Communion with God and The Lamb

Prayer for Spiritual Illumination to Grasp Heavenly Realities

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, November 6, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now may we once again look to God in prayer.

0:19 We always stand in need of the Spirit's help when we take the book of God into our hands, but if ever a true servant of Christ feels most keenly the inability to make spiritual things real and plain to men, it's when he comes to contemplate the mind-boggling glories of the world to come as revealed in the Word of God. Let us pray together that God would, in full knowledge of our weakness and limitation, come, pull back the veil, and by the Word, the Word and the Spirit bring heaven to our eyes and to our hearts in the study of His Word. Let us pray.

1:10 Our Father, we remember the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, Without me, you can do nothing.

1:21 And though we know that this is always true, we thank you for those occasions when we are brought more keenly to feel and own our utter impotence for spiritual exercises. And we therefore come praying that into our natively dark minds will come that light from heaven. Into our earthbound perspective may come the glorious realities of the world to come. Our Father, we cry to you again as we have cried to you earlier in this service and many of us before this service.

2:02 Come, O come, blessed Holy Spirit, and take of the things of Christ and so bring them home to our hearts with power that we shall know that we are trafficking in realities, that we are not merely having our minds titillated with ephemeral notions, but, oh, may the substantial realities of the world to come break in upon us and so lay hold of us that we will never be the same. Because you have given us to see with eyes illuminated by the Spirit through the Word the great inheritance that has been purchased for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. And then for those poor earthlings who, like the muckraker in Bunyan's Progress, ever look downward to the muck of this world, O God, give them grace this night to drop the rake, to look away from the muck, from the mire of this world, and to see the glories that are theirs if they will but repent and flee to Christ. O Lord, hear our cry, answer the plea that together we bring into your presence in the name of your beloved Son.

Heaven as Direct Sight and Immediate Communion with God and the Lamb

3:25 Amen. Now we do come this evening to the tenth message in a series of studies under the general heading of the biblical doctrines of heaven, and of hell. And we're presently addressing ourselves to the question, what is heaven? And with our Bibles opened before us, we have asserted, or I have asserted in your presence and demonstrated from the scriptures, these four facets of the answer to that question.

4:07 What is heaven? We have seen together that heaven is a place as well as a state, or condition. Secondly, that heaven is a state of the perfection of soul and of body. Thirdly, that heaven is a place of unwearied service, joined to perennial rest and refreshment.

4:29 And fourthly, that heaven is a place of the perfected communion of all the redeemed of all ages. Now tonight we shall examine but one more facet of the Bible's answer to the question, what is heaven? And that facet I'm stating this way. Heaven is the realization of the direct sight of and immediate communion with God and of the Lamb.

5:05 Heaven is the realization of the direct sight of and immediate, immediate communion with God and of the Lamb. And if there is one jewel amidst the vast array of those jewels that constitute the inheritance of the saints, a jewel that we might properly identify as the crown jewel of our inheritance, then surely it is this jewel that we shall see him and that we shall be with him. then surely it is this jewel that we shall see him and that we shall be with him. And what I purpose to do is first of all from the scriptures to underscore the prominence of this two-fold aspect of our crown jewel of the inheritance of heaven, this direct sight of and this immediate communion with God and of the Lamb. Look with me at several texts that concentrate particularly upon this. Look with me at several texts that concentrate particularly upon this. upon this first aspect of this great blessing of heaven, namely the direct sight of God.

Scriptural Evidence for the Direct Sight of God

6:22 In Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, a verse familiar to many of us, our Lord in giving this composite character description of the true sons and daughters of the kingdom of his grace, for that's what the Beatitudes are, they are a divinely drawn picture of the character of the true sons and daughters of the kingdom of his grace, for that's what the Beatitudes are, They are a divinely drawn picture of the character of a true son or daughter of the kingdom. They do not tell us the way into the kingdom. They describe those who have entered in the major lineaments of their character. And here the Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 and verse 8, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And whatever else this verse teaches us, it teaches us that the apex of blessing to those who are purified and sanctified by grace is nothing less than this direct sight of God himself. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they, and they only, shall see God.

