505. HEB 11:16. HEAVEN THE COUNTRY OF THE CHRISTIAN’S DESIRE

Heb_11:16. Heaven The Country Of The Christian’s Desire

(DESIGNED FOR FUNERAL SERVICES)

"But now they desire a better country; that is, an heavenly."’97Heb_11:16.

The apostle, having referred to the heroic faith and holy lives of several of the Old Testament saints, then pronounces the manner in which they finished their earthly course. "These all died in faith." This had been their mode of life; they lived by faith, and when they came to the close of life, still they had not received the promise, neither the entire possession of Canaan, or the promised Messiah, but they were unshaken in their belief in death. As the troubles of life could not move them from the foundation on which they rested, neither could the waters of death. "They died in faith." And as to the influence of faith on the general tenor of spirit and conversation, it is said they considered "themselves strangers." For had they sought to return to their native land, the country of Mesopotamia, they might easily have done so. But they preferred being strangers and pilgrims, because "they desired a better country," &c. Let us take a brief survey,

I. Of the revelation concerning heaven.

II. In what respects it is a better country.

III. The desire which all true believers have for its possession.

I. Of the revelation concerning heaven.

We wish to dwell emphatically on the word revelation, because what can we know of a future state except what is revealed? Human imagination may sketch a heaven, but then it is only ideal, and therefore not that which hope can appropriate to itself. Mahomet has promised his followers a heaven, but such a one as he knew would fascinate the oriental sensualist. Now the scriptures reveal,

1. A heavenly place.

This place they call by a variety of significant appellations. Habitation of God God’s right hand. Glory. Our Father’s house. The new Jerusalem. The city of God. Paradise. We presume not to say where it is, but it is doubtless in the most exalted and glorious part of God’s universe. It is represented as being upward; Christ ascended to it. Paul was caught up into the third heavens. Now in this place God has his palace,’97his throne,’97his temple,’97his servants,’97his worshippers. But mark, the scriptures reveal it chiefly,

2. As a state.

As the state of the glorified spirits who dwell with God; worship him incessantly; enjoy the rivers of pleasure which are at his right hand for evermore. It is represented as a state of rest from toil, as triumph after warfare; of glory after suffering; of life after death; of honor, and immortality, and endless bliss. But these points will be more appropriate, when we view the subject comparatively.

II. In what respects is it a better country than this?

1. It is a sinless country.

How beautiful and fair was this earth when God expressed his perfect approbation, and pronounced it very good. Sin defaced and marred it. Sin converted it into the region of wo, and the shadow of death. Sin diffused ruin through every part of it. Now, that better country is sinless, the plague-spot of sin is not within all its borders. The streams are all pure; the sky is cloudless and radiant; the ail unimpregnated with pollution. In all that country God has his own bright image reflected. Not one spirit devoted to the service of the evil one. The refulgent rays of the divine holiness spread through all the extent of that better land. How different to this world.

2. It is a healthful country.

Sickness is the fruit of sin. Pain the offspring of iniquity. Could we be borne on the wings of some heavenly intelligence to every hospital, infirmary, and afflicted chamber, what should we see and hear? Afflictions abound among all classes of men,’97in the palace of the monarch as well as in the cottage of the peasant. The wasting consumption, the burning inflammation, the raging fever, the suffocating asthma, with a fearful train of ills and pains, storming every part of the citadel of man The heavenly atmosphere is untainted. Not a disease is incidental to that better world. The air is salubrious; the enjoyments without peril; the food incorruptible; and therefore sickness is unknown.

3. It is a country inhabited by perfect beings.

The perfect and blessed God. The perfect and blessed Mediator. The perfect and holy angels. The spirits of the perfected saints. Not one imperfect being within the celestial range. Now to speak more especially of the redeemed saints,’97they are all entirely holy. How different that country to this.

(1) Let us look without the church, and there is the ungodly world. Hating God and hating his people. Persecuting, bitter, malignant tongues. Devouring spirits, ravenous as wild beasts; hateful and hating as demons. Not an envious person,’97not a detractor, or evil speaker,’97not a calumniator,’97not one person with an evil heart or evil tongue.

(2) No imperfect brethren. Here we are often distressed through the infirmities of our fellow disciples: one is possessed of an uninformed understanding; another an unsound judgment; a third, a stubborn disposition; a fourth, a wayward or hasty temper; and in many things we all offend. There the inhabitants will have clear, unclouded understandings; true, and righteous, and hallowed judgments; hearts full of celestial love, and spirits of courtesy, gentleness, and meekness. Then that which is imperfect shall be done away, and every inhabitant contribute to the peace and happiness of the whole. Nothing shall hurt or vex in all God’s holy mountain.

4. It is a country of better enjoyments.

This world is full of God’s goodness, but the richer blessings are above. Besides, there our enjoyments,

(1) Will be overflowing. Here only a sip, a gleam, a taste: there an ocean, noonday light, and an eternal banquet,

(2) Will be incessant. Here interrupted; there ever joyous. Here like angels visits, &c.; there continuous; a rolling sea of glory; pleasures which have no interruption.

(3) Eternal. Perpetuity of bliss is bliss. Death terminates all earthly enjoyments: but the terms, age, infirmity, suffering, death, are nowhere to be found in the vocabulary of heaven. There time is not, that is, duration measured; all is eternity: no night, but endless day; no death, but eternal life. What a country! How it should attract us, &c.

III. The desire which all true believers have for its possession.

Others may wish, but the true Christian really desires it. This desire,

1. Is formed in regeneration.

Born for and from above. New nature tends upward.

2. Is cultivated by sanctifying grace.

Growing in grace is growing in meetness, &c.

3. Is heightened by spiritual visits to it.

He ascends in prayer,’97in faith,’97in hope. "Oh that I had wings like a dove," &c.

4. Is exhibited in holy diligence to obtain it.

He labors to enter; he gives all diligence.

Application

1. This better country is offered to all who will set out on the heavenly pilgrimage. Who then will begin the holy journey?

2. How truly blest are all the children of the heavenly Zion. Now on their way to the land of rest,’97to their Father’s house,’97to endless glory. How cheerful they should be. "Yea, and before we rise to that immortal state," &c.

3. There is a worse country, the world of wo, of darkness, of despair, of endless death. Flee from it, and now.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS