 
HEAVEN

The Place We Long For

Contents

Preface to First Edition

Publisher's Note to Second Edition

Heaven: Its Hope

Heaven: Its Inhabitants

Heaven: Its Happiness

Heaven: Its Certainty

Heaven: Its Riches

Heaven: Its Rewards

Dwight L. Moody – A Brief Biography
And the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in her, for the clarity [glory] of God has enlightened it, and the Lamb is its light. (Revelation 21:23)
Preface to First Edition

This little book presents a subject that is very dear to me. It has been carefully revised and offered in the hope that it may give comfort and edification to many and that the weak may be strengthened, the sorrowing consoled, and the despondent encouraged to look with increased faith to that fairest of fair cities in the "Better Land" – the home of the Redeemer and the redeemed.

D. L. Moody

Northfield, Mass., 1880
Publisher's Note to Second Edition

The unprecedented sale of Heaven has reached almost ninety thousand copies in the four years since its first publication. It has caused the plates to become very worn, so we have taken this occasion to make entirely new electrotype plates to carefully revise the book and to materially improve its mechanical execution. That it may in its improved form go forth to an enlarged mission of usefulness is the hope.

The Publisher

Chicago, January 1, 1885

The Home of the Soul

That unchangeable home is for you and for me,

Where Jesus of Nazareth stands;

The King of all kingdoms forever is He,

And He holdeth our crowns in His hands.

Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,

So free from all sorrow and pain;

With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands

To meet one another again.

– Ellen M. H. Gates (1865)

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Chapter 1

Heaven: Its Hope

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you for the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens. – Colossians 1:3, 5

Many people imagine that anything said about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They talk about heaven much as they would about the air, but there would not have been so much in Scripture on this subject if God had wanted to leave the human race in darkness about it. We are told that Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

What the Bible says about heaven is just as true as what it says about everything else. The Bible is inspired. What we are taught about heaven could not have come to us in any other way than by inspiration. No one knew anything about it except God, so if we want to discover anything about it, we must turn to His Word. Dr. Hodge of Princeton says that the best evidence that the Bible is the Word of God is to be found between its own two covers. It proves itself.

Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto those that put their trust in him. (Proverbs 30:5)

In this respect it is like Christ, whose character proclaimed the divinity of His person. Christ showed Himself more than a man by what He did. The Bible shows itself more than a human book by what it says.

It is not because the Bible is written with more than human skill, far surpassing Shakespeare or any other human author, or that its knowledge of character and the eloquence it contains are beyond the powers of man that we believe it to be inspired. Men's ideas differ about the extent to which human skill can be carried, but the reason we believe the Bible to be inspired is that it is so simple that even the humblest child of God can comprehend it.

The exposition of thy words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple. (Psalm 119:130)

If the proof of its divine origin lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man might not be able to believe it. The Lord told Isaiah:

I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. Not without substance did I say unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me [in vain]; I am the LORD who speaks righteousness, who declares things that are right. (Isaiah 45:19)

We believe it is inspired because there is nothing in it that could not have come from God. God is wise, and God is good. There is nothing in the Bible that is not wise, and there is nothing in it that is not good. If the Bible had anything in it that was opposed to reason or to our sense of right, then perhaps we might think that it was like all the books in the world that are written merely by men.

Like mere human lives, books that are only human have a great deal that is foolish and a great deal that is wrong in them. The life of Christ alone was perfect, being both human and divine. Not one of the other religious volumes, like the Koran, that claims divinity of origin, agrees with common sense. There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not conform to common sense. What it tells us about the world having been destroyed by a deluge and Noah and his family alone being saved is no more extraordinary than what is taught in the schools – that all of the earth and everything on it came out of a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that man was made after the image of God than to believe, as some young men and women are being taught now, that he is the offspring of a monkey.

Like all the other wonderful works of God, this Book bears the sure stamp of its Author. It is like Him. Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers, and they are perfect and beautiful like Himself. Men wrote what is in the Bible, but the work is God's, for all scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16). As a rule, the more refined people are, the fonder they are of flowers, and the better they are, the more they love the Bible. The fondness for flowers refines people, and the love of the Bible makes them better. All that is in the Bible about God, man, redemption, and a future state agrees with our own ideas of what is right with our reasonable fears and with our personal experiences.

All the historical events are described in the way that the world looked at them when they were written. What the Bible tells us about heaven is not half as strange as what Professor Proctor tells us about the hosts of stars that are beyond the range of any ordinary telescope; yet people often think that science is all fact and that religion is only fancy. Many people think that Jupiter and many of the stars around us are inhabited, but they cannot bring themselves to believe that there is life for immortal souls beyond this earth.

The true Christian puts faith before reason and believes that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside. If people would read their Bible more and study what it says about heaven, they would not be as worldly-minded as they are. They would not have their hearts set on things down here, but would seek the imperishable things above.

If ye then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where the Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your sight on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Earth As the Home of Sin

It seems perfectly reasonable that God should have given us a glimpse of the future, for we are constantly losing some of our friends by death, and the first thought that comes to us is "Where have they gone?" When loved ones are taken away from us, how that thought comes up before us! How we wonder if we will ever see them again, and where and when it will be! That is when we turn to this blessed Book, for there is no other book in all the world that can give us the slightest comfort; no other book can tell us where the loved ones have gone.

Not long ago, I met an old friend, and as I took him by the hand and asked about his family, the tears came trickling down his cheeks as he said, "I haven't any now."

"What?" I said. "Is your wife dead?"

"Yes, sir."

"And all your children too?"

"Yes, all gone," he said, "and I am left here desolate and alone."

Would anyone take away that man's hope that he will meet his dear ones again? Would anyone persuade him that there is not a future where the lost will be found? No, we need not forget our dear loved ones, but we may cling forever to the enduring hope that there will be a time when we can meet unfettered and be blest in that land of everlasting suns, where the soul drinks from the living streams of love that roll by God's high throne. Even the disciples struggled to understand, so Jesus told them:

And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and no one shall take your joy from you. (John 16:22)

In our inmost heart, all of us have questionings of the future:

Tell me, my secret soul,

Oh! tell me, Hope and Faith,

Is there no resting place from sorrow, sin, and death?

Is there no happy spot

Where mortals may be blest,

Where grief may find a balm,

And weariness a rest?

Faith, Hope and Love, best boons to mortals given,

Waved their bright wings, and whispered,

"Yes, in heaven."

– Charles Mackay (1814-1889)

There are men who say that there is no heaven. I once talked with a man who said he thought there was nothing to justify us in believing in any other heaven than what we know here on earth. If this is heaven, it is a very strange one – this world of sickness, sorrow, and sin. From the depths of my heart, I pity the man or woman who has that idea.

This world that some think is heaven is the home of sin, a hospital of sorrow, and a place that has nothing in it to satisfy the soul. Men go all over this world and then want to get out of it, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Corinthians 3:19). The more men see of the world, the less they think of it. In the world ye shall have tribulation (John 16:33). People soon grow tired of the best pleasures it has to offer. Someone has said that the world is a stormy sea whose every wave is strewn with the wrecks of mortals that perish in it. Every time we breathe, someone is dying. We all know that we are going to stay here for a very short time. Our life is but a vapor. It is only a shadow.

Ye do not know what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? Certainly it is a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14)

"We meet one another," as someone has said, "salute one another, pass on, and are gone."

And another has said, "It is just an inch of time, and then eternal ages roll on." It seems to me that it is perfectly reasonable that we should study this Book to find out where we are going and where our friends are who have gone on before us. The longest time man has to live compared to eternity is not even as much as a drop of dew compared to the ocean.

Cities of the Past

Consider the cities of the past. It is said that Babylon was founded by a queen named Semiramis who had two million men working for years building it. It is nothing but dust now. Nearly a thousand years ago, a historian wrote that the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace were still standing, but men were afraid to go near them because they were full of scorpions and snakes. Greatness often comes with that sort of ruin in our own day.

Nineveh is gone. Its towers and bastions have fallen. And it shall come to pass, that all those that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, Nineveh is laid waste (Nahum 3:7). The traveler who tries to see Carthage cannot find much of it. Corinth, once the seat of luxury and art, is only a shapeless mass. Ephesus, long the metropolis of Asia, was the Paris of that day; it was crowded with buildings as large as the capitol at Washington. I am told it looks more like a neglected graveyard now than anything else.

Granada, once a grand city of the Spanish peninsula, had twelve gates and towers but is now in decay. The Alhambra, the palace of the Mohammedan kings, was situated there. Little pieces of the once grand and beautiful cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii are now being sold in the shops for relics. Both were Roman cities that were destroyed by mudflows and ash from Mount Vesuvius. Jerusalem, once the joy of the whole earth, is but a shadow of its former self. For thousands of years before the coming of Christ, Thebes was among the largest and wealthiest cities of the world, but is now a mass of decay.  
But little of ancient Athens and other proud cities of olden times remain to tell the story of their downfall.

God drives His plowshare through cities, and they are upheaved like furrows in the field. Behold, says Isaiah, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he causes the isles to disappear as dust. All the Gentiles are as nothing before him, and they are counted to him as vanity and as less than nothing (Isaiah 40:15, 17).

Even Antioch fell numerous times. When Paul preached there, it was a superb metropolis. A wide street over three miles long stretched across the entire city; it was ornamented with rows of columns and covered galleries. At every corner stood carved statues to commemorate its great men who are never heard of now, but the poor, preaching tentmaker who entered its portals stands out as the grandest character in history. The finest specimens of Grecian art decorated the shrines of the temples, and the baths and the aqueducts have never been matched in elegance. At that time as well as now, men sought honor, wealth, and fame; they wanted their names and records enshrined in perishable clay. Within the walls of Antioch were enclosed hills over seven hundred feet high, and rocky precipices and deep ravines gave a wild and picturesque character to the place to which no modern city is comparable. These heights were fortified in a marvelous manner, which gave them strange and startling effects.

The vast population of this brilliant city, combined with all the art and cultivation of Greece, with the levity, the luxury, and the superstition of Asia, was as intent on pleasure as the population of any of our great cities is today. The citizens had their shows, their games, their races and dancers, their sorcerers, puzzlers, buffoons, and miracle workers. The people sought for something in the theaters and processions to stimulate and gratify the most corrupt desires of human nature. This is pretty much what we find the masses of the people in our great cities doing now.

Antioch was even worse than Athens, for the so-called worship they indulged in was not only idolatrous but also had the grossest passions to which man descends mixed in it. It was here that Paul came to preach the glad tidings of the gospel of Christ. It was here that the disciples were first called Christians as a nickname; all followers of Christ before that time had been called saints or brethren. As has been said, out of that spring at Antioch a mighty stream has flowed to water the world. Astarte, the queen of heaven whom they worshiped, and Diana, Apollo, the Pharisee, and the Sadducee are no more, but the despised Christians still live. Yet that heathen city, which would not take Christianity to its heart and keep it, fell. Cities that don't have the refining and restraining influences of Christianity established in them seldom amount to much in the end. They grow dim in the light of ages. Few of our great cities in this country are a hundred years old yet. For nearly a thousand years, this city of Antioch prospered, but it eventually fell.

Emigration

I do not think that it is wrong for us to think and talk about heaven. I like to locate heaven and find out all I can about it. I expect to live there through all eternity. If I were going to dwell in any place in this country, if I were going to make it my home, I would want to inquire about the place, its climate, the neighbors I would have, and everything that I could learn about it. If any of you were going to emigrate, that is how you would feel. Well, we are all going to emigrate in a very little while to a country that is very far away. We are going to spend eternity in another world, a grand and glorious world where God reigns. Is it not natural, then, that we look, listen, and try to find out who is already there and what route to take to get there?

Soon after I was converted, an unbeliever asked me one day why I looked up when I prayed. He said that heaven was no more above us than below us – that heaven was everywhere. Well, I was greatly bewildered, and the next time I prayed, it seemed almost as if I was praying into the air. Since then I have become better acquainted with the Bible, and I have come to see that heaven is above us; it is upward and not downward. The Spirit of God is everywhere, but God is in heaven, and heaven is above our heads. It does not matter what part of the globe we may stand on; heaven is above us.

In the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, it says that God went up from Abraham; and in the third chapter of John, it says that the Son of Man came down from the heaven. Also, in the first chapter of Acts we see that Christ went up into heaven (not down), and a cloud received Him out of sight. From this we see heaven is up. The very arrangement of the firmament about the earth declares the seat of God's glory to be above us. Job said, Let not God regard it from above (Job 3:4). Again, in Deuteronomy, we read, Who shall go up for us to heaven? (Deuteronomy 30:12). Thus, all through Scripture we find that we are given the location of heaven as upward and beyond the firmament. This firmament, with its many bright worlds scattered throughout, is so vast that heaven must be an extensive realm. Yet this need not surprise us. It is not for shortsighted man to inquire why God made heaven so extensive that its lights along the way can be seen from any part or side of this little world.

In Jeremiah 51:15, we are told, He is the one who makes the earth by his power; he upholds the world by his wisdom and extends the heavens by his intelligence. Yet, how little we really know of that power, wisdom, or understanding! As we read in Job, Behold, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion have we heard of him? For the thunder of his power, who can understand? (Job 26:14).

This is the Word of God, as we find in the forty-second chapter of Isaiah: Thus saith God the LORD, the Creator of the heavens and he that stretches them out; he that spreads forth the earth and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it and spirit to those that walk therein (Isaiah 42:5).

The discernment of God's power and the messages of heaven do not always come in great things. We read in the nineteenth chapter of the first book of Kings:

And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:11-12)

It is as a still small voice that God speaks to His children. Some people are trying to find out just how far away heaven is. There is one thing we know about it – it is not so far away that God cannot hear us when we pray. I do not believe there has ever been a tear shed for sin since Adam's fall in Eden to the present time that God has not witnessed. He is not too far from earth for us to go to Him, and if there is a sigh that comes from a burdened heart today, God will hear that sigh. If there is a cry coming from a heart broken because of sin, God will hear that cry. He is not too far away and heaven is not too far away to be accessible to the smallest child. In 2 Chronicles, we read:

If my people, upon whom my name is invoked, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from the heavens and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

When I was in Dublin, they told me about a father who had lost a little boy. This father had not thought about the future; he had been entirely taken up with this world and its affairs. But when that little boy, his only child, died, that father's heart was broken, and every night when he returned from work, he could be found in his room with his candle and his Bible, searching for all that he could learn about heaven. Someone asked him what he was doing. He said he was trying to find out where his child had gone, and I think he was a reasonable man. I suppose no one will ever read this page who does not have dear ones who are gone. Shall we close this Book today, or shall we look into it to try to discover where the loved ones are?