7:39 That is, they shall not merely behold him as all men will behold him upon the throne of his judgment in the last day, but they shall see him with that sight of ravishing delight, that sight of him that will in a very real sense be the culmination and the realization of all of his glory. But their highest longings implanted in their hearts by grace. And so for our Lord Jesus, this direct sight of God is the great reward of grace to the subjects of his grace. And then in what we might call a parallel passage, this same emphasis comes through, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14. Here the writer to the Hebrews is urging, his readers, to pursue a life of peace with all men and of ongoing sanctification and holiness. And as he would buttress the great incentive that ought continually to press the pursuers of holiness in that pursuit, it is this, Hebrews 12 verse 14, follow after peace with all men and the sanctification or the holiness,

9:03 without which no man shall see the Lord. In other words, he's writing to a people who have heard enough of gospel truth to know that the crowning blessing of heaven is the sight of God. And now to prod them on in the pursuit of a life of holiness against all the opposition of their own hearts, the world and the devil, he says, if you do not pursue holiness, this great crown jewel will be withheld from you without this holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Then in 1 John chapter 3, John the Apostle writing to the people of God, verse 1 of chapter 3, Behold, stand back in amazement and consider, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed, bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And such we are. For this cause the world does not know us, because it did not know him. Beloved, now are we children of God.

10:26 We are presently the adoptive sons and daughters of God. That is our legal status. But, but though we are now the children of God, it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. That is, it has not yet been manifest what we shall be in the full enjoyment of that status of sons.

10:50 Though we are now the sons and daughters of God, and we have been given the spirit of adoption and free access to the presence and heart of God in prayer and able to say, Abba, Father, it is not yet manifest what we shall be. In the full inheritance, in the inheritance and enjoyment of our sonship. But we know that when he or it, and it's an exegetical problem, shall be manifest, and I'm not going into that problem. Notice what is held forth is the great end, which is marked out for us.

11:24 But we know that if, we know that when it or he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, and therefore we shall see him, even as he is. Now does that refer to the Father or to the Son? And here again, it's an exegetical problem, but we're not going into it. This much is clear.

11:49 It is the sight of God in the context of total conformity to God, and I believe with many responsible exegetes, it's God in Jesus Christ that is held forth as the apex of the full realization of sonship. It is not yet manifested what we shall be, but when it or he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And the seeing him as he is is brought into that focal point of the realization of the great privileges of sonship. And then in Revelation 22, verses 3 and 4a, this emphasis again comes through with great clarity. Here in the book of the Revelation, chapter 22,

12:46 perhaps I should pick up the reading with verse 1, and he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. One throne, it is the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof, and on this side of the river, and on that, that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall no more be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. And they, they shall see his face. This throne described in this passage, occupied by God and the Lamb, is the center and the source of the life of heaven. And the one who sits upon it will give us access to behold his face.

14:00 Our relationship to him will be that of direct sight. And in these four pivotal, that great reality is set before us in language that is plain, simple, straightforward. And though as we begin to meditate upon these verses and begin to try to imagine what it will be like, in what sense shall we behold the sight of the God who is invisible and of Christ who has a visible, glorified body? We can ask a thousand questions, but may I urge you to push those questions to God, those questions down and simply allow this glorious reality couched in these words to take hold of your mind and spirit, blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Now as the focus of these texts is upon the direct sight of God, there is another set of texts which emphasize that this crown jewel of the blessings of heaven is to be found in this immediate communion with God and his beloved Son. John chapter 14. We looked at the passage in conjunction with demonstrating that heaven was a place.

