CHAP. XII. Differences between our beholding the Glory of Christ by Faith in this World, and by sight in Heaven. The first of them explained.

We walk here by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). That is, in the life of God, in our walking before him, in the whole of our obedience, we are under the conduct and influence of faith and not of sight. These are the two spiritual powers of our souls, by the one of which we are made partakers of grace, holiness, and obedience in this life, and by the other of eternal blessedness and glory.

Both of these — namely, faith and sight, the one in this life, the other in that which is to come — have the same immediate object. For they are the abilities of the soul to go forth to and embrace its object. Now this object of them both is the glory of Christ, as has been declared, as also what that glory is and in what it consists. Therefore my present design is to inquire into the difference between our beholding the glory of Christ in this world by faith and the vision we shall have of the same glory hereafter.

The latter of these is peculiarly intended in that prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for his disciples (John 17:24): "Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, to behold my glory that you have given me." But I shall not dwell on it distinctly, my design being otherwise — respecting principally the work of God in this life and the privileges we enjoy by it. Yet I shall now take a short prospect of that also; not absolutely, but in the differences between faith and sight, or the view we have of the glory of Christ in this world by faith and that which those above enjoy by vision, the object of them both being adequately the same.

But herein also I shall have respect only to some of those things which concern our practice, or the present immediate exercise of faith. For I have elsewhere handled at length the state of the church above, or that of present glory — giving an account of the administration of the office of Christ in heaven, his presence among the glorified souls, and the adoration of God under his guidance. I have also declared the advantage they have by being with him and the prospect they have of his glory. Therefore these things must here be only touched on.

These differences may be referred to two heads: (1) those which arise from the different natures and actings of those means and instruments by which we apprehend this glory of Christ, namely faith and vision; and (2) those that arise from the different effects produced by them. Instances in each kind shall be given.

1. The view we have of the glory of Christ by faith in this world is obscure, dark, indistinct, and reflexive. So the apostle declares (1 Corinthians 13:12): "Now we see through a glass dimly" — through or by a glass, in a riddle, a parable, a dark saying. There is a double figurative limitation put upon our view of the glory of Christ, taken from the two ways of our perception of what we apprehend, namely the sight of things and the hearing of words.

The first is that we have this view not directly but reflexively and by way of representation, as in a mirror. For I take the glass here not to be optical or a telescope which aids the sight, but a looking glass which reflects an image of what we behold. It is a sight like that which we have of a man in a mirror, when we see not his person or substance, but only an image or representation of them, which is imperfect.

The shadow or image of this glory of Christ is drawn in the gospel, and therein we behold it as the likeness of a man represented to us in a mirror. And although it is obscure and imperfect in comparison of his own real, substantial glory — which is the object of vision in heaven — yet it is the only image and representation of himself which he has left and given to us in this world. That woeful, cursed invention of framing images of him out of wood and stone, however adorned, or representations of him by the art of painting, are so far from presenting to the minds of men anything of his real glory that nothing can be more effective in diverting their thoughts and apprehensions from it. But by this figurative expression of seeing in a mirror, the apostle declares the comparative imperfection of our present view of the glory of Christ.

But the allusion may also be taken from an optical glass or telescope, by which the sight of the eye is helped in beholding things at a great distance. By the aid of such glasses men will discover stars or heavenly lights which, by reason of their distance from us, the eye by itself is in no way able to discern. And those which we do see are more fully represented, though still far enough from being seen perfectly. Such a glass is the gospel — without which we can make no discovery of Christ at all, but in the use of it, we are far enough from beholding him in the full dimensions of his glory.

And he adds another indication of this imperfection in an allusion to the way by which things are proposed and conveyed to the minds and apprehensions of men. Now this is by words, and these are either plain, proper, and direct, or dark, figurative, and parabolic. This latter way makes the conception of things difficult and imperfect, and by reason of the imperfection of our view of the glory of Christ by faith in this world, the apostle says it is "in a riddle." The psalmist calls these "dark sayings" (Psalm 78:2).

But here it must be observed that the description and representation of the Lord Christ and his glory in the gospel is not absolutely, or in itself, either dark or obscure. Indeed, it is perspicuous, plain, and direct — Christ is therein evidently set forth crucified, exalted, glorified. But the apostle does not here discourse concerning the way or means of the revelation of it to us, but concerning the means or instrument by which we comprehend that revelation. This is our faith, which as it is in us — being weak and imperfect — apprehends the representation made to us of the glory of Christ as men do the sense of a dark saying, a riddle, a parable: that is, imperfectly and with difficulty.

On this account we may say at present, "How small a portion is it that we know of him?" as Job speaks of God (Job 26:14). How imperfect are our conceptions of him! How weak are our minds in their management of these things! There is no part of his glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend — for there is a comprehension in faith (Ephesians 3:18) — we cannot remain in the steady contemplation of. Forever blessed be that sovereign grace from which it is that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and therein of the glory of Christ himself — that he has so revealed him to us that we may love him, admire him, and obey him. But to behold his glory constantly, steadily, and clearly in this life we are not able, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

Hence our sight of him here is, as it were, in glimpses, liable to be clouded by many interpositions. "Behold, he stands behind the wall, he looks through the windows, showing himself through the lattice" (Song of Solomon 2:9). There is a great interposition between him and us, as a wall; and the means of the disclosure of himself to us, as through a window and lattice, include a great instability and imperfection in our view and apprehension of him. There is a wall between him and us, which yet he stands behind. Our present mortal state is this wall, which must be demolished before we can see him as he is. In the meantime he looks through the windows of the ordinances of the gospel. He gives us sometimes, when he is pleased to stand in those windows, a view of himself; but it is imperfect, as is our sight of a man through a window. The appearances of him at these windows are full of refreshment to the souls of those who believe. But our view of them is imperfect, fleeting, and does not abide. We are for the most part quickly left to lament what we have lost. And then our best is to cry: "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God; my soul thirsts for God, for the living God — when shall I come and appear before God?" When will you again give me to see you, though but as through the windows? Alas, what distress do we sometimes sit down in after these views of Christ and his glory! But he proceeds further yet, and shows himself through the lattice. This displaying of the glory of Christ — called his showing himself — is by the promises of the gospel as they are explained in the ministry of the word. In them are represented to us the desirable beauties and glories of Christ. How precious, how gracious is he as represented in them! How are the souls of believers ravished with the views of them! Yet this discovery of him is also but as through a lattice. We see him but by parts, unsteadily and unevenly.

Such, I say, is the sight of the glory of Christ which we have in this world by faith. It is dark, it is but in part, it is weak, fleeting, imperfect, partial. It is but little that we can at any time discover of it; it is but a little while that we can abide in the contemplation of what we do discover — "a rare hour, a brief stay." Sometimes it is to us as the sun when it is under a cloud — we cannot perceive it. "When he hides his face, who then can behold him?" As Job speaks, so may we: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, where he works, but I cannot behold him; he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him" (Job 23:8–9). Whichever way we turn ourselves, and whatever duties we apply ourselves to, we can obtain no distinct view of his glory. Yet on the other hand, it is sometimes as the sun when it shines in its brightness, and we cannot bear the rays of it. In infinite condescension he says to his church, "Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me" (Song of Solomon 6:5) — as if he could not bear that overwhelming, affectionate love which looks through the eyes of the church in its exercise of faith on him. Ah, how much more do we find our souls overwhelmed with his love when at any time he is pleased to make clear discoveries of his glory to us!

Let us now on the other hand take a brief consideration of that vision which we shall have of the same glory in heaven, that we may compare them together.