Some time ago, I read an account of a father – a minister – who had lost a child. He had attended many funerals and offered comfort to others in sorrow, but now the iron had entered his own soul. A brother minister came to officiate and preach the funeral sermon. After this minister had finished speaking, the father got up and stood at the head of the coffin. He said that when he had first come to that parish a few years ago, he used to look over the river but took no interest in the people there, because they were all strangers to him. There were none over there who belonged to his parish. But, he said, a few years ago, a young man came into his home and married his daughter, and she went over the river to live. When his child went over there, he became suddenly interested in the inhabitants, and every morning as he arose, he would look out of the window across the river to her home. "But now," he said, "another child has been taken. She has gone over another river, and heaven seems dearer and nearer to me than it ever has before."

My friends, let us believe this good old Book, be confident that heaven is not a myth, and be prepared to follow the dear ones who have gone before. Only in this way can we find the peace we seek.

Seeking a Better Country

What has always been one of the strongest feelings in the human heart? Is it not to find a better place, a lovelier spot than we have now? Men are seeking for this everywhere, and they can have it if they will, but instead of looking down, they must look up to find it. As men grow in knowledge, they compete with each other more and more in making their homes attractive, but the brightest home on earth is an empty barn compared with the mansions in the skies.

What is it that we look for at the decline and close of life? Isn't it some sheltered place, some quiet spot, where if we cannot have constant rest, we may at least have a foretaste of the rest that is to be? What was it that led Columbus across the unsailed western seas when he didn't know what his fate would be? Wasn't it the hope of finding a better country? This sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers who were driven from their native land by persecution. Then they faced a rugged, savage coast and an unexplored territory beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope of reaching a free and fruitful country, where they could be at rest and worship God in peace.

Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope of heaven – only it is not an undiscovered country. In respect to attractions, heaven cannot be compared with anything we know on earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates open to us, and nothing but the deafness of our ears prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know about this bright and radiant land, glimpses of its beauty come to us now and then.

Heaven

We may not know how sweet its balmy air,

How bright and fair its flowers;

We may not hear the songs that echo there,

Through those enchanted bowers.

The city's shining towers we may not see

With our dim earthly vision,

For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key

That opes the gates elysian.

But sometimes, when adown the western sky

A fiery sunset lingers,

Its golden gates swing inward noiselessly,

Unlocked by unseen fingers.

And while they stand a moment half ajar,

Gleams from the inner glory

Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,

And half reveal the story.

– Nancy Amelia Woodbury Priest Wakefield

Travelers say that in climbing the Alps, the houses of far-distant villages can be seen with such great distinctness that sometimes the number of panes of glass in a church window can be counted. The distance looks so short that the place to which the traveler is journeying appears almost near, but after hours and hours of climbing, it seems no closer. This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere. By perseverance, however, the tired traveler reaches the place and finds rest.

Likewise, sometimes we dwell in high altitudes of grace, and heaven seems very near with the hills of Beulah in full view. At other times the clouds and fog caused by suffering and sin cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure of gaining it if we only keep on the path that Christ has pointed out.

I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the wives of fishermen who have gone far out upon the deep are in the habit of going down to the seashore at night to sing the first verse of a beautiful hymn with their sweet voices. After they have sung, they listen until they hear the second verse brought on the wind and sung by their brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale – and both are happy. Perhaps if we would listen, we too might hear on this storm-tossed world of ours some sound or whisper, borne from afar to tell us there is a heaven which is our home. When we sing our hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the sands of time and cheering the hearts of those who are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yes, we need to look up and out beyond this low earth to expand our thoughts and actions higher, even here!

When a man is going up in a balloon, he takes sand with him as ballast. When he wants to mount a little higher, he throws some of it; then he throws a little more ballast out, and he mounts still higher. The more he throws out the higher he gets; likewise, the more things we have to throw out from this world the nearer we get to God. Let go of them; let us not set our hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master tells us – lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

In England, a lady had been bedridden for years. She was one of those saints whom God polishes for the kingdom, for I believe there are many saints in this world whom we never hear about. We never see their names heralded through the press; they live very near the Master and very near heaven. I think it takes more grace to suffer God's will than it does to do it, and if a person lies on a bed of sickness and suffers cheerfully, it is just as acceptable to God as if they went out and worked in His vineyard.

Now this lady was one of those saints. She said that for a long time she had a great deal of pleasure in watching a bird that came to make its nest near her window. One year it came to make its nest, but it started to build so low that she was afraid something would happen to the young. Every day that she saw that bird busy at work making its nest, she kept saying, "Oh bird, build higher!" She could see that the bird was likely to come to grief and disappointment. At last the bird finished its nest, laid its eggs, and hatched its young; every morning the lady looked out to see if the nest was there, and she saw the old bird bringing food for the little ones. This lady took great pleasure in watching it. But one morning she awoke, looked out, and saw nothing but feathers scattered all around, and she said, "Ah, the cat has got the old bird and all her young." It would have been a kindness to have torn that nest down.

That is what God often does for us – He snatches things away before it is too late. Now, that is what we want to tell professing Christians – if you build for time, you will be disappointed when God says, "Build up yonder. It is better to have life with Christ in God than anywhere else." I would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained in Paradise for sixteen thousand years and then fallen, but if our life is hid in Christ, how safe we are!

Thoughts of Home

O Lord, 'twas Thine to labor and wear the thorns for me;

Thou sharest all my sorrows; Thou knowest what 'twill be

To see the Father's glory, to hear Thy welcome there,

Where never cross or burden remains for us to bear.

I seem to pace the glittering street, and hear the harps of gold,

The echo of the new song that never groweth old;

I hear Thy praise, Lord Jesus, my Life, my Lord, my King,

Until my worn heart pineth the strains of heaven to sing.

Safe in the better country my loved ones I shall find,

And some in that bright multitude I feared were left behind;

Then loud shall sound our praises within the jasper wall,

As cherubim and seraphim before the Holiest fall.

With folded wings, expectant, the angel bands will come

To listen to the tale of grace that wooed the children home;

And sitting at Thy feet, Lord, my joyful lips shall tell

How much He hath forgiven, who "doeth all things well."

Thou blessed Spirit, cheering this valley land for me,

With glimpses of the glory of that which soon shall be;

Each harp string, dull and broken, Thy gentle breath awaits;

Then let me sing of Jesus up to the golden gates.

– Anna Shipton

A Little Way

A little way! I know it is not far

To that dear home where my beloved are;

And still my heart sits, like a bird, upon

The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone,

Plumed for their flight,

And vanished quite.

Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say

They have but journeyed on a little way.

A little way! At times they seem so near,

Their voices even murmur in my ear,

To all my duties loving presence lend,

And with sweet ministry my steps attend.

'Twas here we met and parted company;

Why should their gain be such a grief to me?

This sense of loss!

This heavy cross!

Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray,

And show me heaven is but – a little way.

A little way? The sentence I repeat.

Hoping and longing to extract some sweet

To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand

I take the cup I cannot understand,

And in my weakness give myself to Thee.

Although it seems so very, very far

To that dear home where my beloved are,

I know, I know,

It is not so;

Oh, give me faith to believe it when I say

That they are gone – gone but a little way.

– Anonymous
Chapter 2

Heaven: Its Inhabitants

The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be absolved from sin. – Isaiah 33:24

The society of heaven will be select. No one who studies Scripture can doubt that. There are many kinds of aristocracy in this world, but the aristocracy of heaven will be the aristocracy of holiness. The humblest believer on earth will be an aristocrat there. The fifty-seventh chapter of Isaiah says, For thus has said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is The Holy One; I dwell in the high place and in holiness and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). Now what could be plainer than that? No one who is not of a contrite and humble spirit will dwell with God in His high and holy place.

If there is anything that ought to make heaven near to Christians, it is knowing that God and all their loved ones will be there. What is it that makes our earthly home so attractive? Is it because we have a beautiful home? Is it because we have beautiful lawns? Is it because we have beautiful trees around us? Is it because we have beautiful paintings upon the walls inside? Is it because we have beautiful furniture? Is all that what makes home so attractive and beautiful? No, the loved ones in the home make it attractive.

I remember after being away from home for some time, I went back to see my honored mother, and I thought in going back I would steal in unexpectedly and take her by surprise. But when I discovered she had gone away, the old place didn't seem like home at all. I went into one room and then into another and all through the house, but I could not find that loved mother. I asked a member of the family, "Where is mother?" and they said she had gone away. Well, home had lost its charm to me; that mother was who made home so sweet to me, and the loved ones are who make home so sweet to everyone. The presence of the loved ones is what will make heaven so sweet to all of us. Christ is there; God the Father is there, and many, many who were dear to us when they lived on earth are there – and we shall be with them by and by.

We find clearly in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew that the angels are there: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in the heavens their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18:10).

Their angels always behold the face of my Father! We shall have good company up there – not only those who have been redeemed but also those who have never been lost. Those who have never known what it is to transgress, have never known what it is to be disobedient, and have obeyed Him from the very morning of creation will be there.

It says in Luke 1, when Gabriel came down to tell Zachariah that he was to be the father of the forerunner of Jesus Christ, that Zachariah doubted him. Gabriel had probably never been doubted before, so the doubt was met with the declaration: I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19). What a glorious thing to be able to say!

Some say there will be three things that will surprise us when we get to heaven: one, to find many whom we did not expect to find there; another, to find some not there whom we had expected; and third, and perhaps the greatest wonder – to find ourselves there.

A poor woman once told Rowland Hill that the way to heaven was short, easy, and simple; it was comprised of only three steps – out of self, into Christ, and into glory. We have a shorter way now – out of self and into Christ, and we are there. As a dead man cannot inherit an estate, neither can a dead soul inherit heaven. The soul must be raised up in Christ. Among the good people we hope to meet in heaven, we are told there will be every variety of character, taste, and disposition.

There is not one mansion there; there are many, for Jesus said, In my Father's house are many dwelling places (John 14:2). There is not one gate to heaven, but many. There are not only three gates on the north but also three gates on the east, three gates on the west, and three gates on the south. People come from opposite divisions of the theological compass, opposing views in the religious world, and different quarters of human life and character through various expressions of their common faith and hope.  
Through diverse modes of conversion and through different portions of the Holy Scripture, the weary travelers will enter the heavenly city and meet each other, not without surprise, on the shores of the same river of life.

On those shores, instead of finding a tree that only bears one kind of fruit, they will find a tree bearing twelve manner of fruits (Revelation 22:2) for every different turn of mind – for the patient sufferer, for the active servant, for the holy and humble philosopher, and for the spirits of just men now at last made perfect. The leaves of the tree are for the healing – not of one single church or people only, not for the Scotchman or the Englishman only, but for the healing of the Gentiles – the Frenchman, the German, the Italian, the Russian (Revelation 22:2). The healing will be for all those whose fruits have been farthest removed, but who have hungered and thirsted after righteousness and who therefore shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

A prominent man of God once said, "When I was a boy, I thought of heaven as a great, shining city with vast walls and domes and spires. White-robed angels were the only ones there, but they were strangers to me. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of a great city with walls and domes and spires; I thought of a flock of cold, unknown angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted with. He was the only one I knew at that time. Then another brother died, and there were two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the flock continually grew. But it was not until I had sent one of my little children to his heavenly Parent – God – that I began to think I had a little in myself. A second child went, and a third went; by the time a fourth went, I had so many acquaintances in heaven that I did not see any more walls and domes and spires. I began to think of the residents of the celestial city as my friends. And now so many of my acquaintances have gone there that it sometimes seems to me that I know more people in heaven than I do on earth."

We Shall Live Forever

It says in John 12:26, If anyone serves me, let them follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also.

Now when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he receives eternal life. A great many people make a mistake right there; He that believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36). It does not say he shall have it when he comes to die; it is in the present tense; it is mine now – if I believe. It is the gift of God that is enough. You cannot bury the gift of God; you cannot bury eternal life. All the gravediggers in the world cannot dig a grave large enough and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin makers in the world cannot make a coffin large enough and strong enough to hold eternal life; it is mine – it is mine!

I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:28-29)

Even the body shall be raised, as the apostle Paul said:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall be raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it shall be raised with glory; it is sown in weakness, it shall be raised with power; it is sown a natural body, it shall be raised a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

This mortal body shall put on immortality. It is only a question of time. The great morning of the world will someday dawn upon the earth, and the dead shall come forth and hear the voice of Him who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

Paul said, If the earthly house of this our habitation were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). He could take down the clay temple and leave that, but he had a better house. He also said, I am in a strait between the two; having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you (Philippians 1:23). To me, it is a sweet thought to think that death does not separate us from the Master. A great many people are living continually in the bondage of death, but if I have eternal life, death cannot touch that. It may touch the house I live in, or it may change my countenance and send my body away to the grave, but it cannot touch this new life.

To me it is very sad to think that so many professing Christians look upon death as they do. Some time ago, I received a letter from a friend in London, and as I read it, I thought I would take it and show it to other people to see if I couldn't get them to look upon death as this friend does. He had lost his beloved mother. In England, it is a very common thing to send out cards in memory of the departed ones; they put great borders of black on them – sometimes a quarter of an inch of black border. But this friend had put a gold border on it; he did not use black at all. His mother had gone to the golden city, so he put a golden border on it. I think that is much better than black. I think when our believing friends die, instead of putting a great black border on our memorials to make them look dark, it would be better for us to put gold on them.

It is not death at all; it is life. Someone said to a dying person, "Well, you are still in the land of the living."

"No," said he, "I am still in the land of the dying, but I am going to the land of the living; they live there and never die." This is the land of sin and death and tears, but up yonder they never die. It is perpetual life; it is unceasing joy.

"It is a glorious thing to die," was the testimony of Hannah Moore on her deathbed. Though her life had been sown thick with the rarest friendships, and age had not so weakened her memory, she remembered those little hamlets among the cliffs of her native hills and the mission schools she had established with such perseverance – where she would be so sadly missed.

As William Bingham Tappan has said:

There is an hour of peaceful rest

To mourning wanderers given;

There is a joy for souls distressed,

A balm for every wounded breast,

'Tis found alone in heaven!

There is a soft, a downy bed,

Far from these shades of even—

A couch for weary mortals spread,

Where they may rest the aching head,

And find repose, in heaven.

Knowing Our Friends

Many are anxious to know if they will recognize their friends in heaven. In Matthew, we read, But I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heavens (Matthew 8:11).

Here we find that Abraham, who lived many hundreds of years before Christ, had not lost his identity, and Christ tells us that the time is coming when they shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. These men had not lost their identity; they were known as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And if you consider that wonderful scene that took place on the Mount of Transfiguration, you will find that Moses, who had been gone from the earth fifteen hundred years, was there. Peter, James, and John saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration; they saw him as Moses; he had not lost his name. Christ says of him that overcomes, I will not blot his name out of the book of life (Revelation 3:5). We have names in heaven; we are going to bear our names there; we will be known.

