‘JESUS SAID
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WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT HEAVEN
COKESBURY DEVOTIONAL SERIES
The Apostles’ Creed—A Romance in Religion
Arthur Talmage Abernethy
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The Sermon on the Mount—An Interpretation I. C. Jenkins
What Jesus Said about Heaven—A Study in the Four Gospels J.T. Whitley
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WHAT JESUS SAID | ABOUT HEAVEN
A STUDY IN THE FOUR GOSPELS
ff BY J. T. WHITLEY, D.D. Author of ‘‘Filled with Messages from Thee,”’ Etc.
I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. John 14: 6. HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY. Matthew 24: 35.
NASHVILLE, TENN. COKESBURY PRESS 1925
Copyricnt, 1925 BY LaMAR & BARTON
at Printed in the United States of America
TO
My Daughters
MARY ESTHER WHITLEY ANNIE WHITLEY PLEASANTS
AFFECTIONATE, FaITHFUL CapPaBLB
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PREFACE
HE purpose of this book is to ascertain and set forth with at least approximate fullness the teachings of Jesus Christ concerning Heaven. The teachings of the Apostles and other Biblical writers are referred to as inter- pretative of the Master’s doctrine; but no at- tempt has been made to present all the passages in the Epistles and elsewhere, which might have been included if the object in view had been to show what the Bible as a whole, or the entire New Testament, has to say about the future life of the saints.
The author’s method has been to examine the four Gospels with great care, collate all the passages in which Jesus spoke about Heaven, classify them under appropriate heads, and in- terpret them in a simple and straightforward way, with such help as he found available in the writings of wise and godly men who have sought to interpret the Master’s teachings. Passages containing the phrase, “‘the kingdom of heaven,’’ have not been included, since these do not relate to the future life so much as to the reign of God on earth in the present moral order.
So far as the author is aware, this exact sub- ject has not been treated in book form before.
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8 What Jesus Said about Heaven
While Heaven has been written about in Com- mentaries, Bible Dictionaries, and other forms of literature, there seems not to have been published any monograph, in which an attempt has been made to exhibit and interpret all of the recorded utterances of Jesus upon this vital and engaging subject. It is hoped, therefore, that the present discussion, however inadequate, may serve to throw at least a few rays of light upon matters which intimately concern the eternal interests of all mankind. These chapters have been written prayerfully with humble trust in the Divine Spirit’s help, and the volume is now sent forth in the hope that it may, in some small measure at least, bring honor to the Heavenly Father and his redeeming Son, and may shed heavenly radiance upon many a pilgrim path. J. T. WHITLEY. NORFOLK, VA.
CONTENTS
PAGE PRE BOR iis Soin 0 6G cere alee ales CHER eet ae 'eIe 7 CHAPTER I The Desire to Know: oie ek laced 6 rere Few es “11 CHAPTER II The Only Qne'Who Knows: i. ..... fi ate ieee. 16 CHAPTER III Dhe' Nature of Heavens ee re a a 24 CHAPTER IV HE Mather in, Pea Vets se ies winch oe muerte alay 30 CHAPTER V EDGE SAViOUL 10 FGA Velie aie sh io eae lee a ale eee 36 CHAPTER VI | lie Aaiwels I RITCA VEE: ei es cicleratuse's AMG a eatecwret aie ws 45 CHAPTER VII The Saints in Heaven: Certainty..............0.. 55 CHAPTER VIII The Saints in Heaven: Dignity... . 0.20.00... cee0 61 CHAPTER IX The Saints in Heaven: Fellowship............... 68 CHAPTER X The Saints in Heaven: Experience............... 76 CHAPTER XI The Saints in Heaven: Occupation............... 83 CHAPTER XII The Saints in Heaven: Preparation............... 92 CHAPTER XIII IP YeiKnow: These Thinga yo cin's as gala ctemeec's o cates 99
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CHAPTER I THE DESIRE TO KNOW
OR more than sixty years I have been in- terested more or less keenly in the subject
of Heaven. As a child I heard my Christian mother talk about it in reverent tones, and listened to her singing of it as she went about the household work. In the Sunday school I heard and read about the ‘‘Home over there,’’ and joined with teachers and scholars in singing the familiar song of that day: ‘‘There is a happy land, far, far away.’’ Later on, when in my sixteenth year I came into a definite and joyous religious experience and united with the Church, it was a delight to read about heaven in the pages of Holy Writ, to think of it as the home which was to be mine in the far future, to pray to Him whom I conceived to have His throne in that beautiful city, and to sing the hymns in which devout hearts had poured out their aspirations for the ‘‘land of pure delight, where saints immortal reign.” In still later days, when I had been ordained to the sacred ministry of the gospel and had found in the pulpit an opportunity of speaking the divine message, it was a joy to preach about heaven, to depict its glories as I conceived them
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12 What Jesus Said about Heaven
to be, and to invite the sinful and the heavy © laden to have their sins cleansed away, and to prepare for the ‘‘Home of the soul’”’ that Jesus’ had gone to make ready for his disciples. And now after many years, no longer privileged to speak often from the pulpit because of gathering infirmities, I find myself more deeply interested in heaven than ever before, because I am ex- pecting at no distant day to find out for myself by actual experience the many things about heaven that I have long wished to know. One who is soon to change his residence from a shift- ing tent to ‘“‘the city which hath the founda- tions,’’ naturally desires to know as much as possible about the place to which he is going, and something of the details of the life that he is to live forever there.