Scriptural Evidence for Immediate Communion with God and the Lamb

15:24 Now let's go back and look at it in another light, for that's not really the dominant emphasis of the passage. The Lord Jesus has predicted that he will depart from his disciples. This has filled their hearts. They have filled their hearts with sorrow, with disturbance.

15:44 And our Lord says, don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. John 14.2.

15:52 In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.

16:20 You see the emphasis. The emphasis falls not so much upon the mind being preoccupied with what are the dwelling places prepared, but the one who will take us to himself to be in those dwelling places. I go, and if I go, I will come to take you unto myself, that where I am, and now all the dwelling places, as it were, fade into the background, and the central issue is this, where I am, there you will be also. And again we see this emphasis in the great resurrection passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The apostle is writing to comfort the grieving Thessalonians, and to comfort the grieving Thessalonians, to comfort the grieving Thessalonians, who have lost loved ones. And somehow the teaching has been floating about that the saints who are alive at the return of Christ will be first-class saints and go to heaven in the first-class compartment, and dead saints will be second-class or third-class. And he is writing to correct that unbiblical notion.

17:33 And so he gives this instruction, beginning with verse 13, 13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall. The blind will not fall asleep! That you sorrow not even as the rest, who have no hope! Then he gives this specific instruction about the priority of Christ's concern with respect to His dead saints.

17:50 again, starting with verse 13, And also on behalf of him or herself, out of the Japan indenture and also нами. it's the dead in Christ that shall rise first. They'll get first attention. Not the living saints, dead saints.

18:08 And after giving some of that instruction, he then brings us to what is the culminating blessing for dead and living saints of heaven diets, at the return of the Lord, and what is it? Verse 17, then we that are alive that are left shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. You see, this passage finds its culmination, its apex, its pinnacle. It finds its point of highest glory in this assertion, so shall we, our dead loved ones and living saints, together, not so much with one another. Now the great preoccupation is together with the Lord himself. And then over to Revelation 21, two passages in the 21st chapter of the book of the Revelation, verses 1 to 3, and 3. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great

19:35 voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he who shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. God shall dwell with them, God himself shall be with them. That's the point of emphasis in these verses, and then you'll notice the repetition of it in verses 22 and 23 of the same chapter. I saw no temple therein. In this vision of the perfected church coming down as a city, he says, I looked for a temple. And what was a temple? A temple was that building in which God manifested in a special way his presence with his people. If you wanted to have dealings

20:34 with God and meet God in a peculiar way, in the place of his appointment, where sacrifices were made, and where the priests carried on their God-ordained life, you would have to have a temple. But he said, I looked, and I saw no temple. And why did he not see a temple? Well, the passage tells us, I saw no temple, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple. In other words, the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb constitute the temple. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it. For the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. In other words, heaven is one glorious temple, because the immediate presence of God fills it, and in that immediacy we shall commune with him, and we shall see him. And then a text which,

The Crown Jewel: Sight and Communion United in Christ's Prayer

21:39 at least in the light of my present understanding, beautifully draws these two strands together, is found in the high priestly prayer of our Lord in John 17. And this is why I've treated the two things together, this direct vision of God in this immediate communion with God as the crown jewel of heaven's blessings. Notice the prayer of our Lord in John 17 and verse 24. Richard Baxter said of this text, I would not for all the world, have this one text left out of the Bible. In other words, someone said to Richard Baxter, I'll give you the world if you let me cut out this one verse. He'd say, take your world, but give me this text. And this is the text, the prayer of the Lord Jesus. Father, verse

22:35 24, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am. Communion. That they may behold my glory sight. I desire, and you'll notice the marginal reading. I'm sorry, it's not in this marginal reading, but many of the Bibles. I will. It is more than a wish. I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am. Now, that's what our Lord is committed to in his priestly intercession for his people. He has not only prayed. He is not only praying that we shall be kept from the evil one. He is not only praying all of the other things that are given to us in this passage, and which we learn by inference from other passages, but he's praying that as the culminating blessing of our redemption, that we shall be brought to the place where he is, and that we might behold his glory, that we might see him as he is. Now, having established from the Scriptures the prominent

