I. The saints’ future happiness, is described by a country
I. The saints’ future happiness, is described by a country
A better country, an heavenly one, and by a city prepared
And on this I shall chiefly dwell, only say some few things to the other two observations.
1. The saints’ future happiness is described by a country, for so it is expressed without an epithet, in verse 14, they that say such things, declare plainly, that they seek a country. And so it may be called, both with respect to a country in general, and to the country and land of Canaan in particular.
(1) To a country in general, which is large, ample, and spacious. It is indeed sometimes only called an house, which is eternal in the heavens, 2 Corinthians 5:1. But then it is such a house, which consists of divers apartments, of many mansions, or dwelling-places (John 14:2). Enow, for the many that are ordained to eternal life; for the many Christ came to give his life a ransom for; for the many for the remission of whole sins his blood was filed; for the many that are justified by his righteousness; and for the many sons that are adopted into the family of God, and are brought to glory. It is also called a city, as in the text, and in verse 10, which is an assemblage of houses, and which are fit for men of business, and of figure, and of fashion, and worth and dignity to dwell in; and such the saints are And at other times, it is called a country, as here and in verse 14. And frequently a kingdom, as being large and capacious, sufficient to contain all the saints that have been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end of it. It is sometimes represented as a far country; a certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and return, (Luke 19:12), the nobleman is Christ, the far country he went into, is heaven; his going thither respects his ascension to heaven; his end in going, was to receive his mediatorial kingdom, more visibly and gloriously; for at his ascension he was made and declared Lord and Christ. And his return, designs his second coming, when he will call his servants to an account for the talents he has entrusted them with in his absence. Now heaven is called a far country; not only with respect to wicked men, to whom indeed, it is, and ever, will be a far country; the rich man lift up his eyes in hell, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, (Luke 16:23), but it is so, with respect to the saints, in their present state, which is a state of distance, and absence, and with respect to the views and prospects, which they have of this country here, and which are very distant ones: thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off (Isaiah 33:17). But they will not always be in a state of distance from it, they will be brought nearer it, and it is what they desire to be led into. Thy spirit is good, says David; good in his nature, person and offices, and a good guide; and therefore he adds, lead me into the land of uprightness (Psalm 143:10). So called because none but upright persons dwell there, such who are upright in heart and life, and have the uprightness of Christ, even his righteousness imputed to them. So in the new heavens and in the new earth, dwelleth righteousness, or righteous persons; and none but they; as no defiled persons shall enter into the new Jerusalem: so neither shall the unrighteous inherit the kingdom of God, the ultimate glory (see 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).
(2) The future happiness of the saints, may be called a country, with respect to the land of Canaan, which was a type of it, that was a land of promise, as in verse 9, being promised to Abraham, and to his seed. And so eternal life is the promise of God; and it is spoken of as if it was the only promise, being the grand and principal one; this is the promise that he hath promised us, eternal life (1 John 2:25; see James 1:12). And a very ancient promise it is; it was very early on the heart of God to bellow it, and he made promise of it as early, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot Be, promised, before the world began (Titus 1:2). The land of Canaan, was a land of rest, it is sometimes called, the Lord’s rest, because he gave it; and sometimes the rest of the children of Israe l, because they enjoyed it (Hebrews 3:11, 18; Deuteronomy 12:11). A rest from their travels in the wilderness, and from all their enemies about them, when entered into, and possessed by them; and there remains a rest for the people of God; a sabbatism, a spiritual rest here, and an eternal one hereafter; a rest from all toil and labors, sin and sorrow, diseases, distresses, afflictions and troubles of whatsoever sort. The land of Canaan, is said to be a good land, abounding with good things; a land flowing with milk and honey, a pleasant and desirable one (Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 3:25; Psalm 112:4). Heaven is a country where great goodness is laid up, not to be expressed; such good things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of; where there is plenty and satiety, no hunger nor thirst neither in a literal or spiritual sense; where there are fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. The land of Canaan was ready prepared for the Israelites, was furnished with the accommodations and conveniences of life, without any pains, labor, or industry of theirs; cities they built not houses they filled not, wells they dug not, and vineyards and olive trees they planted not (Deuteronomy 6:10, 11). Heaven is replete with all good things, and ready prepared for the saints, without any toil and labor of theirs; it is not obtained and possessed, by any works of righteousness done by them; not they that are of the law are heirs of this heavenly country: It is by promise and of grace; eternal life, is the free gift of God through Christ.
