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TOPIC: Edwards, Jonathan - Rational Biblical Theology (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: Chapt 37 cont 2
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Heaven Beholding This World
“The happiness of the saints in heaven consists much in beholding the church on earth.”
Edwards does much reflecting on heaven’s contemplating this world. He is speaking above about heaven as it now is, not as it will be in its consummate state after the resurrection. In fact, he has a great deal to say about the “separate state” as, for example, in M 555 and M 565. *99* We will confine ourselves here to what he says about these “separated saints” in heaven as they observe the goings-on in our world. We must admit that this contemplation threatens the bliss of heaven, for it would seem, at first glance, that there is not too much in this world to make the saints in glory happy. If anything, there is much to disturb their peace.
How wrong we are. Says Edwards, “the happiness of the saints in heaven consists much in beholding the displays of God’s mercy towards his church on earth. . . .” *100* Even the saints here have an eye on God’s activities. We should have immediately realized that the saints in glory would have an eye only for that. But how does Edwards know this? He argues it from the “meek shall inherit the earth” and
their having in the present time [in heaven, that is] much more given of this world, houses and lands, &c., than they parted with in the suffering state of the church; from Christ’s comforting his disciples, when about to leave them, that they should weep and lament, and the world rejoice, yet their sorrow should be turned into joy, as a woman has sorrow in her travail, but much more than joy enough to balance it when she is delivered; from its being promised to the good man, Psa_128:1-6, that he should see the prosperity of Jerusalem, and peace in Israel; from the manner in which the promises of the future prosperity of the church were made of old to the church then in being; and from the manner in which the saints received them as all their salvation, and all their desire, and are said to hope and wait for the fulfillment from time to time. *101*
A couple Miscellanies later, we find David taking great consolation in the fact that God promised that he would see his kingdom established. All these considerations led Edwards to the grand conclusion that
[t]he blessedness of the church triumphant in heaven, and their joy and glory, will as much consist in beholding the success of Christ’s redemption on earth, and in as great proportion, as the joy that was set before Christ consists in it, or as the glory and reward of Christ as God man and Mediator consists in it. *102*
A number of Edwards’ latest Miscellanies deal with this happy prospect perhaps as some subconscious anticipation of going where he too would behold the church from a more glorious vista. An argument he gives that the saints in heaven are acquainted with what is done on earth is that God so often cites the “notice the heavens shall take of those particular wonders of God’s mercy and faithfulness. . . .” *103*
But, are the saints in heaven unable to see the sins of the saints on earth? Is love truly blind so that where love is perfected the ability to perceive evil is destroyed? Is this why the contemplation of earth does not disturb the tranquility of heaven? No, the perfected saints are not blind, but they see how even the failings of the church militant work ultimately for God’s glory and the church’s own good, and that fills them with joy.
Of course, if the saints in glory recognize the saints on earth it certainly follows that when they too come to heaven they will be recognized. What about Edwards and the saints at Northampton who rejected him as their pastor? Understandably the “Farewell Sermon” does not dilate on theological niceties about whether the saints will recognize one another in heaven. That is assumed from the beginning, as the sermon opens with a general description of the day of judgment with the whole world assembled, yet with certain groups, such as the pastor and his former people, having a very special consciousness of one another. Edwards stresses the importance of the issues, the perfection of the Judge, and the efficiency of his judgment. He implies but does not say that there will be a separation between pastor and people.
[T]hey that evil entreat Christ’s faithful ministers, especially in that wherein they are faithful, shall be severely punished; Mat_10:14-15. “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for that city.” *104*
But, Edwards concludes the paragraph: “On the other hand, those ministers who are found to have been unfaithful, shall have a most terrible punishment. See Eze_33:6; Mat_23:1-33.” *105* So he seems to be affirming recognition indeed but separation in matters such as caused the division in Northampton. There is no hint that people will at the day of judgment see things differently and be somehow forgivable. The die seems to have been cast. There is no doubt that Edwards considered his own position in the controversy sound and faithful. Our point here is that the church in heaven, being aware of such controversies, must have understood the rights and wrongs, realized that God was working all things together for good in this world for those who loved him and vindication in the world to come.
The final touch is that the church in heaven is more interested in the church on earth than the church on earth is interested in the church on earth!