Vision, or the sight which we shall have of the glory of Christ in heaven, is immediate, direct, intuitive, and therefore steady, even, and constant. And it is so on a double account: (1) of the object which shall be proposed to us, and (2) of the seeing power or faculty with which we shall be endowed. From the imperfection of both of these in this world arises the imperfection of our view of the glory of Christ by faith, as has been declared.

1. The object of it will be real and substantial. Christ himself in his own person with all his glory shall be continually with us, before us, proposed to us. We shall no longer have an image, a representation of him, such as is the portrayal of his glory in the gospel. "We shall see him," says the apostle, "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12), which he opposes to our seeing him dimly as in a mirror — which is the utmost that faith can attain. "We shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2), not as now in an imperfect description of him. As a man sees his neighbor when they stand and converse together face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory — and not as Moses, who had only a fleeting sight of some parts of the glory of God when he caused it to pass by him.

There will be use in this of our bodily eyes, as shall be declared. For as Job says, "In my flesh shall I see my Redeemer, and my eyes shall behold him" (Job 19:25–27). That corporeal sense shall not be restored to us — and that glorified beyond what we can conceive — but for this great use of the eternal beholding of Christ and his glory. To whom is it not a matter of rejoicing, that with the same eyes by which they see the tokens and signs of him in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, they shall behold himself immediately, in his own person? But principally, as we shall see immediately, this vision is intellectual. It is not therefore the mere human nature of Christ that is its object, but his divine person as that nature subsists in it. What that perfection is which we shall have — for that which is perfect must come and do away with that which is in part — in the comprehension of the hypostatic union, I do not understand. But this I know: that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what we can here conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power in it will be continually before us. And all the glories of the person of Christ, which we have before weakly and faintly inquired into, will be in our sight forevermore.

Hence the ground and cause of our blessedness is that we shall be ever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17). As he himself prays, that we may be with him where he is to behold his glory. Here we have some dim views of it; we cannot perfectly behold it until we are with him where he is. Thereupon our sight of him will be direct, intuitive, and constant.

There is a glory — there will be so subjectively in us — in the beholding of this glory of Christ, which is at present incomprehensible. For "it does not yet appear what we ourselves shall be" (1 John 3:2). Who can declare what a glory it will be in us to behold this glory of Christ? And how excellent then is that glory of Christ itself?

This immediate sight of Christ is that which all the saints of God in this life breathe and pant after. Hence they are willing to be dissolved, or desire to depart so as to be with Christ, which is best for them (Philippians 1:23). They choose to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), so as to enjoy the inexpressibly longed-for sight of Christ in his glory. Those who do not so long for it — whose souls and minds are not frequently visited with earnest desires after it, to whom thoughts of it are not their relief in trouble and their greatest joy — are carnal, blind, and cannot see far off. He who is truly spiritual entertains and refreshes himself with thoughts of this continually.

2. It will be so from that seeing power or faculty of beholding the glory of Christ which we shall then receive. Without this we cannot see him as he is. When he was transfigured on the mount and had upon his human nature some reflections of his divine glory, his disciples who were with him were rather overwhelmed than refreshed by it (Matthew 17:4). They saw his glory, but spoke thereupon they knew not what (Luke 9:30–33). And the reason was that no man in this life can have a seeing power, either spiritual or bodily, to look directly and immediately upon the real glory of Christ.

Should the Lord Jesus appear now to any of us in his majesty and glory, it would not be for our edification or consolation. For we are not fit or able, by the power of any light or grace that we have received or can receive, to bear the immediate appearance and representation of them. His beloved apostle John had leaned on his breast many times in this life, in the intimate familiarities of love. But when he afterwards appeared to him in his glory, he fell at his feet as dead (Revelation 1:17). And when he appeared to Paul, all the account he could give of it was that he saw a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, upon which he and all who were with him fell to the ground (Acts 26:13–14).

And this was one reason why in the days of his ministry here on earth, his glory was veiled with the infirmities of the flesh and all kinds of sufferings, as we have before related. The church in this life is in no way fit, by the grace which it can be made partaker of, to converse with him in the immediate manifestations of his glory.

And therefore those who dream of his personal reign on the earth before the day of judgment — unless they suppose that all the saints shall be perfectly glorified also (which is only to bring down heaven to the earth for a while, to no purpose) — make no provision at all for the edification or consolation of the church. For no present grace, advanced to the highest degree of which it is capable in this world, can make us fit for an immediate fellowship with Christ in his unveiled glory.

How much more abominable is the folly of men who would represent the Lord Christ in his present glory by pictures and images of him! When they have done their utmost with their burnished glass and gildings, a physical eye can not only behold it, but if guided by reason, see it as contemptible and foolish. But the true glory of Christ, neither inward nor outward sight can bear the rays of in this life.

The dispensation we are fit for is only that of his presence with us by his Spirit. We know him now no longer after the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16). We are advanced above that way and means of knowing him through the fleshly, carnal ordinances of the Old Testament. And we know him not according to that bodily presence which his disciples enjoyed in the days of his flesh. We have attained somewhat above that also. For such was the nature of his ministry here on earth that there could not be the promised dispensation of the Spirit until it was finished. Therefore he tells his disciples that it was expedient for them that he should go away and send the Spirit to them (John 16:7). Thereupon they had a clearer view of the glory of Christ than they could have had by beholding him in the flesh. This is our spiritual posture and condition. We are past the knowledge of him according to the flesh; we cannot attain or receive the sight of him in glory; but the life we now lead is by the faith of the Son of God.

I shall not here inquire into the nature of this vision, or the power and ability which we shall have in heaven to behold the glory of Christ. A few things may be mentioned as it relates to our minds and our bodies also after the resurrection.

1. As to the mind, it shall be perfectly freed from all that darkness, unsteadiness, and other incapacities which here accompany it, and by which it is weakened, hindered, and obstructed in the exercise of faith. And these are of two sorts. First, such as are the remnants of that depravation of our natures which came upon us by sin. By this our minds became wholly vain, dark, and corrupt, as the Scripture testifies — utterly unable to discern spiritual things in a due manner. This is so far cured and removed in this life by grace that those who were darkness become light in the Lord, being enabled to live to God under the guidance of a new spiritual light communicated to them. But it is only cured and removed in part; it is not perfectly abolished. Hence are all our remaining weaknesses and incapacities in discerning things spiritual and eternal, which we still groan under and long for deliverance from. No footstep, no scar or mark that it ever had place in our minds shall remain in glory (Ephesians 5:27). Nothing shall weaken, disturb, or incapacitate our souls in the exercise of all their powers, unimpeded by vanity, distractions, weakness, or inability, upon their proper objects. The excellence of this universal liberty and power we cannot here comprehend. Nor can we yet conceive the glory and beauty of those pure spiritual actings of our minds which shall have no drag on them, no encumbrance in them, no alloy of dross accompanying them. One pure act of spiritual sight in discerning the glory of Christ, one pure act of love in cleaving to God, will bring more blessedness and satisfaction into our minds than we are capable of in this world.

2. There is an incapacity in our minds, as to their actings on things spiritual and eternal, that is merely natural from the condition in which they are and the role they are to fill in this life. For they are here clothed with flesh, and that flesh debased and corrupted. Now in this state, though the mind acts its conceptions by the body as its organ and instrument, yet it is variously straitened, burdened, and impeded in the exercise of its native powers — especially toward heavenly things — by this prison of the flesh in which it is confined. There is an angelic excellence in the pure actings of the soul when delivered from all material instruments; or when those instruments are all glorified and made fitting helps in its fullest spiritual activity. How and by what degrees our minds shall be freed from these obstructions in their beholding of the glory of Christ shall be declared afterward.

