Take Up the Cross

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. — Luke 13:24  

Christ’s Glory

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
— John 12:26

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
— John 14:3

And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
— Genesis 45:13

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
— John 17:5

Beholding Christ’s Glory, by Thomas Manton.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
— John 17:24

Observe: Our work, or rather our happiness in heaven, mainly consists in the sight of Christ’s glory: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo 3:2). We see Him now under a veil, then in person: “Now we see but through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1Co 13:12).

Here I shall show: (1) What is this glory; (2) What it is to behold this glory; (3) Why our happiness lieth in it.

First, what is this glory?

The excellence of His person. The union of the two natures in Christ’s person is one of the mysteries that shall then be unfolded: “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (Joh 14:20). We will see how He is the God-man in one person, and how the Father, Son, and Spirit are one. We were made to understand this mystery. God had happiness enough in Himself; He made creatures on purpose—angels and blessed men—to contemplate His excellence.

The clarity of His human nature. It is happiness enough to see Jesus Christ upon His white throne: “And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Rev 22:4). We shall be eyewitnesses of the honor that the Father puts upon Him as Mediator. It will be a wonderful glory. We lack words to make it intelligible. The visible sun hath scarce the honor to be Christ’s shadow. We may guess at it by His appearance on Mount Sinai, when He gave the law (Exo 19, compared with Heb 12:18-19); by the transfiguration, when the disciples were astonished (Mat 17:2); by the glimpse given to Paul, when a light from heaven shined round about him (Act 9:3). Paul was three days without sight and could neither eat nor drink; by those emissions of light and glory. “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground” (Joh 18:6). All these apparitions were formidable, but in heaven they are comfortable. We are more able to bear it, the natural faculties being fortified; and we come to consider it as a glory put upon Him for our sakes.

Secondly, What is this beholding? It is either ocular or mental.

Ocular. Our senses have their happiness as well as the soul. There is a glorified eye as well as a glorified mind: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2Co 5:7). He doth not mean present sense, and the present view of things—the life of faith is sometimes opposed to that. But now He meaneth our privileges in heaven. Job pointed to his eyes: “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:26-27). We shall see that person that redeemed us, and that nature wherein He suffered so much for us. God intendeth good to the body. He hath entrusted it with the soul, and the soul with so much grace that He will not lose the outward cask and vessel. There is a glory to entertain our eyes in heaven: not only the beautiful mansion and the glorious inhabitants (Joh 14:2-3), but the face of the Lamb. We shall be always looking on that book.

There is mental vision or contemplation. The angels, who are not corporeal, are said “always to behold the face of our heavenly Father” (Mat 18:10). Angels have no eyes, yet they see God. When we are said to see God, it is not meant of the bodily eye; a spirit cannot be seen with bodily eyes. Therefore God is called “the invisible God” (Col 1:15). And seeing face to face is opposed to knowing in part: “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Co 13:12). The mind is the noblest faculty, and therefore it must be satisfied in heaven, or else we cannot be happy. It is the mind that maketh the man; it is our preferment above the beasts that God hath given us a mind to know Him. Man is a rational creature, and there is as strong an inclination to knowledge in the soul as there is carnal pleasure to the beasts. Drunkards may talk of their pleasures and the gratifications of sense, but the pleasure and delight of the soul is knowledge. And besides this general capacity, believers have a particular inclination to knowledge by grace; therefore, that we may be completely happy, the mind must be satisfied with the sight of God.

Thirdly, Why does our happiness lie in beholding Christ?

It is the cause of all our fruition in heaven. Ocular vision maketh way for mental, and mental vision for complete holiness or conformity to God, and conformity for love, and love for delight, and delight for fruition.

Ocular vision maketh way for mental. We go to heaven to study divinity in the Lamb’s face: “They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Rev 22:4). There is an assembly sitting round about the throne, and the Lamb is in the midst of them; there, by looking upon His face, they learn more of God. We need no other books than beholding His glory. We converse with Christ that we may know more of God. Thus we come to knowledge without labor and difficulty; Christ in His glory and eminency is Bible enough.

Mental vision maketh way for likeness and conformity to God. Knowledge in this life changeth us: “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Col 3:10). Much more are we sanctified and made holy by the light of glory. The sight that we have of Christ in the gospel transformeth us: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Co 3:18). By looking upon Christ through the light of the Spirit, we are made like Him; but now in glory, when we see Him face to face, we are more like Him: “We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo 3:2). By conversing with God, Moses’s face shined. As a mirror held up against the sun reflecteth the image and brightness of the sun, so the more we behold Christ, the more we do bear the image of the heavenly. Saith Basil, “He dyeth his own spirit with a tincture of glory.”