It is certain that this desire to know all that is at present knowable about heaven is shared by multitudes of Christians, and to some extent by many who are not numbered in the member- ship of any Church. Some persons profess to believe that there is no heaven in reality, and so they feel no interest in reading or hearing about it. Others assume an agnostic attitude, saying that we can know nothing at all in this present life as to any life that may lie beyond. But the great mass of men and women who live in Christian lands do believe in the reality of heaven, even if many are vague in their notions
The Desire to Know 13
about it, and many are not shaping their con- duct with reference to it. All devout souls naturally look forward to the solemnities of their passage from this world to that which lies beyond, and their aspirations after what they conceive to be the joys and glories of heaven naturally find expression in prayer and praise. In early life it is not so natural for thoughts of heaven to be prominent in the mind, though sometimes youth does aspire ardently after the land of eternal youth. As the years go by and thought matures while burdens accumulate, one is apt to turn his thoughts more definitely toward the life of rest and purity and nobler usefulness that lies beyond the grave. And when age advances to the period of infirmity, and the pleasures of this life dwindle while its cares and burdens increase, the child of God becomes more and more deeply interested in the home which the Master has promised his disciples in the Father’s house of many man- sions, “‘where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.’”’ The soul thus burdened, facing the fact that he is approaching nigh to the place “‘where we lay our burdens down,” is apt to resort to the Holy Scriptures for light on the future, and especially to learn all that can be known about heaven. In those pages he finds that other souls in the long ago desired to know about the future life. He finds
14 What Jesus Said about Heaven
in the book of Job the question: ‘‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ (Job xiv. 14). He reads the joyous words of David: “‘Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore”’ (Ps. xvi. 11). And he dwells with sympathetic understanding upon the great saying of Paul: ‘‘Now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known” (1 Cor. xiii. 12).
Turning from the pages of Scripture to the recorded lives of good men and women of later times, one finds everywhere a devout and eager curiosity concerning the life beyond. Even where that curiosity has not found expression in biographies it has existed in greater or less intensity in accordance with the natural work- ings of the human mind. The desire to know what lies in the future is inevitable to the healthy mind, and the gratification of it is a source of deep satisfaction to the devout soul. Even where the light is most dim the eager one lingers and longs for even the tiniest gleam from the other shore of the mystic River. Many questions press forward craving to be answered: Where is heaven? Is it a place, or merely a state? Ifa place, is it located in some distant star, or is it to be found here upon a renovated earth under the same familiar heavens? Shall
The Desire to Know 15
the happy soul that wins heaven be privileged to behold the Infinite Father Himself, or will the Incarnate Son forever represent the invisible Father to the sons and daughters whom he has brought to glory? In what form will the Christ be manifested to the saints in glory? Will friends be brought together in heaven, and will they recognize each other? Will families be permitted to live in a fellowship as close and intimate as that which marked their earthly life? Will the little children who died here be found there still in their immaturity, or will they have developed into full-grown men and women whose lives have never been marred and stained by sin? What will be the occupa- tions of the dwellers in heaven? Is rest the chief feature, or is worship still more prominent, or is holy service in behalf of others the chief thing that will occupy the happy ones who have inherited the great salvation? What are to be the relations between the redeemed saints and the angels who never fell from their original innocency? Will there be eternal progress in character and felicity in heaven? Such ques- tions, and perhaps many others, arise from time to time in the minds and hearts of those who are looking forward to a home in the City of God. Is there any way to know even a little about heaven? Let us look and see.
CHAPTER II THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS
HEN we begin to ask questions about Heaven it is natural to look around for sources of information. If any living person can give the answers, it is important to find him and learn what he knows. If any person or persons of any past age knew the hidden things of the life beyond, and if records of their know- ledge have come down to us, it is important that we find and study those records. If a Hand from above has drawn aside the veil and offered us even a glimpse of the Home of the blest, it is a great privilege and a solemn duty to make use of such an opportunity. Such knowledge is to be coveted above all lore that men are used to esteem.
In reading the accounts that we have of men and nations other than those which are promi- nent in the Bible, we find very little, if any, light upon the problem before us. There seems to have been among the ancients, even back to the very dawn of history, some notion of a life beyond the present, in which there are rewards for those whom the divinities approve, as well as retributions for those who have incurred the displeasure of the supernatural powers. But
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The Only One Who Knows 17
there is no evidence that even the wisest philosopher of the heathen world ever caught a glimpse of a destiny which might be regarded as comparable to the Heaven of our modern thought. In fact, most of the sages were doubt- ful upon the question of individual immortality, not being able to affirm with any degree of con- fidence that the soul of man survives the dis- solution of the ties that bind it to the body. Our questions about Heaven find no certain answer there.
