Chapter VI.
The Glorified.

When the judgment-day has come, and the dead, small and great, are summoned before their God; the books are opened, and the dead are judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works. Another book is also opened, which is the book of life, and discloses the names of those who have accepted the salvation offered by Christ. The Saviour acknowledges them as his and assumes their debt as his own; and though the volumes of reckoning may tell of their unnumbered sins, yet the Judge declares that the law has no claim against them, for any evil they may have done; all its demands having been met by the atonement of the Redeemer. Though ten thousand thousand sins therefore should cry out against them, and demand their condemnation, yet they can point to the "Lamb that was slain," and say, "He hath redeemed us by his blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again." They feel that in themselves they are utterly vile, and, in confession of their guilt, we are told that they "cast their crowns before the throne;" but while filled with the deepest sense of their own unworthiness, they triumph in the thought that they have in Christ a freedom from the law's demands, to which no other creature can ever attain; and that for all their guilt they have in his atonement a full discharge.

In like manner, the obedience of the Redeemer has been reckoned as theirs. Their union with him has been openly proclaimed, and they are acknowledged as the sons and heirs of God through Jesus Christ. Whenever conversion takes place in the soul, the benefits of adoption are secured; but it is not till the great day of judgment arrives, that believers enter into the promised possession. All things then are declared to be theirs, and theirs, moreover, by a tenure peculiarly blissful. Adam's security in paradise rested on his own obedience; the happiness of angels depends on the fidelity of their service; but the hopes of the redeemed are founded on the perfect obedience of their Lord; and in him they have a title to every blessing which it is possible for the Creator to bestow, and for the creature to receive.

Such is the position in which believers stand towards the law of God, in consequence of their union with the Saviour. And their claims having been openly acknowledged, when the judgment-day is past, the Lord bestows on then the rewards to which, through Christ, they are entitled.

Their bodies are made like the gloried body of the Saviour.— "The Lord Jesus," says St. Paul, "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." The mortal remains that were "sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory;" they will not only be freed from the corruption of the tomb, and from the degradation of the fall, and made like the body of Adam when he walked in the vigour of primeval youth, they will be exalted to a condition far higher and nobler, and made in the likeness of Christ. In the present world, the bodies of believers are liable to unnumbered diseases, accidents, and pains, and sooner or later they return to the dust; but, in a future state, they experience no pain, they suffer no disease, and possess through eternity an undecaying strength. The most vigorous frame upon earth is soon exhausted, and if sleep did not come as "nature's sweet restorer," the might of the terrible would speedily sink into the grave; but in heaven, weariness and fatigue are unknown. The perfected saints sustain, without fainting, an eternal weight of glory, and experience no exhaustion, though their service is continued, without ceasing, for ever. Transports of joy, that would overwhelm the earthly tabernacles which we now inhabit, glory inconceivable that would blind the eyes with which we look on the scenes of this nether world, and labours of love that would crush our present strength beneath their weight, are all in perfect harmony with the vigour of the glorified frame. There is no weariness or need of rest in heaven, "and there is no night there."

Their outward appearance corresponds to the strength which they possess. They bear the image of him who appeared to the Apostle in Patmos, "his head and his hairs white like wool, as white as snow, his eyes as a flame of fire, and his countenance as the sun shineth in his strength." We are told, that when Moses, after communing with God in Sinai, came down from the mount, the skin of his face shone, so that Aaron and all the children of Israel were afraid to come near him: such was the external majesty which that brief intercourse with the Most High had imparted to his countenance. How glorious, then, must their appearance be, who see his face continually, and of whom it is said, "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is!" We must also observe, that it is in Christ's glory that they are arrayed, and that this circumstance enhances their reward. He is the Sun of the heavenly firmament, and they are the stars that reflect his rays. It is in his robe that they are clothed, and highly as they may value their shining attire, for its brightness and beauty, they prize it yet more, because it is the gift of him whom they adore; the mark of their union to him, and the pledge of his love to them.

They are perfected in their faculties of mind and soul.—While the superiority of his mental powers has raised man above the other inhabitants of the world, and enabled him to make the elements of nature, in some measure, subservient to his sway, yet we find, at the same time, traces of a deep and lamentable degradation of his original powers. In reference to things spiritual, man, by nature, is utterly incapable of understanding the character of God, and alike unable and unwilling to render to the great Creator the service which he requires. He has fallen from a pinnacle of glory into an abyss of shank, and has exchanged the noon-day brightness of his original perfection for the midnight darkness of an alienated mind.

For all this fearful amount of evil the Saviour provides a cure. In this life he enlightens the mind and renews the heart by the operation of his Spirit, and enables the believer in some measure to know his God and perform his duty. And in the world to come every deficiency will be supplied, every weakness will be healed, and the perfected saint will have bestowed upon him faculties and powers, not only superior to those with which he is now endowed, but even to those which Adam possessed in the day when he was created. He is to bear the image of Christ. In what manner, or in what measure, the wisdom of the Redeemer is to be communicated to his people, we cannot tell; but we have every reason to believe that they shall be raised to the highest rank among created intelligences, and in this respect, as in some others, shall be "as the angels which are in heaven."

