Heavenly Mindedness (56)

 

“The other point to be observed is this, that heaven is the normal goal of our redemption. We all know that religion is older than redemption. At the same time the experience of redemption is the summit of religion. The two have become so interwoven that the Christian cannot conceive of a future state from which the redemptive mold and color would be absent. The deepest and dearest in us is so much the product of salvation, that the vision of God as such and the vision of God our Savior melt into one. We could not separate them if we would. The simple reason is that precisely in redeeming us God has revealed to us the inmost essence of his deity. No one but a redeemed creature can truly know what it is for God to be God, and what it means to worship and possess Him as God. This is the fine gold of the Christian’s experience, sweeter to him than honey and the honeycomb. The river that makes glad the city of God is the river of grace. The believer’s mind and heart will only in heaven compass the full riches, the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of God.”  G. Vos

 

Continuing to work from the above quote from the last post:

 

“We all know that religion is older than redemption.” I would love ask Vos what he means by this, but since I can’t ask him I’ll have to take it as it is written, and it is problematic as it is written. After all, we see redemption in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” We also see redemption in Genesis 1:2 – 3, for just as the earth was formless and void and in darkness, so were our lives before the work of the Holy Spirit, therefore Paul can write (2 Cor. 4:6), “For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

 

“At the same time the experience of redemption is the summit of religion. The two have become so interwoven that the Christian cannot conceive of a future state from which the redemptive mold and color would be absent.” In the previous post we noted that Vos uses the term “redemption” in a comprehensive manner, encompassing all of salvation.

 

“The deepest and dearest in us is so much the product of salvation, that the vision of God as such and the vision of God our Savior melt into one. We could not separate them if we would. The simple reason is that precisely in redeeming us God has revealed to us the inmost essence of his deity. No one but a redeemed creature can truly know what it is for God to be God, and what it means to worship and possess Him as God. This is the fine gold of the Christian’s experience, sweeter to him than honey and the honeycomb.”

 

I want to add the following quote as we ponder the above, we’ll see it again in the next section of Vos’s message, “The life above will be a ceaseless coming to Jesus…”

 

The foregoing is an example of how difficult it is for us to speak of our future state in eternity, a condition, a manner of life, which is far beyond our comprehension and vocabulary. Paul was “caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak” (2 Cor. 12:4). We also might wonder what Paul saw in addition to what he heard. And yet, the door of future vision is not entirely closed to us, for Paul also wrote, “…Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:9 – 10).

 

Then of course we have John’s vision throughout Revelation, and in particular chapters 21 and 22. However, if we miss the point of the Presence of God Almighty and the Lamb in these chapters, and try to reduce this description to the material, to the physical, we will fail to see their glory – this is about what the eyes of our heart see, not what our natural eyes see.

 

In Dante’s Paradise we read;

 

“This way of speech best suits your apprehension,

   Which knows but to receive reports from sense

   And fit them for the intellect’s attention.

So Scripture stoops to your intelligence:

  It talks about God’s ‘hand” and ‘feet’, intending

  That you should draw a different inference;”

            Canto IV:40-45 (trans. Dorothy L. Sayers and Barbara Reynolds, Penguin)

 

The reason I want us to think about this is that Vos, strictly speaking, contracts himself as he moves toward the close of his message, and he even makes a statement that, upon reflection, he may have edited out had he had the chance. Yet, considering that Vos is writing about the future state of those in Christ, this is understandable and we ought not to have heartburn about it – for to contemplate the Trinity is to be at a loss for consistent words. Images often convey more than words, and words within images often find their texture and meaning. Hence, we have vivid images in John’s Apocalypse, and within these images we have words – images drive the book of Revelation, words are supporting characters. Or perhaps we could better say that words and images dance together and we see their patterns and interactive beauty.

 

Vos writes “God has revealed to us the inmost essence of his deity,” but he also writes, “The life above will be a ceaseless coming to Jesus.” Then we have, “the vision of God as such and the vision of God our Savior melt into one. We could not separate them if we would.”

 

What do you see in the above paragraph?

 

If we have a ceaseless coming to Jesus then we must be able to distinguish Jesus from the Father. Also, if we have a ceaseless coming to Jesus then what does this say about us seeing the inmost essence of his deity? And yet, may we not be so caught up in the Divine Presence that one moment (if we can speak of “moments”) we see the Father and the Son, and the next moment we simply behold God’s ineffable Trinitarian glory? Furthermore, how does our ceaseless coming to Jesus relate to our seeing the inmost essence of his deity? In other words, do we “see” God once and for all, and is that vision, that seeing, static? Or do we abide in a continuing deepening and heightening relationship and revelation with Him?

 

Will we really see the inmost essence of his deity? Perhaps it will seem to us as if we see Him this way, but perhaps it will seem like this one moment, and then it will be deeper the next moment, and the next, and the next (do you see how limited we are? I speak of “moments” when there is no time in that Place, but I am a creature of time…at least for “now”.)

 

Vos is doing what we all are likely to do, we simply can’t speak or write about these things except in a limited way – but we do the best we can to communicate the glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ.

 

Our calling, our heart’s desire, ought to be to see the Face of God. As we previously pondered, Jesus did not say, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall go to heaven,” but rather, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This is where Vos is headed, this is where Vos has always been headed in this message of Heavenly – Mindedness; this is where we ought to be headed.

 

O dear friends, let us not be as children playing with things such as extravagant schemes of prophecy that change with the headlines; let us not be as infants focused on ourselves and what we want; let us not be so foolish as to think we can conjure up lasting transformative programs that will sustain us through this lifetime – but let us find our heart’s desire in beholding Jesus Christ, and in so doing we will find ourselves transformed from glory to glory into His image – and we will know this joy together in Him (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Hebrews 12:2; Matthew 17:5).