments its corrupting effects. But in Heaven the Christian shall gain purity without sin! All the remains of sin, and the dregs of corruption are left forever behind! No condemning conscience is found there. No unhallowed appetites are found there. No disordered affections exist there. No appearance or vestige of evil is found there. Every child of God is as pure as Christ is pure--as perfect as his Father in Heaven is perfect. Child of mortality, heir of corruption! Look forward to your sinless and perfect home, and learn that to die will be gain indeed! "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, for the old order of things has passed away!" Revelation 21:3-4
Look Forward! (Spurgeon, "PRAYER ANSWERED, LOVE NOURISHED")
In the Christian pilgrimage it is well for the most part to be 'looking forward'. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, 'the future' must be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. And looking further yet, the believer's soul can see Death's river passed, the gloomy stream forded; he can behold the hills of light on which stands the celestial city; he sees himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than a conqueror - crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with him, made to sit together with him on his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father upon his throne. The sight of the future may well relieve the darkness of the past; the hopes of the world to come may banish all the doubtings of the present. Hush, my fears! This world is but a narrow span, and you shall soon have passed it. Hush, hush, my doubts! Death is but a narrow stream, and you shall soon have forded it. Time, how short - eternity, how long! Death, how brief - immortality, how endless!
God gives His people a taste of Heaven! (Thomas Brooks)
God gives His people a taste of Heaven--that they may not faint. And He gives them but a taste that they may be encouraged in their difficult journey, that they may long to be at Home, that they may keep humble, that they may sit loose from things below, that Heaven may be more sweet to them at last! "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
Oh, this is heaven, the heaven of heaven! (Octavius Winslow, "Morning Thoughts")
Fellowship with God is the highest, purest, sweetest mercy a saint of God can have on earth. Yes, it is the highest, purest, sweetest bliss the saints of God can have in heaven. What is the enjoyment of heaven? Not merely exemption from trial; freedom from sorrow; rest from toil; release from conflict. Oh no! it is the presence; the full unclouded presence of our Father there. To be with Christ; to behold His glory; to gaze upon His face; to hear His voice; to feel the throbbings of His bosom; to bask in the effulgence of God's presence; Oh, this is heaven, the heaven of heaven! What is it that is drawing you to Heaven? Reader! if you are looking forward to taking your place as a worshiper in the upper Sanctuary, the same Divine Being who will form the center and focus of your bliss there, should form the center and substance of your happiness here. Test the reality of your hopes by this. What is it that is drawing you to Heaven? Is it some dreamy indefinite idea of material splendor? Is it a place of exemption from sorrow and suffering, where every wish is satisfied, and the very fountain of tears is dried? This may be, and doubtless will be, all true. But are its Mansions desirable, because they are the dwelling place of your God? If at this moment it were divested of all its other attractions, would it be enough to know that "God shall be with them and be their God?"
We are traveling fast (Mary Winslow)
What is the world, or the glory of a thousand such perishing worlds as this, when compared with the glory that shall be revealed in those who love His appearing? We are traveling fast, and at every step are nearing our heavenly home! We shall see Jesus soon! Oh, how soon! Jesus sits, in all the majesty of heaven, waiting to welcome His pilgrims home!
Earthly crowns are like tennis-balls! (Thomas Brooks, "A Word in Season to Suffering Saints")
"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away!" 1 Peter 5:4 A crown is the height of human ambition. Yet earthly crowns are as the fading garlands, with which the conquerors at games, races, and combats were crowned--which were made of herbs, leaves, and flowers. But a believer's crown, his inheritance, his glory, his happiness, his blessedness--shall be as fresh and flourishing after he has been many millions of years in Heaven--as it was at his first entrance into it! Earthly crowns are like tennis-balls, which are bandied up and down from one to another, and in time wear out. When time shall be no more, when earthly crowns and kingdoms shall be no more, yes, when the world shall be no more-- the Christian's crown of glory shall be fresh, flourishing, and continuing! All the devils in Hell shall never wrangle a believer out of his heavenly inheritance, nor deprive him of his crown of glory. The least thing in heaven, is better than the greatest things in this world. All things on earth are fading away--but the crown of glory never fades away!
The saints' everlasting rest! (Jared Waterbury)
"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Hebrews 4:9 All earthly Sabbaths are not worthy to be compared with that eternal rest, where the unfettered, unpolluted soul shall worship the Lamb without interruption and without end! The body will there not impede, but augment our happiness; for it will be a spiritual body, which can no longer be the medium of temptation, and which shall experience no fatigue. Nor will sin, O blissful thought, be there, to dim our eye or to pollute our worship. We shall not only see God--but see Him with unobstructed vision. We shall not only love Him--but love Him with unwavering affections. We shall not only praise Him--but praise Him in pure, exalted strains forever. Glorious rest! Let us rise and hasten towards it with renewed vigor, for "Here we have no continuing city."