2. Again, a new light — the light of glory — shall be implanted in them. There is a light in nature, which is the power of a man to discern the things of man, an ability to know, perceive, and judge of natural things. It is that spirit of a man which is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly (Proverbs 20:27).

But by the light of this, no man can discern spiritual things in a due manner, as the apostle declares (1 Corinthians 2:11–15). Therefore God gives a superior, supernatural light — the light of faith and grace — to those whom he effectually calls to the knowledge of himself by Jesus Christ. He shines into their hearts to give them the knowledge of his glory in the face of his dear Son. Yet this new light does not abolish, blot out, or render useless the other light of nature, as the sun when it rises extinguishes the light of the stars; but it directs it and rectifies it as to its principle, object, and end. Yet it is in itself a light of quite another nature. But he who has only the former light can understand nothing of it, because he has no taste or experience of its power and operations. He may talk of it and make inquiries about it, but he does not know it.

Now we have received this light of faith and grace, by which we discern spiritual things and behold the glory of Christ in the imperfect manner before described. But in heaven there shall be an added light of glory which shall make the mind itself shine as the firmament (Daniel 12:3). I shall say only three things of it: (1) that as the light of grace does not destroy or abolish the light of nature but rectifies and improves it, so the light of glory shall not abolish or destroy the light of faith and grace, but by incorporating with it, render it absolutely perfect; (2) that as by the light of nature we cannot clearly comprehend the true nature and efficacy of the light of grace, because it is of another kind and is seen only in its own light, so by the light of grace we cannot fully comprehend this light of glory, being of a peculiar kind and nature, seen perfectly only by its own light — it does not yet appear what we shall be; (3) that the best notion we can have of this light of glory is that in the first instance of its operation it perfectly transforms the soul into the image and likeness of Christ.

This is the progress of our nature to its rest and blessedness. The principles remaining in it concerning good and evil, with its practical convictions, are not destroyed but improved by grace, as its blindness, darkness, and enmity to God are in part removed. Being renewed by grace, what it receives here of spiritual life and light shall never be destroyed but be perfected in glory. Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace; and so the whole soul is brought to its rest in God. We have an image of it in the blind man whom our Savior healed (Mark 8:22–24). He was absolutely blind, born so without doubt. Upon the first touch his eyes were opened, and he saw but very obscurely — he saw men walking like trees. But on the second touch he saw all things clearly. Our minds in themselves are absolutely blind. The first visitation of them by grace gives them a sight of things spiritual, heavenly, and eternal, but it is obscure and unsteady. The sight of glory makes all things clear and plain.

2. The body as glorified, with its senses, shall have its use and place in this. After we are clothed again with our flesh, we shall see our Redeemer with our eyes.

We do not know here what power and spirituality there will be in the acts of our glorified bodies. Such they will be as shall bear a part in eternal blessedness. Holy Stephen, the first martyr, took up something of glory by anticipation before he died. For when he was brought to his trial before the council, all who sat there, looking intently at him, saw his face as the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). He had his transfiguration, according to his measure, corresponding to that of our blessed Savior on the mount. And by this initial beam of glory, he received such a piercing vividness and sharpness on his bodily eyes that, through all those inconceivable distances between the earth and the residence of the blessed, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55–56). Who then can declare what will be the power and operation of this sense of sight when perfectly glorified, or what sweetness and refreshment may be admitted into our souls by it?

It was a privilege — who would not have longed to share in it? — to have seen him with our bodily eyes in the days of his flesh, as did the apostles and other disciples. Yet he was not then himself glorified in the manifestation of his glory, nor were those who saw him changed or transformed in their nature. How great this privilege was, he himself declares to those who so saw him (Matthew 13:17): "Truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which you see" — of which we shall speak immediately. And if this were so excellent a privilege that we cannot but congratulate those who enjoyed it, how excellent and how glorious will it be when with these eyes of ours — gloriously purified and strengthened beyond those of Stephen — we shall behold Christ himself immediately in the fullness of his glory! He alone perfectly understands the greatness and excellence of this, who prayed his Father that those who believe in him may be where he is, so to behold his glory.

These are some of the grounds of this first difference between our beholding the glory of Christ by faith here and by immediate vision hereafter. Hence the one is weak, imperfect, obscure, and reflexive; the other direct, immediate, even, and constant. And we may pause a little in the contemplation of these things.

This view of the glory of Christ of which we have now spoken is that which we are breathing and panting after; that which the Lord Christ prays that we may arrive at; that which the apostle testifies to be our best — the best thing or state which our nature is capable of — that which brings eternal rest and satisfaction to our souls.

Here our souls are burdened with innumerable infirmities, and our faith is hindered in its operations by ignorance and darkness. This makes our best estate and highest attainments to be accompanied with groans for deliverance. "We who have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23). Yes, "while we are in this tent we groan, earnestly longing" because we are not absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:2–8). The more we grow in faith and spiritual light, the more sensible we are of our present burdens, and the more vehemently we groan for deliverance into the perfect liberty of the sons of God. This is the posture of those minds who have received the firstfruits of the Spirit in the most eminent degree. The nearer any one is to heaven, the more earnestly he desires to be there, because Christ is there. For the more frequent and steady our views of him by faith, the more do we long and groan for the removal of all obstructions and interpositions in so doing. Now groaning is a vehement desire mixed with sorrow for the present want of what is desired. The desire has sorrow, and that sorrow has joy and refreshment in it — like a shower that falls on a man in a garden in spring: it wets him, but at the same time refreshes him with the fragrance it causes among the flowers and herbs of the garden. And this groaning — which when it is constant and habitual is one of the choicest effects of faith in this life — respects both what we would be delivered from and what we would attain. The first is expressed in Romans 7:24, the other in the places just mentioned. And this frame, with an intermixture of some sighs from weariness by the troubles, sorrows, pains, and sicknesses of this life, is the best we can attain to here.

Alas! we cannot think of Christ here without being quickly ashamed of and troubled by our own thoughts — so confused, so unsteady, so imperfect are they. Commonly they issue in a groan or a sigh: Oh, when shall we come to him? When shall we be ever with him? When shall we see him as he is? And if at any time he begins to give more than ordinary evidence and intimation of his glory and love to our souls, we are not able to bear them so as to give them any lasting residence in our minds. But ordinarily this trouble and groaning is among our best attainments in this world — a trouble from which, I pray God, I may never be delivered until deliverance comes at once from this state of mortality. Yes, may the good Lord increase this trouble more and more in all who believe.

The heart of a believer affected with the glory of Christ is like a needle touched with the lodestone. It can no longer be quiet, no longer be satisfied at a distance from him. It is put into a continual motion toward him. The motion indeed is weak and trembling. Pantings, breathings, sighings, groanings — in prayer, in meditation, in the secret recesses of our minds — are the life of it. Yet it is continually pressing toward him. But it does not reach its goal; it does not come to its center and rest in this world.

But now above, all things are clear and serene, all plain and evident in our beholding the glory of Christ. We shall be ever with him and see him as he is. This is heaven, this is blessedness, this is eternal rest.

The person of Christ, in all his glory, shall be continually before us; and the eyes of our understanding shall be so gloriously illuminated that we shall be able steadily to behold and comprehend that glory.

But alas! here at present our minds recoil, our meditations fail, our hearts are overcome, our thoughts confused, and our eyes turn aside from the luster of this glory; nor can we abide in the contemplation of it. But there, an immediate, constant view of it will bring everlasting refreshment and joy into our whole souls.