Characteristics of Heavenly Sight: Accurate and Uninterrupted

23:51 evidence of this hope of the direct sight and immediate communion with God and of the Lamb as the crown jewel, the great blessing of heaven, let me just point out several characteristics of this sight and of this communion. The first thing we learn about this sight is that it will be accurate sight, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It will be accurate. It will be accurate sight. There is very little that we dare say about it, but this much we can say in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 12. For now we see every true believer sees he's no longer a blind sinner. Once he saw no glory in Christ, the only thing that captured his eye was the world and its glitter, the flesh and what it had to offer. Sin and assorted world were the things that ensnared his heart, but his eyes have been opened to behold sufficient glory in Christ as to bring about a divorce from sin in the

25:06 world and an attachment to Jesus Christ in faith. But all of that sight at its most intensive point of spiritual insight is according to this passage, and remember this is a man who was even caught up in the Bible. He was caught up in the Bible. He was caught up in the third heaven and heard things unlawful to utter. He said, we, I along with you, Corinthian believers, we see through a glass darkly or in an enigma. And one of the commentators writing on the imagery here has written as follows, our present understanding is like peering into a primitive metal mirror with its imperfect reflection. But then in the next life, we shall see face to face. Since such mirrors were made in Corinth, Paul's readers would be quick to grasp the point. You see, we look at a mirror now, and

26:07 once you blow on it or put a little Windex on it and a towel on it, it gives a fairly accurate reflection of reality. You've got a pimple on the end of your nose, it'll show up in the mirror. If you've got a nose that's bent to the left, it'll look bent the other way in the mirror. At least it'll show it's bent. But remember, Paul was writing in a day when they didn't have glass as we now know it, backed with the materials that give this accurate reflection. And the best mirrors gave an imperfect reflection of reality. So when you looked into the mirror, you saw some reflection of reality, but it was not clear and distinct. You saw the basic outline and the basic form and some of the basic particulars, but you were seeing enigmatically, you were seeing through a glass, darkly. That's the imagery. But he says, then, then, then,

27:01 when the perfect is come, what will be the mark of our sight? Then, face to face, now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as also I was fully known. Now this does not mean we will be given the knowledge of an omniscient God. But what it is saying is, as fully as the mind of God comprehends all reality that an omniscient mind of deity can comprehend, so all that a human mind, cleared of all darkness and dullness, can comprehend in beholding reality, we shall know, even as we also are known, as God knows us accurately. So we shall know Him. We shall have a knowledge, a sight of Him that will be an accurate sight. And again, I refer to Baxter, who took the very strange imagery, but powerful imagery, of a man looking down on a, I don't know what you'd call them, a horde of ants, a whole bunch of ants. I don't know what we'd call them, kids, but a whole bunch of ants. And

28:21 he says, as a human being, I can look down on a group of ants. And comprehend in one sight all of the ants in that group of ants, scurrying around perhaps a little piece of cake that was left somewhere where it shouldn't be. But he said, those ants, though they are fellow creatures, they have no knowledge of me. They cannot comprehend me as a human being. Though we have this in common, we are both creatures, my eye can look down and fully comprehend all of them and all of their actions and watch them scurrying about and dragging off a little piece of the cake. He said, now, if fellow creatures are fellow creatures can have such a distance between them so that the little ant cannot even comprehend the fellow creature, we should not be surprised that we creatures have problems comprehending an infinite God. God is infinite. And even when we see accurately, we will see as creatures. But we shall no longer see as creatures with blurred vision. Within distinct

29:22 lines we shall see face to face. It will be accurate sight. And then as to the communion, it will be uninterrupted communion with our blessed Lord. No sin to grieve the Spirit and to put us at a distance from Him.