In the Psalms, we read, I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness (Psalm 17:15). That is enough. Desire is written on every human heart on earth, but in heaven we shall be satisfied. You may hunt the world from one end to the other, and you will not find a man or woman who is satisfied; but in heaven we shall want for nothing. In 1 John, we read these words addressed to followers of Christ:

Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be; but we know that if he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

Moreover, it seems highly probable, and I think it is clearly taught by Scripture, that many careless Christians will get into heaven. There will be many who will get in by the skin of their teeth, or as Lot was saved from Sodom, "so as by fire." They will barely get in, but there will be no crown of rejoicing. But not everybody is going to rush into heaven. There are many who will not be there. Some people tell us they are going into the kingdom of God whether they are converted or not. They tell us that they are on their way – that they are going there. They tell us that all are going to heaven; the good, the bad, and the indifferent are all going into the kingdom, and they will all be there. They believe there is no difference amongst the people, and if I may be allowed to use plain language – they give God the lie.

But they say, "We believe in the mercy of God." So do I. I believe in the justice of God too, and I think heaven would be much worse than this earth if unconverted men were permitted to form part of it.

If a man lived forever in this world in sin, what would become of this world? It seems as if it would be hell itself. Recall the history of this country and think about some who have lived through it. Suppose they never died; suppose they lived on and on forever in sin and rebellion. Do you think that God is going to take those men to heaven who have rejected His Son, spurned the offer of His mercy, refused salvation, trampled His law under their feet, and lived in rebellion against His laws? Do you suppose God is going to take them right into His kingdom and let them live there forever? By no means.

No Drunkards in Heaven

Do not err: . . . nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Nor drunkards . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now let the mothers with sons who are beginning an indulgent life wake up and not rest day or night until their boys are converted by the power of God's grace, because no drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God. Many moderate drinkers will become drunkards; no man ever became a drunkard all at once. How the devil blinds these moderate drinkers! I do not know of any sin more binding than the sin of alcoholism; the man is bound hand and foot before he knows it.

Some time ago, I read an account of snake-worshiping in India. I thought it was a horrible thing. I read about a mother who saw a snake come into her home and coil itself around her little six-month-old infant. She thought the reptile was such a sacred thing that she did not dare to touch it, and she saw the snake destroy her child. She heard the child's pitiful cries but dared not rescue it. My soul revolted as I read the narrative. But I don't doubt that we have things right here in America that are just as bad as that serpent in India – serpents that come into many Christian homes, coil around sons, and bind them hand and foot, while the fathers and mothers seem to be asleep.

Oh, may the Spirit of God wake us up! No drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God or rum-sellers either. Bear that in mind. Woe unto him that gives his neighbours drink, that puts thy bottle to them, and makes them drunken also (Habakkuk 2:15). I pity any professing Christians who rent their property for drinking saloons; I pity them from the depths of my heart. If you ever expect to inherit the kingdom of God, give it up. If you can never rent your property for better purposes, you are better to let it stand empty. This idea that all is going well, and that all are going into the kingdom of God, whether they repent or not, is not taught anywhere in the Scripture.

There will be no extortioners in heaven – none of those men who take advantage of their brothers, those who have been unfortunate, whose families are sick, or who have had to mortgage their property due to snap judgment taken against them by some man with his hand at their throats to get every cent that he can. That man is an extortioner. He shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I pity a man who gets money dishonestly. See the trouble he goes through to keep it. It is sure to be scattered. If he got his wealth dishonestly, he cannot keep it; his children can't keep it – they have no power. This happens all over the country. A man who gets a dollar dishonestly had better make restitution and pay it back very quickly, or it will burn in his pocket.

Some Will Not Enter Heaven

In the days of Noah, we read that he sailed over the deluge. He was the only righteous man, but according to the theory of some people, the rest of those men who were so foul and so wicked – too wicked to live – God took them and swept them all into heaven and left the only righteous man to go through this trial. Drunkards and thieves and vagabonds all went to heaven, they say. You might as well go forward and preach that you can swear as much as you like and murder as much as you please, and it will be okay – that God will forgive you; God is so merciful.

Suppose the governor of a state pardoned every person that the courts ever convicted who are now lying in its jails and penitentiaries. Suppose that governor let them all loose because he is so merciful that he could not bear to have men punished. I think he would not be governor of that state for long. These men who are talking about God being so full of mercy that He is going to spare all men and take them to heaven would be the very same men to say that such a governor as that ought to be impeached – that he should not be governor. Let us bear in mind that the Scripture says there are some people who shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, let's look at the Scripture. It is better to just give the Scripture for these things; then if you do not like it, you can quarrel with Scripture and not with me. Let no man say that I have been saying who is going to heaven and who is not; I will let the Scripture speak for itself:

Know ye not that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God? (1 Corinthians 6:9)

But the unrighteous – the adulterers, the fornicators, and the thieves – these men may all inherit the kingdom of God if they will only turn away from their sins. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts (Isaiah 55:7), but if the unrighteous man says, "I will not turn away from sin; I will hold on to sin and have heaven," he is deceiving himself.

A man who steals my pocketbook loses much more than I do. I can afford to let him have my pocketbook more than he can afford to take it. Consider how much he loses. Perhaps he will get a few dollars, or he may steal my coat, but he does not get much. See how much he has lost. Take an inventory of what that man loses if he loses heaven. Think of it. No thief shall inherit the kingdom of God. To any thief I would say, Steal no more (Ephesians 4:28). Let him ask God to forgive him; let him repent of his sin and turn to God.

If you gain eternal life, it is worth more than the whole world. If you were to steal the whole world, you would not get much. The whole world does not amount to much, if you don't have eternal life to enjoy yourself in the future.

The White-Robed Saints

Who are they whose songs are sounding

O'er the golden harps above?

Hark! they tell of grace abounding,

And Jehovah's sovereign love.

Who are they that keep their station

Round the great eternal throne?

They from earthly tribulation

To their heavenly rest are gone.

See their robes of dazzling whiteness,

Without blemish, spot, or stain;

See their crowns that grow in brightness,

Purchased by the Lamb once slain.

Never heat shall beat upon them,

Thirst nor hunger reach them there;

He, whose life from death hath won them,

Bids them now His glory share.

Feeble hearts are nerved for duty,

Faltering feet now firmly stand.

Palms of heaven's unfading beauty

Mark earth's once despised band.

'Tis the Lamb of God who leads them,

And they serve Him night and day;

With the heavenly food He feeds them,

He hath wiped their tears away.

Sweet their theme! 'Tis still salvation

Unto Christ the Holy One!

And their sighs of tribulation

Change to songs around the throne.

– Anna Shipton

What! Almost Home?

"What! Almost home?" "Yes, almost home," she said,

And light seemed gleaming on her aged head.

"Jesus is very precious!" Those who near

Her bedside stood were thrilled those words to hear.

"Toward His blest home I turn my willing feet;

Hinder me not; I go my Lord to meet."

Silence ensued. She seemed to pass away,

Serene, and quiet, as that summer day.

"Speak," cried, through tears, her daughter, bending low,

"One word, beloved mother, ere you go."

She spoke that word, the last she spoke on earth,

In whispering tones – that word of wondrous worth:

"JESUS!" The sorrowing listeners caught the sound,

But angels heard it with a joy profound.

Back, at its mighty power, the gates unfold –

The gates of pearl that guard the streets of gold.

The harpers with their harps took up the strain,

And sang the triumph of the Lamb again,

As through the open portals entered in

Another soul redeemed from death and sin.

And as from earth her spirit passed away,

To dwell forever in the realms of day,

Those who were left to mourn could almost hear

The strains of heavenly music strike the ear.

And to their longing eyes by grace was given

In such a scene, as 'twere, a glimpse of heaven.

– Unknown
Chapter 3

Heaven: Its Happiness

Nor have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God beside thee, that thou might do it again for the one who waits in him. – Isaiah 64:4

Eye has not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man is that which God has prepared for those that love him. – 1 Corinthians 2:9

If there is one word above another that will swing open the eternal gates, it is the name of Jesus. There are many passwords and bywords down here, but Jesus will be the signal up above. Jesus Christ is the password to heaven. Anyone who tries to reach heaven some other way is a thief and a robber. But when we get in, what a joy above every other joy we can think of will it be to see Jesus Himself and be with Him continually.

Isaiah has given this promise of God to everyone who is saved through faith: Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off (Isaiah 33:17). Some of us may not be able to go around the world. We may not be able to see any of the foreign countries, but every Christian will eventually see a land that is very far off. This is our promised land. John Milton tells of the saints who have gone already:

They walk with God

High in salvation, and the climes of bliss.

It is a blissful climate up there. People down here look around a great deal to find a good climate where they will not be troubled by any of their pains or aches, but the climate of heaven is so fine that no pain can hold out against it. There will be no room to find fault. We will leave all our pain behind us and find an everlasting health that earth can never know.

But the glory of Christ as reigning King of heaven would be too much for mortal eyes to endure. In 1 Timothy, we read of Christ as the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; the only one who has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

As mortals, we cannot see that light. Our feeble faculties would be dazzled before such a blaze of glory. In Ezekiel, we read of that prophet having a faint glimpse of it:

Like the bow of heaven that is in the clouds in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And I saw it and fell upon my face. (Ezekiel 1:28)

We are amazed at ordinary perfections now. None of us can look the sun squarely in the face. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, as Paul says, the power of the soul will be stronger. We shall be able to see Christ in His glory. Though the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, yet we shall see Him as He is. This is what will make heaven such a happy place.

We know that great happiness cannot be found on earth. Reason, revelation, and the experience of six thousand years tell us that. No human creature has the power to give happiness. Even doing good deeds fails to bring it fully, for due to sin in the world, even the best people do not have perfect happiness here. They have to wait for heaven, even though they may be so very near it sometimes that they can see heralds of its joy and beauty, as Columbus saw the strange and beautiful birds hovering around his ships long before he caught sight of America.

All the joys we will know in heaven come from the presence of God. This is the most prominent impression in all that the Scripture has to say on the subject. Life on this earth without health would be like life in heaven without the presence of God. God's presence will be the very light and life of the place. It is said that one translation of the words describing the presence of God is "a happy-making sight." It will be a sight like the return of a long-lost boy to his mother or the first glimpse of your home after you have been gone a long time. Some of you know how a little sunshine on a dark day or the face of a kind friend at a time of trouble often cheers us up. Well, it will be something like that – only a thousand times better. Our perceptions of God will be clearer then, and that will make us love Him even more.

The more we know God, the more we love Him. Many of us would love God more if we only became better acquainted with Him. While on earth Christians get great pleasure as they think of the perfection of Jesus Christ, but how will it be when we see Him as He is?

We Shall Be Like Christ

Someone once asked a Christian what he expected to do when he got to heaven. He said he expected to spend the first thousand years looking at Jesus Christ, and after that, he would look for Peter, then James, and then John, and all the time he could conceive of would be joyfully filled with looking upon these great persons. But it seems to me that one look at Jesus Christ will more than reward us for all we have ever done for Him down here; for all the sacrifices we can possibly make for Him – just to see Him, only to see Him. But we shall become like Him when we once have seen Him, because we shall have His Spirit. Jesus, the Savior of the world, will be there, and we shall see Him face to face.

Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be; but we know that if he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

It will not be the pearly gates, the jasper walls, or the streets paved with transparent gold that will make it heaven for us. These will not satisfy us. If the beauty of heaven was all there was, we would not want to stay there forever. I heard of a child whose mother was very sick; while she lay very low, one of the neighbors took the child to stay with her until the mother was well again. But instead of getting better, the mother died. They didn't take the child home until the funeral was all over and chose not to tell her about her mother being dead.

So, a while afterward they brought the little girl home. First, she went into the sitting room to find her mother; then she went into the parlor to find her mother; she went from one end of the house to the other and could not find her. At last, she said, "Where is my mamma?" When they told her that her mamma was gone, the little thing wanted to go back to the neighbor's house again. Home had lost its attraction for her since her mother was not there any longer. No, the jasper walls and the pearly gates will not make heaven attractive. Our being with God will make it heaven. We shall be in the presence of the Redeemer; we shall be forever with the Lord.

At one time, I thought more of Jesus Christ than I did of the Father; Christ seemed to be much nearer to me because He had become the arbiter between me and God. In my imagination, I put God high on the throne as a stern judge, but Christ had become the mediator; I felt nearer to Christ than to God the Father. That changed years ago when God gave me a son, and for ten years I had an only son. I looked at the child as he grew, and the thought came to me that it took more love for God to give His Son than it did for His Son to die. Think of the love that God had for this world when He gave Christ as the payment for our sins. That is what makes John 3:16 so powerful:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

In the book of Acts, we see that when Stephen was being stoned, he lifted up his eyes toward heaven. It seemed as if God had rolled back the curtain of time and allowed him to look into the eternal city to see Christ standing at the right hand of God.

But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55-56)

When Jesus Christ went on high, He led captivity captive and took His seat, for His work was done; but when Stephen saw Him, He was standing up. I can imagine He saw that martyr fighting, single-handed and alone – the first martyr, though many were to come after him. You can hear the tramp of the millions coming after him to lay down their lives for the Son of God. But Stephen led the way; he was the first martyr, and as he was dying for the Lord Jesus Christ, he looked up and saw Christ standing there. What a welcome sight that must have been to the dying one.

A beggar does not enjoy looking at a palace. The grandeur of its architecture is lost upon him. Looking upon a royal banquet does not satisfy the hunger of a starving man. But seeing heaven is having a share in it. There would be no joy there if we did not feel that some of it was ours. God unites the soul to Himself. We read in 2 Peter that we are made partakers of the divine nature:

All things that pertain to life and to godliness are given us of his divine power, through the knowledge of him that has called us by his glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be made participants [partakers] of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Now if you put a piece of iron in the fire, it soon loses its dark color and becomes red and hot like the fire, but it does not lose its iron nature. Likewise, the soul becomes bright with God's brightness, beautiful with God's beauty, pure with God's purity, and warm with the glow of His perfect love, but remains a human soul. We shall be like Him but remain ourselves.

A fable tells of a kindhearted king who once hunted in a forest and found a blind orphan boy who was living almost like a beast. The king was touched with pity, so he adopted the boy as his own. He provided all the teaching that can be learned by one who is blind. When the boy reached his twenty-first year, the king, who was also a great physician, restored the sight of the youth and took him to his palace where, surrounded by his nobles and all the majesty and magnificence of his court, he proclaimed him to be one of his sons and commanded all to give him their honor and love. The once friendless orphan thus became a prince and a sharer in the royal dignity and in all the happiness and glory to be found in the palace of a king. Who can imagine the joy that overwhelmed the soul of that young man when he first saw the king whose beauty and goodness and power he had heard so much of? Who can imagine the happiness he must have felt when he saw his own princely attire and found himself adopted into the royal family – honored and beloved by all?

Now Christ is the great and mighty King who finds our souls in the wilderness of this sinful world. He finds us, as we read in the book of Revelation, wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked (Revelation 3:17). Earlier in the same book, we read that He washed us from our sins with his own blood (Revelation 1:5). Again, in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, we read, He has clothed me with the garments of saving health; he has surrounded me with the robe of righteousness; as a bridegroom he has arrayed me, and as a bride made up of his jewels (Isaiah 61:10).

