Psalm 17:15, "As
for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake,
with thy likeness."
This morning, let us consider some of the sweeter
thoughts of Scripture. While natural men cannot live
and subsist simply on bread alone, meat alone, etc.,
so God's spiritual people cannot subsist on one food
group of God's word alone. People who eat primarily
from one type of food group will become malnourished
and sickly, and God's people who focus on one group of
thoughts to the neglect of the rest become faulty in
understanding. This is why preaching on heaven's pure
world all the time to the neglect of the other brings
about "fuzzy ideas." The foolish notions that have
been spouted as of late about the "end times" comes
from the constant attention being given to those
things to the neglect of other passages. Therefore,
we need to be found declaring all the counsel of God,
but it does us good, from time to time, to focus
directly upon that to which we are going for a little
while before going back into the trenches of life.
These times are the "beating back out of our armour"
if you will. The world seeks to beat in and dent the
armour we wear, but focusing on heaven for a little
while beats it all back out to fight another day.
David concludes this Psalm with one of the most
beautiful declarations of that happy estate to which
we are going. While we have not many words to even
begin to describe what is coming, David gives enough
here to provide solace and sustenance for our journey
and race. Many times, people ask questions like,
"What is it going to be like in heaven? Will we have
this? Will we have that?" To many of these queries,
I must respond, "I don't know." Paul himself was
caught up to the third heaven (II Corinthians 12), but
even he could not describe the experience. John
sought to write what the seven thunders uttered
(Revelation 10), but he was expressly forbidden to pen
it. Therefore, heaven's pure world is beyond our
feeble lips to declare, but what we have on record is
enough. It has been said that what makes heaven
heaven is the One who dwells there, and may we feel
that thought, coupled with the words of Scripture, to
be enough for us here.
David gives two primary thoughts about what heaven's
pure world will be like. The first primary thought
about it is that we will be satisfied in the presence of His righteousness. As we behold that glorious face
of our Dear Saviour, we will be completely and wholly
satisfied. Have you ever felt satisfied here? Has
anything in the world brought satisfaction to us?
Indeed, we have all felt some passing happiness in
some worldly endeavour, but was that satisfaction or
just fleeting, emotional contentment? At other times,
we have felt lifted up in His presence in His house
and been almost at the gates of glory reaching out to
touch it. During these times, we can see His face as
He appears through the lattice, and heaven seems but a
step away. During these times, we can feel satisfied
in the manifest Spirit-filled house, but again, this
is fleeting.
How long does the joy of seeing the Master's face
last? How does our heart yearn after that experience
to see Him again? David speaks of complete
satisfaction, for we will see Him as He is. We will know Him as He knows us, and that face will not be
shown through a lattice nor depart from us. That face
of Jesus Christ our Lord will be ever before us in
complete and beautiful glory! That is enough to
satisfy all of God's children. Right now, we are
housed in these old bodies of clay that are not fit
for standing in His glorious presence. The new
creature (inner man/changed soul and spirit) is
yearning for the day that all of God's dear children
will be manifest. He is yearning to be delivered from
the bondage of vanity that he has been made subject
to, but one day, that release will come with the
redemption of these bodies. (Romans 8:18-22)
This brings us to the next primary point that David
makes. While what makes heaven heaven is the presence
of the LORD, what makes satisfaction never-ending in
this scene is that not only do we stand there
beholding the Lord for eternity, but we are there with
His likeness. While I have not the words to describe
what that looks like, the only sufficiency can be in
what John pens about that state. It does not yet
appear what we shall be, but the one thing we know is
that His appearing will be marked with us appearing
with Him in glory and like unto Him. (I John 3:1-2)
What does that look like? It looks like Him. What
does He look like? He looks perfect, beautiful,
complete, glorious, and every other good and
magnanimous adjective that we could tack on. Is that
enough?
David's heart longed for that day that he would
behold the Lord's face in glory, be satisfied in His
presence, and appear with the likeness of the One who
died for him. However, make no mistake about this
dear ones. While we have His likeness, no one will
mistake us for Him. He will still have the
preeminence among His brethren, and He alone will be
worshipped in all eternity. Likewise, no one will
mistake you for anyone else, but as one star differeth
from another star in glory, you will be you. We
understand that celestial stars have their own
personal characteristics, but we understand that they
all look like stars. In the resurrection, we will
still bear our personal identity, but we will all look
like Christ and of the same family (for we will be).
So, let us close with a borrowed illustration from
my dear departed father. When I was born, that little
baby was me. Later in life, I became a toddler that
got into everything, ate everything in the house, and
was more than a handful, but it was still me. Then, I
grew to school age and went off to school, but that
was still me. Later, I became an athletic teenager
that thought he could take on anyone and anything and
was bigger than life, but that person was still me.
Today, as a minister of the gospel, husband, and
father, I realize how foolish that teenager was, but
this is still me. In a few years if the Lord blesses
me to continue here, I will be middle-aged or perhaps
even over the hill, and that person will still be me.
One day, if the Lord does not come back first, my body
will be laid to rest in the ground somewhere with the
soul and spirit caught up to , and that will
still be me. When the Lord gathers His jewels home
and my body is reunited with the soul and spirit, it
will still be me. And through all the ages of
eternity, it will still be me, and dear friends it
will still be you as well with all of us beholding His
glorious image in perfect satisfaction.
In Hope,
Bro Philip |