This beholding of the glory of Christ given him by his Father is indeed subordinate to the ultimate vision of the essence of God. What that is we cannot well conceive; only we know that the pure in heart shall see God. But it has such an immediate connection with it and subordination to it that without it we can never behold the face of God as the objective blessedness of our souls. For he is and shall be to eternity the only means of communication between God and the church.

And we may take some direction in our looking into and longing after this perfect view of the glory of Christ from the example of the saints under the Old Testament. The sight which they had of the glory of Christ — for they also saw his glory through the obscurity of its revelation and its being veiled with types and shadows — was weak and imperfect in the most illuminated believers, far inferior to what we now have by faith through the gospel. Yet such it was as encouraged them to inquire and search diligently into what was revealed (1 Peter 1:10–11). However, their discoveries were but dim and confused — such as men have of things at a great distance, or in a land that is very far off, as the prophet speaks (Isaiah 33:16). And the continuation of this veil on the revelation of the glory of Christ, while a veil of ignorance and blindness was upon their hearts and minds, proved the ruin of that church in its apostasy, as the apostle declares (2 Corinthians 3:7–14). This double veil God promised to remove (Isaiah 25:7). And then shall they turn to the Lord, when they shall be able clearly to behold the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16).

But this caused those who were real believers among them to desire, long, and pray for the removal of these veils and the departure of those shadows that made it as night to them in comparison of what they knew would appear when the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in his wings. They thought it long before the day would break and the shadows flee away (Song of Solomon 2:17; 4:6). There was, as the apostle speaks, a stretching forth of the head with desire and expectation for the appearance of the Son of God in the flesh and the accomplishment of all divine promises in him (Romans 8:19). Hence he was called the Lord whom they sought and delighted in (Malachi 3:1).

And great was the spiritual wisdom of believers in those days. They rejoiced and gloried in the ordinances of divine worship which they enjoyed. They looked on them as their greatest privilege, and attended to them with diligence, as an effect of divine wisdom and love, and also because they had a shadow of good things to come. But at the same time they longed and desired that the time of reformation were come, in which they should all be removed, so that they might behold and enjoy the good things signified by them. And those who did not so, but rested in and trusted to their present institutions, were not accepted with God. Those who were truly illuminated did not so, but lived in constant desires after the revelation of the whole mystery of the wisdom of God in Christ, as did the angels themselves (1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 3:9–10).

In this frame of heart and the corresponding actings of their souls, there was more of the power of true faith and love than is found among most at this day. They saw the promises from afar, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them (Hebrews 11:13). They stretched out the arms of their most intent affections to embrace the things that were promised. We have an instance of this frame in old Simeon, who as soon as he had taken the child Jesus in his arms cried out, "Now, Lord, let me depart, now let me die — this is what my soul has longed for" (Luke 2:28–29).

Our present darkness and weakness in beholding the glory of Christ is not like theirs. It is not occasioned by a veil of types and shadows cast upon it by the representative institutions of it; it does not arise from the want of a clear doctrinal revelation of the person and office of Christ. But as was before declared, it proceeds from two other causes. First, from the nature of faith itself in comparison to vision — it is not able to look directly into this excellent glory, nor fully to comprehend it. Second, from the manner of its proposal, which is not the substance of the thing itself, but only an image of it, as in a mirror. But the sight, the view of the glory of Christ which we shall have in heaven, is much more above that which we now enjoy by the gospel, than what we do or may enjoy exceeds what they had under their types and shadows. There is a far greater distance between the vision of heaven and the sight we now have by faith, than there is between the sight we now have and what they had under the Old Testament. Heaven surpasses the gospel state more than the gospel state surpasses the law. Therefore, if they so prayed, so longed for, so desired the removal of their shadows and veils that they might see what we now see — that they might behold the glory of Christ as we may behold it in the light of the gospel — how much more should we, if we have the same faith with them, the same love (which neither will nor can be satisfied without perfect enjoyment), long and pray for the removal of all weakness, all darkness and interposition, that we may come to that immediate beholding of his glory which he so earnestly prayed that we might be brought to.

To sum up briefly what has been said. There are three things to be considered concerning the glory of Christ, three degrees in its manifestation: the shadow, the perfect image, and the substance itself. Those under the law had only the shadow of it and of the things that belong to it — they did not have the perfect image of them (Hebrews 10:1). Under the gospel we have the perfect image which they did not have — a clear, complete revelation and declaration of it, presenting it to us as in a mirror. But the enjoyment of these things in their substance is reserved for heaven; we must be where he is, that we may behold his glory. Now there is a greater difference and distance between the real substance of any thing and the most perfect image of it, than there is between the most perfect image and the lowest shadow of the same thing. If then they longed to be freed from their state of types and shadows so as to enjoy the representation of the glory of Christ in that image of it which is given us in the gospel, how much more ought we to breathe and pant after our deliverance from beholding it in the image of it, that we may enjoy the substance itself. For whatever can be manifest of Christ on this side of heaven is granted to us for this end, that we may the more fervently desire to be present with him.

And as it was their wisdom and grace to rejoice in the light they had and in those typical administrations of divine worship which shadowed out the glory of Christ to them — yet always panting after that more excellent light and full discovery of it which was to be made by the gospel — so it will be ours also to thankfully use and improve the revelations we enjoy of it, and those institutions of worship in which our faith is assisted in the view of it; yet so as continually to breathe after that perfect, that glorifying sight of it, which is reserved for heaven above.

And may we not examine ourselves a little by these things? Do we esteem this pressing toward the perfect view of the glory of Christ to be our duty, and do we abide in the performance of it? If it is otherwise with any of us, it is a clear evidence that our profession is hypocritical. If Christ is in us, he is the hope of glory in us; and where that hope is, it will be active in desires for the things hoped for. Many love the world too well and have their minds too much filled with the things of it to entertain desires of hastening through it to a state in which they may behold the glory of Christ. They are at home and are unwilling to be absent from the body, though to be present with the Lord. They hope, perhaps, that such a time will come at one point or another, and then it will be the best they can look for when they can be here no more. But they have but little sight of the glory of Christ in this world by faith, if any at all, who so slightly, so faintly desire to have the immediate sight of it above. I cannot understand how any man can walk with God as he ought, or has that love for Jesus Christ which true faith will produce, or places his refreshment and joy in spiritual things, in things above, who does not on all fitting occasions so meditate on the glory of Christ in heaven as to long for admittance into the immediate sight of it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood wherein the eternal blessedness of those who believe in him consists. And this is the sum of what he prays for with respect to that end — namely, that we may be where he is to behold his glory. And is it not our duty to live in a continual desire for that which he prayed so earnestly that we might attain? If in ourselves we as yet apprehend but little of the glory, the excellence, the blessedness of it, yet ought we to repose that confidence in the wisdom and love of Christ that it is our best — infinitely better than anything we can enjoy here below.

To those who are accustomed to these contemplations, they are the salt of their lives, by which everything is seasoned and made savory to them, as we shall show afterward. And the want of spiritual diligence in this is what has produced a negligent, careless, wordy profession of religion which, countenancing itself with some outward duties, has lost out of it the power of faith and love in their principal operations. By this many deceive their own souls. Goods, lands, possessions, relations, trades, with secular interests in them, are the things whose image is drawn on their minds and whose characters are written on their foreheads as the titles by which they may be known. As believers beholding the glory of Christ in the blessed mirror of the gospel are changed into the same image and likeness by the Spirit of the Lord, so these persons beholding the beauty of the world and the things that are in it, in the cursed mirror of self-love, are in their minds changed into the same image. Hence perplexing fears, vain hopes, empty embraces of perishing things, fruitless desires, earthly and carnal designs, cursed self-pleasing imaginations — feeding on and being fed by the love of the world and self — abide and prevail in them. But we have not so learned Christ Jesus.