The mission of the gospel to sinners, as we find at the end of Acts, was to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by the faith that is in me (Acts 26:18). Christ has done this for every Christian. He has adorned you with the gift of grace and adopted you as His child. The third chapter of 1 Corinthians says:

For all things are yours; whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

He has given you His own Word to educate you for heaven; He has opened your eyes so that now you see. By His grace and your cooperation, your soul will gradually develop into a more perfect resemblance to Him.

Finally, your heavenly Father calls you home where you will see the angels and saints clothed with the beauty of Christ Himself, standing around His throne and hearing the word that will admit you into their society: Well done, thou good and faithful slave; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21). In the gospel of John, Christ Himself says, All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he shall take of that which is mine and shall cause you to know it (John 16:15). All will be yours. Ah, how poor and ordinary do earthly pleasures seem by comparison. How true those lines of a Scotch poet:

O, Where Shall Rest Be Found?

The world can never give

The bliss for which we sigh;

'Tis not the whole of life to live,

Nor all of death to die.

Beyond this vale of tears

There is a life above,

Unmeasured by the flight of years,

And all that life is love.

– James Montgomery

Over the River

We are told there is joy in heaven over the conversions that take place on earth. In Luke, we read, I say unto you that likewise there shall be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine just persons, who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). When an election for president of the United States is approaching, there is tremendous excitement – a great commotion. Probably most newspapers from Maine to California would have something on nearly every page about the candidate. The whole country is excited, but I doubt it would be noticed in heaven.

If Queen Victoria left her throne, there would be great excitement throughout the nations of the earth; the whole world would be interested in the event. It would be telegraphed around the world, but it would probably be overlooked altogether in heaven. But if one little boy or girl, one man or one woman, should repent of their sins, this day and hour would be noticed in heaven. They look at things differently up in heaven; things that look very large to us look very small in heaven. Things that seem very small to us down here may be very great up yonder. Think of it! By an act of our own, we may cause joy in heaven. The thought seems almost too wonderful to understand – to think that the poorest sinner on earth can send a thrill of joy through the hosts of heaven by an act of his own!

The Bible says, There is joy in the presence of the angels, not that the angels rejoice, but it is in the presence of the angels. I have studied that a great deal and often wondered what it meant. Joy in the presence of the angels? Now, my speculation – it may be true, or it may not – is that perhaps the friends who have left the shores of time, those who have gone before us, may be looking down upon us, and when they see one they prayed for while on earth repenting and turning to God, it sends a thrill of joy to their very hearts. Even now, some mother who has gone up yonder may be looking down upon a son or daughter. If that child should say, "I will meet that mother of mine; I will repent; yes, I am going to join you, Mother," the news reaches heaven with the speed of a sunbeam, and that mother may then rejoice; so we read, In the presence of the angels.

In Dublin, after one of the meetings, a man walked into the inquiry room with his only daughter whose mother had died some time before, and he prayed, "O God, let this truth go deep into my daughter's heart and grant that the prayers of her mother may be answered today – that she may be saved."

As they rose up, she put her arms about his neck and kissed him and said, "I want to meet my mother; I want to be a Christian." That day she accepted Christ. That man is now a minister in Texas. The daughter died out there a little while ago and is now with her mother in heaven. What a blessed and joyful meeting it must have been! It may be a sister, or it may be a brother who is beckoning you over –

Over the River

Over the river they beckon to me,

Loved ones who've crossed to the farther side;

The gleam of their snowy robes I see,

But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide.

There's one with ringlets of sunny gold,

And eyes, the reflection of heaven's own blue;

He crossed in the twilight, gray and cold,

And the pale mist hid him from mortal view.

We saw not the angels who met him there,

The gates of the city we could not see;

Over the river, over the river,

My brother stands waiting to welcome me.

– Nancy Priest Wakefield

Whoever you are, do not delay.

The story is told of a father who had his little daughter out late in the evening. The night was dark, and they had passed through a thick wood to the brink of a river. Far away on the opposite shore, a light twinkled here and there in the few scattered houses; still farther off blazed the bright lights of the great city to which they were going. The little child was weary and sleepy, and the father held her in his arms while he waited for the ferryman who was on the other side. At length, they saw a little light; nearer and nearer came the sound of the oars, and soon they were safe in the boat.

"Father," said the little girl.

"Well, my child?"

"It's very dark, and I can't see the shore; where are we going?"

"The ferryman knows the way, little one; we will soon be over."

"Oh, I wish we were there, Father."

Soon in her home, loving arms welcomed her, and her fears and her tremor were gone. Some months passed by, and this same little child stood on the brink of a river that was darker and deeper, more terrible still – the river of death. The same loving father stood near her, distressed that his child must cross this river without him. For days and nights, he and her mother had been watching over her, leaving her bedside only long enough to eat and to pray for the life of their precious one. For hours she had been slumbering, and it seemed as if her spirit would pass away without her waking again, but just before the morning watch, she suddenly awoke with her eyes bright, her reason unclouded, and every faculty alive. A sweet smile was playing upon her face.

"Father," she said, "I have come again to the riverside and am again waiting for the ferryman to come and take me across."

"Does it seem as dark and cold as when you went over the other river, my child?"

"Oh no! There is no darkness here. The river is covered with floating silver. The boat coming toward me seems made of solid light, and I am not afraid of the ferryman."

"Can you see over the river, my darling?"

"Oh yes! There is a great and beautiful city there, all filled with light; and I hear music such as the angels make!"

"Do you see anyone on the other side?"

"Why, yes, yes, I see the most beautiful figure, and He beckons me now to come. Oh, ferryman, make haste! I know who it is! It is Jesus, my own blessed Jesus. I shall be caught in His arms. I shall rest on His bosom – I come – I come."

And thus, she crossed over the river of death, flowing like a silver stream by the presence of the blessed Redeemer.

Something More

No matter how successful, influential, or rich an unconverted man may be, he will seldom tell you that he is not happy. He always wants something that he cannot get, or he has something that he wants to get rid of. It is very doubtful if the czar of all Russia is a happy man, and yet he possesses about all he can get. Although Queen Victoria has palaces with millions at her command and even has what most sovereigns lack – the love of her subjects – it is a question whether she gets much pleasure out of her position. If kings and queens love Jesus Christ, and they are saved, then they may be happy. If they know they will reach heaven like the humblest of their subjects, then they may rest secure. Paul, the humble tentmaker, will have a higher seat in heaven than the best and greatest sovereign that ever ruled the earth. If the czar should meet John Bunyan, the poor tinker, up in heaven, he no doubt would find him the greater man.

The Christian life is the only happy one. Without it, something is always missing. When we are young, we have grand endeavors, but we soon spoil them by being too rash. We want experience. When we get old, we have the experience, but then all the power to carry out our schemes is gone. Blessed [happy] is that people, whose God is the LORD (Psalm 144:15).

The only way to be happy is to be good. The man who steals out of necessity sins because he is afraid of being unhappy, but for the moment, he forgets all about how unhappy the sin is going to make him. Bad as he is, man is the best and noblest thing on earth, and it is easy to understand how he fails to find true happiness in anything lower than himself. The only object better than ourselves is God, and He is the only One who can satisfy us. For he satisfies the soul that is destitute and fills the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9).

Gold that is mere dross dug up out of the earth does not satisfy man. He that loves money shall not be satisfied with money; nor he that loves abundance with increase (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Neither do the honor and praise of other men satisfy. The human soul wants something more than that. Heaven is the only place to find it. No wonder the angels who see God all the time are so happy.

The publicans went to find John the Baptist in the wilderness to learn what they should do. Some of the highest men in the land went to consult the hermit to discover how to obtain happiness. Blessed [happy] is he who trusts in the LORD (Proverbs 16:20). Earth is not worth living for because there is no real happiness here. Heaven is worth dying for because happiness is all above. In heaven there is all life and no death. In hell there is all death and no life. Here on earth there is both living and dying, which is between the two. If we are dead to sin here, we will live in heaven, and if we live in sin here, we must expect eternal death to follow.

Do you know that every Christian dies twice? He first becomes spiritually dead to sin – that is the renewed soul. He then begins to feel the joy of heaven. The joys of heaven reach down to earth as many and as sure as the rays of the sun. Then comes physical death, which makes way for the physical heaven. Of course, the old sinful body has to be changed. We cannot take that into heaven. We will get a glorified body at the resurrection; the sinful body will be gone. Our bodies will be transfigured like Christ's.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall transform our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of his glory. (Philippians 3:20-21)

There will be no temptation in heaven. If there was no temptation in the world now, God could not prove us. He wants to see if we are loyal. That is why He put the forbidden tree in Paradise, and it accounts for the presence of the Canaanite in the land of Israel. When we plant a seed, after a time it disappears and brings forth a seed, which looks much the same, but it is a different seed. So our bodies and the bodies of those we know and love will be raised up, looking much the same – but not all the same.

Christ did not take the same body into heaven that was crucified on the cross. There seems to have been some change in His appearance after His resurrection, for Mary Magdalene, who was the first one who saw Him, did not know Him.

And they [two angels] said unto her [Mary], Woman, why dost thou weep? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. (John 20:13-14)

Even Peter did not know Him when He appeared on the seashore. Thomas would not believe it was Christ until he saw the prints of the nails and the wound in His side. But we shall all know Him in heaven.

The Bible makes two things as clear and certain as eternity. One is that we are going to see Christ, and the other is that we are going to be like Him. God will never hide His face from us in heaven, and Satan will never show his.

There is not such a great difference between grace and glory after all. Grace is the bud and glory the blossom. Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace perfected. It will not be hard for people who are serving God here to do it when they go up yonder. They will change places, but they will not change employments.

Higher Up

The moment a person becomes heavenly-minded and gets his heart and affections set on things above, life becomes beautiful. The light of heaven shines across his pathway, and he does not have to lash and upbraid himself all the time because he is not more like Christ. Someone asked a Scotchman if he was on the way to heaven, and he said, "Why man, I live there; I am not on the way." That is just it. We want to live in heaven; while we are walking in this world, it is our privilege to have our hearts and affections above.

If ye then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where the Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your sight on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

I once heard Mr. Morehouse tell a story about a lady in London who met a poor, bedridden saint, and she also met a wealthy woman who always complained and murmured. Sometimes I think people to whom God gives the most in worldly things think less of Him, care less about Him, and are the most unproductive in His service. But this lady went around as a missionary visiting the poor, and she would visit this poor, bedridden saint. She said if she wanted to be cheered up and her heart made happy, she would go and visit her.

(There has been a place in Chicago for years where many Christians have gone when they wanted their faith strengthened; they would go there and visit one of these saints. A friend told me that she thought the Lord kept one of those saints in most of the cities to entertain angels as they passed over the cities on errands of mercy, for it seems that these saints are often visited by the heavenly host.)

Well, this lady missionary had wanted to get this wealthy woman in contact with this saint, so she invited her to join her a number of times. Finally, the lady consented to go, and when she got to the place, she went up the first flight of stairs, and it was dark and not very clean.

"What a horrible place," the lady said. "Why did you bring me here?"

The lady smiled and said, "It is better higher up."

And then they went up another flight, and it didn't grow any lighter. She complained again, and the lady said, "It is better higher up." And then they went up another flight, and it was no lighter, but the missionary kept saying, "It is better higher up." When they got to the fifth story, they opened the door and entered a beautiful room, a room that was carpeted and had plants in the window. A little bird sang from its cage, and there was that saint – just smiling.

The first thing the complaining woman had to say to her was, "It must be very hard for you to be here and suffer."

"Oh, that is a very small thing; it is not very hard," she said. "It is better higher up."

And so, if things do not go just right, if things do not suit us here, we can say, "It is better higher up; it is better farther on." We can lift up our hearts and rejoice as we journey on toward home.

You know those beautiful lines by Horatius Bonar –

A Little While

Beyond the smiling and the weeping,

I shall be soon;

Beyond the waking and the sleeping,

Beyond the sowing and the reaping,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home!

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come.

Beyond the rising and the setting,

I shall be soon;

Beyond the calming and the fretting,

Beyond remembering and forgetting,

I shall be soon.

Love, rest, and home!

Sweet hope!

Lord, tarry not, but come.

Spirit Voices

Nearer and nearer, day by day, the distant voices come;

Soft through the pearly gate they swell and seem to call me home.

The lamp of life burns faint and low; aye, let it fainter burn;

For who would weep the failing lamp when birds announce the morn?

I saw the faces of my loved gleam through the twilight dim,

And softly on the morning air arose the heaven-born hymn;

With looks of love they gazed on me, as none gaze on me now;

The glory of the Infinite surrounded every brow.

Fair lilies, star-like in their bloom, and waving palms they bore,

And oh, the smiles of peace and joy those heavenly faces wore!

Thou who hast fathomed death's dark tide, save me from death's alarms;

Beneath my trembling soul, oh, stretch Thine everlasting arms!

No second cross, no thorny crown can bruise Thy sacred brow;

Thou, who the wine press trod alone, o'er the dark waves bear me now.

A parting hour, a pang of pain, and then shall pass away

The veil that shrouds Thee where Thou reign'st in everlasting day.

No sin, no sigh, no withering fear, can wring the bosom there;

But deeds of love and holy joy, or tidings blest to bear.

How long, O Lord, how long before they take me by the hand,

And I, Thy weakest child, at last among Thy children stand?

Beyond the stars, that steadfast shine, my spirit pines to soar,

To dwell within my Father's house and leave that home no more.

O Lord, Thou hast with angel food my fainting spirit fed;

If 'tis Thy will I linger here, guide Thou the path I tread;

And though my soul doth pant to pass within the pearly gate,

O teach me for Thy summons, Lord, in patience still to wait.

– Anna Shipton

A Voice from Heaven

I shine in the light of God;

His likeness stamps my brow;

Through the Valley of Death my feet have trod,

And I reign in glory now!

No breaking heart is here,

No keen and thrilling pain,

No wasted cheek where the frequent tear

Hath rolled and left its stain.

O friends of mortal years,

The trusted and the true,

Ye are watching still in the valley of tears,

But I wait to welcome you.

Do I forget? Oh no!

For memory's golden chain

Shall bind my heart to the hearts below

Till they meet to touch again.

Each link is strong and bright,

And love's electric flame

Flows freely down, like a river of light,

To the world from whence I came.

Do you mourn when another star

Shines out from the glittering sky?

Do you weep when the raging voice of war

And the storms of conflict die?

Then why should your tears run down,

And your hearts be sorely riven,

For another gem in the Savior's crown,

And another soul in heaven?

– From an English Friend
Chapter 4

Heaven: Its Certainty

In my Father's house are many dwelling places; . . . I go to prepare a place for you. – John 14:2

Some people depend so much on their reason that they reason away God. They say God is not a person we can ever see. They say God is a Spirit. So He is, but He is a person too. He became a man and walked the earth once. Scripture tells us plainly that God has a dwelling place – no doubt whatever about that. A dwelling place indicates personality. God's dwelling place is in heaven. He has a dwelling place, and we are going to be occupants of it.

Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Therefore, we shall see Him. In 1 Kings, we read:

Therefore, thou shalt hearken unto the supplication of thy slave and of thy people Israel when they shall pray in this place and hear in thy dwelling place, from the heavens; please hear and forgive. (1 Kings 8:30)

This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is not according to Scripture. Heaven is God's habitation, and when Christ came to earth, He taught us to pray: Our Father who art in the heavens (Matthew 6:9). This habitation is spoken of as "the city of eternal life." Think of a city without a cemetery – they have no dying there.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain. (Revelation 21:4)

If there could be such a city as that found on this earth, what a rush there would be to it! How men would try to reach that city. You cannot find one on the face of this earth. A city without tears – God wipes away all the tears up yonder. This is a time of weeping, but by and by there will be a time when God shall call us to where there will be no tears. A city without pain, a city without sorrow, without sickness, without death. Imagine a city with no stream of businesses in its streets, and no hearses with their sad burdens creeping to the cemetery. This city is without griefs or graves, without sins or sorrows, without marriages or mournings, and without births or burials.

And the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in her, for the clarity [glory] of God has illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Revelation 21:23)

There is no darkness there. The Lamb is the light thereof. The city needs no sun, it needs no moon. The paradise of Eden was nothing compared with this one. The tempter came into Eden and triumphed, but in that eternal city, nothing that defiles shall ever enter. There will be no tempter there. Imagine a place where temptation cannot come. Imagine a place where we will be free from sin, where pollution cannot enter, and where the righteous will reign forever.

Imagine a city that is not built with hands, and the buildings do not grow old with time – a city whose inhabitants are not numbered by any census except the Book of Life, which is the heavenly directory. This city glories in having Jesus for its King, angels for its guards, and saints for its citizens!

We believe this is just as much a place and just as much a city as is New York, London, or Paris. We believe in it a good deal more, because earthly cities will pass away, but this city will remain forever. It has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). Some of the grandest cities the world has ever known have not had foundations strong enough to last.

Tyre and Sidon

Consider Tyre and Sidon. They were rival cities – something like New York and Philadelphia or St. Louis and Chicago. When the patriarch Jacob gave his sons his blessing, he spoke of Zidon (Sidon). In the splitting up of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by Joshua, Tyre and Zidon seem to have fallen to the lot of Asher, although the old inhabitants were never fully driven out. We read in Mark:

Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea and from Jerusalem and from Idumaea and from beyond Jordan. And those who dwell around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came unto him. (Mark 3:7-8)

We find in Acts 27:3 that Julius, a centurion of the Augustus company, was taking Paul prisoner to appear before Caesar at Rome, when the ship touched at Sidon. Julius then let Paul go to visit some of his friends there to refresh himself. From this it has been inferred that there must have been a Christian church there at that time, although the people generally worshiped the queen of heaven, who was represented as crowned with the crescent moon.

Some people today adore a queen of heaven, whom they picture with the moon beneath her feet. Even the Hebrews, when they saw the moon walking in beauty along the clear skies of Palestine, were impressed by its beauty and fell into the same idolatry. Jeremiah says:

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods. (Jeremiah 7:18).

In answer to the prophet's reproof, we find them saying:

As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her as we have done. (Jeremiah 44:16-17)

Is it any wonder that a little further on we should find this addressed to them:

The LORD could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. (Jeremiah 44:22)

In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, and there will be no false gods in heaven.

Tyre is mentioned by Joshua as a strong city, and both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of it. In fact, there is a great deal in Scripture about it. Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, and other kings fought over it, and hosts of lives were lost in taking what is now a ruin. Alexander once destroyed it, but it was later rebuilt. We find in the inspired Word of God descriptions of what this city was, from which we can form some idea of its beauty. All of the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is taken up with Tyre:

O thou that dwelleth at the ports of the sea, who art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; O Tyre, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. In the heart of the seas are thy border; thy builders have completed thy beauty. They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. (Ezekiel 27:3-5)

And it goes on:

Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy curtain, that it might serve to be thy sail; of blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thy pavilion. (Ezekiel 27:7)

Later it says:

Thy riches, and thy markets, thy business, thy rowers, and thy pilots, those that repair thy breaches, and the agents of thy business, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. Thine heart lifted thee up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the earth, I will expose thee before the kings, that they may behold thee. (Ezekiel 27:27; 28:17)

The terrible prophesies of Tyre's downfall have all been literally fulfilled. We find them in the twenty-sixth chapter:

Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall demolish the walls of Tyre and destroy her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken, said the Lord GOD, and it shall be spoiled by the Gentiles. (Ezekiel 26:3-5)

Travelers now describe the site of ancient Tyre as a heap of ruins, broken arches and vaults, tottering walls and towers, with a few starving wretches housed amid the rubbish. A large part of it is under water, a portion of the ruins is a place to spread nests upon, and the rest has become indeed like the top of a rock.

Thus passes the glory of the world. This Book tells us of the glory of a city that we no longer see but once was. It also tells of the glory of a greater city that we have not seen but shall see if we follow in the way.

Jerusalem, My Happy Home

O happy harbor of the saints!

O sweet and pleasant soil!

In thee no sorrow can be found,

No grief, or care, or toil.

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks

Continually are green:

There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers

As nowhere else are seen.

No candle needs, no moon to shine,

No glittering star to light,

For Christ, the King of Righteousness,

For ever shineth bright.

– Anonymous

Our Recorded Names

We are told that one time, just before sunrise, two men argued about where in the heavens the sun would first appear. They became so obstinate over it that they fought and beat each other over the head so badly that when the sun rose, neither of them could see it. Likewise, there are people who quarrel about heaven until they argue themselves out of it, and more people who protest over hell until they wrestle themselves into it.

In their writings, the Hebrews tell us of three distinct heavens. The air or the atmosphere around the earth is one heaven; the firmament where the stars are is another; and above that is the heaven of heavens where God's throne and the mansions of the Lord are. Those mansions of light and peace are the abode of the blessed – the homes of the Redeemer and the redeemed.

This is the heaven where Christ is. This is the place we read of in Deuteronomy: Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens are of the LORD thy God, the earth also, with all that is therein (Deuteronomy 10:14).

In 2 Corinthians, Paul spoke of himself and said, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows) was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).

Some people have wondered what is meant by the third heaven. That is where God dwells and where the storms do not come. There sits the incorruptible judge. When Paul was caught up there, he heard things that were not lawful for him to utter, and he saw things that he could not speak of down here. The higher we get in spiritual matters, the nearer we seem to heaven. Our wishes are fulfilled there. We may cry out like the psalmist:

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the LORD and to enquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

We are assured by Christ Himself that our names will be written in heaven only if we are His. In Luke chapter 10, we read, Notwithstanding, rejoice not in this, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in the heavens (Luke 10:20). Before the Savior uttered these words, He called seventy of His disciples and sent them out in twos to preach the gospel in the cities of Galilee and Judea.

There are people today who have no faith in revivals, but the greatest revival the world ever saw was during the five or six years that John the Baptist and Jesus preached, followed by the preaching of the apostles and the disciples after Christ left the earth. For years, the country was stirred from one end to the other. There were probably men who stood out against the revival. They might have called it "spasmodic" and refused to believe in it. Perhaps they said, "It is a nine days' wonder and will pass in a little while, and there will be nothing left of it." No doubt men talked in those days just as they talk now. All the way from the time of Christ and His apostles, there have been men who have opposed the work of God, and some of them even professed to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They opposed the revival because it was not done their way. When the Spirit of God comes, He works in His own way. We must learn the lesson that we are not to mark out any channels for Him to work in, for He will work in His own way when He comes.

These disciples came back after their work. The Spirit had worked with them, the devils were subject to them, they had power over disease, they had power over the Enemy, and they were filled with success. They were probably having a sort of jubilee meeting, and Christ came in and said, Rejoice not in this, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in the heavens. This brings us face to face with the doctrine of assurance.

Assurance

Many people up and down Christendom do not accept this doctrine. They believe it is impossible for us to know in this life whether we are saved or not. If this is true, how are we going to get over what Christ has said as we find it recorded here? If my name is written in heaven, how can I rejoice over it unless I know it? These men were to rejoice that their names were already there, and the name of each one who is a child of God is written there.

A few years ago, a party of Americans were on their way from London to Liverpool and decided that they would stop at the Northwestern Hotel, but when they arrived, they found the place had been full for several days. Greatly disappointed, they took up their baggage and were about to leave, when they noticed one of the ladies of the party prepared herself to remain.

"Aren't you going too?" they asked.

"Oh no," she said, "I have good rooms all ready."

"Why, how did that happen?"

"Oh," she said, "I telegraphed on ahead a few days ago."

Now that is what the children of God are doing; they are sending their names on ahead and securing places in the mansions of Christ. If we are truly children of God, our names have gone on before, and there will be places waiting for us at the end of the journey. We are only travelers down here. We are away from home. When the war was going on, the soldiers on the battlefield – the Southern soldiers and the Northern soldiers – wanted nothing more than to live in tents. They longed for the war to end so they might go home. They didn't care about palaces and mansions on the battlefield. Well, there is a terrible battle going on now, and by and by, when the war is over, God will call us home. The tents are good enough for us while journeying through this world. It is only a night, and then the eternal day will dawn.

The Book of Life

Two ladies met on a train not long ago; one of them was going to Cairo and the other to New Orleans. Before they reached Cairo, they had formed a strong attachment to each other, and the Cairo lady said to the lady who was going to New Orleans, "I wish you would stay for a few days in Cairo; I would like to entertain you."

"Well," said the other, "I would like to very much, but I have packed up all my things and sent them ahead. I haven't anything except what I have on, but that is good enough to travel in."

I learned a lesson there. I said, "Almost anything is good enough to travel in, and it is a great deal better to have our joys and comforts ready for us in heaven, waiting until we get there, than to wear them out in our toilsome, trying, earthly journey."

Heaven is the place of victory and triumph. Earth is the battlefield; heaven is the triumphal procession. Earth is the land of the sword and the spear; heaven is the land of the wreath and the crown. Oh, what a thrill of joy will shoot through the hearts of all the blessed when their conquests will be made complete in heaven – when death itself, the last of foes, shall be slain, and Satan dragged as captive at the chariot wheels of Christ! Men may oppose as much as they will this doctrine of assurance, but assurance is clearly taught in Scripture.

The Opening of the Books

Many people laugh at the idea of books being in heaven, but in the twelfth chapter of Daniel's prophecy, we find this:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who is for the sons of thy people, and it shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there were people until now, but in that time thy people shall escape, all those that are found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

There is a terrible time coming upon the earth – darker days than we have ever seen. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life shall be delivered. Again, in Philippians, we read:

And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women who laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also and with my other fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:3)

Writing to the Christians at Philippi, where he had much opposition and was cast into jail, in effect, Paul said, "Just take my regards to the good brethren and sisters who worked with me – whose names are written in the Book of Life." This shows that they taught the doctrine of assurance in the very earliest days of Christianity. Why shouldn't we teach it and believe it now?

I am told by travelers in China that the Chinese have two great books in their courts. When a man is tried and found innocent, they write his name in their book of life. If he is found guilty, they write his name in their book of death. I firmly believe that every man or woman has his or her name in the book of death or the Book of Life. Your name cannot be in both books at the same time. You cannot be in death and in life at the same time, and it is your own privilege to know which one you are in.

In Revelation 13:8, we read:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship it [that is, the Antichrist] whose names are not written in the book of the life of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.

And again, in chapters 20 and 21:

And I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened; which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)

And there shall in no wise enter into it [the Holy City] anything unclean or that works abomination or makes a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:27)

There can be no true peace, no true hope, and no true comfort where there is uncertainty. I am not fit for God's service and I cannot go out and work for God if I am in doubt about my own salvation.

No Room for Double

Imagine a mother has a sick child. The child is just hanging between life and death. There is no rest for that mother. Or, imagine you have a friend on a train that is wrecked, and the news comes that twenty have been killed and wounded, but their names are not given. You are terribly uncertain, and there is no rest or peace until you know the facts.

The reason there are so many in the churches who will not go out and help others is that they are not sure they have been saved themselves. If I thought I was dying myself, I would be in a poor condition to save anyone else. Before I can pull anyone else out of the water, I must have a firm footing on shore myself. We can have this complete assurance if we want. It is not sufficient to feel we are all right; we must know it. We must read our titles clear to mansions in the skies. The apostle John said, Beloved, now we are the sons of God (1 John 3:2, emphasis added). He does not say we are going to be the sons of God.

When asked if they are Christians, people give some of the strangest answers you ever heard. If you ask them, some will say, "Well – well – well, I – I hope I am."

Suppose a man asked me if I am an American. Would I say, "Well, I – well, I – I hope I am"? I know that I was born in this country, and I know I was born in the Spirit of God more than twenty years ago. All the infidels in the world could not convince me that I don't have a different spirit than I had before I became a Christian.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

A man can soon tell whether he is born of the Spirit by the change in his life. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit of love, joy, peace, humility, and meekness, and we can soon discover whether we have been born of that Spirit or not. We are not left in uncertainty. Job lived back in the dark ages, but he knew. The dark billows came rolling and surging up against him, but in the midst of the storm, his voice rang out: I know that my redeemer lives (Job 19:25). He had something better than a hope.

A man may have his name written in the highest chronicles down here, but the record may be lost; he may have it carved in marble, and still it may perish. Some charitable institution may bear his name, but he may soon be forgotten. However, his name will never be erased from the scrolls that are kept above. Seeking to perpetuate one's name on earth is like writing on the sand by the seashore. To be perpetual it must be written on the eternal monuments. The way to see our names as they stand written in the Book of Life is by reading the work of sanctification in our own hearts. It needs no miraculous voice from heaven, no extraordinary signs, and no unusual feeling. We need only find our hearts desiring Christ and hating sin with our minds obedient to the divine commands.

We may be sure that belonging to a certain church is not going to save us, although every saved man ought to be connected with one. When Daniel died in Babylon, no one had to hunt up any old church record to find out if he was all right. When Paul was beheaded by Nero, no one had to look over the register. On the other hand, no one thinks Pontius Pilate was a saint because his name is in the creed.

They lived so that the world knew what they were. Paul said, I . . . am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12). There is assurance. Who shall separate us from the charity [love] of Christ? Paul said, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come (Romans 8:35, 38). He just challenges them all, but they could not separate him from the love that was in Christ.

It is dishonoring to God to go on hoping and only hoping that we "will be" saved.

False Professors

Yet, some should not have assurance. It would be an unfortunate thing for any unconverted church member to have assurance. Some who profess great assurance should not have it – those whose lives do not correspond. This group is represented by the man at the wedding feast who did not have on a wedding garment (Matthew 22:1-14).

They are like some lilies – fair to see but foul to smell. They are dry shells with no kernels inside. The crusaders of old used to wear a painted cross upon their shoulders. Likewise, many today take up crosses that sit just as lightly; they are mere things of ornament, passports to respectability, or cheap make-believes for a struggle that has never been made and a crown that has never been sought.

