Beyond Imagination

​But 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. 1Co 2:9-10
Heaven

The city of Corinth has been called the Paris of antiquity. Indeed, for splendor, the world holds no such wonder to-day. The commerce of all nations passed through her ports; the mirth of all people sported in her Isthmian games, and the beauty of all lands walked her porticos, and threw itself on the altar of her stupendous dissipations. Column and statue and temple bewildered the beholder. And the best music from the best instruments in the world resounded in her theatres. It was not to rustics who had never seen or heard anything grand that Paul uttered this text, and it was a bold thing for him to stand there amid all that and say, “All this is nothing; eye hath not seen,”- We can in this world get no idea of--

The health of heaven. When you were a child you had never felt sorrow or sickness. Perhaps later you felt a glow in your cheek, and a spring in your step, and an exuberance of spirits, and a clearness of eye, that made you thank God you were permitted to live. You thought that you knew what it was to be well, but the most elastic and robust health of earth, compared with that of heaven, is nothing but sickness and emaciation. Look at that soul standing before the throne. On earth she was a life-long invalid. See her step now, and hear her voice now. Health in all the pulses! Health of vision; health of spirits; immortal health. No racking cough, no consuming fevers, no exhausting pains, no hospitals of wounded men. That child that died in the agonies of croup, hear her voice now ringing in the anthem. That old man that went bowed down with the infirmities of age, see him walk now with the step of an immortal athlete—for ever young again. To have neither ache, nor pain, nor weakness, nor fatigue. “Eye hath not seen it—ear hath not heard it.”

The splendor of heaven. John tries to describe it, and as we look through his telescope we see a blaze of jewelry, a mountain of light, a cataract of color, a sea of glass, and a city like the sun. John bids us look again, and we see thrones; thrones of the prophets, patriarchs, angels, apostles, martyrs, throne of Jesus—throne of God. John bids us look again, and we see the great procession of the redeemed passing. “Eye hath not seen it, ear hath not heard it.” Skim from the summer waters the brightest sparkles, and you will get no idea of the sheen of the everlasting sea. Pile up the splendors of earthly cities and they would not make a stepping-stone by which you might mount to the city of God. Every house is a palace. Every step a triumph. Every meal is a banquet. Every day is a jubilee, every hour a rapture, and every moment an ecstasy.

The re-unions of heaven. If you have ever been across the seas, and met a friend in some strange city, you remember how your blood thrilled, and how glad you were to see him. What then will be our joy to meet in the bright city of the sun those from whom we have long been separated. In this world we only meet to part. It is good-bye, good-bye. But not so in heaven. Welcomes in the air, at the gates, at the house of many mansions—but no good-bye.

The song of heaven. There is nothing more inspiriting to me than a whole congregation lifted up on the wave of holy melody. But, my friends, if music on earth is so sweet what will it be in heaven! They all know the tune there. All the best singers of all the ages will join it—choirs of white-robed children! choirs of patriarchs! choirs of apostles! Harpers with their harps. David of the harp will be there. Gabriel of the trumpet will be there. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

A Prepared Place for a Prepared People

The apostle here is quoting from Isa_64:4, and only intends to give the general sense of the passage. Both passages are generally used as referring to the heavenly state, but we can only apply them thus by accommodation. Yet this is a legitimate application. For if the text is true of our imperfect condition of privilege in this life, much more will it be true as applied to that perfection of bliss that awaits us in the life to come. You cannot judge of the real merits of a story till you see how it ends. You cannot decide about the value of a casket till it is opened and you see the jewels which it enshrines. You cannot pronounce on a campaign till you see what fruits result from its hard-fought battlefields. And so, in estimating the real worth of redemption, we can only form an approximate judgment of it in this life. There are three points of view from which we may contemplate our portion for the future, as set before us in the text.

