Rev J R Tallach
2. Heaven
The Holy Spirit was pleased to foreshadow heaven in types in the Old Testament:
1. The land of Canaan
flowing with milk and honey was a figure of the supply of good things to be found in heaven.
2. The city of Jerusalem,
whose structures, beauties and stability are before us in the Word, will be far more perfect in glory when the types are spiritually fulfilled as in Revelation 21: “I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (v 2).
3. The tabernacle of Moses
and the temple of Solomon foreshadowed the temple of glory (Rev 21:3). The redeemed, when glorified, will be with God for ever.
4. The Sabbath
is a type of the eternal Sabbath to be spent in heaven, in which the saints will rest in their God from sins and from the fight of faith in this world. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Heb 4:9). It is a heavenly and eternal rest from every evil, with all joy and peace.
God is in heaven, as His royal palace, in which He displays His glory in an eminent manner. In heaven there is a richer display of God’s glory and grace. As the Israelites turned towards the ark and the temple in Old Testament times because the Lord specially displayed His glory there, so we of the New Testament age ought to look towards heaven and meditate on it.
It is called “the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2), “the heaven of heavens” (1 Ki 8:27) and “paradise” (Lk 23:43), “whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10). Heaven is bright, “for the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev 21:23); it is incapable of failing, as it rests on the finished work of Christ (Eph 4:10); it is constituted far above the visible heavens by the One who said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:2); it is the hope of the believer as a place flooded with the light of Christ; it is secure as resting on the promises of the One who cannot lie. Little wonder that Jonathan Edwards speaks of eternal embraces and eternal joys. Heaven, for him, is also a place in space and to this place the soul of the penitent thief went.
The locality of heaven seems to follow from the doctrine of the resurrection since bodies occupy space and can only be in one place at one time. It is the place from which Christ descended and to which He ascended. The voice of the Father came down from heaven commanding the Son, and from heaven the Holy Ghost was poured out at Pentecost. “The new heavens and the new earth” cannot be heaven, because heaven never changes and cannot be moved, whereas the earth is in constant motion. At the same time heaven is capable of increasing glory – just as the body of Christ, His blood-bought people, are capable of an increase of glory. Eternity is begun in the soul’s experience at the death of the believer and will be fully consummated in the whole man as to soul and body after the resurrection.
Both the vision of God and the love of God are involved in the blessedness of heaven. “For 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” (1 Cor 13:12); “sight” (2 Cor 5:7, 1 Jn 3:2); “love” (1 Jn 4:16). The three elements which come together are sight, love and joy, and these three give rise to the glory of heaven. Sight perfects the intellect, love the will, and joy the conscience. Sight answers to faith as the substance of things hoped for. Love is perfected in those whom God first loved (1 Jn 4:19). Joy answers to hope, and comes with the things hoped for. “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away (1 Cor 13:9,10).
From this communion with God will arise the glory with which the saints are endowed in heaven, both as to soul and body: as to the soul, perfect knowledge and holiness, and as to the body a removal of all weakness, misery or pollution arising from sin and our natural life here, leading to what Paul calls “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17). “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; for the former things are passed away” (Rev 21:4).
Degrees of blessedness in heaven.
Edwards writes, “The saints are like so many vessels of different sizes cast into a sea of happiness where every vessel is full”. All the pollution that attends acts of faith will be hidden and, where there is the least sincerity, it is precious in God’s sight and will be honoured on the Day of Judgement. The pollution is hidden in the sense that it is atoned for by the sacrifice of Christ. The saints are like vessels of different sizes, but it is of God’s sovereign good pleasure to determine the largeness of the vessel.
Degrees of glory may be argued from the following Scriptures:
1. “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan 12:3). Thus eternal life is promised to all the pious in common, but to those who instruct others in the knowledge of God particularly, there is a greater glory and brightness in eternal life.
2. “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and an-other glory of the stars:
for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption” (1 Cor 15:41,42). Here the Apostle uses the diversity of the stars and other heavenly bodies as an illustration of diversity among the saints in heaven. Just as these heavenly bodies differ among themselves in degree of beauty, so the saints after the resurrection will differ greatly, not only from themselves as they were, but also from each other in degrees of splendour.
3. “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Cor 3:14,15).
Leaders in the Church of Christ are likened to builders and divide into two classes: first, those who build a solid doctrinal building in harmony with the foundation itself; and second, those who use the stubble of vain or useless doctrines. Paul says that, however long the work of the builder may be concealed, the day will come when it will be tried with fire. Then the work of the doctrinally-sound builder will stand and “he shall receive a reward”. The work of the unsound builder is burned (that is, is judged vain and worthless) and “he will suffer loss” and receive no reward though “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” – that is, he will retain his salvation since the foundation is sound. He will be saved, yet with difficulty, as one who escapes a fire. In 2 Corinthians 9:6, sowing sparingly and sowing bountifully have their corresponding outcomes, and the parable of the pounds in Luke 19: 11-27 demonstrates that rewards at Christ’s coming will be commensurate with faithfulness in the things of the gospel in this life.
The patriarchs, prophets, apostles and faithful are given a special place of honour in heaven. “The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Lk 16:22). “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev 21:14). In addition Elijah and Moses were seen on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord. The Thessalonians would, Paul said, be his hope and joy and crown of rejoicing at the coming of the Lord (1 Th 2:19). Some also think that the Lord’s reference to “many mansions” in John 14:2 speaks not only of numbers but of diversity of glory.
The teaching of all of the above would lead us to believe in degrees of blessedness in heaven.
Growth of the saints in heaven.
Edwards believed that the saints grow spiritually in heaven. They will have “glorious rewards in heaven at death.”[2] They will go on to new-found discoveries and eternal progress but in their intermediate state between death and resurrection, seeing through the glass of Christ’s glorified human nature and His works of redemption, they await the judgement day (Rev 6:9,10). At the resurrection the bodies of the saints will become “refined bodies”. The renewed mind will be a conduit of pleasures through the body. Every faculty will be “an inlet of delight”.
There is both change and growth in heaven, but that change is within the saints. There is perfect rest, yet more activity than here on earth. Edwards has several reasons for maintaining this: (1.) Man is a rational creature and must be rationally happy. (2.) They will see the lost in their lostness and appreciate heaven. (3.) The remembrance of their own sins will generate growth in gratitude. (4.) Increasing knowledge of the work of redemption will again increase gratitude. Edwards says, “In heaven it is the direct reverse of what is on earth; for there [in heaven], by length of time, things become more and more youthful; that is, more vigorous, active, tender and beautiful”. As Edwards says, “The saints will be in their natural state of union with their bodies, glorious bodies, bodies perfectly fitted for the uses of the glorious soul”.
The body of Christ will be perfect. The only other party present at the wedding is the bride, in all her loveliness. Then the Mediator will have triumphed over His enemies. Christ will have obtained the full end of His work. God will make more abundant manifestations of His glory. The wedding day will have no end. The highest point of the saints’ blessedness is that they will see God.
[1]The first section, in last month’s issue, of this Theological Conference paper dealt with hell.
[2]Quoted in John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell, Baker, 1980, p 24.