While the various powers of the mind are thus enlarged, subjects suited for their exercise will be abundantly provided. The quickened memory will bring all things to their remembrance, they will be enabled to trace the wisdom and goodness of the Lord in all his dealings with their souls, and will see the operation of infinite wisdom and love, even in those dispensations that seemed to them, whilst they remained upon earth, to be shrouded in darkness. The wide creation will be opened up to their view, and their thoughts will range over its universal bounds, and explore the wonders of creating power. The glorious plan of redemption will be fully made known, and every faculty will find an abundance of delightful employment in searching more and more fully into that gracious work. The character and attributes of Jehovah will be made manifest, and they will take delight in contemplating his perfections, and in rendering to him the tribute of their praise. "Now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known."

In one respect the perfected saints will possess a fulness of knowledge to which no other creature can lay claim. We refer to their full and intimate acquaintance with the nature of good and evil. Unfallen creatures know nothing, and can know nothing, but good; but the people of the Lord are acquainted both with good and with evil. They have learned by their own experience the nature and fruits of sin, and this experience not only gives them a clearer idea of the benefits that follow obedience, but communicates, at the same time, in consequence of the contrast it presents, a higher relish to their enjoyment of the rewards that are found in keeping the commandments. In heaven they will have full proof in themselves, and in those they love, of the blessedness of serving the Lord; their memory will supply them with similar evidence of the misery attending upon transgression, and being for ever secured in the enjoyment of the one, and for ever freed from the fear of the other, they will reach to the prize of Eve's ambition, and be "as gods, knowing good and evil."

They are perfected in devotion to God, and in love to their fellow-creatures.—When man was first created he fully performed the great commandment, and loved the Lord with all his heart and soul. In all that he saw around him, he traced the working of a Father, and felt the delight which the fulness of affection inspires. But sin came, and cast its baneful shadow over the scene. Before he ate the forbidden fruit, Eden was a garden of bliss and beauty, and hope and joy spread their sunshine over it all; but when Adam transgressed, the blooming paradise became the abode of terror, and the noon-day of hope sank in the night of despair.

In Christ, man is again renewed in holiness. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit transforms that fear of wrath which banishes love, into the humble confidence which awakens regard. That alienation of the heart, which characterizes the unconverted man, is changed into gratitude and devotion; and when the believer looks abroad on the operations of the Lord, he is enabled once more to regard them as the workmanship of a Father, and his heart is filled with confidence and joy.

These feelings are perfected in heaven, and new motives are added, by which their intensity is increased. Creation and its wonders call forth the believer's praise in the paradise above, as they called forth Adam's in the paradise below; but it is redemption and its glorious results that awaken the loudest song. The gifts bestowed on him as a creature of God, receive the tribute of love and duty, but the "unspeakable gift" of the Lord Jesus Christ calls for nobler strains of thanksgiving, and deeper feelings of gratitude. While he is on earth, the believer says with the apostle, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ;" and when he enters heaven, he triumphantly exclaims, "Salvation to God, which sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb!" A double, and more than double, obligation is laid upon him to love the Lord, and having been filled with the Holy Spirit, and made in the image of Christ, that obligation he is enabled to fulfil, so that his constant work, and his unceasing delight, is the serving and honouring of his God.

If for a moment we contemplate the pleasures proceeding from emotions such as these, we find that the exercise of his devotional feelings must communicate to the believer the most exquisite joy. To love a Being of infinite perfection with the whole heart, and soul, and mind, must convey sensations the most transporting we can possibly conceive. The pleasure which man derives from the mutual affection that subsists between parent and child, brother and sister, husband and wife, and the other social ties, is the noblest and the sweetest of all that earth affords. This, however, is only imperfect love exercised towards imperfect objects. How great then must be the delight which is awakened in the bosom of the glorified saint, by the flowing forth of perfect love, towards an infinitely perfect, glorious, and gracious God! If the Christian feels his heart warm within him, when he sees a God of mercy administering to the happiness of his creatures, in a world of sin and suffering; with what rapture must he be filled when he sees Him as he is, with thousand thousand shining ones around his throne, vying with each other in their expressions of inconceivable bliss! He now sees God and his attributes, as "through a glass," he now sees but a small part of creation, and even that he is unable fully to comprehend; he now sees the work of redemption, the chief of all the wonders which Jehovah has wrought, but half complete; but in heaven he will see the whole work of the Lord laid open before him, he will have the whole mystery of God in Christ made plain, all his doubts and uncertainties will pass away, and admiring awe and deepest devotion will fill his soul. His heart, full and overflowing with delight, will find the duration even of eternity too short to utter all his Maker's praise; he will find no language, no, not the language of angels themselves, sufficient to proclaim his bliss. His speech will consist of the exclamations of enraptured delight, and he will unceasingly join in the song, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come." "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever."