We walk here by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). That is, in the life of God — in walking before Him and in the whole of our obedience — we are guided and sustained by faith and not by sight. These are the two spiritual capacities of our souls, the one making us partakers of grace, holiness, and obedience in this life, and the other of eternal blessedness and glory.

Both of these — faith in this life and sight in the life to come — have the same immediate object. They are the soul's abilities to reach out to and embrace its object. That object, for both, is the glory of Christ, as has been described — including what that glory is and what it consists of. My present purpose therefore is to examine the difference between our beholding the glory of Christ in this world by faith and the vision we will have of that same glory hereafter.

The latter is what our Lord Jesus Christ especially has in view in His prayer for His disciples: 'Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me' (John 17:24). I will not dwell on it separately, since my main purpose lies elsewhere — focused principally on the work of God in this life and the privileges we enjoy through it. Yet I will take a brief look at this as well — not in isolation, but in terms of the differences between faith and sight: the view we have of Christ's glory in this world by faith, and the view those above enjoy by direct vision, the object of both being exactly the same.

Even here I will take note only of those things that bear on our practice — on the present exercise of faith. I have elsewhere addressed at length the state of the church above, the state of present glory — including the administration of Christ's office in heaven, His presence among the glorified souls, and the worship of God under His guidance. I have also described the advantage believers gain by being with Him and the sight they have of His glory. These things therefore need only be touched on here.

These differences may be grouped under two heads: first, those that arise from the different natures and workings of the means by which we apprehend Christ's glory — namely faith and vision; and second, those that arise from the different effects produced by them. Examples of each kind will be given.

First, the view we have of Christ's glory by faith in this world is obscure, dim, indistinct, and indirect. The apostle declares it: 'For now we see in a mirror dimly' (1 Corinthians 13:12) — through or by a mirror, in a riddle, a parable, a dark saying. There is a double figurative limitation placed on our view of Christ's glory, drawn from the two ways we perceive things: the sight of the eyes and the hearing of words.

The first is that we have this view not directly but indirectly and by way of representation — as in a mirror. I take the glass here to be not a telescope or optical aid to sight, but a looking glass that reflects an image of what we see. It is a sight like that of a person reflected in a mirror — we see not the person or substance directly, but only an image or representation of them, which is imperfect.

The shadow or image of Christ's glory is drawn in the gospel, and there we behold it as we behold a person's likeness reflected in a mirror. Although this image is obscure and imperfect compared to His real, substantial glory — which is the object of direct vision in heaven — it is the only image and representation of Himself He has left and given us in this world. That wretched, corrupt invention of fashioning images of Him from wood and stone, however adorned, or representations of Him through the art of painting, are so far from presenting anything of His real glory to people's minds that nothing could be more effective at diverting their thoughts from it altogether. But through this figure of seeing in a mirror, the apostle indicates the comparative imperfection of our present view of Christ's glory.

The image may also be drawn from an optical glass or telescope, by which the eye is aided in seeing things at a great distance. With such instruments, people can discover stars or heavenly lights that the naked eye, because of their distance, is entirely unable to detect. And even those we do see are represented more fully, though still far from being seen perfectly. The gospel is such an instrument — without it we can make no discovery of Christ at all, yet even with it, we are far from beholding Him in the full dimensions of His glory.

He adds another indication of this imperfection in an image drawn from the way things are communicated to the minds of people through words. Words can be plain, direct, and literal — or they can be dark, figurative, and parabolic. This latter kind makes understanding difficult and imperfect, and because of the imperfection of our view of Christ's glory by faith in this world, the apostle says it is 'in a riddle.' The psalmist calls these 'dark sayings' (Psalm 78:2).

It must be noted here, however, that the description and representation of the Lord Christ and His glory in the gospel is not in itself absolutely dark or obscure. In fact, it is clear, plain, and direct — Christ is set forth in the gospel evidently, as crucified, exalted, and glorified. But the apostle is not speaking here about the manner or means of revelation itself, but about the means or instrument by which we take in that revelation. That instrument is our faith — and faith, as it exists in us, being weak and imperfect, grasps the representation of Christ's glory made to us as one grasps the meaning of a riddle, a parable, or a dark saying: that is, imperfectly and with difficulty.

On this account we can say at present, 'What a small portion of Him do we know!' — as Job speaks of God (Job 26:14). How imperfect are our conceptions of Him! How weak are our minds in handling these things! There is no part of His glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend — for there is a true comprehension in faith (Ephesians 3:18) — we cannot remain in steady contemplation of. Forever blessed be that sovereign grace through which He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and in that face, the glory of Christ Himself — so revealing Him to us that we may love Him, wonder at Him, and obey Him. But to behold His glory constantly, steadily, and clearly in this life we are not able, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

Our sight of Him here is, therefore, as it were, in glimpses — subject to being obscured by many obstructions. 'Behold, He is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice' (Song of Solomon 2:9). There is a great barrier between Him and us, like a wall; and the means by which He discloses Himself to us — through a window and lattice — include much instability and imperfection in our sight and understanding of Him. There is a wall between Him and us, behind which He nevertheless stands. Our present mortal condition is that wall, which must be torn down before we can see Him as He is. In the meantime, He looks through the windows of the gospel ordinances. When He is pleased to stand in those windows, He gives us a glimpse of Himself — but it is imperfect, as is our sight of a person through a window. His appearances at these windows bring deep refreshment to the souls of those who believe. Yet our sight of them is imperfect, fleeting, and does not remain. We are most often quickly left lamenting what we have lost. At such times our best response is to cry out: 'As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?' When will You again let me see You, even if only through windows? How much distress we sometimes sit in after these glimpses of Christ and His glory! But He goes further still, and shows Himself through the lattice. This display of Christ's glory — called His showing Himself — comes through the promises of the gospel as they are opened in the ministry of the Word. In those promises the desirable beauties and glories of Christ are set before us. How precious, how gracious is He as represented in them! How the souls of believers are overwhelmed with delight at these views! Yet this disclosure of Him is also only through a lattice — we see Him in fragments, unsteadily and unevenly.

Such, I say, is the sight of Christ's glory that we have in this world by faith. It is dim, it is only partial, it is weak, fleeting, imperfect, and fragmentary. Little can we discover of it at any one time; and little time can we remain in contemplation of what we do discover — a rare hour, a brief stay. Sometimes it is to us as the sun behind a cloud — we cannot perceive it at all. 'When He hides His face, who then can see Him?' As Job says, so we may say: 'Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him' (Job 23:8-9). Whichever way we turn and whatever duties we pursue, we cannot gain a clear view of His glory. Yet on the other hand, His glory is sometimes to us as the sun shining in full brightness — and we cannot bear the rays of it. In infinite condescension He says to His church, 'Turn your eyes away from me, for they have confused me' (Song of Solomon 6:5) — as if He could not bear that overwhelming, affectionate love which looks through the eyes of the church as it exercises faith in Him. How much more do we find our own souls overwhelmed with His love when He is pleased to reveal His glory clearly to us!

Let us now consider briefly the vision we will have of that same glory in heaven, so that we may compare the two.

