We pore with intense earnestness over the words which picture the joys of the future.
Everlasting joy. What are its springs?
I. THE INWARD HARMONY, THE PERFECT ORDER OF THE BEING, THE CONCERT OF EVERY FACULTY AND FORCE IN THE FULFILMENT OF THE WILL OF GOD. That is the peace of God--the perfect peace. The redeemed man is the governed man; the man who has re-found the King who can evoke his loyal passions, and control and direct his manifold powers. This rule, the rule of his true King, has been lost to him through sin. This supreme, complete control of his being heaven will restore. An unsphered planet could be won back to the harmony of its sister planets only by the attraction of their common sun. The King has appeared and claimed His own. We know little of heaven’s occupations, the aspect of its homes, the modes of its speech, the forms of its life. We know only that the God-man is there, and reigns. He whom we can love with intensest passion, and serve with exulting joy, will meet us on its threshold, will sweep the flood of His attractions round every limb and organ of our being, and thrill us in one intense moment with the sense that we are one, that we are blessed.
II. THE FULL VISION OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE CREATION, the beholding of all that God has meant, and sin has marred, in the constitution of the worlds.
III. THE COMMUNION OF THE BLESSED--the joy of fellowship when the struggle and toil are ended for ever--the companionship of the elect and beloved--intercourse with the elder spirits who are before the throne. (J. R. Brown, B. A.)