The saints in heaven will be under advantages to see much more of it than the saints on earth and to be every way more directly fully and perfectly acquainted with all that appertains to it and that manifests the glory of it, the glory of God’s wisdom and other perfections in it, the blessed fruit and end of it in the eternal glory and blessedness of the subjects of the work of God’s at that day, will be daily in their view, in those that come out of dying bodies to heaven. And the church in heaven will be much more concerned in it, than one part of the church on earth shall be in the prosperity of another. *106*
Heaven Beholding Hell
“[N]o occasion of grief to ’em but rejoicing.”
“All things are yours,” wrote Paul to the Corinthian saints (1Co_3:21). In Edwards’ thought “all things” included hell. *107* Hell, like a gladiatorial combat, was made for the spectators not the participants. The sufferers were useful only in their suffering. *108* All blessing from this curse came to God and the godly.
Since God cannot be made happier, being ever and infinitely blessed, hell was made, not for him but for heaven. Indeed, Edwards virtually reasons that heaven would not be heaven without hell. It is an argument for the fact of hell that heaven is blessed by it.
I am convinced that hell torments will be eternal from [one great] good the wisdom of God proposes by them, which is by the sight of them to exalt the happiness, the love, and joyful thanksgivings of the angels and men that are saved, which it tends exceedingly to do. I am ready to think that those beholding the sight of the great miseries of those of their species that are damned will double the ardour of their love and the fulness of the joy of the elect angels and men. *109*
The rejoicing of the righteous over the suffering of the sinful is not sinful itself, because “the damned suffering divine vengeance will be no occasion of joy to the saints merely as it is the misery of others, or because it is pleasant to them to behold the misery of others merely for its own sake” *110* but as it revealed the justice and majesty of God. Still, there will be no pity because the glory of God will in their esteem be “of greater consequence, than the welfare of thousands and millions of souls.” *111*
This act of divine wrath exhibits the dreadful majesty, authority, justice, and holiness of God and thereby excites exquisite love in the saints. Since the happiness of the saints is to be double, the suffering of sinners must be eternal! *112* “The misery of the damned in hell is one of those great things that the saints in their blessed and joyful state in heaven shall behold and take great notice of throughout eternity.” *113*
“When the saints in glory shall see the wrath of God executed on ungodly men, it will be no occasion of grief to them, but of rejoicing.” *114* Since this sermon is definitive and has been published we will follow its outline of our mind-boggling subject.
Edwards sees this text as an account of the fall of Babylon, the antichristian, papal church. It has reference partly to the overthrow in this world and in the next.
But we are not to understand the plagues here mentioned as exclusive of the vengeance which God will execute on the wicked upholders and promoters of antichristianism, and on the cruel antichristian persecutors, in another world. *115*
The next chapter of Revelation, in fact, refers to the smoke rising “forever and ever.” Of course, individual antichristians go to hell at death, but the text refers to a visible demonstration in this world and the world to come. At that time Antichrist is restricted to hell and has no more place on earth (cf. Rev_20:1 f.). *116* On this occasion, in our text, the apostles and prophets and the rest of the church triumphant are summoned to see God take vengeance on their enemies and oppressors.
