The Beatific Vision

Matthew 5 verse 8 Hear the Word of God Blessed are the pure in heart For they shall see God Let us pray Heavenly Father we have opened up your word, and we have read just the briefest of portions But we still want to give attention to the reading of Scripture We ask that as we read this text and as the Word of God is about to go forth that it would go forth in clarity And that by the Spirit of God our eyes would be whole be opened to behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus In whose name we pray Amen We just finished singing he he leadeth me And I think it's a good question for us to ask is where do we want God to lead us?

Where do we want Christ to lead us? Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep all that the father gives to him He loses not one of them, but it raises them all up on the last day And what is it that it will be like on the last day? Well, what is it that we will we will see I think? Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 gives us a good indicator as well as other passages in Scripture that we'll look at We are raised up by Christ And he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death as one who has gone into death and has conquered death on our Behalf as our king and as our champion and when we awake on that resurrection morning we awake to behold God And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning You have what is are here and maybe you have a heading in your Bible something that says the Beatitudes Well, what I want to talk to you about is the beatific vision So here beatitude beatific you hear the same type of word that's being used there and envision just simply means sight All right, so it's it's the blessed sight the beatific vision you say I Maybe you've never heard of that term before the beatific vision or maybe you you have heard of the beatific vision But you always thought that that was a Roman Catholic doctrine and they talked about it, but we we don't talk about it That's not necessarily true This is something that good Protestant Christians have talked about for centuries Maybe you know the name Jonathan Edwards.

He was one who loved to write on this topic It was something that captured his attention in his imagination. There's other great Reformed and Puritan thinkers one of them being John Owen who wrote a long trees dealing with beholding the glory of God in Jesus Christ and that beatific sight that is held out and promised to all who have faith in Jesus Christ Charles Spurgeon preached on this topic when preaching through the or preaching on first John chapter 3 verse 2 when speaking about when we see him we will be like him for we shall see him as he is Charles Wesley wrote about it in a hymn called maker in whom we live He says in one of the verses no angel tongues can tell by love's ecstatic height the glorious joy unspeakable the beatific sight I Confess that as I've tried to read and study Holy Scripture and these men and seek to understand how they understand what's happening in Scripture that this is probably a sermon of all the sermons that I've ever preached that I feel most ill-equipped and Inadequate to address and that's saying something because I usually feel ill-equipped and inadequate to address the Word of God typically but this this in particular because I've not seen this and Neither have you And anybody who says that they have and has come back and got a book deal or a movie deal to write about it is A liar as we'll maybe see some allusions to that This morning their accounts of seeing God don't look like the accounts of seeing God in Scripture that We have and if God wanted us to know what it was like we have plenty of people who could have told us about it Yeah, Paul or someone Paul knows who went up to the third heaven What do you know about it?

Lazarus's biography Anybody who could really help us understand what I'm about to talk about right now hasn't written about it And there's something beautiful about that So what I feel like this morning is an 11 year old boy trying to describe to a bunch of other 11 year old boys the glory of marriage and It's something that I I don't you talk to live in your boy about marriage. You know, I Sounds good. It looks good and then you hear them talk about it and they don't have really the the Capacity mentally or verbally to be able to explain or to even perceive the the beauty of a loving marriage relationship But I mean, it's still good to talk about it It's still ought to be something that shapes the way we think and so even here this morning as we Dive into this topic as a bunch of 11 year old boys who have really no idea what we're doing as we fumble through the dark and try to use speech and and say things about the things that no I has seen nor ear has Heard as we speak about the glories of God in Christ Jesus What is the beatific vision and two quotes that I think are helpful One one individual says the beatific vision implies the most perfect and clear knowledge of God and Of divine things such as can belong to a finite creature Opposed to the imperfect and obscure knowledge, which is possessed here by faith And other says it's the enjoyment of God by sight is commonly called the beatifical vision and It is the soul fountain of all our actings of our souls in a state of bless in the state of blessedness Shortly after he calls it the blessed and blessing sight It is the blessed and blessing sight that is it is the sight of those who have been blessed by God Given a pure heart based upon the work of Christ Jesus who not only has washed our filthy heart of sin Clean by the regenerating work of the Spirit But then has by himself legally been the pure heart on the basis by which we can see God and it's constantly molding and transforming our heart Preparing us for that day when we see the blessed one and as we see the blessed one the blessed God We in turn are blessed So I want to ask and answer three questions this morning Then we're gonna in the beginning in the first question We're gonna work through a myriad of texts and then we're gonna kind of hit the brakes a little bit and slow down But the first question is this Why is the beatific vision important?