You may often see dead fish floating with the stream, but you never see a dead fish swimming against it. Well, that is like a false believer; that is the hypocrite. Profession is just floating down the stream, but confession is swimming against it, no matter how strong the tide. The sanctified man and the unsanctified one look at heaven very differently. The unsanctified man simply chooses heaven in preference to hell. He thinks that if he must go to either one, he would rather try heaven.

It is like a man with a farm who has a place offered to him in another country where there is said to be a gold mine. He hates to give up all he has and take any risk. But if he is going to be banished and must leave, he has his choice of living in a wilderness, digging in a coal pit, or taking the gold mine; then there is no hesitation. The unregenerate man likes heaven better than hell, but he likes this world the best of all. When death stares him in the face, he thinks he would like to get to heaven.

The true believer prizes heaven above everything else and is always willing to give up the world. Everybody wants to enjoy heaven after they die, but they don't want to be heavenly-minded while they live. To the Christian, it is a sure promise with no room for doubt, and there is no reason for hesitation.

The heir to a great estate, while a child, thinks more of a dollar in his pocket than all his inheritance. In the same way, some professing Christians are more elated by a passing pleasure than they are by their title to eternal glory. In a little while, we will be there. How glorious is the thought! Everything is prepared. That is what Christ went up to heaven for. In a little while, we will be gone. We are –

Only Waiting

Only waiting till the shadows

Are a little longer grown,

Only waiting till the glimmer

Of the day's last beam has flown;

Then from out the gathered darkness,

Holy, deathless stars shall rise,

By whose light our souls shall gladly

Tread its pathway to the skies.

– Frances Laughton Mace

Jerusalem, My Home

Jerusalem, my Home,

Where shines the royal throne,

Each king casts down his golden crown

Before the Lamb thereon.

Thence flows the crystal river,

And flowing on forever,

With leaves and fruits on either hand,

The Tree of Life shall stand.

In blood-washed robes, all white and fair,

The Lamb shall lead His chosen there,

While clouds of incense fill the air,

Jerusalem, my Home!

Jerusalem, my Home,

Where saints in glory reign,

Thy haven safe, oh! when shall I,

Poor, storm-tossed pilgrim, gain?

At distance dark and dreary,

With sin and sorrow weary,

For thee I toil, for thee I pray,

For thee I long alway.

And lo! mine eyes shall see thee too –

Oh rend in twain, thou veil of blue,

And let the Golden City through,

Jerusalem, my Home.

– John Henry Hopkins Jr.
Chapter 5

Heaven: Its Riches

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. – Matthew 6:20-21

No man thinks he's rich until he has all he wants. Few people are satisfied with earthly riches. If they want anything at all that they cannot get, they think that is a kind of poverty. Sometimes the richer the man, the greater the poverty. Somebody has said that getting riches brings care; keeping them brings trouble; abusing them brings guilt; and losing them brings sorrow. It is a great mistake to make as much of riches as we do. But some riches we cannot praise too much: these never pass away. They are the treasures laid up in heaven for those who truly belong to God.

No matter how rich or elevated we may be, there is always something that we want. The greatest chance the rich have over the poor is the one they enjoy the least – that of making themselves happy. Worldly riches never make anyone truly happy. We all know, too, that they often take wings and fly away. It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned into gold, but with his long ears, he was not much better for it. There is a great deal of truth in some of these old fables. Money, like time, should not to be wasted, but I pity that man who has more of either than he knows how to use. There is no truer saying than that man by doing good with his money figuratively stamps the image of God upon it and uses it for the merchandise of heaven, but all the wealth of the universe would not buy a man's way there. Salvation must be taken as a gift for the asking. There is no man so poor in this world that he may not be a heavenly millionaire.

Gold – A Bad Life Preserver

Notice how many are worshiping gold today! Where war has slain its thousands, gain has slain its millions. Its history in all ages has been the history of slavery and oppression. At this moment, what an empire it has. The mine with its drudges, the factory with its misery, the plantation with its toil, the market and exchange with their haggard and care-worn faces – these are only examples of gold's menial servants. Titles and honors are its rewards, and thrones are at its disposal. Among its counselors are kings, and many of the great and mighty of the earth are its subjects. This spirit of gain tries to turn the globe itself into gold.

In Roman mythology, Tarpeia, the daughter of the governor of the fortress situated on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, was captivated with the golden bracelets of the Sabine soldiers and agreed to let them into the fortress if they would give her what they wore on their left arms. The contract was made, and the Sabines kept their promise. Tatius, their commander, was the first to deliver his bracelet and shield. The coveted treasures were thrown upon Tarpeia by each of the soldiers, until she sank beneath their weight and expired. Thus, the weight of gold carries many a man down.

When the steamship Central America went down, several hundred miners were on board, returning to their early homes and friends. They had made their fortunes and expected much happiness in enjoying them. In the first moments of the horror, gold lost its attraction to them. The miners took off their treasure belts and threw them aside. Carpetbags full of shining gold dust were emptied on the floor of the cabin. One of them poured out one hundred thousand dollars' worth in the cabin and told anyone to take it if they wanted. Greed was overcome, and the gold found no takers. Dear friends, it is well enough to have gold, but sometimes it is a bad life preserver. Sometimes gold is a mighty weight that crushes us down to hell.

One day Reverend John Newton called on a family that had suffered the loss of all they possessed by a fire. He found the devoted woman and greeted her. "I give you joy, madam."

Surprised and ready to be offended, she exclaimed, "What? Joy that all my property is consumed?"

"Oh no," he answered, "but joy that you have so much property that fire cannot touch."

This allusion to her real treasures checked her grief and brought reconciliation. As we read in Proverbs, In the house of the righteous is much provision [treasure], but in the fruit [revenues] of the wicked is trouble (Proverbs 15:6). I have never seen a dying saint who was rich in heavenly treasures who had any regret; I have never heard such a one say he had lived too much for God and heaven.

Getting Waterlogged

A friend of mine said he was at the River Mersey in Liverpool a few years ago, and he saw a vessel that had to be towed with a great deal of care into the harbor. It had settled down to the water's edge, and he wondered why it did not sink. Soon another vessel came without any help at all; it did not need any tug to tow it in. It steamed right up the Mersey past the other vessels. My friend asked about it and found out that the vessel that had to be towed was what they call waterlogged. That is, it was loaded with lumber and material but sprang a leak and had partially sunk; it was very hard work to get it into the harbor.

Now, I believe many professing Christians, perhaps many who are really Christians, have become waterlogged. They have too many earthly treasures, and it takes nearly the whole church, the whole spiritual power of the church, to look after these worldly Christians to keep them from going back entirely into the world. If the whole church were as John Wesley said, "hard at it, and always at it," what a power there would be, and how soon we would reach the world and the masses. But we are not reaching the world because the church itself has become conformed to the world and to worldly-mindedness. This is the reason many are wondering why they do not grow in grace, because they have more of the earth in their thoughts than God.

And be not conformed to this age, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your soul that ye may experience what is that good and well pleasing and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

Ministers would not have to urge people to live for heaven if their treasures were up there; they would not be able to help it. Their hearts would be there, and if their hearts were there, their minds would be up there, and their lives would tend toward heaven. They could not help living for heaven if their treasures were there.

One day a little girl said to her mother, "Mamma, my Sunday school teacher tells me that this world is only a place where God lets us live a while that we may prepare for a better world. But Mother, I do not see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come here, but I do not see anyone preparing to go there. Why don't they try to get ready?"

Before the war, a certain gentleman in the South had a devoted slave. When the master died, they told him he had gone to heaven.

The old slave shook his head. "I's 'fraid Massa no gone there," he said.

"But why, Ben?" he was asked.

"Cos, when Massa go North or go a journey to the Springs, he talk about it a long time and get ready. I never hear him talk about going to heaven; never see him get ready to go there!"

There are many who do not get ready, but Christ taught differently in the Sermon on the Mount:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Treasures of the Heart

It does not take long to tell where a man's treasure is. In fifteen minutes' conversation with most men, you can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in heaven. Talk to a patriot about the country, and you will see his eyes light up; you will find he has his heart there. Talk to some businessmen and tell them where they can make a thousand dollars, and note their interest; their hearts are there. If you talk to fashionable people who are living just for fashion and its affairs, you will see their eyes kindle; they are interested at once; their hearts are there. Talk to a politician about politics, and you see how suddenly he becomes interested. But talk to a child of God, who is laying up treasures in heaven, about heaven and about his future home, and see his enthusiasm. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Now, it is just as much a command for a man to lay up treasure in heaven as it is that he should not steal. Some people think all the commandments are in those ten that were given on Sinai, but when Jesus Christ was here, He gave us many other commandments. There is another commandment in this Sermon on the Mount: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). But this is a command that we are to lay up treasure in heaven and not on earth. The reason there are so many broken hearts in this land and so many disappointed people is that they have been laying up their treasures down here.

The worthlessness of gold, for which so many are striving, is illustrated by a story that Dr. Arnot used to tell. A ship bearing a company of emigrants had been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert island far from the reach of man. There was no way to escape, but they had a good stock of food. The ocean surrounded them, but they had plenty of seeds, a fine soil, and a warm sun, so there was no danger. Before the plans were laid, an exploring party discovered a gold mine, so the whole party went there to dig. They labored day after day and month after month. They got great heaps of gold, but spring was past, and not a field had been cleared, not a grain of seed had been put into the ground. The summer came and their wealth increased, but their stock of food grew small. In the fall, they found that their heaps of gold were worthless. Famine stared them in the face. They rushed to the woods, felled trees, and dug up the roots. They tilled the ground and sowed the seed, but it was too late! Winter had come and their seed rotted in the ground. They died in the midst of their treasures.

This earth is the little isle; eternity is the ocean around it; we have been cast on this shore. There is a living seed, but the mines of gold attract us. We spend spring and summer there; winter overtakes us in our toil, and we are without the Bread of Life. We are lost. Then, let us who are Christians value all the more the home that holds the treasures that no one can take away. Dr. Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman, has written beautifully:

I Would Not Live Alway

Who, who would live alway? away from his God,

Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode,

Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains,

And the noontide of glory eternally reigns;

Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,

Their Savior and brethren transported to greet,

While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll

And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul.

That heavenly music! what is it I hear?

The notes of the harpers ring sweet in the ear;

And see, soft unfolding, those portals of gold!

The King all arrayed, in His beauty behold!

O, give me, O, give me the wings of a dove!

Let me hasten my flight to those mansions above!

Ay, 'tis now that my soul on swift pinions would soar,

And in ecstasy bid earth adieu evermore.

A Blackboard Lesson

When I was in San Francisco, I went into a Sunday school the first Sunday I was there. It was a rainy day, and there were so few present that the superintendent thought of dismissing them, but instead, he invited me to speak to the whole school as one class. The lesson was that passage from the Sermon on the Mount: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6:19).

I invited a young man to the blackboard, and we proceeded to compare a few things that some people have on earth and a few things that other people have in heaven.

"Now," said I, "name some earthly treasure."

They all shouted, "Gold!"

"Well, that is so," I said. "I suppose that is your greatest treasure out here in California. Now let's go on; what is another?"

A boy shouted, "Land!"

"Well," I said, "we will put down land."

"What else do the people out here in California value and have their hearts set on?"

They said, "Houses."

"Put that down; what else?"

"Pleasure."

"Put that down."

"Honor. Fame."

"Put them down."

"Business."

"Yes," I said, "many people have their hearts buried in their business. Put that down." As if a little afraid, one of them said, "Clothes," and the whole school smiled.

"Put that down," I said. "Why, I believe some people in the world think more of clothes than any other thing. They just live for clothes. I heard not long ago from good authority of a young lady who was dying of consumption (probably tuberculosis). She had been living in the world and for the world, and it seemed as if the world had taken full possession of her. Because she thought she would die Thursday night, she wanted them to curl her hair that day, so she would look beautiful in her coffin. But she didn't die Thursday night. She lingered through Friday, but Friday she didn't want them to take her hair down; she wanted to keep it up until she passed away. The friends said she looked very beautiful in the coffin! What people wear and how they look – the idea of people having their hearts set on things of that kind!"

"And what else?" I asked.

Well, they were a little ashamed to say it, but one said, "Rum."

"Yes," I said, "put that down."

There is many a man who thinks more of the rum bottle than he does of the kingdom of God. He will give up his wife; he will give up his home and his mother, character, and reputation forever for the rum bottle. Many a man by his life is crying out, "Give me rum, and I will give you heaven and all its glories. I will sell my wife and children. I will make them beggars and paupers. I will degrade and disgrace them for the rum bottle. That is my treasure."

"Oh, thou rum bottle! I worship thee!" is the cry of many. They turn their backs on heaven with all its glories for rum.

When that little boy said, "Rum," some in the class thought he had made a mistake – that it was not a treasure; but it is a treasure to thousands.

Another one said, "Fast horses."

I said, "Put it down. There is many a man who thinks much of fast horses, and he wants to go out, take a fast horse, and drive on Sunday; he spends his Sabbath in this way."

And after we finished our list and thought of everything we could, I said, "Suppose we just write down some of these heavenly treasures. What is there now that the Lord wants us to set our hearts and affections on?"

And they all said, "Jesus."

"That is good; we will put Him down first at the head of the list. Now what else?"

And they said, "Angels."

"Put them down. We will have their society when we go to heaven. That is a treasure up there, really. What else?"

"The friends who have died in Christ, who have fallen asleep in Christ."

"Put them down. Death has taken them from us now, but we will be with them by and by. What else?"

"Crowns."

"Yes, we are going to have a crown – a crown of glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown that fadeth not away. What else?"

"The Tree of Life."

"Yes," I said, "the Tree of Life. We shall have a right to it. We can go to that tree and pluck its fruit, eat, and live forever. What else?"

"The river of life."

"Yes, we shall walk upon the banks of that clean river."

"Harps," one said.

Another one said, "Palms."

"Yes," I said, "put them down. Those are treasures that we will have there."

"Purity."

"Yes, there will be none but the pure there. White robes without spot or wrinkle on our garments. A great many find many flaws in our characters down here, but Christ will present us before the Father without spot and without wrinkle, and we shall stand there complete in Him," I said. "Can you think of anything else?"

And one of them said, "A new song."

"Yes, we shall have a new song. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb. I don't know just who wrote it or how, but it will be a glorious song. I suppose the singing we have here on earth will be nothing compared to the songs of that upper world. Do you know that the principle thing we are told we are going to do in heaven is singing? That is why men ought to sing down here. We ought to begin to sing here so that it will not feel strange when we get to heaven. I pity the professing Christian who doesn't have a song in his heart – who never 'feels like singing.' It seems to me that if we are truly children of God, we will want to sing about it. And so, when we get there, we cannot help shouting out the loud hallelujahs of heaven."