29:45 No evil world to distract and seduce us and, as it were, put specks of dust and cinders in our eyes. He said, when we would behold His beauty, we cannot see Him clearly. No devil and evil spirits to oppress and assail us. And listen, no faith to be perfected by the trial of the sense of a withdrawn God. There are very few trials of faith more severe in this life than the trial of faith that comes to a saint when God withdraws the sensible awareness of His presence. And that's the truth. The saint is called upon to walk in naked trust in the words of God with not an ounce of felt comfort. But you see, when faith is made sight, no longer will faith have to be purified by the withdrawings of God's sensible presence and felt communion with Him. There

Characteristics of Heavenly Sight: Expanding and Satisfying

30:53 will be nothing but the unending noontide beams of His glory. His glory and His fellowship poured into our souls in that eternal noontide of that place where there is no night and the Lamb is the light thereof. And then, though I can't support this from a text, it's a conviction that I believe is born of a general sensitivity to the Scriptures. Not only will it be an accurate sight as now contrasted or contrasted with our nation.

31:29 It will be an uninterrupted communion as opposed to the communion that we now experience. But it will be an expanding sight and communion. There will be nothing static in the sight of God in our communion with God. For being infinite, and we continually throughout the ages, of eternity being finite, we shall be able to grow in the knowledge of this glorious God. And though He continues to expand the capacities of our finite minds, He will never exhaust the riches of His own glory, for He is the infinite God. No wonder the hymn writers who contemplated this penned such words, as all earth's flowing pleasures were a wintry sea. Heaven itself without thee, dark as night would be. And the hymn we so often sing in this place, the bride, eyes not the garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not

32:50 gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Not at the crown He gifteth, but on His pierced hand. For the Lamb is all. What will it be like to hold the hands pierced for us, to look into the very eyes that wept bitter tears over an impenitent Jerusalem, the eyes that were closed in death when He bore the wrath of God? What will it be to clasp the pierced hands, to gaze into those eyes and say, My Jesus,

33:37 I love Thee? Face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ, who died for me. Now, there are many questions, as I said earlier. All kinds of questions swirl through our heads, but surely, if we have tasted anything of grace, and have known the first dimensions of eternal life, which is to know Him and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, then surely this is all we need to know, that we shall see Him, we shall be with Him, we shall behold Him, we shall have communion with Him.

Application: The Index of Your Soul and Holy Restlessness

34:32 Now, may I say that few things are a greater index of the true state of your soul than whether or not such thoughts really excite you. I want you to turn in the conclusion of our meditation. I want you to turn in the conclusion of our meditation to Psalm 17. Psalm 17. This is a prayer for protection against wicked men and their oppression. And in verse 13, the psalmist cries, Arise, O Lord, confront him, that is, the evil man and the oppressor of the righteous. Cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord. Now, notice how he describes them. From men of this world, whose

35:19 portion is in this life, whose belly you fill with your treasure, they are satisfied with children, and leave the rest of their substance to babes. He describes the men of this world as those whose portion is bounded by this life, by birth and death. God, graciously in His common kindness to His creatures, gives them a portion of their life, and He gives them all they could want to make them happy in this life. And alas, they are satisfied with this, with their children and their grandchildren and their earthly substance. And if they can look back and see these things in hand, they are satisfied. But not the psalmist. Verse 15, As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I be awake with beholding thy form. Now, let me ask you a very personal question. What

36:30 satisfies you? If right now I had the power to pay all of your bills for the next twenty years, and I paid them in advance, you'd not get one more P.S. and G. bill, you'd not get one more notification from your bank with all your mortgage envelopes and your mortgages, everything paid up! And inheritance for your children secured so they could go to college, buy a car and all the rest! If you could have all of this, would you be satisfied? Sit back and say, I've got it made. Would you? If so, my friend, you're not going to heaven when you die unless that frame of reference is radically changed. Because you're a man, you're a woman of this world, and when Jesus Christ returns to consume this world and the works thereof, in that state you'll be consumed. The most immature, the most recent convert to the Christian faith has tasted enough of communion and fellowship with God in Jesus Christ that he can never be satisfied until

