“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” ( Psalm 16:11) As wonderful as the Christian life is, even the best saints occasionally find their joy interrupted. Here on earth, where we live in a fallen world, our joy is always mixed with sorrow. But in heaven it will be far different. Listen to these wonderful words written by Thomas Brooks in 1657: Surely there is no believer but who finds that sometimes
sin interrupts his joy, and sometimes Satan disturbs his
joy, and sometimes afflictions eclipse his joy. Sometimes
the cares of the world, and sometimes the snares of the
world, and sometimes the fears of the world–mar his joy.
Here on earth, our joy is mixed with sorrow; our
rejoicing with trembling. The most godly have . . .
sorrow mixed with their joy,
water mixed with their wine,
vinegar mixed with their oil,
pain mixed with their ease,
winter mixed with their summer, etc.
But in heaven, they shall have . . .
joy without sorrow,
light without darkness,
sweetness without bitterness,
summer without winter,
health without sickness,
honor without disgrace,
glory without shame, and
life without death.
Mark–
for quality–there are pleasures;
for quantity–fullness;
for dignity–at God’s right hand;
for duration–forevermore.
And millions of years multiplied by millions, do
not make up one minute of this eternity of joy
which the saints shall have in heaven! In heaven
there shall be no sin to take away your joy, nor
any devil to take away your joy, nor any man
to take away your joy!
As they shall have in heaven pure joy, so they shall
have in heaven fullness of joy. Here on earth all joy
is at an ebb–but in heaven is the flood of joy! Here
shall be joy above joy, joy surmounting all joy. Here
shall be such great joys–as no geometrician can
measure; so many joys–as no arithmetician can
number; and such wonderful joys–as no rhetorician
can utter, had he the tongue of men and angels!
Sometimes great crosses, sometimes hard losses, and
sometimes unexpected changes–turn a Christian’s
harping into mourning.
Here shall be joy within you, and joy without you,
and joy above you, and joy beneath you, and joy
about you. Joy shall spread itself over all the members
of your bodies, and over all the faculties of your souls.
In heaven,
your knowledge shall be full,
your love full,
your visions of God full,
your communion with God full,
your enjoyment of God full,
and your conformity to God full;
and from thence will arise fullness of joy.
If all the earth were paper, and all the plants of the
earth were pens, and all the sea were ink, and if every
man, woman, and child, had the pen of a ready writer;
yet they would not able to express the thousandth part
of those joys which saints shall have in heaven!
All the joy which we have here in this world is but
pensiveness–compared to that joy which we shall
have in heaven. All the pleasure which we have
here in this world is but heaviness–compared to that
joy which we shall have in heaven. All sweetness
which we have here in this world is but bitterness–
compared to that joy which we shall have in heaven. “–Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” ( 1 Cor. 2:9)