Similar joys will be produced by the exercise of those affections which the saints entertain towards their fellow-creatures. In Adam, at the first, the social feelings of every description were strong, and unpolluted. He loved his partner as he loved himself, and felt towards the inferior animals around him unmingled sympathy and goodwill. After the Fall these emotions were changed; envy and jealousy, pride and malice, sprang up where tenderness and affection should have been; the earth was filled with violence, and the dark places of the world became the habitations of horrid cruelty. Men, according to the apostle's statement, were "hateful and hating one another." In Christ this evil is removed; his people are taught to love their neighbour as themselves. Their hearts are softened to feel for others' wo; and the gospel, that goes forth proclaiming peace between heaven and earth, establishes, at the same time, peace between man and man. In a future state, when the Spirit's work shall have been completed, and the believer bears the perfected image of his God, he will not only love his neighbour as himself, but will keep the Saviour's new commandment, "Love one another, as I have loved you."

There is very little argument required in order to shew that the exercise of this feeling must promote at once the joy of those who entertain it, and the happiness of those with whom they associate. If we love our neighbour as we love ourselves, his pleasures become ours; we share, if we may so express it, in all his possessions, and in all his joys; and the more extensive the circle of our friends, the richer their treasures, and the greater their happiness, the more will our own be increased. When the believer, therefore, shall be fully fashioned in the likeness of Christ, when he shall be formed after the pattern of that inconceivable tenderness which led the Redeemer to suffer and die for men, he will share in that delight which Jesus feels when he looks on those whom he hath redeemed, when he joys in their joy and triumphs in their success. The saints in glory are all the children of one family; their Father is God, and their home is heaven; they have "all things" as their possession, omnipotence as their bulwark, and eternity as the term of their inheritance.

At the same time, we have every reason to believe that the various social affections appropriate to the animal nature will also be restored and perfected. These feelings are an essential part of the human constitution; they can be made, as every man's experience will testify, sources of great and innocent enjoyment. They are not destroyed, but quickened and purified, by the sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit on the heart. We may, therefore, conclude, though Scripture be silent on the subject, that the saint in glory will be perfected in his natural affections, as well as in the emotions of the soul, and in the members of his bodily frame, and that he will find every part of his nature conducing to the increase of his joy.

The external circumstances in which the glorified saints are placed correspond to the exaltation of their nature.—When God created man, he not only bestowed upon him many noble faculties both of body and soul, but he placed him in a garden stored with delights, and gave him dominion over all the creatures that peopled the globe. By sin these privileges were lost, this dominion passed away, and the earth was cursed for man's transgression. Through the work of the Redeemer this curse is transformed into a blessing, and for the glorified saints "a new heaven and a new earth" shall be prepared, "wherein dwelleth righteousness." Jesus speaks of the dwelling of his people as "paradise," and all the accounts given of their habitation lead us to look on it as transcendently glorious. "I saw," says St. John, "that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal. And the city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

To them also is given a great and glorious dominion. It is not only said that all things are theirs, but we are told that "they shall reign for ever and ever." Jesus says, "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my throne." They are said to be "kings and priests unto God;" and the apostle says, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" They share in all the dominion which Christ has earned; they have a portion in all the glory, and power, and extended usefulness, which God hath bestowed on the Redeemer. Of the nature of this dominion, and of the blessedness that arises from it, we cannot form any adequate idea; but that they are exceedingly great the Word of God has plainly declared.

Scripture does not distinctly inform us whether there shall be any diversity of rank and office among those who are thus exalted, though there be reason to suppose that some diversity will exist. There are various ranks among the angelic hosts, for we read of "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers;" and there are degrees of punishment among the condemned, for we read of "the greater damnation;" but the glory of the one class, and the misery of the other, may be regarded as dependent on themselves, they are the appropriate rewards of their own obedience, or their own transgression; but the blessedness of the saint has been purchased by the infinitely valuable work of the Redeemer. This peculiarity in respect to the foundation on which the hopes of the believer rest, and the silence of Scripture in regard to the subject, forbid us to speak with confidence. But whether there be diversities, or all partake alike, there is Promised to every one that accepts of the offered salvation a crown of glory, and a share in the Redeemer's throne.

Their felicity is eternal.—When we read the accounts that are given us in Scripture of the abodes of the blessed, and when we consider the nature and measure of the enjoyment promised in heaven, we are led to exclaim, O for one hour of that happy abode! How would it gladden the pilgrimage of earth, and animate the way-worn traveller in his wilderness journey! And if a single hour in the realms above would be thus blissful, how transporting must be the emotions of never-ending joy? Who can grasp eternity? We may calculate the grains of sand upon the sea-shore, and the drops of water that the ocean contains, but none can calculate or conceive the hours of heaven's duration. When ages of ages shall have passed, its vast extent will remain undiminished. When life has become a mere speck in the distant horizon, when its joys shall have vanished like a dream, and its trials and troubles are only remembered as the distempered vision of the night, eternity is ever the same. The cup of the believer's bliss continues for ever full; and not only are we assured that it shall be ever full, but we are led to expect, that it shall continue progressively increasing in its sweetness and in its abundance for ages of ages, without number and without end!