CHAPTER 1
Heaven Is a World of Love
The Cause and Fountain of Love in Heaven
Here I remark that the God of love himself dwells in heaven. Heaven is the palace or presence chamber of the high and holy one, whose name is love, and who is both the cause and source of all holy love. God, considered with respect to his essence, is everywhere: he fills both heaven and earth. But yet he is said, in some respects, to be more especially in some places than in others.
He was said of old to dwell in the land of Israel, above all other lands; and in Jerusalem, above all other cities of that land; and in the temple, above all other buildings in the city; and in the Holy of Holies, above all other apartments of the temple; and on the mercy seat over the ark of the covenant, above all other places in the Holy of Holies.
But heaven is his dwelling place above all other places in the universe, and all those places in which he was said to dwell of old were but types of this. Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of his glorious presence, and it is his abode forever; here will he dwell and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity.
And this renders heaven a world of love, for God is the fountain of love as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day fills the world with light.
The apostle tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8 ESV), and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full, overflowing, and inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.
That blessed world shall be perfectly bright, without any darkness; perfectly fair, without any spot; perfectly clear, without any cloud.
There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is or ever was, proceeds. There dwell God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one in infinitely dear, incomprehensible, mutual, and eternal love.
There dwells God the Father, who is the Father of mercies, and so the Father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to die for it.
There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace and of love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood and poured out his soul unto death for men.
There dwells the great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people.
There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father.
And there dwells the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven.
There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love—this eternal three in one—is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!
The Objects of Love That Heaven Contains
Here I would observe three things.
A. There are none but lovely objects in heaven. No odious, or unlovely, or polluted person or thing is to be seen there. There is nothing there that is wicked or unholy. “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination” (Revelation 21:27 KJV). And there is nothing that is deformed with any natural or moral deformity, but everything is beauteous to behold, amiable, and excellent in itself.
The God that dwells and gloriously manifests himself there is infinitely lovely—gloriously lovely as a heavenly Father, as a divine Redeemer, and as a holy sanctifier.
All the persons that belong to the blessed society of heaven are lovely. The Father of the family is lovely, and so are all his children; the head of the body is lovely, and so are all the members.
Among the angels, there are none that are unlovely, for they are all holy, and no evil angels are suffered to infest heaven as they do this world, but they are kept forever at a distance by that great gulf that is between them and the glorious world of love. And among all the company of the saints, there are no unlovely persons.
There are no false professors or hypocrites there; none that pretend to be saints and yet are of an unchristian and hateful spirit or behavior, as is often the case in this world; none whose gold has not been purified from its dross; none who are not lovely in themselves and to others.
There is no one object there to give offense or at any time to give occasion for any passion or emotion of hatred or dislike, but every object there shall forever draw forth love.
B. And not only shall all objects in heaven be lovely, but they shall be perfectly lovely. There are many things in this world that in general are lovely, but yet are not perfectly free from that which is the contrary. There are spots on the sun, and so there are many men that are most amiable and worthy to be loved who yet are not without some things that are disagreeable and unlovely.
Often there is in good men some defect of temper, or character, or conduct that mars the excellence of what otherwise would seem most amiable; and even the very best of men are, on earth, imperfect. But it is not so in heaven. There shall be no pollution, or deformity, or unamiable defect of any kind seen in any person or thing, but everyone shall be perfectly pure and perfectly lovely in heaven.
That blessed world shall be perfectly bright, without any darkness; perfectly fair, without any spot; perfectly clear, without any cloud.
No moral or natural defect shall ever enter there, and there nothing shall be seen that is sinful, weak, or foolish; nothing, the nature or aspect of which is coarse or displeasing, or that can offend the most refined taste or the most delicate eye. No string shall there vibrate out of tune, to cause any jar in the harmony of the music of heaven, and no note be such as to make discord in the anthems of saints and angels.