All the enemies of the church through all the ages will be gathered and condemned together as directly or indirectly of the same company, “Satan’s army.” The saints will rejoice because God is vindicating them. “Rejoice, for God hath avenged you on her.” The Scriptures “plainly teach” that heaven will behold hell as Lazarus and Abraham saw Dives in his misery. Edwards cites Isa_66:24, “And they shall go forth and look on the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched.” Christ had taught that the sheep on his right hand at the judgment would see the wicked on his left hand and hear Christ say: “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” So the saints in heaven and sinners in hell shall some way or other have a direct and immediate apprehension of each other’s state. *117*
This will be a terrible sight because God’s wrath is meant to “make his power known.” Better than now the saints will see and understand the divine anger poured out on the wicked, but it will cause no “uneasiness or unpleasantness to them.” Rather, “it will excite to joyful praises.” *118*
Will this dreadful sight not cause grief in the sensitive righteous? No, but their rejoicing is not from any “ill disposition” in them. They are not called to “rejoice in having their revenge glutted but rejoice in seeing God’s justice exercised.” Heaven will have no pity for hell, not because the saints are unloving, but because they are perfectly loving. They love as God loves and whom God loves, being now in perfect conformity with his love. “The glory of God,” as we have seen, “in their esteem will be of greater consequence, than the welfare of thousands and millions of souls.” They will therefore rejoice in the glory and power of God manifested in this holy and just manner. *119*
The objection arises. If saints are to grieve now when men go to hell, why should they rejoice then? Edwards gives five answers. First, it is the Christian’s duty now to love even the wicked, not knowing but that they may be loved of God. In hell they are seen to be hated of God and so are hated by the saints. Second, all men are now capable of salvation through the efforts of men but in hell salvation is past forever. Third, rejoicing at calamities may now be because of envy and other evil dispositions, but in heaven saints rejoice only in the glory of God. Fourth, natural affection “is no virtue in the saints in glory. Their virtue will exercise itself in a higher manner.” Fifth, when God takes vengeance on oppressors it is always because of his love to his saints; so in hell this infinite love for his own will be eternally visible in the punishment of their wicked enemies whom they love in this world. *120*
The sermon closes with a poignant and solemn warning to the ungodly in Northampton. *121* References to parents delighting in the eternal torments of their own incorrigible children are heart-rending. The congregation must have felt this paragraph especially:
Consider, ye that have long lived under Mr. Stoddard’s ministry, and are yet in a natural condition, how dreadful it will be to you to see him who was so tenderly concerned for the good of your souls while he was here, and so earnestly sought your salvation, to see him rising up in judgment against you, declaring your inexcusableness, declaring how often he warned you; how plainly he set your danger before you, and told you of the opportunity that you had; how fully he set forth the miserable condition in which you were, and the necessity there was that you should obtain an interest in Christ. . . . How will you be cut to the heart, when you shall see him approving the sentence of condemnation, which the Judge shall pronounce against you. . . . And when you shall see him rejoicing in the execution of justice upon you for all your unprofitableness under his ministry! *122*
Some today imagine that the loving character of God and saints would seem to rule hell out. Hell would seem to make them miserable - make heaven into hell. We see, however, that so far from making holy beings miserable, hell actually makes them happy. It is obvious that this would have to be so because the ever-blessed God eternally knows perfectly of the hell which he himself ordains. Saints, even in this world, are informed of the present existence of hell. Edwards is only articulating in his characteristically thorough manner, what the Bible plainly teaches, and all Bible believers must necessarily accept. “This is life eternal,” says Jesus Christ, “that they know thee the only true God. . . .” (Joh_17:3). The only true God, according to Jonathan Edwards, sends sinners to, and torments them in, hell. Eternal life depends on knowing, accepting, trusting in, the God who does this.
It is a great hurdle for many even to accept, much less find pleasure in, this doctrine. But here in Rev_18:20 Edwards is showing that far more than that is characteristic of a saint. The torments of the damned “will be no occasion of grief to ’em, but of rejoicing.” Christians, imperfectly now and perfectly hereafter, will be made happy by the sight of justified misery.
If the temptation arises to feign pleasure, no student of Edwards would succumb. He would know that feigning is futile in the presence of the Searcher of Hearts. That would make the feigner twofold more the child of hell than open rebellion would.
The bottom line is not that a good person must constrainedly acquiesce and rejoice in the contemplation of hell but that he will do so spontaneously and naturally. There is no sadism here because the torment is deserved. Not a cruel man but a good man rejoices in just punishment. It is sadism not to rejoice in just misery. Why? Sadism is pleasure in suffering for suffering’s sake. The person either rejoices in just suffering or he does not. That is, he either rejoices in hell or does not. If he does not rejoice in hell he rejoices in no-hell. The no-hell in which we now live has much unjust suffering. That person, therefore, who does not rejoice in hell prefers the world that now is to hell (because hell is God’s just punishment for incorrigible wickedness). He acquiesces in and enjoys unjust suffering, and that is sadism. The seeming “sentimentalist” is therefore the true sadist, and the rejoicer in just punishment is the true lover of the souls of men. Edwards’ sermon concludes with a sustained and passionate appeal to repent and be saved from hell and to God.