Okay, drew. Thanks. You know you open up Matthew 5 8 said a few things quoted a few guys why is this important and The answer is this God's people's greatest delight is in the presence of God God's people's greatest delight is in the presence of God We see this put on display in various ways throughout Scripture One of them is just in the amount of data that addresses this topic You can see from the beginning of Scripture key figures speak to this issue And they speak to it often So so turn with me to Exodus chapter 33 and as you turn to Exodus 33 I'm gonna remind you of a story that that you probably know Mainly because it probably said if we're not familiar with reading Scripture it stands out in our minds you have Jacob wrestling in Genesis chapter 32 and He's wrestling with this shadowy figure who has some type of manlike shape to him and And what does he say He clings to him and will not let go and he begs and pleads that he would be blessed By this one the Lord blesses him and Jacob names the place Peniel because he says I have seen God face to face And he recognizes that as one who has seen God face to face he has lived Astonished by the fact that he has come face to face with God And lived to talk about it, but in that time in which he did he clung tightly He wanted to be blessed by this one that he saw face to face Moses in Exodus chapter 33 Will begin in verse 17 the Lord said to Moses I will also do these things of which you have spoken for you have found favor in my sight And I have known you by name then Moses said I pray show me your glory The Jacob won't let go until he's blessed Moses wants to see something and what does he ask God that he could see?

his glory And he said I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and will Be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion But he said you cannot see my face For no man can see me and live Turn to the book of Psalms It's psalm 11 Well look at a few verses that are there as you're turning to the Psalms I want to read to you again another well-known passage from the book of Job As for me I know That my Redeemer lives and at last he will take his stand on the earth even after my skin is destroyed yet from my flesh I shall see God whom I myself shall behold and whom my eyes Will see and not another my heart faints within me.

I Trust you're in the Psalms chapter 11 verse 7 for the Lord is righteous He loves righteousness the upright What do they get They get to behold his face What do the upright get God Not only do they get God psalm 17 verse 15. They are satisfied in God as for me I Shall behold your face in righteousness. I will be satisfied with your likeness when I awake And ultimately this is pointing forward to that great awakening that great resurrection morning When the eternal Son of God calls forth those from the grave and they behold the glory of God a Little bit further in the Psalms to the 24th chapter I'm sorry 27th Tim read the 24th earlier.

I got stuck in my head Psalm 27 verse 4 One Thing I have asked from the Lord And as we read that our thoughts should already going be going back to Jacob Our thoughts should already be going back to Moses. And now we see here the psalmist David What does he want? That I shall seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple What do I want I want to behold the beauty of God And just with that one verse throws out the ungodly notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder God was beautiful before there were any beholders God is beauty beauty is objective and God is the beautiful There's there's more we could look at.

I mean just think about Simeon Although it's not quite the same thing. The theme is similar. What does Simeon want to see the Lord's Christ? the light to the Gentiles the salvation of the people of God and upon seeing Christ I Can depart the God's people want to see God Even sometimes when it's misguided Philip Lord Show us the Father Misguided Somewhat how do we know what Christ kind of corrects him if you've seen me you have seen the Father but even in Phillip's Misunderstanding what he's getting at is the same exact thing that what we've seen all these Old Testament saints trying to get at as well And then you have other passages that talk about sight like John chapter 20 go ahead and turn to John chapter 20 I told you there was a lot of turning.