37:48 he awaits with beholding the form of his Redeemer. And dear child of God, that holy restlessness that you now experience. It causes you to go home from a day like today in which we can look back and say, O God, you answered the prayers of yesterday morning when we prayed, Lord, come upon us in our stated seasons of worship. Lord, visit us in the ministry of the Word. We can look back and say, O God, you met our hearts, and we anticipate that he will meet us when we come to his table. Yet, yet, yet, not a one of us says, and Lord, I thank you. That there's nothing more to be experienced. We sense in our most blessed moments of communion here on earth alone or in the company of his people that we can never be satisfied until we awake with beholding his form. It will be our joy in a few moments to take the bread,

38:53 the emblem of his broken body, and many of us will sit with that portion of bread in our hands, and our hearts will run out in expression. It will be expressions of love and appreciation and gratitude to the Lord Jesus, and we will take the cup, and that same gratitude will swell up within our hearts. It will be expressed in the way that we sing, but in the very midst of that expression of devotion, there is that haunting, that relentless pressure, O that I could love him more than I now love him. O that I could see more clearly than I now see.

39:31 The glory. The glory and the wonder of his redemption for a sinner such as this. My friend, you will not be satisfied if you're a true child of God till you see him as he is. But as surely as God by grace has worked that very disposition in you, Jesus Christ is praying that you will be kept, and that one day you will be with him, and you will behold his glory.

The Inexpressible Glory and the Tragedy of Man-Centered Christianity

40:05 Does it seem like a dream? It's not. And when we do, we will cry out with the Queen of Sheba, the half had not been told me. What will it be? I cannot begin to try to articulate it. I have felt like as though my tongue were three inches thick tonight, just trying to speak of these things simply from the plain text of the Word of God. But one sight, and then we shall see. And then we shall see.

40:38 And then we shall see. And then we shall know. We see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face, we shall know, even as we are known. And my final word of application is this. Do you see why a Christianity that is man-centered fails to make people heavenly-minded? Because once you've gotten your goodies from God, he's not an essential element of the whole religious picture anymore. Come to God and get your goodies? All right, now go and do your own thing. And one of the tragedies of present evangelicalism is that it is so little marked by heavenly-mindedness. Whereas when we read the Word of God, we find again and again, it is the perspective of the people of God conscious that they are sojourners passing through to another land, to another place. It is the picture that God gives of His people. May God fill our hearts.

Communion as a Foretaste and Longing for Christ's Return

41:42 May God fill our hearts with holy longings, even as we, again tonight, take the best things He's given us until we can hold His hands and look into His eyes. We can take the bread because He said, take, eat, in remembrance of Me. We cannot look upon the hands that were pierced, but we can look upon the cup that He said, drink, in remembrance of Me. And as we now feed upon by faith, we do so.

42:13 So until He come, and surely the cry that will swell from our hearts as we catch a fresh glimpse of Him here, even through a glass, darkly is, even so, come, Lord Jesus. Let us pray.

Concluding Prayer for Gratitude and Salvation

42:37 Our Father, we do come thanking You for the prospect that is ours as the people of God. We stand baffled and overcome before the glory. That awaits Your people. And yet we thank You that in a moment of time, we shall know.

43:03 We thank You for this prospect. And we pray for any who are held by the cords of their sin to this present world, who see no glory in You and in Your beloved Son. O Father, take the scales from their eyes. Give them to see, even now, how desperately they are in need of Your grace and salvation in the Lord Jesus, that they may divorce themselves from the world and be joined to Your beloved Son. Seal the word to our hearts and continue with us in this feast of remembrance. May Christ Himself draw near to us in the breaking of bread, we pray in His worthy name. Amen. The Lord's Prayer