And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
— Job 19:26
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
— Psalm 33:18
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
— Matthew 5:8
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
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.
— 1 John 3:2
A Constant View of Him, by Jonathan Edwards.
The souls of true saints, when they leave their bodies at death, go to be with Christ, to dwell in the immediate, full, and constant view of Him.
When we are absent from our dear friends, they are out of sight; but when we are with them, we have the opportunity and satisfaction of seeing them. So while the saints are in the body and are absent from the Lord, He is in several respects out of sight. “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing…” (1Pe 1:8). They have indeed, in this world, a spiritual sight of Christ; but they see through a glass darkly and with great interruption. But in heaven, they see Him face to face (1Co 13:12). “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). Their beatific vision of God is in Christ, Who is that brightness or effulgence of God’s glory (Heb 1:3), by which His glory shines forth in heaven to the view of saints and angels there, as well as here on earth. This is the Sun of righteousness, Who is not only the light of this world but is also the sun that enlightens the heavenly Jerusalem; by Whose bright beams it is that the glory of God shines forth there to enlighten and make happy all the glorious inhabitants.
“The Lamb is the light thereof,” and so “the glory of God” doth lighten it (Rev 21:23). None sees God the Father immediately, Who is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible” (1Ti 1:17). Christ is the image of that invisible God, through Whom He is seen by all elect creatures. “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (Joh 1:18), and manifested Him. None has ever immediately seen the Father but the Son; and none else sees the Father any other way than by the Son’s revealing Him. And in heaven the spirits of just men made perfect (Heb 12:23) behold His glory. They see the glory of His divine nature, consisting in all the glory of the Godhead—the beauty of all His perfections: His great majesty, almighty power, infinite wisdom, holiness, and grace. They see the beauty of His glorified human nature and the glory that the Father hath given Him as God-man and Mediator. For this end, Christ desired that His saints might be with Him, that they might behold His glory (Joh 17:24). And when the souls of the saints leave their bodies to be with Christ, they behold the marvelous glory of that great work of redemption and of the glorious way of salvation by Him, which the angels desire to look into (1Pe 1:12). They have a most clear view of the unfathomable depths of the manifold wisdom and knowledge of God, and of the most bright displays of the infinite purity and holiness of God, which appear in that way and work. They see—in another manner than the saints do here—what is the breadth and length, and depth, and height of the grace and love of Christ appearing in His redemption (Eph 3:18-19). And as they see the unspeakable riches and glory of the attribute of God’s grace, so they most clearly behold and understand Christ’s eternal and unmeasurable dying love to them in particular. And in short, they see everything in Christ that tends to kindle, enflame, and gratify love, and everything that tends to satisfy them—and that in the most clear and glorious manner, without any darkness or delusion, without any impediment or interruption.
While in the body, the saints now see something of Christ’s glory and love, as in the dawning of the morning we see something of the reflected light of the sun mingled with darkness. But when separated from the body, they see their glorious and loving Redeemer, as we see the sun when risen, showing his whole disk above the horizon by his direct beams, in a clear hemisphere and with perfect day.
When absent from the body, the souls of true saints go to be with Jesus Christ, as they are brought into a most perfect conformity to and union with Him. Their spiritual conformity begins while they are in the body. Here beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image (2Co 3:18); but when they come to see Him as He is in heaven, then they become like Him in another manner. That perfect sight will abolish all remains of deformity, disagreement, and sinful unlikeness, as all darkness is abolished before the full blaze of the sun’s midday light. As it is impossible that the least degree of obscurity should remain before such light, so it is impossible that the least degree of sin and spiritual deformity should remain with such a sight of the spiritual beauty and glory of Christ, which the saints enjoy in heaven when they see that Sun of righteousness without a cloud. They themselves shall not only shine forth like the sun, but shall be as little suns without a spot. For then is come the time when Christ presents His saints to Himself in glorious beauty: “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Eph 5:27) and having holiness without a blemish.
Then the saints’ union with Christ is perfected. This also has already begun in this world. The relative union is both begun and perfected at once, when the soul first being quickened by Him closes with Christ by faith. The real union, consisting in the vital union and that of hearts and affections, has begun in this world and is perfected in the next. The union of a believer’s heart to Christ is begun when it is drawn to Him by its first discovery of divine excellence at conversion. And consequent on this drawing and closing of his heart with Christ, a mutual vital union with Christ is established, through which the believer becomes a living branch of the True Vine, living by a communication of the sap and vital juice of the stock and root; and he becomes a member of Christ’s mystical body, living by a communication of spiritual and vital influences from the Head, by a kind of participation of Christ’s own life.
