THE CERTAINTIES OF THE REDEEMED

IN THE HEAVENLY WORLD.

REV. W. REDDY, D.D.

UCH labor and learning have been expended in writing upon the future state; but those writers who have followed no other guide than human reason, have left their subject in the dark, and their readers in a state of perplexity, uncertainty, and fear. Reason is a precious gift of God, and when used properly, is a blessing of incalculable value; but its powers are confined within narrow limits; its province is bounded by the phenomena of Nature; beyond these it can not pass, without the aid of Divine revelation.

The discoveries of science, especially by means of the microscope, are indeed wonderful. It has demonstrated, with certainty, many vastly important facts. It has penetrated to hitherto unknown depths, and uncovered mines of rich treasures of knowledge; but it can not penetrate the arcana of Hades, nor inform us of what lies beyond. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man, save the spirit of God;" as it is written, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us

by His spirit, for the spirit searcheth all things; yea, the deep things of God.”

Modern philosophers, therefore, are as unable to discover, or to describe the heavenly world, as were the learned men of Greece and Rome; and if, in general, the former have a seeming advantage over the ancients, it is because of the reflected light of Divine revelation, for which, however, proper credit has not been given.

"The things of a man," come within the scope of science and reason; but the things of God, lie beyond their sphere and ken.

Since, then, we are dependent entirely on revelation for all reliable knowledge of the invisible and heavenly world, let us carefully scan what the "lively oracles" teach, especially in regard to the certainties of the redeemed in heaven.

1st. It is certain that there is a heavenly world, where God dwells in majesty and glory. It is called "Heaven," -the superior heaven, above the visible, the atmospheric, the starry heavens. It is the dwelling place of the immediate presence of God-the abode of God and his glory, and of the glorified Messiah, and of the angels, and of the spirits of the just after death-the home of the blessed; the abode of bliss; and, generally, of everything which is said to be with God.

The first intimation of such a place recorded in the Bible, is the translation of Enoch: "He walked with God, and was not, for God took him." He "was translated, that he should not see death." He was taken, body and soul to dwell with God in the heavenly world.

The dream of Jacob, at Bethel, was a further proof of the heavenly world. The "Ladder" which he saw, whose foot was upon the earth, and whose "top reached to heaven," denoted a medium of communication between this and the heavenly world. The Lord stood above it, and said, "I am the God of Abraham." "And behold, the angels of God ascended and descended upon it;" and our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the medium of all communications between heaven and earth, applies the emblematical ladder to Himself. (John i. 51.)

Elijah's translation strengthens the evidence of the point under consideration. He went up by a whirlwind, into heaven. His ascent was visible. [In the early days of Enoch, when there was no written revelation, it seemed necessary to give some ocular demonstration to the skeptical world, of the reality of another world; and in the days of Elijah, the issue between the worship of the true God and idolatry-between the sensuous and the invisible-had become so positive and direct, that God saw best to add this instance of bodily translation; thus rebuking the infidelity of the times, and strengthening the faith of his true worshipers.]

In the transfiguration of Jesus upon the Mount, Elijah appeared with Moses, and talked with him, and spoke of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. These representative saints came from the heavenly world; the one, a representative of the disembodied saints; the other, as the first specimen of a glorified humanity, entire. The proto-martyr, Stephen, was favored with a partial

view of the heavenly world, and gave a dying testimony of its reality: "I see heaven open," said he, "and the son of man standing on the right hand of God."

St. Paul was "caught up into the third heaven;" but "whether in the body, or out of the body, he could not tell;" and if he could not tell, who else can positively affirm or deny?

St. John, on the Isle of Patmos, had an open vision of that blessed place. He saw the throne of God, and a bright train of ministering spirits ever waiting to receive the high commands of God and the Lamb. The purity, order, and the glory of the heavenly world appeared to him without a veil. He saw that happy world, where hosts of holy persons have taken up their abode, after their departure out of this vale of tears.

Thither our Saviour ascended from Mount Olivet, while the disciples "stood gazing up into heaven." To this invisible company, the Church on earth, under the Christian dispensation, has already come by faith, and with that company they are already in unity and fellowship. (Heb. xii. 22-25.)

2d.

"By faith we are come

To our heavenly home;

By hope we the rapture improve;

By love we still rise,

And look down on the skies,

For the heaven of heavens, is Love."

Heaven has locality. It is a place as well as a state; but where in the vast dominion of God the blessed abode is located, has not been revealed to man; nor

can he, by any research of his intellectual powers, discover it. But this is not important.

It is said to be above.

Jesus declares that He is "the way" to it, and to God. Angels are familiar with the heavenly route. They have traveled it since the "foundations of the earth were laid," for then they "shouted for joy" at the "laying of the corner-stone thereof." The metaphors employed to represent heaven, the names by which it is designated, the representations of the Christian life which leads to it, the distinctive contrast between it and the world of torment, all go to determine it as a place.

It is said to be "a better country" (Heb. xi. 16). It is an "inheritance" (1 Pet. i. 4). It is called "the city of the living God; the heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb. xii. 22). It is our "Father's house, where are many mansions;" "a place prepared for the saints;" "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens " (2 Cor. v. 1). It is the end of the Christian pilgrimage, to which "the ransomed of the Lord are returning and coming;" "with songs and everlasting joy upon their head" (Isa. xxxv. 10). One of these Pilgrims thus sings:

"The gates of pearl now open wide to me,

Thou city of the blest;

To me who oft have longed and prayed for thee,
And thy refreshing rest;

Ere sighs, and tears, and sorrow,

Ere pain, and grief, and woe,
Were changed to this rejoicing,
That all thy children know."

-John Matthew Meyhart.