I warned you beforehand in the beginning Well, I want just this these texts to just wash over you as you see that there's this theme throughout scripture of the people of God Longing to see God and it takes various shapes and forms in here John chapter 20. This is the after the resurrection Look at John chapter 20 verse 24 And by the way, this is after Jesus Christ has appeared to many of the disciples and every time Jesus Jesus appears the resurrected Christ who went in death conquered death said it is finished greets his beloved with the words peace Be with you because he procured our peace and brings us to God, but Thomas one of the twelve Called didymus was not with him when Jesus came.

So the other disciples were saying to him. What are they saying? We've seen the Lord They've seen the resurrected Savior But he said to them unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the Nails put my hand into his side. I will not believe After eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them Jesus came the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said peace be with you Then he said to Thomas reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach your hand and put it into my side and do not be unbelieving but Believing Thomas answered and said to him my Lord and my God Jesus said to him because you have seen me.

Have you believed? And this is this is us beloved Blessed are they who do not see and yet believed But that's not the end We are those who on this side of the resurrection on this side of Christ we look into a mirror dimly and we see the glory of God in Christ Jesus in the text of Scripture, but this same John who records this incident with Thomas where Thomas sees the resurrected Christ and Then says blessed in the records Christ words blessed are those who believe even though they have not yet seen Even though they do not see they believe this same John wrote first John first John chapter 3 verse 2 Beloved Now we are children of God and it has not yet appeared as what yet what we will be We know that when he appears we will be like him because we will see him just as he is In the same John who wrote about the blessed who do not see but believe Wrote about seeing the blessed one Jesus in first John 3 records in Revelation chapter 22 3 and 4 there will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it And his bondservants will serve him.

They will see his face and His name will be on their foreheads So why is the beatific vision important because God's people's greatest delight is in the presence of God Beholding the beauty of God in Christ Jesus. This is what the Saints long to see This is when our faith is turned to sight There will be no faith in the new creation Faith turns to something else. It turns to sight Hope is gone in the new creation Hope turns to joy this is Jesus's words in Matthew chapter 25 verse 21 enter into the joy Entering into heaven is entering into joy.

Why because you're entering into the presence of God love though remains of these three faith hope and love Love endures love never fails Our love for God will be perfected and full We will not be able to love God any more than a creature could possibly love God and we will never fall from that state of perfect love as we eternally and perpetually gaze into the beauty of God And what else could we hope for what else could we long for could we long for something greater than God himself? Could we long for something lesser than God himself?

And I think if we were honest with ourselves beloved sometimes we want something lesser than God Sometimes we come to church and we think I got to come here today because my marriage needs work and maybe yours does But if you came here to get your marriage worked on If you came here to get your culture changed You didn't come here to see God and you haven't asked for what the Saints have asked for This is what we long for And sometimes we take our gaze from God to good created things that we ought to work on and not to spend time dedicating ourselves to But our gaze goes from God to the created thing and then we focus here instead of realizing that no Gazing in the beauty of God and all of our Christian life streams downward from that Faith turned to sight hope to joy love Perfected And we get to see God and one great church father has beautiful quote We have you have made us for yourself.

Oh Lord, and our heart is restless Until it finds its rest Not in any created thing But in you so we have to ask ourselves beloved. Is this what our heart rests in? Is this what we long for? Do you want this vision of God? What if you could have this vision but your spouse Couldn't do you still want it? What if you could have this vision, but your children don't? Is this still the beautiful glorious vision that you want to behold regardless of who is there? and And I confess we I mean I pray for the salvation of my children.

I pray for the salvation of friends and family But Their absence or presence doesn't diminish the beauty of God That is promised To those who have faith in Christ Jesus Is this what we want and long for? Is this what we want even if no one else we love and cherish is there with us we want to behold the beauty of God Before we move out of this question one application for you is Search out the beloved one Search out Christ You may be in a as I'm preaching this believe me. This has been one of the most convicting topics.