Once more, the land of Canaan, was divided by lot to the children of Israel, which was done by Joshu a, when subdued by him, according to the commandment of God; and so is the heavenly inheritance; in whom, that is, in Christ, lays the apostle, we have obtained an inheritance by lot, as the word used signifies (Ephesians 1:11). Not that the heavenly inheritance is carnal, uncertain and precarious, who shall enjoy it; for the elect of God, are most certainly predestinated to it, and shall possess it: nor that it is divided into certain parts and. portions; for the whole inheritance lies among the saints in light, and is enjoyed by them all; but the sense is, that it is not at their option, or according to any merit of theirs, but according to the election of God, and his free, rich, sovereign grace in Christ.
2. The saints state of future happiness, is described, by a better country; better than Mesopotamia, or Chaldea, from whence Abraham came; better than the land of Canaan, promised to him and his seed; and better than any country on the globe of the earth, or than the whole world itself.
(1) The goodness of a country lies much in its salubrious air, and temperate climate; in heaven, the better country, no noxious pestilentious vapors arise to infect the air; no hurtful lusts, that in danger and destroy the souls of men; no evil communications which corrupt good manners; no filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor any corrupt communications, proceed out of the mouths of the inhabitants of this better country; no filthy conversation of the wicked, to vex the fouls of the righteous; every thing here breathes unspotted purity, and perfect holiness. No mists, nor fogs, nor clouds darkening the air, to interrupt the fight of pleating objects, are here. Saints in their present state, it is sometimes with them a dark and cloudy day, the evidences of the truth of grace in them, and of their hope of eternal life and happiness, are much obscured; such mists arise, which intercept, the sight of their beloved; he is, withdrawn and is gone; they can neither see his face, nor hear his voice; clouds of sin interpose, and separate, between God and them: with respect to sensible communion, they walk in darkness. and see no light: but so it is not in the better country; it is all pure rather, an unclouded sky, it is as the morning, when the sun rideth; a morning without clouds; as clear shining after rain; the fun goes no more down by day, nor does the moon withdraw itself; the Lord is their everlasting light, and the days of their mourning are ended, no more darkness, but one bright, clear, perfect and everlasting day: no storms, no blistering winds, no hurricanes are heard or known in this better country. In the present life, saints are tossed with tempests, and not comforted. Christ is indeed an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the storm of divine wrath and vengeance; he is a rock, on which their souls are built; so that when rains descend, floods come, and winds blow, and beat upon them, they stand safe and secure, because built upon the rock of ages; but though they are safe, yet those beating waves, and bellowing winds, of sin’s rage, and Satan’s temptations, and the world’s persecutions, with other afflictions, give them great disturbance and distress: but in the better country all is smooth, serene and calm; no excessive heat, or pinching cold, are here, as in some climates, where the air is extremely hot, or severely cold; but here no pain is felt from the influence of a fiery law, working wrath, nor from the fiery darts of Satan, nor from the flaming sword of justice. The fun of persecution looks not on the saints here, they serve the Lord day and night without molestation, and neither sun nor heat smite them; but they are led continually by the pure cooling springs of grace, and purling streams of love, and all tears are wiped from their eyes. Here no damps arise, from the prevalence of sin, nor from the cares of life, nor from too great a regard to earthly and worldly things, to chill their affections and devotions; no such thing is known here as coldness, lukewarmness and indifference in religious worship. Love, that abiding and permanent grace, glows with a divine warmth in every breast, and is at its height, in its vigor and full perfection.