Then I said, "Is there anything else?" Well, they went on. I cannot mention everything, because we had to have two columns to write down the heavenly treasures. We stood there a little while and drew the contrast between the earthly and the heavenly treasures. We looked at them a little while, and when we came to put them all down beside Christ, the earthly treasures looked small after all. What would this world full of gold be if we compared it to Jesus Christ? You who have Christ, would you like to part with Him for gold? Would you like to give Him up for all the honor the earth can bestow on you for a few months or a few years? Think of Christ! Think of the treasures of heaven. And then think of these earthly treasures that we have our hearts set on – the ones so many of us are living for.

God blessed that lesson on the blackboard in a marvelous way, for the young man who had been writing the treasures on the board happened to be an unconverted Sunday school teacher who had gone to California to make money; his heart was set upon gold, and he was living for that instead of for God. Gold was the idol of his heart, but God convicted him at that blackboard. The first convert that God gave me on the Pacific coast was that man, and he was the last man who shook hands with me when I left San Francisco. He saw how empty the earthly treasures were and how grand and glorious the riches of heaven. Oh, if God would just open your eyes; if you are honest and ask Him to do it, He will – He will show you how empty this world is in comparison to what He has in store.

Many people wonder why they do not mount up on wings, why they do not make progress in the divine life, and why they do not grow more in grace. One reason may be that they have too many earthly treasures.

We don't need to be rich to have our hearts set on riches. We don't need to go out into the world more than other people to have our hearts there. I believe the Prodigal Son was in the far country long before he put his feet there. When his heart reached that land, he was there. Many a man does not mingle as much in the world as others do, but his heart is there. He would be there if he could, but God looks at the heart, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

What we need to do is obey the voice of the Master. Instead of laying up treasures on earth, lay them up in heaven. If we do that, bear in mind that we shall never be disappointed.

It is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the kingdom of God. I may make an idol of my business; I may make an idol of my precious wife; I may make idols of my children. You don't need to go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry. You will find many right here who have idols in their hearts. Let's pray that the Spirit of God will banish those idols from our hearts, that we may not be guilty of idolatry, and that we may worship God in spirit and in truth. Anything that comes between me and God is an idol – anything; I don't care what it is. Business is all right in its place, and there is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love God more. But God must have the first place, and if He doesn't, then the idol is set up.

All Eternity for Rest

With the riches of heaven will be the satisfaction of those wants of the soul – the wants that are so desired down here but are never found, such as infinite knowledge, perfect peace, and satisfying love. Like a beautiful likeness that has been marred, covered with streaks of black, and then restored to its original beauty, so the soul is restored to its full beauty of color when it is washed with the blood of Jesus Christ. The senseless image on the canvas cannot be compared, however, in any other way with the living, rational soul.

If we could just see some of our friends who have gone on before us, we might feel like falling down before them. The apostle John had seen so many strange things, yet when one of the bright angels stood before him to reveal some of the secrets of heaven, he fell down to worship him. He says in the last chapter of Revelation:

And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who shewed me these things. Then he said unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowslave and with thy brethren the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book: worship God. (Revelation 22:8-9)

Among the wants that we have on earth is the thirst for knowledge. As much as sin has weakened man's mental faculties, it has not taken away his desire for knowledge. But with all his efforts and with all that he thinks he knows about astronomy, chemistry, geology, and the rest of the sciences, his knowledge of the secrets of nature is still limited.

We do not know many things. Thousands of astronomers have lived and died, and the ages of the world have rolled on. Just the other day, they discovered that the planet Mars has two moons. Perhaps in ages to come, someone will find out that they are not moons at all. This is what most of our human knowledge amounts to.

All of our college professors are anxious to learn more and more, to find out new things, and to make new discoveries – and many of them have gone nearly everywhere in the world. If we were as familiar with all the stars of the firmament as we are with our own earth, we would still not be satisfied.

Not until we are like God will we comprehend the infinite. Even the imperfect glimpses of God that we get by faith only intensify our desire for more. For now, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians:

Now we see as through a mirror [looking glass], in darkness, but then we shall see face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I also am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Now we see God, as it were, in a looking glass – but then face to face. The word Paul used for looking glass is properly translated as "mirror."

Suppose we knew nothing about the sun except what we see of its light reflected from the moon. Wouldn't we wonder about its immense distance, its dazzling splendor, and its life-giving power? All that we see now – the sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, the flowers, and above all, man – are a grand mirror in which the perfection of God is imperfectly reflected.

Another want that we have is rest. We get tired of toiling. Yet there is no real rest on earth. We find in the book of Hebrews:

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us therefore make haste to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11)

While we all want rest, many people make a mistake when they think the church is a place of rest. When they unite with the church, they have a false idea about their position in it. Many just come in to rest. The text tells us: There remains therefore a rest for the people of God, but it does not tell us that the church is a place of rest. We have all eternity to rest in. We are to rest in the future, but we are to work here, and when our work is finished, the Lord will call us home to enjoy that rest. There is no use in talking about rest down here in the Enemy's country. We cannot rest in this world, where God's Son has been crucified and cast out. I think that many people are going to lose their reward because they have come into the church with the idea that they are to rest there. It is as if the church was working for the reward, instead of each one using all his influence toward the building up of Christ's kingdom.

In Revelation, we read, And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them (Revelation 14:13).

Death may rob us of money. Death may rob us of position. Death may rob us of our friends, but there is one thing death can never do – death cannot rob us of the work that we do for God. That will live on forever. Their works do follow them. How much are we doing? Anything that we do outside of ourselves and not with a mean and selfish motive, that is going to live. We have the privilege of setting into motion streams of activity that will flow on when we are dead and gone.

It is the privilege of everyone to live more in the future than they do in the present, so that their lives will tell in fifty or a hundred years more than they do now.

John Wesley's influence is a thousandfold greater today than it was when he was living. He still lives. He lives in the lives of thousands and hundreds of thousands of his spiritual descendants.

Martin Luther lives more truly today than he did three centuries ago, when he awakened Germany. He only lived one life, and that was for a little while. But now, look at the hundreds and thousands and millions of lives that he is living. There are between fifty and sixty million people who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught by Martin Luther, who bear his name. He is dead in the sight of the world, but his works do follow him. He still lives.

The voice of John the Baptist is ringing throughout the world today, although nearly nineteen hundred years have passed away since Herodias asked for his death. When Herod beheaded him, he thought that he was hushing John's voice, but it is ringing throughout the earth today. John the Baptist lives, because he lived for God; but he has entered into his rest, and his works do follow him.

And if those up yonder can see what is going on upon the earth, how much joy they must have to think that they have set these streams in motion, and that this work is going on; it is being carried on after them.

If a man lives a mean, selfish life, he goes down to the grave, and his name and everything concerning him goes down in the grave with him. If he is ambitious to leave a record behind him with a selfish motive, his name rots with his body. But if a man gets outside of himself and begins to work for God, his name will live forever.

You could go to Scotland today, and you would find the influence of John Knox over every mountain in Scotland. You could almost feel the breath of that man's prayer in Scotland today. His influence still lives. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord . . . they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Blessed rest is in store for us; we will rest by and by, but we should not waste time talking about rest while we are here.

If I am to wipe a tear from the cheek of that fatherless boy, I must do it down here. Scripture does not say that we shall have the privilege of doing that hereafter. If I am going to help some fallen man who has been overtaken by sin, I must do it here. We are not going to have the privilege of being co-workers with God in the future – but that is our privilege today. We may not have it tomorrow. It may be taken from us tomorrow, but we can enter into the vineyard and do something today before the sun goes down. We can do something now before we go to glory.

Another want that we feel here is love. Heaven is the only place where the conditions of love can be fulfilled. Love is essentially mutual there. Everybody loves everybody else. In this world of wickedness and sin, it seems impossible for people to be all on a perfect plane of equality. When we meet people who are bright and beautiful and good, we have no difficulty in loving them. All the people of heaven will be like that. There will be no fear of misplaced confidences there, and we shall never be deceived by those we love. When a suspicion of doubt fastens upon anyone who loves, their happiness from that moment is at an end. There will be no suspicion in heaven.

The Home Beyond

Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies,

Beyond death's cloudy portal,

There is a land where beauty never dies

And love becomes immortal

– Amelia Priest Wakefield

Maist Onie Day [Most Any Day]

Ye ken, dear bairn, that we maun part,

When death, cauld death, shall bid us start;

But when he'll send his fearfu' dart

We canna say,

So we'll mak' ready for his dart

Maist onie day.

We'll keep a'right and guid wi'in,

Our wark will then be free frae sin.

Upright we'll walk through thick and thin,

Straight on our way.

Deal just wi'a', the prize we'll win

Maist onie day.

Ye ken ther's Ane, wha's just and wise,

Has said that a' His bairns should rise,

An' soar aboon the lofty skies,

And there shall stay.

Being well prepared, we'll gain the prize

Maist onie day.

When He wha made a' things just right,

Shall call us hence to realms of light,

Be it morn or noon, or e'en or night,

We will obey.

We'll be prepared to tak' our flight

Maist onie day.

Our lamps we'll fill brimfu' o' oil,

Thet's guid and pure, that wadna spoil,

And keep them burning a' the while,

To light our way.

Our wark bein' done we'll quit the soil,

Maist onie day

– Timothy Poland

Not Here! Not Here!

Not here! Not here! Not where the sparkling waters

Fade into mocking sands as we draw near;

Where in the wilderness, each footstep falters,

I shall be satisfied; but oh, not here!

There is a land where every pulse is thrilling

With rapture earth's sojourners never know;

Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling,

And peacefully life's time-tossed currents flow.

"Satisfied! Satisfied!" The spirit's yearning

For sweet companionship with kindred minds,

The silent love that here meets no returning,

The inspiration which no language finds.

Shall they be satisfied? The soul's vague longings,

The aching void which nothing earthly fills?

Oh! What desires upon my soul are thronging

As I look upward to the heavenly hills.

Thither my weak and weary steps are tending;

Savior and Lord, with thy frail child abide;

Guide me toward home, where, all my wanderings ending,

I then shall see Thee, and be satisfied.

– Attributed to Fanny Crosby by Hymnary.org
Chapter 6

Heaven: Its Rewards

Each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. – 1 Corinthians 3:8

My reward is with me, to give each one according as his work shall be. – Revelation 22:12

If I am correct, whenever men or women look to be rewarded here for doing right, they are unqualified to work for God. If they desire the applause of men and look for reward in this life, it will disqualify them for the service of God, because they are compromising truth all the while.

They are afraid of hurting someone's feelings. They are afraid that someone is going to say something against them, or there will be some newspaper articles written against them. Now, we must trample the world under our feet if we are going to get our reward later. If we live for God, we must be willing to suffer persecution. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light are at war, and have been, and will be as long as Satan is permitted to reign in this world. As long as the kingdom of darkness is permitted to exist, there will be a conflict. If you want to be popular in the kingdom of God, if you want to be popular in heaven, and if you want to get a reward that will last forever, you will have to be unpopular here.

If you seek the applause of men, you can't have the Lord say, "Well done" at the end of the journey. For do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the slave of Christ (Galatians 1:10). You can't have both. Why? Because this world is at war with God. The idea that the world is getting better all the time is false. The old natural heart is just as much at enmity with God as it was when Cain slew Abel. Sin leaped into the world full grown in Cain. And from the time that Cain was born into the world to the present, by his nature man has been at war with God.

This world was not established in grace, and we have to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil; if we fight the world, the world won't like us, and if we fight the flesh, the flesh won't like us. We have to mortify the flesh. We have to crucify the old man and put him under. Then, we will eventually get our reward, and a glorious reward it will be.

In Luke, we read:

And he said unto them, Ye are they who justify themselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15)

We must go right against the current of this world. If the world has nothing to say against us, we can be confident that the Lord Jesus Christ has very little to say for us. Some people do not like to go against the current of the world. They say they know this and that is wrong, but they do not say a word against it, lest it make them unpopular. If we expect to get the reward, we must fight the good fight of faith, for Paul has said, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day (2 Timothy 4:8). This is true for all who fight the good fight.

Fear of Death

How little we realize the meaning of the word eternity! The whole time between the creation of the world and the ending of it would not make a day in eternity. In time, it is like the infinity of space, whose center is everywhere and whose boundary is nowhere. We read in the epistle to the Hebrews:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the empire [power] of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Many of God's professing children live in continual bondage – in the constant fear of death. I believe that is dishonoring to God. I believe that it is not His will to have one of His children live in fear for one moment. If you know the truth as it is in Christ, there is no need for fear, and there is no need for dread, because death will only hasten you on to glory. Your names are already there.

The next thought is for those who are dear to us. It is not only our privilege to have our names written in heaven, but the names of the children God has given us can be written there also. Our hearts ought to go right out for them. The promise is not only to us but also to our children. Many a father's and many a mother's heart are burdened with anxiety for the salvation of their children. If your own name is there, let your next purpose in life be to get the children whom God has given you there also.

A mother was dying in one of our Eastern cities a few years ago, and she had a large family of children. She died of tuberculosis, and the children were brought in to her one by one as she was sinking. She gave the oldest child her last message and her dying blessing. As the next one was brought in, she put her hand upon the child's head and gave her a blessing; then the next one was brought in, and the next, until at last they brought in the little infant. She took the baby to her bosom and pressed it to her loving heart. Her friends saw that it was hastening her end because she was excited, but as they went to take the little child from her, she said, "My husband, I charge you to bring all these children home with you." Likewise, God charges us parents to bring our children home with us – not only to have our own names written in heaven but those of our children also.

A prominent Christian worker in New York told me a story that affected me very much:

A father had a son who had been sick for some time, but he did not consider him dangerously ill. However, one day he came home to dinner and found his wife weeping. He asked, "What is the trouble?"

"There has been a great change in our boy since morning," the mother said. "I am afraid he is dying; I wish you to go in and see him, and if you think he is, I wish you to tell him so, for I cannot bear to."

The father went in and sat down by the bedside. He placed his hand upon the boy's forehead, and he could feel the cold, damp sweat of death. He knew his son's cold, icy hand was feeling for the cords of life, and that he would soon be taken away. He said to him, "My son, do you know you are dying?"

The little fellow looked up at him and said, "No; am I? Is this death that I feel stealing over me, Father?"

"Yes, my son, you are dying."

"Will I live the day out?"

"No; you may die at any moment."

He looked up to his father and said, "Well, I shall be with Jesus tonight, won't I, Father?"

And the father answered, "Yes, my boy, you will spend tonight with the Savior," and the father turned away to conceal the tears, so the little boy wouldn't see him weep.

But he saw the tears, and he said, "Father, don't you weep for me. When I get to heaven, I will go straight to Jesus and tell Him that ever since I can remember, you have tried to lead me to Him."

I have three children, and the greatest desire of my heart is that they be saved – that I may know their names are written in the Book of Life. I may be taken from them early. I may leave them in this changing world without a father's care. But I would rather have my children say the same thing of me after I am dead and gone. Or, if they die before me, I would rather they should take that message to the Master – that ever since they can remember, I have tried to lead them to Him – than to have a monument over me reaching to the skies.