The vision — the sight of Christ's glory that we will have in heaven — is immediate, direct, and intuitive, and therefore steady, even, and constant. This is true on two accounts: first, regarding the object that will be set before us; and second, regarding the seeing faculty with which we will be endowed. The imperfection of both of these in this world is what produces the imperfection of our view of Christ's glory by faith, as has been described.

First, the object of heavenly vision will be real and substantial. Christ Himself in His own person, with all His glory, will be continually present with us, before us, set before us. We will no longer have an image or representation of Him, such as the portrayal of His glory in the gospel. 'We shall see face to face,' says the apostle (1 Corinthians 13:12), which he contrasts with our present dim sight as in a mirror — which is the furthest that faith can reach. 'We will see Him just as He is' (1 John 3:2), no longer in an imperfect description of Him. As a person sees his neighbor when they stand face to face in conversation, so shall we see the Lord Christ in His glory — not as Moses, who had only a passing glimpse of portions of God's glory as it passed before him.

Our bodily eyes will have a role in this, as we shall see. As Job says, 'Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold' (Job 19:25-27). Our physical sight will not be restored to us — and restored in a glory beyond what we can now conceive — for any lesser purpose than this great one: the eternal beholding of Christ and His glory. Who would not rejoice at the thought that with the same eyes by which they now see the signs and tokens of Him in the Lord's Supper, they will one day behold Him directly in His own person? But principally, as we shall see shortly, this vision is intellectual. Therefore its object is not merely the human nature of Christ, but His divine person as that nature exists within it. I do not fully understand what that perfection will be which we shall have — for what is perfect must come and do away with what is partial — in our comprehension of the hypostatic union. But this I know: that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we will see a glory in it a thousand times greater than anything we can now conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power in Him will be continually before us. And all the glories of Christ's person — which we have previously examined so weakly and dimly — will be in our sight forevermore.

The ground and cause of our blessedness is therefore that we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17). This is what He Himself prays for — that we may be with Him where He is to behold His glory. Here we have some dim glimpses of it; we cannot behold it perfectly until we are with Him where He is. Then our sight of Him will be direct, intuitive, and constant.

There will be — there will exist subjectively in us — a glory in the beholding of Christ's glory that is at present incomprehensible. 'It has not appeared as yet what we will be' (1 John 3:2). Who can declare what a glory it will be within us to behold this glory of Christ? And how exceedingly great, then, is that glory of Christ itself?

This direct sight of Christ is what all the saints of God in this life breathe and long for. This is why they are willing to be dissolved — desiring to depart so as to be with Christ, which is far better for them (Philippians 1:23). They choose to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), so as to enjoy the inexpressibly longed-for sight of Christ in His glory. Those who do not long for it — whose souls and minds are not regularly visited with earnest desires for it, to whom thoughts of it bring no relief in trouble and no great joy — are spiritually blind and cannot see far. The person who is truly spiritual entertains and refreshes himself with thoughts of this continually.

Second, this vision will be made possible by the seeing power or faculty for beholding Christ's glory that we will then receive. Without this we cannot see Him as He is. When He was transfigured on the mountain and His human nature reflected something of His divine glory, the disciples who were with Him were overwhelmed rather than refreshed by it (Matthew 17:4). They saw His glory, but what they said in response they did not really know (Luke 9:30-33). The reason is that no person in this life possesses a seeing power — whether spiritual or physical — capable of looking directly and immediately on the real glory of Christ.

If the Lord Jesus were to appear to any of us now in His majesty and glory, it would not be for our growth or comfort. We are not fit or able, by any measure of light or grace we have received or can receive in this life, to bear the direct appearance and display of that glory. His beloved apostle John had rested on His chest many times in this life, in the close intimacies of love. But when Christ later appeared to him in His glory, John fell at His feet as though dead (Revelation 1:17). And when He appeared to Paul, the most that Paul could report was that he saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, at which he and all who were with him fell to the ground (Acts 26:13-14).

This was one reason why, during the days of His earthly ministry, His glory was veiled under the frailties of the flesh and all kinds of suffering, as we noted earlier. The church in this life is in no way ready — by whatever grace it can receive — to commune with Him in the direct manifestation of His glory.

Therefore those who imagine His personal reign on earth before the day of judgment — unless they suppose all the saints will also be perfectly glorified (which is simply to bring heaven down to earth for a time, to no purpose) — make no provision at all for the growth or comfort of the church. No present grace, developed to the highest degree it is capable of in this world, can make us fit for direct fellowship with Christ in His unveiled glory.

How much more inexcusable, then, is the folly of those who try to represent the Lord Christ in His present glory through pictures and painted images! When they have done their very best with polished glass and gilding, a physical eye can not only look at it, but guided by reason can see it as contemptible and foolish. But the true glory of Christ — neither inward sight nor outward sight can bear its rays in this life.

The way of His presence that we are fit for is only that of His presence with us through His Spirit. We know Him now no longer according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16). We have advanced beyond that way of knowing Him through the physical, external ordinances of the Old Testament. Nor do we know Him according to the bodily presence His disciples enjoyed in the days of His earthly life. We have attained something beyond that as well. The nature of His earthly ministry was such that the promised gift of the Spirit could not come until that ministry was finished. So He told His disciples that it was better for them that He should go away and send the Spirit to them (John 16:7). After that they had a clearer view of the glory of Christ than they could have had by seeing Him in the flesh. This is our spiritual position and condition. We are past knowing Him according to the flesh; we cannot yet receive the sight of Him in glory; but the life we now live is by faith in the Son of God.

I will not here examine the nature of this heavenly vision, or the power and capacity we will have there to behold the glory of Christ. A few things may be mentioned as they relate to our minds and our bodies after the resurrection.

First, as to the mind: it will be perfectly freed from all the darkness, instability, and other incapacities that accompany it here, by which it is weakened, hindered, and obstructed in the exercise of faith. These incapacities are of two kinds. The first kind consists of the remnants of the corruption that came upon our natures through sin. By sin our minds became entirely vain, dark, and corrupt — utterly unable to discern spiritual things rightly, as Scripture testifies. Grace has in this life cured and removed this to such a degree that those who were darkness have become light in the Lord, enabled to live toward God under the guidance of a new spiritual light communicated to them. But it is only partly cured and removed in this life; it is not perfectly abolished. This is why we still carry remaining weaknesses and incapacities in discerning spiritual and eternal things — things we groan under and long to be delivered from. No trace, no scar or mark that this corruption ever had a place in our minds will remain in glory (Ephesians 5:27). Nothing will weaken, disturb, or hinder our souls in the exercise of all their powers — free from vanity, distraction, weakness, or inability — as they rest on their proper objects. We cannot now comprehend the excellence of this complete freedom and capacity. Nor can we yet conceive the glory and beauty of those pure spiritual workings of our minds that will have no drag on them, no encumbrance in them, no mixture of dross. One pure act of spiritual sight beholding the glory of Christ, one pure act of love cleaving to God, will bring more blessedness and satisfaction into our minds than we are capable of receiving in this entire world.

Second, there is also an incapacity in our minds — as to their workings on spiritual and eternal things — that arises purely from the condition and role they have in this life. Here they are clothed with flesh, and that flesh debased and corrupted. In this state, though the mind performs its thinking by using the body as its organ and instrument, it is variously strained, burdened, and impeded in the exercise of its native powers — especially toward heavenly things — by the prison of flesh in which it is confined. There is an angelic excellence in the pure workings of the soul when freed from all material instruments, or when those instruments are all glorified and made fitting aids to its fullest spiritual activity. How and by what stages our minds will be freed from these obstructions in their beholding of Christ's glory will be addressed later.