(2) The goodness of a country lies, as in the salubrity of its air, so in the fruitfulness of its soil: the better country is all a garden, a perfect paradise, it is called so (2 Corinthians 12:4) and vastly exceeds the earthly paradise, or Eden’s garde n, that was undoubtedly a most fertile and delightful spot, set all around with fruit trees, and odoriferous plants; there were no thorns nor briars in it: these are the fruit of sin, and the effect of the curse pronounced on the earth for Adam’s transgression; cursed is the ground for thy sake, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee (Genesis 3:17, 18). Nor are there any thorns and briars, in a figurative sense, in the heavenly paradise, in the better country; there is no pricking briar, nor grieving thorn to the saints, in all that land of glory (Ezekiel 28:24), whether by these are meant, profane children of Belial, who are like thorns and briars, useless and unprofitable, noxious and hurtful, and only fit fuel for everlasting burnings: or carnal professors, hypocrites in Zio n; neither the one nor the other of these shall stand in judgment, nor have a place in the congregation of the righteous, to give them any annoyance or whether incarnal corruptions, which are like the Canaanites, left in the land to be pricks in the eyes and thorns the sides of the Israelites, these are nor in that land; or the temptations of Satan, since the thorn in the flesh, and a messenger of Satan, are put together. Neither he, nor these have any place in the heavenly country: that, as before observed, is all a paradise, where nothing grows that is hurtful and pernicious; if the church below is an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, camphire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices (Song of Solomon 4:13, 14), with what fruit-bearing trees, and aromatic plants, must the heavenly paradise be filled, in the midst of which, we are assured, stands the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, and yielding its fruit every month? (Revelation 2:7 and 22:2).
(3) The goodness of a country lies in its riches, and, generally speaking, when a country is fruitful, it is rich; the fruitfulness of its soil makes the inhabitants of it rich; as we read of riches of grace, so of riches of glory; which far surpasses all earthly riches; the riches of this world are uncertain riches, here today, and gone tomorrow, they make themselves wings and flee away; but the riches of the better country are certain and sure, solid and substantial, lasting and durable; a treasure which moth cannot corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal away; they are unsearchable riches, it cannot be said how much and how great they are; however, saints know in themselves that they have in heaven a better, and a more enduring substance than what can be enjoyed on earth (Hebrews 10:34).
(4) What gives the heavenly country the preference to all others is, the peaceableness of it; God makes peace in his high places, in the higher heavens, where his saints and angels dwell (John 2:25), which may, with great propriety, be called the land of peace, as the phrase is in Jeremiah 12:5. In this world there is seldom peace long, war is commonly in one part of it or another; and as soon peace is made, we quickly hear of rumors of war again; and with respect to the flare of men on earth, inn moral and. spiritual sense, this life is a warfare: Is there not a warfare to man on earth? as the words may be rendered in Job 7:1. There is, and especially to the saints, and people of God.; they have many enemies to war with, the world, the flesh and the devil: without are fightings and within are fears (2 Corinthians 7:5), yea, they have sightings both within and without; without, with the world and the devil; and within with the corruptions of their nature, their worst enemies; there is nothing to be seen in the Shulamite, the most perfect, and the most peaceable believer, as the word may signify, but as it were the company of two armies, set in battle array, and combating each other (Song of Solomon 6:13), even the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; the law in the members, warring against the law in the mind: but when this life is ended, the warfare is accomplished; no more war, all peace; the end of the perfect and uptight man is peace; he enters into peace, eternal, peace, which will never be interrupted.
(5) Another superior excellency of this heavenly country, and which makes it better than any other, is the safety of it; there is nothing hurts nor destroys in all this holy mountain, this holy land; there is no danger from any quarter, not from thieves and robbers, nor from beasts of prey; there is no insidious serpent, nor roaring lion here; there was a serpent in Eden’s garden, and a subtle one, which reduced our first parents to their ruin; and by whom the saints in this life are in danger of being beguiled, when permitted; and by whom the nations of the world are deceived; but he has no place in the better country; the Old Serpent the devil is cast out of heaven, and fell like lightening from thence; and his place will be found no more there; on the earth he goes about like a roaring lion, flaking whom he may devour; he is permitted to take his walks to and fro, in the world below, but he is not admitted to take any in that above; no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon; it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there (Isaiah 35:9), that is, shall walk in the greatest safety, having nothing to fear from any quarter whatever.