We shouldn't look upon death as we do. Bishop Heber has written of a dead friend:

Thou Art Gone to the Grave

Thou art gone to the grave! but we will not deplore thee,

Though sorrows and darkness encompass the tomb;

Thy Saviour has passed through its portal before thee,

And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom.

Thou art gone to the grave! we no longer behold thee,

Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side;

But the wide arms of Mercy are spread to enfold thee,

And sinners may die, for the Sinless has died!

– Reginald Heber

The roll is being called, and one after another summoned away; but if the names of our loved ones are there, if we know that they are saved, how sweet it is after they have left us to think that we shall meet them again. We shall see them in the morn when the night has worn away.

During the late war (the Civil War), a young man lay on a cot, and they heard him say, "Here, here!" Someone went to his cot and wanted to know what he wanted, and he said, "Hark! Hush, don't you hear them?"

"Hear whom?" the other soldier asked.

"They are calling the roll of heaven," he said. Soon he answered again, "Here!" and then he was gone.

If our names are in the Book of Life, someday when our name is called, we can say with Samuel, "Here am I!" and fly away to meet Him. And, if our children are called away early, it will be so sweet to think that they died in Christ, that the great Shepherd gathered them in His arms and carried them in His bosom, and that we will meet them another day.

Paul, the Christian Hero

The way to get to heaven is to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We get salvation as a gift, but we have to work it out, just as if we got a gold mine for a gift.

For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

I do not get a crown by joining the church or renting a pew. Consider Paul. He won his crown. He had many hard fights; he met Satan on many battlefields, and he overcame him and wore the crown. It would take about ten thousand of the average Christian today to make one of Paul. When I read the life of that apostle, I blush for the Christianity of the nineteenth century. It is a weak and sickly thing.

Look at what he went through: Five times he was scourged. In the old Roman custom of scourging, the prisoner was bound at his wrists and bent over in a stooping posture. The Roman soldier would bring the lash – braided with sharp pieces of steel – down upon the bare back of the prisoner and cut him through the skin. Men sometimes died in the act of being scourged, but Paul says he was scourged five different times. Now if we would get one stripe upon our backs, what a whining there would be. There would be forty publishers after us before the sun went down, so they could publish our life stories and make money from them.

But Paul said, Five times I received forty stripes less one (2 Corinthians 11:24). That was nothing for him. Take your stand by his side.

"Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes more; what are you going to do after you get out of the difficulty? What are you going to do about it all?"

"Do?" says he. "I will do this one thing: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus [Philippians 3:14]. I am on my way to get my crown." He was not going to lose his crown. "Don't think that a few stripes will turn me away; these light afflictions are nothing."

And so, they put on thirty-nine more stripes.

He had sprung into the race for Christ and was leaping toward heaven. If you will allow me the expression, the devil met his match when he met Paul. He never switched off on a sidetrack. He never sat down to write a letter to defend himself. All the strength that he had he gave to Christ. He never gave a particle to the world or to defend himself. This one thing I do, he said. "I am not going to lose the crown" (Philippians 3:13). See that no man takes your crown.

Three times I was beaten with rods (2 Corinthians 11:25). Take your stand again beside him.

"Now Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they are going to beat you again. What are you going to do? Are you going to continue preaching? If you are, let me give you a little advice. Don't be quite so radical; be a little more conservative; just use a little finer language and soften the cross with beautiful words and flowery sentences. Tell men that they are pretty good after all, that they are not so bad, and try to pacify the Jews. Make friends with them and join the world, and the world will think more of you. Don't be so earnest; don't be so radical, Paul. Now come, take our advice. What are you going to do?"

"Do?" he says. "This one thing I do, . . . I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." So they put on the rods, and every blow lifts him nearer to God.

Take your stand with him again. They begin to stone him. That is the way they killed those who did not preach to suit them.

When Stephen was stoned to death, Paul, then known as Saul, cheered on the crowd. Later it seemed that he would be paid back in like manner.

"Now Paul, this is growing serious; shouldn't you take back some of the things you have said about Jesus? What are you going to do?"

"Do?" he says. "If they take my life, I will only get my crown the sooner."

He would not budge an inch. He had something that the world could not give; he had something it could not take away. He had eternal life, and he had a crown of glory waiting for him.

These Light Afflictions

Three times he was shipwrecked; a day and a night he spent in the deep. Look at that mighty apostle, a whole day and night in the deep. There he was – shipwrecked, and for what? Was it to make money? He was not after money. He was just going from city to city and town to town to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and to lift up the cross wherever he had opportunity.

He went down to Corinth and preached eighteen months, and he didn't have several of the leading ministers of Corinth come on the platform and sit by his side when he preached. There was not a man who stood by him. When he reached Corinth, he had none of the leading businessmen to stand by him and advise him. The tentmaker arrived in Corinth a perfect stranger, and the first thing he did was find a place where he could make a tent. He did not go to a hotel; his income wouldn't allow it; he went where he could earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Think of that great apostle making a tent and then standing on the corner of a street to preach. Perhaps once in awhile he would go into a synagogue, but the Jews turned him out. They did not want to hear him preach anything about Jesus the Crucified.

When I read of the life of such a man, how I blush to think how sickly and dwarfed Christianity is at the present time, and how many hundreds there are who never think of working for the Son of God and honoring Christ.

Yet when he wrote that letter back to Corinth, we find him taking an inventory of some things he had. He is rich, he says, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by those of my nation, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. This last thing must have been the hardest of all. In labour and travail, in many watches, in hunger and thirst, in many fasts, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, my daily combat is the welfare of the congregations (2 Corinthians 11:26-28).

These are only some of the things that he summed up. Do you know what made him so exceedingly happy? He believed the Scripture; he believed the Sermon on the Mount. We profess to believe it; we pretend to believe it; but few of us truly believe it. Listen to one sentence in that sermon: Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in the heavens, when you are persecuted (Matthew 5:12).

At that time, persecution was about all that Paul had. That was his capital, and he had a good deal of it. He had laid up many persecutions, and he was to get a great reward. Christ says, Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in the heavens. If Jesus Christ spoke of it as great, it must indeed be wonderful. We call things great that may look very small to Jesus Christ, and things that look very small to us may look very large to Him. When the great Christ – the Creator of heaven and earth, He who formed the heavens and the earth by His mighty power – calls it a great reward, what must it be?

Perhaps some people said to the apostle to the Gentiles, "Now Paul, you are meeting with too much opposition; you are suffering too much."

Hear him reply: For our tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepares an exceeding and eternal weight of glory unto us (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Our light tribulation, he called it. We would have called it pretty hard and pretty heavy, would we not?

But he said, "These light afflictions are nothing; think of the glory before me and think of the crowning time; think of the reward that is laid up for me. I am on my way; the Righteous Judge will give it to me when the time comes," and that was what filled his soul with joy. It was the thought of reward that the Lord had in store for him.

My friends, let's take a minute and think of what Paul accomplished. Think of going out among the heathen – the first missionary to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to these men who were full of wickedness, enmity, and bitterness. Think of Paul going out to tell them that the man who died outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, the death of a common prisoner, a common felon, in the sight of the world was the promised Christ. Think of Paul telling them that they had to believe in that crucified Man in order to enter the kingdom of God. Think of the dark mountain that rose up before him, the opposition, and the bitter persecution; then think of the trifles in our way.

Songs in Prison

But many worldly people thought Paul's life was a failure. When his enemies put him in prison, they probably thought that would silence him. But I believe that today Paul thanks God more for prisons, for stripes, for the persecution and opposition that he suffered than for anything else that happened to him on earth.

The very things we do not like are sometimes the very best for us. Christians probably might not have these glorious epistles if Paul had not been thrown into prison. That is where he took up his pen and wrote letters to the Christians in Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and to Philemon and Timothy. Look at the two epistles that he wrote to the Corinthians. How much has been done for the world by these epistles. What a blessing they have been to the church of God; how great a light they have thrown on many lives. But we might not have those epistles if it had not been for persecution.

Perhaps John Bunyan blesses God more today for the Bedford jail than anything that happened to him. We probably would not have The Pilgrim's Progress if he had not been thrown into that prison. Satan thought he accomplished a great deal when he shut Bunyan up for twelve years and six months, but what a blessing it was to the world.

I believe Paul blesses God today for the Philippian jail and for the imprisonment he suffered in Rome, because it gave him time to write those blessed letters. Talk of Alexander making the world tremble with the tread of his armies, and of Caesar's and Napoleon's power, but here is a little tentmaker who turned the world upside down without an army.

Why?

Because God Almighty was with him.

Paul said, None of these things move me (Acts 20:24). They threw him in prison, but it was all the same; it did not move him. When he was preaching at Corinth and Athens, it made no difference. He just pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling. If God wanted him to go through prisons to win the prize, it was all the same to him. They put him in prison, but they put the Almighty in with him, and Paul was so linked to Jesus that they could not separate them. He would rather be in prison with Christ than out of prison without Him. He would a thousand times rather be cast into prison with the Son of God and suffer a little persecution for a few days than to be living at ease without Him.

He heard the cry, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." He went over and preached, and the first thing that happened to him was that he was put into the Philippian jail. Now, if he had been as fainthearted as most of us, he would have been disappointed and cast down. There would have been a great complaint.

He would have said, "This is a strange providence; whatever brought me here? I thought the Lord called me here. Here I am in prison in a strange city; how did I ever get here? How will I ever get out of this place? I have no money; I have no friends; I have no attorney; I have no one to intercede for me, and here I am." Paul and Silas were not only in prison, but their feet were also made fast in the stocks (Acts 16:24). There they were, in the inner prison, a dark, cold, damp dungeon. But at midnight, the other prisoners heard a strange sound. They had never heard anything like it before. They heard singing. I do not know what song those two imprisoned evangelists sang, but I know one thing – it was not a doleful sound from the tombs. We have a hymn, "Hark! from the Tombs a Doleful Sound." They did not sing that, but the Bible tells us they sang praises. That was an odd place to sing praises, was it not?

I suppose it was time for the evening prayers. Maybe they had just had their evening prayer and then sang their evening hymn. And, God answered their prayers, and the old prison shook, and the chains dropped, and the prison doors were opened (Acts 16:25-26). Yes, I have no doubt that in glory he thanks God that he went to jail and that the Philippian jailer became converted.

Swept into Glory

But look at him at Rome. Nero signed his death warrant. Take your stand and look at the little man. He is small, and in the sight of the world, he is contemptible, and the world frowns upon him (2 Corinthians 12:10). Go to the palace of the king and talk about that criminal – about Paul – and you will see a sneer on their countenances.

"Oh, he is a fanatic," they say. "He has gone mad." I wish the world were filled with such fanatics. I tell you that what we want today is a few fanatics like him – men who fear nothing but sin and love no one but God.

Rome never had such a conqueror within her walls. Rome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her boundaries. Although the world looked down upon him, and perhaps he looked very small and contemptible, yet in the sight of heaven, he was the mightiest man who ever trod the streets of Rome. There will probably never be another one like him traveling those streets. The Son of God walked with him. But go into that prison; officials come to him and tell him that Nero has signed his death warrant. He does not tremble; he is not afraid.

"Paul, aren't you sorry you have been so zealous for Christ? It is going to cost you your life; if you had to live it over again, would you give it to Jesus of Nazareth?" What do you think the old warrior would reply?

See his eyes light up as he says, "If I had ten thousand lives, I would give every one of those lives to Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not commence earlier and serve Him better. The only regret I have now is that earlier I lifted my voice against Jesus of Nazareth."

"But they are going to behead you."

"Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my heart. I care nothing about my head; the Lord has my heart and has had it for years. They cannot separate me from the Lord, and when my head is taken off, I shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better" (Philippians 1:23).

And they led him out. I do not know at what hour; perhaps it was early in the morning. Tradition tells us that they led him two miles out of the city. Look at the little tentmaker as he goes through the streets of Rome with a firm tread. Look at that giant as he moves through the streets. He is on his way to execution. Take your stand by his side and hear him talk. He is talking of the glory beyond.

He says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. I shall see the King in His beauty tonight. I have longed to be with Him; I have longed to see Him. This is the day of my crowning."

The world scoffed at him, but he did not heed its scoffing. He had something the world did not have. Burning within him he had a love and zeal that the world knew nothing about. Ah, the love that Paul had for Jesus Christ! But oh, the greater love the Lord Jesus had for Paul!

The hour had come. The way they used to behead believers in those days was for the prisoner to bend his head as a Roman soldier took a sword and cut it off. The hour had come, and I imagine Paul with a joyful countenance, bending his blessed head as the soldier's sword came down and set his spirit free.

If our eyes could look as Elisha's did, we might have seen him leap into a chariot like Elijah. We might have seen him go sweeping through limitless space – Look at him as he mounts higher and higher; look and see him move up; up – up – up – ever upward.

Look at him yonder!

See! He is entering the Eternal City of the glorified saints, the blissful abode of the Savior's redeemed. The prize he so long has sought is at hand. See the gates yonder, how they fly wide open. See the herald angels on the shining battlements of heaven. Hear the glad shout that is passed along. "He is coming! He is coming!" And he goes sweeping through the pearly gates, along the shining way, to the very throne of God. Christ is sitting there and says, Well done, good and faithful slave; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:23).

Just think of hearing the Master say it. Won't that be enough for everything?

Oh friends, your turn and mine will come in time if we are but faithful. Let's be sure that we do not lose the crown. Let's awake and put on the whole armor of God. Let's press into the conflict; it is a glorious privilege. Then to us too, as to the glorified of old, will come that blessed welcome from our glorified Lord:

Well done, good and faithful slave.
Dwight L. Moody – A Brief Biography

Dwight Lyman Moody was born on February 5, 1837, in Northfield, Massachusetts. His father died when Dwight was only four years old, leaving his mother with nine children to care for. When Dwight was seventeen years old, he left for Boston to work as a salesman. A year later, he was led to Jesus Christ by Edward Kimball, Moody's Sunday school teacher. Moody soon left for Chicago and began teaching a Sunday school class of his own. By the time he was twenty-three, he had become a successful shoe salesman, earning $5,000 in only eight months, which was a lot of money for the middle of the nineteenth century. Having decided to follow Jesus, though, he left his career to engage in Christian work for only $300 a year.

D. L. Moody was not an ordained minister, but was an effective evangelist. He was once told by Henry Varley, a British evangelist, "Moody, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him."

Moody later said, "By God's help, I aim to be that man."

It is estimated that during his lifetime, without the help of television or radio, Moody traveled more than one million miles, preached to more than one million people, and personally dealt with over seven hundred and fifty thousand individuals.

D. L. Moody died on December 22, 1899.

Moody once said, "Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all – out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal; a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever."
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Heaven – Dwight L. Moody

Revised Edition Copyright © 2018

First edition published 1884

Originally published by F. H. Revell, Chicago, New York

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Unless otherwise marked, scripture quotations are taken from the Jubilee Bible, copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010, 2013 by Life Sentence Publishing, Inc. Used by permission of Life Sentence Publishing, Inc., Abbotsford, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.

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