The Eternality of Heaven
“The heavenly inhabitants . . . remain in eternal youth.”
One of Edwards’ very earliest sermons was a strong apologetic for immortality. “All men must certainly die and after death their everlasting state will be determined.” *123* This is shown not only by revelation but by natural reason and conscience as well. The wicked do prosper and the righteous do suffer in this world, necessitating a future judgment. Edwards said that all nations agree, including the “barbarously ignorant indians here in America,” *124* that the “soul will endure forever.” In this sermon young Edwards is arguing in the classic fashion that though reason convinces, the Bible “puts it past doubt.” What puts the Bible past doubt is miracle because “one true miracle is a demonstration of the truth for which it is wrought.” *125*
The truth of an immortality of rewards and punishment is absolutely fundamental. If there are no everlasting states “then the whole of religion is immediately thrown up and destroyed.” *126* The case is demonstrative, and unbelievers will be “enveloped in hell’s flames.” *127* And they have “danger of dropping into the bottomless pit every moment.” *128* Thus, early in his ministry, Edwards is already complaining that people are insensitive to hell, unafraid though they are going there. They allow all warning to bounce off “as a ball from a marble wall.” *129*
That the eternity of the future state of happiness and misery spoken of in Scripture is a proper eternity, “absolutely excluding any end, is most clearly manifest by Luk_20:36 - neither can they die anymore - and other places. Rev_21:4. . . .” *130* Many more texts are cited to prove the same point with the main emphasis on the eternality of heaven as the “last enemy,” death, is conquered. “The heavenly inhabitants do as it were remain in eternal youth.” *131*
The rather abstruse concept of eternity is carefully probed by Edwards even in his sermons, probably because, however recondite the subject, it is of immediate interest and concern for sinner and saint alike, the one hoping immortality is not a fact and the other rejoicing that it is.
While the sermon on 2Co_4:18 asserts that “there is such a thing as eternity,” *132* that on Rom_6:23 asks what eternity is and then proceeds to show that there is such a thing as eternity awaiting every man. *133* First, nature shows that there must be immortal existence following the inevitable judgment of rewards and punishments for deeds done in this world. But leaving deism far behind, Edwards’ second point is that special revelation is necessary to show clearly what immortality is and what will bring a blessed immortality. And this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought to light.
Showing that there is such a thing as eternity, Edwards begins the 2Co_4:18 sermon by attempting a definition. The word is sometimes used as that without beginning, sometimes of that without end. “God is possessed of the whole at once.” *134* It is essentially “incomprehensible” and we can only try to imagine it. *135* So, what then is meant by the word? “That there is an eternal state. . . .” *136* However difficult to define, Edwards finds it relatively easy to prove. For one thing, the “light of nature teaches the immortality of the soul” *137* and also teaches that revelation is necessary to show how to “escape misery” and” obtain happiness.” *138* This was “brought to light” by Christ, who “confirmed his word by many miracles.” *139*
On the basis of revelation, Edwards shows what eternity will be. In sum, “God will be the hell of one and the heaven of the other.” *140* In eternity all things will be brought to their term and fixed. In that world no mixture of good and evil will be found. *141* Then follows an unusual application in which he points out the comforts in the eternity of the one and the misery for the other. *142* “Improve the time to make sure [of heaven].” *143*
It is to be noted that Edwards’ immortality implies a conferred immutability. Only God is, per se, immutable. Because he is so, he can and does preserve rational creatures in the state they are at death, to the perfect degree. For the saints this means eternal heaven.
It is interesting that while the deists loosened their grip on eternity, Edwards strengthened his. It was no mystery why the “immortal deists” gave way to the “mortal deists” as Edwards’ grip on eternity tightened. The deists were understanding more and more why Hume had said that the arguments they used to destroy supernatural revelation were fatal to natural revelation. With the rejection of the God of special revelation went, as a matter of historical, if not logical, progression, the immortality discovered in natural revelation. The deists unwittingly proved Edwards’ point in M 1340, “The insufficiency of reason as a substitute for revelation.” *144* “To him that hath (special revelation) it shall be given (the confirmation of natural revelation) and to him that hath not (special revelation) shall be taken that which he thinks he hath (natural revelation).”