PRAYER
Blessed be your name, O God, that You have prepared and reserved an everlasting rest for Your people. This poor world, You have taught us, is the scene of our toilsome pilgrimage--that we are not to expect our Heaven here. Yet O, how often are we building tabernacles on earth! We act as if this world were to be our permanent abode. Enable us, O God, to cast the eye of faith forward to the rest that remains for the people of God. Give us such views of its alluring glories, as shall make the brightest scenes of earth look dim. Let us see the enthroned Lamb! Let us see the pure company of the glorified saints and angels. Let us have a sweet foretaste of the celestial joys. Then, O God, shall we cease to desire the honors or the pleasures of this vain world. Then shall we forsake its attractions--allured by visions of so much superior luster. Amen.
Happy, happy, happy day! (Spurgeon)
"Your eyes shall see him." I have heard of him, and though I have not seen his face, unceasingly I have adored him. But I shall SEE him! Yes, we shall actually gaze upon the exalted Redeemer! Realize the thought! Is there not a 'young heaven' within it? You shall see the hand that was nailed for you; you shall kiss the very lips that said, "I thirst;" you shall see the thorn-crowned head, and bow with all the blood-washed throng! You, the chief of sinners, shall adore him who washed you in his blood; when you shall have a vision of his glory! Faith is precious, but what must sight be? To view Jesus as the Lamb of God through the glass of faith, makes the soul rejoice with joy unspeakable! But oh! to see him face to face, to look into those dear eyes; to be embraced by those divine arms- rapture begins at the very mention of it! But what must the vision be when the veil is taken from his face, and the dimness from our eyes, and when we shall talk with him even as a man talks with his friend. But it is not only vision, it is intimacy with him. We shall walk with him, he shall walk with us, he shall speak to us, and we shall speak to him. All that the spouse desired in Solomon's Song, we shall have, and ten thousand times more. Then will the prayer be fulfilled-- "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips, for his love is better than wine." Then we shall be able to say-- "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand does embrace me." Then will he tell us HIS love-- Then he will rehearse the ancient story of the everlasting covenant! of his 'election' of us by his own true love! of his betrothal of us through his boundless affection! of his 'purchase' of us by his rich compassion! of his 'preservation' of us by his omnipotence! and of his 'bringing us safe' at last to glory as the result of his promise and his blood! And then will we tell to him OUR love-- Then into his ear will we pour out the song of gratitude, a song such as we have never sung on earth, unmixed and pure, full of serenity and joy, no groans to mar its melody; a song rapt and seraphic, like the flaming sonnets which flash from burning tongues above. Happy, happy, happy day, when vision and communion shall be ours in fullness! "To depart and be with Christ which is far better."
Who will shout the loudest in glory? (Mary Winslow)
I wish only to live to show my love to Him, and to manifest the power of His grace in one who in herself is one lump of sin and defilement. How marvelous that the Lord should select out of the mass of the world's sinful beings such a one as myself to show forth the power of His redeeming love and grace! Every fresh manifestation of this love breaks the heart, and humbles the soul even to the dust! Time is hastening us on, and the moment will quickly come when our dearest Friend will claim us as His own and for Himself. Then we shall see Him face to face; and who will shout the loudest in glory? I think I shall. For, what has He not forgiven me? No tongue can tell how my heart goes out, at times, in wondering gratitude and adoring love towards Him. Such is the Lord Jesus that angels themselves know not half His worth. It is sinners, poor sinners like myself; helpless, lost, ruined in themselves; who alone can appreciate the glorious finished work of Jesus. My soul at this moment; weeping while I write; rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory in God my Savior. Let us live as candidates for a crown of glory. This will keep us above the trials and the trifles of time.
One eternal unclouded day! (Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880)
"There shall be no night there! They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever!" Revelation 22:5 While in this world, our weary bodies require the refreshment of sleep; and our merciful God has graciously given to us this sweet restorer of strength. Often we have retired to rest, overcome with fatigue and anxiety, perhaps distressed with pain--but sleep has taken away these feelings, and we have risen the next day in health and peace, to serve our God with joyfulness. On a bed of sickness, this text has often been a source of comfort to the believer, "There shall be no night there!" But there will be no night in Heaven, because there will be no need of rest from labor, of relief from pain, of solace and refreshment under fatigue. The former state of things will have fully passed away, and one eternal unclouded day will have dawned upon us! Our spirits will then be made perfect--and at the resurrection our glorified bodies will rise, no more to be a clog upon our souls' enjoyment. A night of pain and wakefulness, is often a time in which God teaches His people. In the midst of active employment, the soul is not at leisure for reflection; and in the short periods devoted to retirement for prayer and meditation--the thoughts are often strangely distracted by what has gone before, or by the anticipation of coming events. But in a night of weariness and pain, there seems to be a rest from outward things; the soul is brought to a stand before God--it must think, it must reflect, it must examine itself, and ask if all is safe for eternity--if it is in Christ, if it is prepared to die. Blessed result of pain--if led thereby to seek the Lord Jesus, and find rest in Him! Blessed result of pain--if led thereby to meditate on Heaven's eternal day of rest! "There shall be no night there!" No wearisome hours of discipline--no learning the dark intricacies and windings of our heart, and the deceitfulness of sin. There shall be no night there--no night of error, no darkness of soul, no dark unbelieving thoughts of God, and of His ways; but all will be clear, bright and shining to all eternity! The way by which the Lord our God has led us, will then be seen. The retrospect will be clear--we will see that our path has been a safe and right one, and we will glorify our gracious God! "He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." Psalm 107:7