This light and conformity maketh way for love, that is, knowledge increaseth love. As light is, so is love. Our affection is still according to the rate of our knowledge. In this world, love is but weak because light is imperfect. We love little because we know little: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (Joh 4:10). And conformity is a ground of love. It is the highest pitch of love to love God out of the communion of the same nature. The lowest love is to love Him out of interest, as the highest love is to love Him out of a principle of holiness—not because He is good and bountiful, but because He is holy. When holiness is weak, love is imperfect. We wander and turn away from Him, and go a-whoring from Him, for there is some natural correspondence between us and the things of the world as long as flesh remaineth. But when we are perfectly holy, there is no correspondence between us and anything but God, and the saints and angels who partake with us of His image. And we love the creatures for the need we have of them, as well as the suitableness of them to us; but when we are likened to God in holiness and in happiness, we are above these wants, we are above all baits and snares, so that our love is entirely carried out to God.

Love maketh way for delight. Can a man cleave to God and not rejoice in Him? Rejoicing in God is not only a duty but a reward: “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord” (Isa 58:14). The saints love God and delight in Him—in His essence and being—as much as in their own glory. This maketh heaven comfortable. It would be torment to a carnal heart to be always thinking of God and engaged in acts of love and service to God. But the saints delight in Him: they delight in His presence and in their own happiness because God is glorified in it. There is an inconceivable delight in seeing, knowing, and being beloved of God.

Delight maketh way for fruition. For the more we delight in God, the more doth God delight in us and giveth us the actual fruition of Himself for our blessedness, so that we are fully satisfied. It is fruition that maketh us happy. We can only speak of it in general terms—the filling up of the soul with God, and of the “glory that shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). We are in God, and God in us; as fire in iron that is red-hot, it seemeth all on fire. Thus can we prattle a little and darken counsel by words without knowledge (Job 38:2).

Backward again. Fruition maketh way for delight. We enjoy God to the full; therefore we delight in Him. We are bidden to rejoice in our pilgrimage: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Phi 4:4). God hath made our work a part of our wages, to train us up by degrees. But now, when we come to heaven, we enter our Master’s joy. It is our only work in heaven; painful affections have no more use. And joy maketh way for love; these mutual endearments pass between God and us to increase love. We delight in God; therefore we are never weary of Him. And love maketh way for likeness, and light for likeness. There is the most perfect imitation and resemblance of God because the most perfect love. And for light, there is light in this fire. Blunt iron, if it be made red hot, pierceth deeper than a sharp tool. We have but one object. And likeness maketh way for knowledge: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). A dusky mirror doth not give a perfect representation. Ignorance is the fruit of sin. Man never knew less than since he tasted of the tree of knowledge. Holiness clarifies the eye: “We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo 3:2). There is little proportion between God and men, and therefore we do not know Him; when we are conformed to God, we are in a greater capacity to understand His nature. And then light, or mental sight, maketh way for ocular sight, that we may look upon Christ. It is a sweet employment to see the brightness of the Father’s glory in Christ’s face; there God is best seen at the rebound and by reflection. It is a delightful spectacle.

Use. To ravish your hearts with the contemplation of this happiness. Oh, what an affective sight is Christ’s glory!

The sight itself is a privilege. Abraham had a sight of Christ’s incarnation when it was a thing long after to come, and it filled him with joy: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (Joh 8:56). Simeon saw Him when He was a child, and then said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:29-30). Zaccheus climbed up into a tree to see Him (Luk 19:3-4). When He was grown up, then He went up and down as “the carpenter’s son” (Mat 13:55). Many saw Christ in person that had no benefit by Him. So to see Him by faith and spiritual illumination fills the soul with joy: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe 1:8). To know Christ by hearsay is lovely and glorious; but now what will it be to see Christ amid angels and blessed saints face to face? He is another manner of Christ than ever we thought Him to be! It is ravishing to behold Him in ordinances, but yet there is a veil upon His glory. Oh, that there should be such a glorious spectacle provided for us! It is God’s own blessedness to see Himself and enjoy Himself.

That we are able to behold it, and that with comfort.

That we are able to behold it: The world is a dark place, and we are weak creatures. Our eyes now are like the eyes of an owl before the sun; we cannot take in a full representation of His greatness, nor bear the luster of His majesty. God is sometimes represented as dwelling in light to show the luster of His majesty: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto” (1Ti 6:16). And sometimes as dwelling in darkness, as noting the weakness of our apprehensions: “He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies” (Psa 18:11). We are dark creatures and can but guess; all is mystery and riddle to us. The children of Israel cried out, “Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die” (Deu 5:25). God is willing, for our sakes, to dwell in the heavens and fix His throne there; His glory would drive us to our wits’ end. The very happiness of heaven would not be a mercy upon earth.

And then, that we may behold it with comfort. God in Christ is not formidable. Wicked men shall see Christ, but they shall see Him as a judge; but, saith Job, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27). Every time we look upon Christ, we have the liveliest and sweetest sense of God’s love. It bringeth to remembrance His passion and sufferings. Wicked men shall see Him as a judge to their terror, as Joseph’s brethren were ashamed to look on him—they could not hold up their guilty heads. But we come to behold our best and beloved friend, to see Him that laid down His life for us: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Joh 15:13). To see such a friend will be comfortable.

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