The Rationale of Heaven
“Then God will fully have glorified himself. . . .”
In a sense, The Dissertation on the Last End of God in the Creation of the World is the rationale for heaven. If God’s chief end is his manifestative glory, as the treatise maintains, *145* where is that fully realized so well as in heaven? We will see that God’s glory is realized also in hell but more indirectly and as a “strange” rather than natural work. Hell is used by the saints in heaven as an occasion for the glorification of God, to be sure. But, it is heaven where God’s true glory is realized in and by its inhabitants. If this is so, then, for Edwards, the purpose or rationale of heaven is precisely that there can be no higher end.
In M 371, where Edwards recapitulates what happens in heaven at the resurrection, he is, in a sense, giving the rationale for heaven. *146* First, “the saints will be in their natural state of union with bodies, glorious bodies, bodies perfectly fitted for the uses of a holy glorified soul.” *147* This man’s natural state that has been temporarily interrupted in the intermediate or “separate state.” Man was created body and soul and is destined to be such forever. So at the resurrection he reaches his natural state in a glorified condition, body and soul together. This is the ultimate destiny of the elect fully realized only in heaven.
Second,
[t]hen the body of Christ will be perfect, the church will be complete; all the parts of it in being; no parts of it under sin or affliction; all the parts of it in a perfect state; all the parts of it together no longer mixed with ungodly men: then the church will be as a bride adorned for her husband, therefore the church will exceedingly rejoice. *148*
Thus, not only the perfect state of the individual is realized, but the perfect state of the entire body of Christ.
The communion of the saints in the fullness of its ideal is now in heaven a reality. The church in this world possesses this communion in principle but most imperfectly. In the intermediate state the souls of just men are made perfect but they are still disembodied and to that degree imperfect or, at least, unnatural. Only in heaven does the striving of the ages and the longing of all the saints come to its ultimate fruition. Not only are the spots and wrinkles of the bride of Christ herself removed, but the disfiguring presence of these who do not truly belong to her company is removed. Only the bride in all her loveliness is present for the wedding ceremony, which can take place only when she has been made fit for her divine husband. This is manifestly the supreme goal of the church; her very raison d’être.
Third,
[t]hen the Mediator will have fully accomplished his work; will have destroyed, and will triumph over all his enemies. Then Christ will fully have obtained his reward; then shall he have perfected the full design that was upon his heart from all eternity, and then Jesus Christ will rejoice, and his members must needs rejoice with him. *149*
So the rationale of heaven is the fruition of the destiny not only of the redeemed but of the Redeemer himself as well. Only in heaven is the full triumph of Christ achieved. This is the grand climax of all his work and the purpose for it all. Were it not for heaven, the goal of redemption would not have been obtained and failing that all would have been in vain. That alone would be sufficient reason to establish heaven securely forever.
Fourth,
[t]hen God will have obtained the end of all his great works that he had been doing from the beginning; then all the deep designs of God will be unfolded in their events; then the wisdom of his marvellous contrivances in his hidden, intricate, and inexplicable works will appear, the ends being obtained; then God’s glory will more abundantly appear in his works, his works being perfect; this will cause a great accession of happiness to the saints who behold it; then God will fully have glorified himself, and glorified his Son, and his elect; then he will see that all is very good, and will rejoice in his own works, which will be the joy of all heaven. God will rest and be refreshed; and thenceforward will the inhabitants keep an eternal sabbath, such an one as all foregoing sabbaths were but shadows of. *150*
Here is where Edwards himself virtually attributes to heaven the role of being the end for which God created the world. All his contrivances and wisdom are seen here in their outworking. The items which have preceded and the ones that follow are but steps in that direction. Heaven is the name of the game. All of God’s roads lead to heaven. That is what Aristotle would have called God’s final cause. All material, efficient, and instrumental causes were subordinate to this final cause. Heaven, in a sense, is the end not only of all man’s striving but of all God’s “striving.”