I've ever had to study Do I really long for the beauty of the Lord and praise God? We don't make it there because we have a perfect longing but because of Christ and what he has done on our behalf Providing our perfect righteousness, but there are times you know those times. I know those times that we've gone through in our life Where it's dry? We come to church we sing the songs we open the pages of Scripture and we do not see the beauty of God I Want to encourage you not to withdraw in those times Not to hold back.

It's it's possible that by God's sovereignty The vision of Christ in this life has been withheld from you somewhat So as to encourage you to dig deeper and harder in the pages of Holy Scripture to dig deeper and harder in prayer and fasting to come here and gather with the body of Christ so that you may make your make the Come here with them and gather and sing the word and hear the word read and hear the word preached and cry out to God God show me your beauty Sometimes that's withheld from us so as to stir up in us our disciplines our longings and our affections And the reward is great Second question What must happen in order for the beatific vision to be possible Okay, so we said this is this is great.

This is what's this is what's promised to the Saints This is what's promised. This is what the people of God long for What what's what's the what has to happen and the answer is this a Transformation must occur a Transformation must occur and I'm talking about for those who are in Christ Jesus. There's I'm not talking about salvation I'm saying that something has to actually change in order for this vision to be possible and let me emphatically State as emphatically as I possibly can that change is not in God.

I Have it on good authority From the best author. I the Lord do not change We just it's great when you pull out a proof text and leave it there and say good moving on God doesn't change He doesn't become more of who he is. He doesn't become less of who he is in this site He doesn't somehow become something different. We behold the immutable unchanging God in the sight But there is a change and there is a change in Christ's human nature Christ is truly God and as truly God he does not change the Christ is also truly man And as truly man, he was born of the Virgin as truly man He lived under the law as truly man.

He suffered and bled and died But he also rose again and in going back to Thomas Thomas saw him put his hands in his side, right? We read we read about that Thomas saw him so did John That's not the last appearance That Christ made to John There's an appearance that Christ made to John in Revelation chapter 1 verse 17 and John falls down as a dead man The disciples after the resurrection we don't we don't see that happening But we do once he is the not merely the risen Lord, but the ascended Lord It's and you see John falls down as one dead Jacob is as we talked about earlier is amazed that he's alive Manoah and in Judges chapter 13 verse 22 again amazed that somehow they have come face to face with God and still live There must be something that happens and there is something that happens that changes on Jesus Christ He doesn't become less human or more human than he is He doesn't somehow become some mixture of God and man, but he is now the risen glorified Truly God truly man Perfected ascended reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And by the way, this is the one that John says we see John says we will see him as he is. Well, how is he look at Revelation 1 17 you see how he is?

We don't see the babe in a manger We see the one who was the babe in the manger, but we don't see him as a babe We don't see him as one who has no place to lay his head We don't see him as one who died on the cross as on the cross We don't see him as the one who died on the cross and rose We see him who came suffered died rose and ascended and is the one that John sees Our hope is in seeing that one He changes Still being truly God and truly man divinity has not changed humanity changes Then third week we change We change this again, I Love good proof text anytime.

You can just say well, here's a good Bible verse for that, right? Look at Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 and as you're turning there think about Paul elsewhere behold, I tell you a mystery.

We will not all sleep, but we will all be what changed Change is coming Philippians 3 verse 20 for our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into Conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself The one who is the risen Ascended King of Kings and Lord of Lords that John fell at his feet before as a dead man that one who He that one is the one who will transform us fitting us To see God, isn't that glorious?