Furthermore, a new light — the light of glory — will be implanted in our minds. There is a natural light — the human capacity to understand human things, to know, perceive, and judge of natural realities. It is that spirit of a person which is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts (Proverbs 20:27).

But by this natural light alone, no one can rightly discern spiritual things, as the apostle declares (1 Corinthians 2:11-15). Therefore God gives a higher, supernatural light — the light of faith and grace — to those He effectually calls to the knowledge of Himself through Jesus Christ. He shines into their hearts to give them the knowledge of His glory in the face of His dear Son. This new light does not abolish, blot out, or render the natural light useless — as the sun rising does not extinguish the light of the stars — but it directs and corrects the natural light in its principle, object, and end. Yet it is in itself a light of an entirely different kind. A person who has only the natural light can understand nothing of the spiritual light, having no taste or experience of its power and workings. He may talk about it and inquire into it, but he does not know it.

We have received this light of faith and grace, by which we discern spiritual things and behold the glory of Christ in the imperfect manner described above. But in heaven there will be an added light of glory that will make the mind itself shine like the sky at full brightness (Daniel 12:3). Three things may be said of it: first, as the light of grace does not destroy or abolish the light of nature but corrects and improves it, so the light of glory will not abolish the light of faith and grace, but by merging with it, will bring it to absolute perfection; second, as by the light of nature we cannot fully comprehend the true nature and power of the light of grace — because it is of a different kind and is perceived only in its own light — so by the light of grace we cannot fully comprehend this light of glory, being of its own unique nature and seen perfectly only by its own light; and 'it has not yet appeared what we will be'; third, the best understanding we can have of this light of glory is that at its first operation it perfectly transforms the soul into the image and likeness of Christ.

This is the progress of our nature toward its rest and blessedness. The principles remaining in human nature regarding good and evil, along with its practical convictions, are not destroyed by grace but improved — as its blindness, darkness, and hostility toward God are in part removed. Being renewed by grace, whatever it receives here of spiritual life and light will never be destroyed, but will be perfected in glory. Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace; and so the whole soul is brought to its rest in God. We have a picture of this in the blind man our Savior healed (Mark 8:22-24). He was completely blind — undoubtedly from birth. At the first touch his eyes were opened, but he saw very dimly — he saw people walking like trees. At the second touch he saw everything clearly. Our minds in themselves are completely blind. The first visitation of grace gives them sight of spiritual, heavenly, and eternal things — but it is dim and unsteady. The sight of glory makes all things clear and plain.

Second, the body as glorified — with its senses — will also have its use and place in this. After we are clothed again with our flesh, we will see our Redeemer with our eyes.

We do not yet know what power and spirituality there will be in the acts of our glorified bodies. Such they will be as to have a part in eternal blessedness. The holy Stephen, the first martyr, glimpsed something of that glory by anticipation before he died. When he was brought to trial before the council, all who sat there looked intently at him and saw his face as the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). He had his own transfiguration — in his own measure — corresponding to that of our blessed Savior on the mountain. And by this first beam of glory, his bodily eyes received such piercing vividness and sharpness that through all the inconceivable distances between earth and the dwelling of the blessed, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). Who then can declare what the power and operation of the glorified sense of sight will be, or what sweetness and refreshment may be received into our souls through it?

It was a privilege — who would not have longed to share in it? — to have seen Him with bodily eyes in the days of His earthly life, as the apostles and other disciples did. Yet at that time He was not Himself glorified in the full display of His glory, nor were those who saw Him changed or transformed in their nature. How great this privilege was, He Himself declares to those who saw Him: 'Truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see' (Matthew 13:17) — of which we shall speak shortly. And if this was so excellent a privilege that we cannot help but rejoice for those who enjoyed it, how excellent and glorious will it be when with these eyes of ours — gloriously purified and strengthened beyond even those of Stephen — we behold Christ Himself directly in the fullness of His glory! He alone perfectly understands the greatness and excellence of this who prayed to the Father that those who believe in Him might be where He is, to behold His glory.

These are some of the grounds of the first difference between our beholding the glory of Christ by faith here and by direct vision hereafter. The one is weak, imperfect, obscure, and indirect; the other is direct, immediate, steady, and constant. We may pause a little in the contemplation of this.

This sight of Christ's glory — of which we have now spoken — is what we are breathing and longing for; what the Lord Christ prays we may arrive at; what the apostle declares to be our highest good — the best state our nature is capable of — what brings eternal rest and satisfaction to our souls.

Here our souls are burdened with countless infirmities, and our faith is hindered in its workings by ignorance and darkness. This causes even our best estate and highest attainments to be accompanied with groaning for deliverance. 'And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body' (Romans 8:23). Yes, 'while we are in this tent, we groan, longing to be clothed' — longing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:2-8). The more we grow in faith and spiritual light, the more keenly we feel our present burdens, and the more earnestly we groan for deliverance into the perfect freedom of the sons of God. This is the posture of those minds who have received the firstfruits of the Spirit in the highest degree. The closer any person is to heaven, the more earnestly he desires to be there — because Christ is there. The more frequent and steady our views of Him by faith, the more we long and groan for the removal of all obstacles and barriers to seeing Him fully. Now groaning is a strong desire mixed with sorrow for the present lack of what is desired. The desire carries sorrow, and that sorrow carries joy and refreshment within it — like a spring shower falling on a man in a garden: it wets him, but at the same time refreshes him with the fragrance it draws from the flowers and herbs. And this groaning — which, when constant and habitual, is one of the finest fruits of faith in this life — looks both to what we would be delivered from and what we would attain. The first is expressed in Romans 7:24, the other in the places just mentioned. And this state — with an occasional sigh from the weariness of trouble, sorrow, pain, and sickness in this life — is the best we can attain here.

We cannot think of Christ here without quickly being ashamed and troubled by our own thoughts — so confused, so unsteady, so imperfect are they. Usually they end in a groan or a sigh: Oh, when shall we come to Him? When shall we be always with Him? When shall we see Him as He is? And if at any time He begins to give more than ordinary evidence of His glory and love to our souls, we are unable to bear it in a way that gives it any lasting residence in our minds. But ordinarily this trouble and groaning is among our highest attainments in this world — a trouble from which I pray God I may never be delivered until deliverance comes at once through the end of this mortal life. May the good Lord increase this holy trouble more and more in all who believe.

The heart of a believer affected by the glory of Christ is like a compass needle touched with a magnet. It can no longer be still; it can no longer be satisfied at a distance from Him. It is put into constant motion toward Him. That motion is indeed weak and trembling. Longings, breathings, sighs, groanings — in prayer, in meditation, in the quiet places of our minds — are the life of it. Yet it is continually pressing toward Him. But it does not arrive; it does not reach its center and rest in this world.

But above, all is clear and serene, all plain and open in our beholding of the glory of Christ. We will be with Him always and will see Him as He is. This is heaven; this is blessedness; this is eternal rest.

The person of Christ, in all His glory, will be continually before us; and the eyes of our understanding will be so gloriously illuminated that we will be able to behold and take in that glory steadily.

But here at present our minds recoil, our meditations fail, our hearts are overcome, our thoughts grow confused, and our eyes turn aside from the brightness of this glory — we cannot sustain our contemplation of it. But there, an immediate, constant sight of it will bring everlasting refreshment and joy into our whole souls.

This beholding of the glory that the Father gave to Christ is indeed subordinate to the ultimate vision of the essence of God. What that ultimate vision is we cannot well conceive; we only know that the pure in heart shall see God. But the vision of Christ has such an immediate connection with it and subordination to it that without beholding Christ we can never see the face of God as the objective blessedness of our souls. For He is and will be to eternity the only means of communication between God and the church.