Finally,
[t]hen God will make more abundant manifestations of his glory, and of the glory of his Son, and will pour forth more plentifully of his Spirit, and will make answerable additions to the glory of the saints, such as will be becoming the commencement of the ultimate and most perfect state of things, and as will become such a joyful occasion as the finishing of all things and the marriage of the Lamb. Then also the glory of the angels will receive proportional additions; for the evil angels are then to have the consummation of their reward. So that the good angels will have the consummation of their reward. This will be the day of Christ’s triumph, and the day will last forever. This will be the wedding-day between Christ and the church, and this wedding-day will last forever; the feast, and pomp, and entertainments, and holy mirth, and joys of the wedding will be continued to all eternity. *151*
One wondered how even Edwards could excel this fourth point. But anything less than an everlasting celebration would have been an eternal let-down. Union with Christ simply could not be perfect if the saints ever had to contemplate its end. They would dread every passing day with Jesus knowing that it brought them ever closer to eternal separation. The love of the saints could not let Christ go, but, even if it could, this fifth point reminds the church that his love will never let her go.
The Objections to Heaven
“[H]ere providence will not suffer any great degree of happiness.”
One would suppose that there would be no objections to heaven. But Edwards makes his own objection. He gives an argument that he has produced out of sheer reflection, looking , as it were, in the corners of his mind for anything hiding there. In M 585 he says:
It has sometimes looked strange to me, that men should be ever brought to such exceeding happiness as that of heaven seems to be, because we find that here providence won’t suffer any great degree of happiness. When men have something in which they hope to find very great joy, there will be something to spoil it. Providence seems watchfully to take care that [men] should have no exceeding joy and satisfaction here in this world. But indeed this, instead of being an argument against the greatness of heaven’s happiness, seems to argue for it; for we can’t suppose that the reason why providence won’t suffer men to enjoy great happiness here is, that he is averse to the creature’s happiness, but because this is not a time for it. To every thing there is an appointed season and time. And ’tis agreeable to God’s method of dispensation that a thing should be sought in vain out of its appointed time. God reserves happiness to be bestowed hereafter; that is the appointed time for it, and that is the reason he don’t give it now. No man, let him be never so strong or wise, shall alter this divine establishment, by anticipating happiness before his appointed time. ’Tis so in all things: sometimes there is an appointed time for a man’s prosperity upon earth, and then nothing can hinder their prosperity; and then when that time is past, then comes an appointed time for his adversity, and then all things conspire for his ruin, and all his strength and skill shall not help him. . . .
In other words, Edwards’ view of divine theodicy is that the very frustrations of this life, so far from arguing frustrations as the perpetual lot of man, intimate that there must be a place called heaven where things are different. Man’s heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee, said Augustine. Man’s heart is restless, therefore it must find its rest in thee, said Edwards. Although he does not mention it in his Miscellany Edwards was no doubt thinking that this is a fallen world in which sorrow and death are as natural as their absence would be in a world of virtue and light. So, that which first appears as an objection to, is a major argument for, heaven. As a matter of fact, at one point Edwards seems to think that the injustice of this world, with its need for correction in another world, is the only valid argument for immortality. *152* That would mean that the very hellishness of this world is an argument for heaven in the armory of natural theology.
The Beatific Vision
“The saints in heaven shall see God.” *153*
The ultimate glory is not in seeing friends in heaven, not even in seeing the glorified Son of Man, the very light of heaven. The ultimate glory is the view of God himself; the beatific vision; the amor intellectualis Dei. Among all the ecstasies of glory none was more important for Jonathan Edwards than the perfect intellectual-spiritual vision of God.
Nevertheless, this is a very rare experience even in heaven. Generally, the beatific vision is a view of the exalted and glorified Christ. This, for example, is Edwards’ way of describing it in M 777:
[T]hat beatifical vision that the saints have of God in heaven is in beholding the manifestations that he makes of himself in the work of redemption. For that arguing of the being and perfections of God that may be a priori don’t seem to be called seeing God in Scripture, but only that which is by manifestations God makes of himself in his Son. All other ways of knowing God are by seeing him in Christ the Redeemer, the image of the invisible God, and in his works; or, the effects of his perfections in his redemption and the fruits of it (which effects are the principal manifestation or shining forth of his perfections). And in conversing with them by Christ which conversation is chiefly about those things done and manifested in this work, if we may judge by the subject of God’s conversation with his church by his word in this world. And so we may infer that business and employment of the saints so far as it consists in contemplation, praise & conversation is mainly in contemplating the wonders of this work, in praising God for the displays of his glory and love therein, and in conversing about things appertaining to it.