He transforms our bodies not by somehow making them divine bodies or God itself But he takes our creative human bodies and transformed them fitting them for a state to behold the beauty of God some applications From this question and answer labor to see God amidst difficulties You have a body of a humble state Some of you may be struggling to stay awake this very moment Some of you may be getting over being sick this week. We have a myriads of distractions pain trials tribulation loss all the sorrows of this world Labor even in the midst of these difficulties to see God listen to Spurgeon They surely see his face more clearly because all the clouds of care are gone from them Some of you while sitting here today have been trying to lift your minds to heavenly contemplation But you cannot the busyness has the business has gone so wrong this week The children have vexed you so much sickness has been in the house So sorely you yourself feel in your body quite out of order for devotion these enemies break your peace Now they are vexed by none of these things in heaven and therefore they can see their master's face It all goes away as we have a body fit to gaze into the beauty of God So beloved we have distractions that we put out Weaknesses that we try to deal with and push through as we plead with God that we would see the glory of God in Christ Jesus in the text of Holy Scripture Preparing us for that blessed vision that is to come upon our death But if you're here today, and you're not a believer in Christ, it's the exact opposite for you This is the only enjoyment you're gonna get You're in a you're in a nice cool building right now This Same God who transforms the body of believers fit for glory transforms the body of unbelievers making them fit Capable and ready to endure eternal Destruction and wrath coming from God himself God prepares unbelievers with a body that is ready to eternally perpetually endure his wrath So I believers Labor trying to remove distractions unbelievers.

This is the only enjoyment you have God is going to fit you for hell So we call upon you to repent and place your faith in Jesus Christ That's not something that's out of reach He's been presented to you in the songs. He's been presented to you in the Lord's table. He's been presented to you in the word this morning Recognize you are a sinner cry out to God and say God I have lived for my own beauty I thought beauty was in the eye of the beholder and I made all created things beautiful And I missed the one who created all things.

I have sinned against you Forgive me Give me a pure heart in Christ Jesus and make me fit to see God and You shouldn't have grasped from any of this That the believers hope is not being punished by God The believers hope is being with God Right and even as believers we can have a misguided notion. Oh, you know, we have terrible things. We have disease. We have pain We have cancer It's good to want all those to go away and the promises that all those do go away But we're not just given a new creation in which those things are absent and we get to enjoy them as we see fit No, all those things go away because we are fit to gaze upon the beauty of God The last question that we want to ask and this is where we maybe get a little more specific We all recognize we're 11 year old boys and that to speak too much is probably going to get ourselves into big trouble So we're not going to say too much, but I think we have to say a little more The last question is just what is the beatific vision?

What is it that is seen if it's if it's vision and it's eyes and I've already, you know defined it a little bit using Other theologians in the beginning, but I want to get a little more specific. I Think we want to say that there is a two-fold vision There's a two-fold vision. There is the vision that we have with our eyes There is a vision that we have with our eyes Christ Jesus truly God Truly man will resurrect his Saints on the last day fitting them with eyes To look at his look at himself he fits his bride the church with eyes to behold and long and love and look upon the bridegroom and We will see him as we read as he is first John chapter 3 John fell down as one dead we will be equipped transformed changed to look upon the eternal Son of God in his humanity and See our glorious Lord our glorious Savior our glorious Redeemer the one that we sang about earlier who leadeth us We shall see Christ Having our eyes fit to behold the one whom our soul loves But I think we want to say a little bit more than that Like we I think we have to say a little bit more than that But we have to be careful here.

It is insufficient for us to stop at the vision of Christ as if sight Merely means that we will see with our eyes Our eyeballs and our sight is not the most fundamental thing How do I know this? Because God is the most fundamental and God doesn't have eyes God cannot be seen first Timothy chapter 6 speaks to this he dwells in Unaccessible light whom no man has seen nor can see And that's not a contradiction to everything that I've been saying for the last however long I've been up here I Think there's ways to think about this and one way is to say that we see Christ in his humanity in the same way that You and I see each other except.