(6) What infinitely adds to the preference of this country to all others is, the better company in it; here are not only the spirits of just men made perfect, who converse with each other in the most heavenly and spiritual manner, and join in songs or praise, and hallelujahs to the Lamb, and an innumerable company of angels, those shining forms, attending and waiting on them, and joining with them, in social acts of worship; but what is ten thousand times more than all the rest, there is had an uninterrupted communion with God, Father, Son and Spirit; here God is all and in all; here saints behold God in Christ as he is; behold his glory, appear in glory with him, see him as he is, become like him, and are for ever with him.
3. The saints future state of happiness, is described by its being a country; which is explained an heavenly one, a country which lies in heaven, as we say of such a country, it is in Europe; of another, that it is in Asi a; and of a third, that it is in Africa, and so of a fourth, that it is in America; but of this country, it must be said, that it is in heaven; when it is spoken of as an house, it is an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:11). When as a city, a city in heaven; our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and so of course the city we are citizens of must be there; when said to be an inheritance, it is an inheritance reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4), when it goes by the name of a country, or a kingdom, it is called the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20), and indeed this country is no other than heaven itself, and in which all desirable persons and things are; here is cur covenant God and Father, whom we are directed to address, laying, Our father which art in heaven; and of whom it may be truly laid, with the Psalmist, whom have I in heaven but, thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee (Psalm 73:25), here also Jesus is at the right hand of his divine Father, our head, and husband, brother, friend, redeemer and savior: Here is our treasure, portion and inheritance, and where our hearts should be; and no wonder it is, that this better country should be desired, and especially, since it is of an heavenly nature, and so suited to heaven-born souls; as is the heavenly, so are they that are heavenly; and they are such, that are born again, or born from above, as the phrase may be rendered in (John 3:3), they are partakers of the divine nature, that is, of an heavenly one, that bears some resemblance to the nature of God in heaven; they are partakers of the heavenly calling, and are called to enjoy an heavenly country, which is agreeable to their nature, as spiritual; an earthly country is not, they cannot breathe in it, at least not freely.
4. The happiness of the saints in another world, is described by a city, both in this verse and in verse 10, where it is said to be a city which hath foundations; it is expressed in the plural number, for it seems it has more foundations than one; there is the everlasting love of God, the source and spring both of grace and glory, and the electing grace of God in Christ, the foundation of God, which stands sure, sealed with this seal, The Lord knows them that are hi s; and the covenant, of grace, which is ordered in all things, and sure; and there is Christ the sure foundation of God’s laying; and who is also the foundation of the apostles and prophets; of their laying ministerialy; wherefore the new Jerusalem is said to have twelve foundations, because Christ, the one and only foundation, is said by his twelve apostles. The plural expressed in the text referred to, is opposed to tents and tabernacles, which had no foundations, but were easily taken down, and moved from place to place; and denotes the firmness and stability of this continuing city (Hebrews 13:14). And let it not be thought that this is a diminutive and lowering expression; that after the apostle had called the future state of the saints happiness a country, a better, and an heavenly one, that he calls it a city; for as in every kingdom and country there is a chief city, the metropolis of the country, the residence of the king of it, where he has his palace, keeps his court, and his nobles dwell such is this city, not only whose builder and maker is God, who built all things; and is made, not with the hands of men, but of God himself; but also the city of the great King, and is fit for kings and princes to dwell in, as all the saints are, What the Assyrian monarch boastingly said, Are not my princes altogether kings? (Isaiah 10:8), is true of all Jehovah’s princes, his saints, they are all made kings, as well as priests unto God, by Christ’s and so have a city prepared for them to dwell in, according to their high birth, quality and dignity; and what a city that is may be learned, in some measure, from the grand description given of the new Jerusalem, by its being, even the streets of it of pure gold; and by its, walls and gates of pearl: and yet these brilliant views fall abundantly short of setting forth the real grandeur of it (Revelation 21:10). Thus I have gone through the description of the saints’ future happiness; I shall only say a few things to the other two remaining observations, as I proposed.