Perhaps Edwards’ most explicit and full definition of the beatific vision occurs in the sermon on Rom_2:10. “Glory, honor, and peace is the portion that God has given to all the godly.” In the concluding part of this sermon he describes the nature and degree of the consummate and eternal glory and blessedness of the saints. He begins “with the lowest part of it, viz. the glory of the place.” *154* Item by item he pursues his celestial theme telling of the glory of the bodies of the saints and of their fellowship with one another. Only finally does he arrive, in this path of ecstasy, to the supreme glory of heaven, the beatific vision itself. Let us listen to this homiletic rhapsody:
6. The saints in heaven shall see God. . . . This is that which is called by divines, “the beatific vision,” because this is that in which the blessedness of the saints in glory does chiefly consist. This is the fountain, the infinite fountain of their blessedness. The sight of Christ, which has already been spoken of, is not here to be excluded, for he is a divine person; the sight of him in his divine nature therefore belongs to the beatifical vision. This vision of God is the chief bliss of heaven, and therefore I would speak of it a little particularly. And,
1. As to the faculty that is the subject of this vision. It is no sight of any thing with the bodily eyes; but it is an intellectual view. The beatific vision of God is not a sight with the eyes of the body, but with the eyes of the soul. There is no such thing as seeing God properly with the bodily eyes, because he is a spirit: one of his attributes is, that he is invisible. . . . This highest blessedness of the soul does not enter in at the door of the bodily senses: this would be to make the blessedness of the soul dependent on the body, or the happiness of man’s superior part to be dependent on the inferior. The beatific vision of God is not any sight with the bodily eyes, because the separate souls of the saints, and the angels which are mere spirits, and never were united to body, have this vision. . . . It is not in beholding any form or visible representation, or shape, or colour, or shining light, in which the highest happiness of the soul consists; but it is in seeing God, who is a spirit, spiritually, with the eyes of the soul. We have no reason to think that there is any such thing as God’s manifesting himself by any outward glorious appearance, that is, the symbol of his presence in heaven, any otherwise than by the glorified body of Christ. God was wont in the Old Testament, oftentimes to manifest himself by an outward glory, and sometimes in an outward shape, or the form of a man. But when God manifested himself thus, it was by Christ; it was the second person of the Trinity only that was wont thus to appear to men in an outward glory and human shape. . . . But since Christ has actually assumed a human body, there is no need of his assuming any aerial form or shape any more. The Deity now became visible to the bodily eyes in a more perfect manner by his having a real body. The saints that shall see Christ in heaven in his glorified body, much more properly see Christ than if they only saw an assumed shape, or some outward glorious appearance, as the symbol of his presence; for now, that which they see is not only a glorious appearance by which Christ is represented, but the real Christ; it is his own body. The seeing God in the glorified body of Christ, is the most perfect way of seeing God with the bodily eyes that can be; for in seeing a real body, which one of the persons of the Trinity has assumed to be his body, and in which he dwells for ever as his own, the divine majesty and excellency appear as much as it is possible for them to appear in outward form or shape. The saints do actually see a divine person with bodily eyes, and in the same manner as we see one another. But when God showed himself under outward appearances and symbols of his presence only, that was not so proper a sight of a divine person, and it was a more imperfect way of God’s manifesting himself, suitably to the more imperfect state of the church under the Old Testament. But now Christ really subsists in a glorified body; those outward symbols and appearances are done away, as being needless and imperfect. *155*
Edwards continues with further details and reaches his climax with these words:
They shall see every thing in God that tends to excite and inflame love, i.e., every thing that is lovely, every thing that tends to exalt their esteem and admiration, to warm and endear the heart. . . .
They shall see every thing in God that gratifies love. . . .
The effects of this vision. . . . are, that the soul shall be inflamed with love, and satisfied with pleasure. . . . *156*
What more can be said! It is fitting, in light of all that we have studied in these volumes, that I conclude this chapter, and my exposition of the rational biblical theology of Jonathan Edwards, with this profound and moving sermon on the bright and shining destination of the Christian pilgrim’s journey.