An Eye on Heaven
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A man who is setting out for a foreign country—especially if he intends to reside there—will be wise to study the localities in that land, and seek to become acquainted with the language and the customs of its people. His thoughts will be much upon it. But do the great majority of even true Christians spend much time on thought about heaven? Yet it is to be their dwelling-place through innumerable ages. In a little while, perhaps within a few days to some of us—the veil which hides the eternal world may drop—and the gates of the Father's house may open before our astonished vision! If heaven is ready for Christ's redeemed people—then surely they should be making ready for heaven. We ought to be thinking more about our future and everlasting home. If our treasures are there, then our hearts should be there also in frequent and joyful anticipations.
John Bunyan tells us of his Pilgrim, that "his heart waxed warm about the place where he was going." "This is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy!" Micah 2:10. This world is not our rest. It is only our temporary lodging-place, our battle-ground to fight sin and Satan, our vineyard in which to labor for our Master and our fellow men until sundown, our training-school for the development of character and growth in grace. A Christian, to whom Jesus Christ is real, and the glories of the world to come are real, and who has set his affections on things above—must inevitably have some deep meditations about his home and his magnificent inheritance. He loves to read about it, and gathers up eagerly the few grand, striking things which his Bible tells him about that glorious City of God. Among his favorite hymns are "Jerusalem the Golden" and the "Shining Shore"; they are like rehearsals for his part by-and-by in the sublime oratorios of heaven.
Sometimes, when cares press heavily, or bodily pains wax sharp, or bereavements darken his house—he gets homesick, and he says, "Oh that I had wings like a dove—then would I fly away and be at rest!" Such devout meditations do not prove any man or woman to be a dreamy mystic. They are not the pious sentimentalizings of mourners to whom this world has lost all its charm; or of enthusiasts whose religion evaporates in mere emotion. The hundred-handed Paul constantly reminds his fellow-workers that "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ!" Philippians 3:20
The godly Samuel Rutherford, who was said to be always studying, always preaching, and always visiting the sick—found time to feed on anticipations of Paradise. He tells us that he often longed to "stand at the outer side of the gates of the New Jerusalem and look through a crevice of the door and see Christ's face." He exclaims, "Oh, time, run fast! Oh, fair day, when will you dawn? Oh, shadows, flee away! Oh, well-beloved Bridegroom, be to me like the roe or the young deer on the mountains of division!"
No man in modern times has written any volume so full of heavenly aspirations as Richard Baxter's "Saint's Everlasting Rest." Yet Baxter was one of the most practical of philanthropists. While meditating on the Better Country he wore his busy life out, in striving to make England a better country; and the town of Kidderminster was revolutionized by his ceaseless labors for the bodies and the souls of its inhabitants!
Intense spirituality and intense practicality were beautifully united in the late A. J. Gordon, of Boston. If he kept one eye on heaven—he kept the other wide open to see the sins and the snares and the sorrows of his fellow-creatures all around him.
I truly believe that if we thought more about heaven, and realized more its ineffable blessedness—we would strive harder to get others there; we would not be content to travel there on a path only wide enough for one. It is no wonder that some professedChristians do not catch more distinct glimpses of the celestial world. Their vision is obscured. As a very small object when held close to the eye—will hide the noonday sun—so a Christian may hold a dollar so close to the eye of his soul—as to shut out both Christ and heaven.
Fish shut up in a cavern for a long time—become blind; and so will any of us lose even the faculty of spiritual sight—if we shut ourselves up in a cavern of carking worldliness!
Perhaps some reader of this article may despondingly say, "Well, I never get any sight of heaven; I am all in a mist; nothing but clouds and darkness are before my eyes." My friend, watch where you are standing! You are in Satan's marshy grounds and among the quagmires where the fogs dwell continually. Ever since you left the "King's highway," ever since you forsook the straight path of duty, ever since you quit honest praying and Christian work, and God's Book for your ledger, and the service of Christ for the service of Mammon—you have strayed away into the devil's territory! Heaven is not visible to backsliders! And never until yourfeet take hold again of that strait path of sincere, unselfish obedience to Jesus Christ, and your eyes are washed out with some sincere tears of repentance—will you have any fresh, gladdening glimpse of that heavenly rest which remains for the people of God. Throw off your worldly load, my friend; and the sins which so easily beset you—and, getting your feet again in the track, run with patience the race set before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. When you get your eye fixed again on Christ you will no longer complain that heaven is utterly out of sight.
Those whose hearts are in heaven, and who keep it constantly before their view, have abundant sources of spiritual joy. They renew their strength as they push upward and heavenward. What is it to them—that the road is long, and sometimes the hills of difficulty are steep, that there are often lions in the way, that there are crosses to be carried, that there are some valleys of the death-shadow to be threaded, and that not far ahead, is that river of death over which there is no bridge! None of these things disturb them! Heaven lies at the end of the way—clothed in its glorious light! Mount Zion is there—the city of the living God and the innumerable company of angels, some of whom may turn out to be old friends who have had their eye on us ever since we were born into Christ.
From the hilltops we can, with the spy-glass of faith, bring heaven so near—that we can see its gates, and its streets of shining gold, and the Lamb on His throne! These views of our imperishable inheritance of glory, ought to quicken our zeal greatly. The time is short—and shortening every day. If we are to have treasures there—we must be securing them now; no time is to be lost. If we are to lead any souls—there we must be out after them now. If we are to wear any crown there, however humble—we must win it now. Christian zeal depends on inward warmth; and much of that heat must come from heaven.
"When," exclaimed grand old Baxter, "when, oh my soul, have you been warmest? When have you most forgot your wintry sorrows? It is when you have gotten above, closest to Jesus Christ, and have conversed with him, and viewed the mansions of glory, and filled yourself with sweet foretastes, and with the inhabitants of the higher world!"
It is certain, that he who doesn't love Christ—doesn't love heaven; and he who doesn't love heaven—will never see heaven. A godly life is just a tarrying and a toiling in this earthly tent for Christ—until we go into the mansions with Christ! Brethren! themiles to heaven are few and short; let us be found busy in heart and hand when the summons sounds, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven! Revelation 11:12.
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