Heaven, a World of Charity, or Love
God himself is the source of this love, and in heaven he will impart it perfectly to all his people. Edwards unfolds the nature, expression, effects, and enjoyment of this best of all the gifts God ever bestows on those who believe. This series of Pocket Puritans provides all this in miniature, but also in abundance.
What Is It Like? A very powerful, edifying and moving message. A search for "Heaven," using the Master Search Index on the Puritan Hard Drive returns , results in 1, documents, all available in the context of one line and listed alphabetically by book title, including the author of each book.
Also, if you click on any of these individual Master Search Index results for "Heaven," the Puritan Hard Drive opens the book to the correct page and highlights "Heaven"! Can you imagine how helpful just one search like this can be to your personal sanctification and for increasing your intimacy and communion with God , for preparing sermons or a large series of sermons , for preparing Bible studies, for family worship, for help at seminary professors and students , for renewing your mind in Christ Romans There are also Reformation resources books, MP3s and videos under the category " Heaven, Hell and the Final Judgment " on the the Puritan Hard Drive , 85 Reformation resources books, MP3s and videos with the word " Heaven " in the title and Reformation resources books, MP3s and videos with the word " Heaven " in the resource descriptions on the Puritan Hard Drive.
No matter where I am, as long as there is some form of power source to operate a computer, I have access to some of the best Puritan and Reformed literature available.
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The Puritan Hard Drive is a tremendous blessing. I travel frequently to many parts of the globe. The Puritan Hard Drive allows me to continue my studies on the road with the same depth as when I am seated in my study at home. The wonderful portability of this massive Puritan library and remarkable research software makes the Puritan Hard Drive ideal for missionaries, students, or anyone who needs instant access to the best Reformation study materials in a variety of locations.
There is much more to the Puritan Hard Drive than just convenience, portability and the exceptional quality and extraordinary number of Reformation resources it includes. Even if a minister owned the largest printed Puritan library in the world, he would not be able to properly research the material.
However, the KnowledgeBase software on the Puritan Hard Drive provides an effective road map to access the material in ways that are easy-to-use, organized and highly productive. With the click of a button, you can easily do ten hours worth of research in just seconds!
That which is sight unseen will become sight seen. The contrast of walking by faith and not by sight will no longer hold. Walking by sight in this connection is not something bad as if a contrast between belief and unbelief. Sight here refers to the coming of perfection and seeing face to face; it refers to the experience of being at home with the Lord in glory 2 Cor. That faith is used as the opposite of seeing shows us that it overlaps with hope.
It is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen Heb. By faith we grasp the reality that is to come; we lay hold of it with certain assurance. It does not mean that when they come faith will pass into non-existence. It simply and wonderfully means that when these future realities come to realization then they will no longer be grasped from afar by faith.
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It is not that faith passes away but that the object of faith comes cf. Thomas believed while seeing, Jn. Why then is this time of not seeing a time of faith? Believing what is not seen accents the fact that now the certainty is grasped by faith even though the reality is still future and as yet out of reach. On the other hand, what has been said of faith per 2 Corinthians 5: For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Specifically, this passage is talking about the resurrection of our bodies the redemption of our bodies, v. In this life and on the pathway of our present pilgrimage, we eagerly anticipate and confidently expect the full resurrection harvest that is promised in our present experience of the Holy Spirit as firstfruits. But does this tell us that when the harvest comes and we are raised in glory then hope will pass away?
No, it is simply and wonderfully telling us that when the resurrection takes place we will no longer look forward to it with anticipation because it will then be a matter of realization. Like what was said of faith in relation to sight, when that which is hoped for comes, we will no longer hope for it. It is not that hope passes away but that the object of hope comes.
He says that faith, hope, and love abide in an exclusive way: In other words, Paul has the heavenly state in view in contrast to the present state of seeing dimly like through an old mirror. Therefore, we have to be discerning with respect to the overstatement that is made in some Christian poetry and hymns. This poetry overshoots by missing the significant fact that hope and faith abide in heaven, which leads directly to my next point of explanation.
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But there is another sense in which faith is simply thankful trust in God, deep appreciation for him, committed subservience to him. Will there be any time in the next fifty billion years if I may speak of eternity in the categories of time during which the very basis of my presence in the celestial courts will be something other than faith in the grace of God?
There is a richness of glory beyond words. This sounds like an incompleteness of knowing akin to that developed in verses Incompleteness here is perhaps over stating in a way that does not keep in flow with verses So, to try to avoid confusing knowing in part to knowing fully we have to stress the fact that the partial refers to a circumscribed and limited content regarding what may be known. Even with sixty-six books, what may be known objectively of special revelation is limited. But perfection will involve unlimited content as we behold the Lord in all His glory face to face.
This fact that hope abides into the unending future is a marvelous thought in itself. It is part of the blessing of heaven that the entry point is not a terminal point but a beginning point that opens a vast array of infinite blessings before our wondering eyes. Therefore, one of the good things of heaven is the fact that we will always have hope because there will always be things to anticipate, new depths to plummet, and new heights to scale. A fundamental quality of heaven will be expectation of greater things still to come. A profound experience of expectation will give a spring to every step that is taken in the heavenly realm.
Before this study of 1 Corinthians 13, I tended to think that the first step in heaven is the one that carries with it the greatest sense of anticipation and expectation.
Where there are various languages, they will cease. Though the path is before you, and you may walk in it if you desire, yet it is a way that is ascending, and filled with many difficulties and obstacles. There they will find those things that were their delight here below, and on which they rejoiced to meditate, and with the sweet contemplation of which their minds were often entertained; and there, too, the things which they chose for their portion, and which were so dear to them that they were ready for the sake of them to undergo the severest sufferings, and to forsake even father, and mother, and kindred, and friends, and wife, and children, and life itself. Make the best possible use of it and bring much glory to My Name. His life is a life of sincere and earnest endeavor to be universally and increasingly holy. And in heaven this desire of love, or this fondness for being loved, will never fail of being satisfied. All in heaven shall flourish in immortal youth and freshness.
But this text shows us that our anticipation of the first step we will take in heaven is far lower and inferior to the anticipation that will fill our hearts to the brim beyond that first step. This is so because our expectation now is in part, immature, and dimly lit.
Once we take that first step in glory into the presence of our Lord and to seeing face to face, then every subsequent step will be filled with face to face anticipation and expectation that is far superior to the dimly lit anticipation and expectation that we now have. Love too of course will abide forever. This is what makes heaven, heaven. So heaven is a world of love with faith and hope.