We can take some guidance in our longing after this perfect sight of Christ's glory from the example of the saints under the Old Testament. The sight they had of Christ's glory — for they too saw His glory, though through the obscurity of its veiled and shadowy revelation — was weak and imperfect even in the most illuminated believers, far inferior to what we now have by faith through the gospel. Yet even so, it was enough to stir them to search diligently into what had been revealed (1 Peter 1:10-11). Their discoveries were still dim and confused — like a person's view of things at a great distance, or of 'a land far off,' as the prophet says (Isaiah 33:17). The continuation of this veil over the revelation of Christ's glory — while a veil of ignorance and blindness also lay over their hearts and minds — proved the ruin of that church in its apostasy, as the apostle declares (2 Corinthians 3:7-14). This double veil God promised to remove (Isaiah 25:7). And they will turn to the Lord when they are at last able to see clearly the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:16).

But this caused the true believers among them to desire, long for, and pray for the removal of these veils and the passing of those shadows that made it as night to them compared to what they knew would appear when the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. They thought the day slow in breaking and the shadows slow in fleeing (Song of Solomon 2:17; 4:6). There was, as the apostle speaks, an eager expectation — heads stretched forward — waiting for the appearing of the Son of God in the flesh and the fulfillment of all divine promises in Him (Romans 8:19). This is why He was called the Lord whom they sought and delighted in (Malachi 3:1).

Great was the spiritual wisdom of believers in those days. They rejoiced and took pride in the worship ordinances they enjoyed. They regarded them as their greatest privilege and attended to them diligently — recognizing them as expressions of divine wisdom and love, and because they cast a shadow of good things to come. But at the same time they longed for the time of reformation to arrive, when all those things would be set aside and they could behold and enjoy the realities those things signified. Those who did not long in this way — but rested in and put their trust in the institutions themselves — were not accepted by God. Those who were truly illuminated did not rest there, but lived in constant desire for the full revelation of the mystery of God's wisdom in Christ, as even the angels themselves did (1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 3:9-10).

In this frame of heart and the corresponding workings of their souls, there was more of the power of true faith and love than is found among most people today. They saw the promises from a distance, were persuaded of them, and embraced them (Hebrews 11:13). They stretched out the arms of their most intent affections to embrace the things that had been promised. We see this frame of heart in old Simeon, who as soon as he had taken the child Jesus in his arms cried out, 'Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word' (Luke 2:28-29) — this is what my soul has longed for.

Our present darkness and weakness in beholding the glory of Christ is not of the same kind as theirs. It is not caused by a veil of types and shadows cast over that glory by the representative institutions of the Old Testament; it does not arise from a lack of clear doctrinal revelation of the person and office of Christ. As was noted earlier, it comes from two other causes. First, from the nature of faith itself compared to vision — faith is not able to look directly into this excellent glory or fully take it in. Second, from the manner in which it is set before us — not the substance of the thing itself, but only an image of it, as in a mirror. And yet the sight of Christ's glory that we will have in heaven is much further above what we now enjoy through the gospel, than what we now enjoy exceeds what they had under their types and shadows. There is a far greater distance between the vision of heaven and the sight we now have by faith, than there is between the sight we now have and what they had under the Old Testament. Heaven surpasses the gospel state more than the gospel state surpasses the law. Therefore, if they prayed so earnestly, longed so deeply, and desired so fervently for the removal of their shadows and veils — so that they might see what we now see, to behold the glory of Christ as we may behold it in the light of the gospel — how much more should we, if we share their faith and their love — which neither will nor can be satisfied without perfect enjoyment — long and pray for the removal of all weakness, all darkness, and all barriers, until we come to that direct beholding of His glory which He prayed so earnestly that we would be brought to.

To briefly summarize what has been said: there are three things to consider about the glory of Christ — three stages in its manifestation: the shadow, the perfect image, and the substance itself. Those under the law had only the shadow of it and of the things belonging to it — they did not have the perfect image (Hebrews 10:1). Under the gospel we have the perfect image they did not have — a clear, complete revelation and declaration of it, presenting it to us as in a mirror. But the enjoyment of these things in their substance is reserved for heaven; we must be where He is so that we may behold His glory. There is a greater difference and distance between the real substance of any thing and the most perfect image of it, than there is between the most perfect image and the dimmest shadow of the same thing. If then they longed to be freed from their state of types and shadows so as to enjoy the representation of Christ's glory in the image given us in the gospel, how much more ought we to breathe and long for our deliverance from beholding it even in the image, until we enjoy the substance itself. For whatever of Christ can be made manifest on this side of heaven is given to us for this very purpose — that we may desire all the more fervently to be present with Him.

It was their wisdom and grace to rejoice in the light they had and in those representative ordinances of worship that shadowed out Christ's glory to them — while always longing after the more excellent light and full disclosure of it that the gospel would bring. So it will be our wisdom and grace to thankfully use and profit from the revelations we now enjoy of it, and from those institutions of worship that assist our faith in viewing it — yet doing so while continually breathing after that perfect, glorifying sight of it that is reserved for heaven above.

May we examine ourselves a little by these things? Do we regard this pressing toward the perfect sight of Christ's glory as our duty, and do we keep at it? If it is otherwise with any of us, that is clear evidence that our profession of faith is hollow. If Christ is in us, He is the hope of glory in us — and where that hope is, it will express itself in active desires for the things hoped for. Many love the world too well and have their minds too full of its concerns to entertain desires for passing through it quickly to a state where they may behold the glory of Christ. They are at home here and unwilling to be absent from the body, even though to do so would be to be present with the Lord. They hope, perhaps, that such a time will come eventually, and that then it will be the best they can look for when they can be here no more. But those who desire the direct sight of Christ's glory above so slightly and faintly have little sight of His glory by faith in this world — if any at all. I cannot understand how any person can walk with God as he ought, or has that love for Jesus Christ that true faith produces, or finds refreshment and joy in spiritual things and in things above, who does not on every fitting occasion so meditate on the glory of Christ in heaven as to long for admission into the direct sight of it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ alone perfectly understood what the eternal blessedness of those who believe in Him consists of. And this is the heart of what He prays for with regard to that end — that we may be where He is to behold His glory. Is it not our duty to live in continual desire for what He prayed so earnestly that we might attain? Even if we ourselves as yet perceive little of the glory, the excellence, and the blessedness of it, we ought to place such confidence in the wisdom and love of Christ that we believe it is our highest good — infinitely better than anything we can enjoy here below.

To those who are accustomed to these contemplations, they are the salt of their lives — the seasoning that makes everything else savory to them, as we shall demonstrate later. The lack of spiritual diligence in this is what has produced a careless, wordy, external religion which, consoling itself with some outward duties, has lost from within it the power of faith and love in their chief workings. By this many deceive their own souls. Property, land, possessions, relationships, occupations, and earthly interests — these are the things whose image is stamped on their minds and whose marks are written on their foreheads as labels by which they may be known. As believers beholding the glory of Christ in the blessed mirror of the gospel are changed into the same image and likeness by the Spirit of the Lord, so these people beholding the beauty of the world and its things in the darkened mirror of self-love are changed in their minds into that same image. The result is perplexing fears, empty hopes, futile clutching at perishing things, fruitless desires, earthly and self-centered plans, and corrupt self-pleasing imaginations — all feeding on and being fed by love of the world and love of self — dwelling and gaining power in them. But we have not so learned Christ Jesus.