But while the saints are in the body, there is much remaining distance between Christ and them. There are remainders of alienation, and the vital union is very imperfect; consequently, so are the communications of spiritual life and vital influences. There is much between Christ and believers to keep them asunder: much indwelling sin, much temptation, a heavy-molded frail body, and a world of carnal objects to keep the soul away from Christ and to hinder a perfect union. But when the soul leaves the body, all these clogs and hindrances shall be removed, every separating wall shall be broken down, and every impediment taken out of the way—all distance shall cease. The heart shall be wholly and perfectly drawn, and most firmly and forever attached and bound to Him by a perfect view of His glory. And the vital union shall then be brought to perfection: the soul shall live perfectly in and upon Christ, being perfectly filled with His Spirit and animated by His vital influences—living as it were only by Christ’s life, without any remainder of spiritual death or carnal life.
Departed souls of saints are with Christ, as they enjoy a glorious and immediate communion and converse with Him.
The most intimate communion becomes the relation that the saints stand in to Jesus Christ. It especially becomes that most perfect and glorious union into which they shall be brought with Him in heaven. They are not merely Christ’s servants, but His friends (Joh 15:15), His brethren and companions (Psa 122:8). Yea, they are the spouse of Christ. They are espoused or betrothed to Christ while in the body; but when they go to heaven, they enter the King’s palace, their marriage with Him is come, and the King brings them into His chambers indeed. Then they go to dwell with Christ constantly, to enjoy the most perfect converse with Him. Christ conversed in the most friendly manner with His disciples on earth. He admitted one of them to lean on His bosom; but they are admitted much more fully and freely to converse with Him in heaven. Though Christ is there in a state of glorious exaltation, reigning in the majesty and glory of the sovereign Lord and God of heaven and earth, angels and men, yet this will not hinder intimacy and freedom of communion, but rather promote it. For He is thus exalted, not only for Himself, but for them. He is instated in this glory of Head over all things for their sakes, that they might be exalted and glorified. And when they go to heaven where He is, they are exalted and glorified with Him. They shall not be kept at a more awful distance from Christ, but shall be admitted nearer and to a greater intimacy. For they shall be unspeakably more fit for it, and Christ shall be in more fit circumstances to bestow on them this blessedness. Their seeing the great glory of their Friend and Redeemer will not awe them to a distance or make them afraid of a near approach; but on the contrary, He will most powerfully draw them near, encourage them, and engage them to holy freedom. For they will know that it is He that is their own Redeemer, beloved Friend, and Bridegroom—the very same that loved them with a dying love and redeemed them to God by His blood (Rev 1:5). “It is I; be not afraid” (Mat 14:27). “Fear not…I am he that liveth, and was dead” (Rev 1:17-18).
And the nature of this glory of Christ that they shall behold will be such as will draw and encourage them; for they will not only see infinite majesty and greatness, but infinite grace, condescension, mildness, gentleness, and sweetness equal to His majesty. For He appears in heaven not only as the Lion of the tribe of Judah but as the Lamb in the midst of the throne (Rev 5:5-6). He shall be their Shepherd to feed them and lead them to living fountains of water (Rev 7:17), so that the sight of Christ’s great kingly majesty will be no terror to them, but will only serve the more to heighten their pleasure and surprise. When Mary was about to embrace Christ, being full of joy at the sight of Him again alive after His crucifixion, Christ forbids her to do it for the present because He was not yet ascended. “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (Joh 20:16-17). As if He had said, “This is not the time and place for that freedom your love to Me desires; that is appointed for heaven after My ascension. I am going thither. And you, My true disciples, shall, as My brethren and companions, soon be with Me in My glory. And then there shall be no restraint. That is the place appointed for the most perfect expressions of complacence and endearment—full enjoyment of mutual love.” And accordingly the souls of departed saints with Christ in heaven shall have Christ as it were unbosomed unto them, manifesting those infinite riches of love towards them that have been there from eternity: and they shall be enabled to express their love to Him, in an incomparably better manner than ever they could while in the body. Thus they shall eat and drink abundantly, and swim in the ocean of love, and be eternally swallowed up on the infinitely bright, and infinitely mild and sweet, beams of divine love—eternally receiving that light, eternally full of it, and eternally compassed round with it, and everlastingly reflecting it back again to its fountain.
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