The plain and positive view. “Things prepared.”
1. “Things” plural—not one element of joy, but many. It is a caricature of heaven when psalm-singing is represented as its chief occupation. A wonderful variety marks the imagery of the Bible as to the heavenly state—“a city that hath foundations,” “the marriage supper of the Lamb,” being “present with Christ, and beholding His glory,” is being made “like Him,” &c. These varied expressions suggest that our heaven will be a condition of being in which the mind, with its large desires, its deathless cravings, and the soul, with all the warmth of its affections and sympathies, will find the fullest scope for their development. As the vine puts forth its tendrils, and finds something to cling to for its support and growth; so, doubtless, will all the innocent tastes and longings of our renewed nature find in the heavenly state that which answers to their wants, “prepared,” as a trellis, to which they may cling, and in clinging to which they will find their delight.

2. And these are not things thrown together at haphazard. They are “prepared things.” How eloquent all nature is as to the teachings of this word! Note the wonderful care with which God has “prepared” for the wants of every tree, animal, bird, and fish; yea, for every worm; just that which will best meet its wants and minister to its comfort. Then, when we think of the souls God has redeemed at the price of His Son’s death, to whom His love has flowed out in a deeper channel than to any other of His creatures, whom He deigns to say that they are to be His portion; when we think of “the things prepared” for them in their final home, what shall we say? How shall we put limits to the extent to which His power, wisdom, and goodness will go in seeking to promote their happiness?

A negative or comparative view. Heaven’s happiness is such as “eye hath not seen,” or to which all the eye hath seen, bears no proportion.
1. It is clearly the inferential teaching of the text, that “the things prepared” exceed in glory all that we are familiar with in this outer creation.
(1) And the eye sees wondrous beauty as it ranges through the world of nature. But there is no comparison between what the eye sees here and “the things prepared” for God’s people in the future.
(2) And then the ear opens an avenue to another world of enjoyment peculiarly its own. Yet the highest rapture of the most gifted musician through the organ of hearing bears no comparison to the joy the redeemed will experience in “the things which God has prepared for them.”
(3) And then the imagination has a wondrous power to call into existence worlds of beauty and loveliness all its own. But when you put these things together—all that the eye can see, &c., of that which is beautiful or grand—they will be infinitely surpassed by “the things prepared” by God as the future portion of His people.

And there is something very sweet in the thought of this instituted connection, between these glories spread over the face of nature and that blessed home which Jesus is preparing for us. It shows how God means that the one should remind us of the other. The Jewish Rabbis inform us “that when Joseph had gathered much corn in Egypt he threw the chaff into the Nile, that so flowing down to the neighboring cities, and nations more remote, it might bear witness to them of the store of good things garnered up in the treasure cities of Egypt.” And so God, to make us know what glory there is in heaven, has thrown some husks to us here, that we might draw out our inferences. If we find so much of glory spread over earthly things, what may we expect to find in those that are heavenly? If He gives us so much in the land of our pilgrimage, what will He not give us in our own country? If He can lavish so much on His enemies what will He not reserve for His friends?

The personal view. “For them that love Him.”
​These things are designed for a “prepared” people. The preparation on the one side is just as necessary as that on the other. What is the use of preparing a feast unless you know that the guests those who are to be admitted to it can see; of preparing a grand concert unless will have appetites; of arranging the paintings of a splendid gallery unless the audience can hear? The glorious things of the future are prepared for a people who love God. The planting of this love in the heart is the great personal preparation for heaven that we need. The necessity for this is absolute. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” These two things—love to God, and a new birth—always go together. (Richard Newton, D. D.)

There is a Stream, which issues forth
From God’s eternal Throne,
And from the Lamb,—a living stream
Clear as the crystal stone.

The stream doth water Paradise;
It makes the Angels sing;
One cordial drop revives my heart;
Hence all my joys do spring.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard,
From fancy ’tis conceal’d,
What Thou, Lord, hast laid up for Thine,
And hast to me reveal’d.
​(John Mason)