He's the Ascended Lord. We've been transformed But we'll see him with our eyes But there is a sight that is more fundamental than the sight of the eyes and you think about Again proof texting 2nd Corinthians 4 4 the God of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbeliever That mean that when they open up the pages of Scripture like something covers their eyes, and they can't see anything No, it's not what happens There's a glory to behold sight is analogous to knowledge So you you see me and there's nothing in between you and me and you see that I got a I got a red tie on and a blue coat and you just see it and You know it because you're here in my presence When we see God we do not see him with our eyes For the essence of God the nature of God cannot be seen but we have a clearer picture in our mind and Possess as perfectly as creature lease can possess a creaturely knowledge of God Knowing all the things that a creature can know about God Not being transformed into God Still being something other than God seeing God and having by seeing God.

We mean having a knowledge of God a perfect and complete knowledge of God The most perfect and complete knowledge of God that a creature can possess It will be again a perfect eternal perpetual loving intellectual gaze upon God one one English reformer William Perkins in his commentary on Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 says But some will ask how shall the mind see God Maybe that's what you're asking. I'll be honest with you That's what I'm asking But I think this answer leaves it where it needs to be left The manner is such as neither eye has seen nor ear heard neither can any man tell but they only that have fruition of it in heaven Yet certainly such it is as shall give full contentment to everyone that does enjoy it But it shall be far better for us to seek for a pure heart Whereby we may be assured of this blessed sight of God then Curiously to search how we shall see him for to them that be a pure heart God will reveal himself perfectly to their joy Unexpected unspeakable and glorious in other words, what's it gonna be like?

He says and I say with him. I don't know but I know that it would be joy inexpressible as We see the one for whom we were made Even though we don't know what it's going to be like we still ought to joyously Wait, it's coming. We ought not to walk out of here like 11 year old boys Yeah It'll happen sometime any father will would look at his son say no son.

It's going to be great You just don't understand yet. But when it happens, you'll know and That's what Scripture is doing to us. It's guiding us. We are those on this side of the Ascension looking into Scripture Spirit giving us eyes Regenerating our hearts taking out our heart of stone giving us a heart of flesh Enabling us to see the glory of God in Christ Jesus, even though we have not seen him And this one whom we have not seen We love That's a blessed sight the sight of Christ and the glory of God in Christ that hopefully has been put off put down display today the sight of the Glory of God in Christ that you see in the pages of Holy Scripture is a blessed sight But there's something far greater far more glorious When the one that we love We see face to face being fit transformed to behold the beauty of God Not for anything that we've done.

We've not somehow purified our hearts enough to attain to this blessed vision We could not Let me think about it if it was be pure in heart and you shall see God This would be the most depressing message you have ever heard today Not saying cease striving But what I am saying is it's Christ righteousness alone by which we see God Christ cleansing our heart and his work alone by which we see God then Christ taking his redeemed saints and transforming them so that they will see him as he is and And everyone who has this hope purifies himself as He is pure first John chapter 3 verse 2 pursue the purity that is found in Christ for those of you who don't have faith in Christ that means Seek Christ himself as your glory or as your righteousness for those who do have faith in Christ Pray that the Spirit of God will continue to mold you in shape You said even in this life now you continue to know the one that you were made for for all eternity Knowing that you are those who are blessed as those who have not yet seen yet believed And now we walk by faith, but then faith will turn to sight and we will see God Let us pray.

Oh God in heaven. We are grateful for Things that we have a word that goes beyond things that we could know or tell And that we have a God who gave us the word that we cannot fully comprehend For if we could comprehend you in your fullness Oh God We would be God or you would be less than God Neither of those are good options But you the incomprehensible God have made yourself known to us that we may know you truly though not fully Father we ask that you would cause us to long for the day That we would behold the beauty of the Lord cause us to long for the day when our weak body will be transformed When the distractions of this life will go away and we will be able to find our rest in God We pray in the name of Jesus for there is no other name to pray in this vision of God in Christ Jesus would not be possible apart from his work For we are sinful creatures And he has sinful creatures by his work.

You have brought about redemption That we may behold the beauty of God in Christ Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen