On Eternity

Eternity, to the godly, is a day that has no sunset.  Eternity, to the wicked, is a night that has no sunrise. – Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

 

“…Theology, in the Highest Sense of the Word”

…that new creation, itself, will be beautiful and glorious, for all things will be united in Christ as their Head.  But, the essence of all the blessedness and glory of that new world will, nevertheless, be the perfected fellowship of friendship with the living God in Christ.  Everywhere, in that new world, we shall see Christ and, in Him, we shall see the Father.  We shall see Him face to face.  All our knowledge will, then, be theology in the highest sense of the word.  This is life eternal, to know You and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  That will be glory, indeed!

From: Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Hoeksema (Grand Rapids: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1966), p. 872.

Herman Hoeksema (1886-1965) spent half a century as a Reformed pastor and almost 40 years as Professor of Dogmatics in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches.  Reformed Dogmatics was his last book.

 

Direct Enjoyment of God

We, as Christians, know that we should thank God for everything.  Those who do not thank God for their pleasures will, one day, lose them forever.  Moreover, we have no right to enjoy anything that is forbidden by God in His Word.  To do so sets us on a path that leads to disaster, not happiness.  Hell is the place where all pleasure is gone because people there are banished from God’s “presence” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).  Where people cannot enjoy God, either directly or indirectly, they can enjoy nothing.  Without God, there is nothing to enjoy.  The supreme excellence of the Christian’s happiness in heaven, therefore, will be to directly enjoy God.

From: The Happiness of Heaven by Maurice Roberts (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books/Darlington: EP Books, 2009), p. 116.

 

Full Enjoyment of God

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.  To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.  Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows – but God is the substance.  These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun.  These are but streams, but God is the fountain.  These are but drops, but God is the ocean. – Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)