A similar result follows our application to the modern cults that claim to hold communication with the disembodied spirits that have passed on before. All attempts to ascertain something definite about the departed and the conditions that surround them, well meant as they may be conceded to be, are so beclouded by so-called
‘‘mediums’”’ and by unauthorized inferences from obscure phenomena, that no reliance can be placed upon them in seeking light upon the reality and conditions of Heaven.
When one is convinced that light cannot be had from the quarters just mentioned, it is natural and wise to turn to the one Book that claims to have definite information concerning the things that lie beyond the veil. But in searching that great group of writings, number- ing thirty-nine separate documents, which we
know as the Old Testament, one finds to his 7 ¢
18 What Jesus Said about Heaven
disappointment a much less brilliant light upon the problems of the future than he had hoped to receive. Not that the Old Testament is entirely silent upon the subject of the future life, with its rewards for the good and its penalties for the doers of evil. It is unnecessary to quote passages here to prove this assertion. But it remains true that the books of the Old Testa- ment give us no definite knowledge of Heaven as we understand the term. The Hebrew con- ception of the state of the dead was that of a region called Sheol, synonymous with the New Testament word Hades, a place of shadows and ghostly beings, some of whom indeed were understood to be better off than when on earth, but far from that keen intelligence and abound- ing life and joy that we are accustomed to associate with the notion of heaven. It has been often and truly said that the rewards of righteousness in the Old Testament are chiefly material and temporary, while the prospect of felicity beyond the grave is comparatively held in the background. No doubt, men like David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah fed their souls upon the hope of a blessed immortality; but the writings that have come down to our day do not answer with any degree of definiteness the questions that we are constantly asking about heaven. Turning to the New Testament is like passing out of the dim starlight, or at most out of moon-
The Only One Who Knows 19
light, into the radiance of the rising sun. Here we begin to find answers to at least some of our anxious questions. There is more light beaming forth from the twenty-seven booklets that we call the New Testament than was ever shed by all the literature of the wisest nations of the world, combined with the utterances of all the prophets and psalmists, historians and sages, recorded in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures. More than this may be said. There is clearer light on the subject of Heaven in the Gospel according to John, than in all the secular litera- ture of the world, plus all the utterances of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Reserving the four Gospels for consideration further on, let us question the writers of the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation of John as to what testimony they present concerning heaven. There is no space here to record that testimony at length, even if it were not foreign to the present discussion. It must suffice to say that Paul, Peter, and the other New Testa- ment writers not only take for granted the reality of heaven, but in various places affirm their belief in such a destiny for the saints in explicit terms, and depict in such colors as they can command the joys and glories of that better life. Peter tells his brethren of the ‘‘inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”’ (1 Pet. i.
20 What Jesus Said about Heaven
4). Paul tells of his being caught up into ‘‘the third heaven,’’ where he ‘‘heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter”’ (2 Cor. xii. 2-4). And the writer of the Revela- tion thus vividly describes the joys of the heavenly inhabitants: ‘‘They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes”’ (Rev. vii. 16, 17). Itissafe to say that heaven is a conception that runs like a bright stream of soul refresh- ment through all the writings of the Apostles and those associated with them in producing the New Testament literature, and that the goal of all their teaching is found in a holy and blessed home for godly men and women and innocent little children beyond this present life. In this chapter, however, it is not purposed to do more than mention this apostolic testimony, reserving further reference to their teachings to be used as interpretations of, and side lights upon, the testimony of Him whose word is supreme over all.
The only One who knew and still knows at first-hand all about Heaven, and who can answer, if he will, all our inquiries about it, is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, Jesus of
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Nazareth, God manifest in the flesh. What the prophets and psalmists dimly glimpsed, and the apostolic writers more clearly understood, was secondhand information at best. What Jesus said about heaven was based on absolute knowledge. This is evident from the fact that his original home was in heaven. He said over and over again that he existed before his in- carnation, that he descended out of heaven, that the Father sent him into the world to do his will, that he was about to leave the world and go unto the Father, to share the glory that he had with the Father before the creation of the world. Hear his very words: ‘‘ Before Abraham was born, I am” (John viii. 58). “Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was’ (John xvii. 5). ‘No one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven”’ (John ii. 13). ‘I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”’ (John vi. 38). ‘“‘I am the living bread which came down out of heaven’”’ (John vi. 51). ‘I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me’’ (John vili. 42). ‘“As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them [the disciples] into the world”’ (John xvii. 18).
22% What Jesus Said about Heaven
Not only had Christ existed with the Father originally, and had been sent into the world by — the Father, but he was going back to the Father ° at the completion of his earthly mission. He said to the disciples at a critical time in their experience: ‘‘ What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before?”’ (John vi. 62). ‘‘Yet.a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me”’ (John vii. 33). “I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father’’ (John xvi: 28). After his resurrection he said to Mary Magdalene: *‘Go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God” (John xx. 17). Tothe penitent robber on the cross beside him he gave the pledge: “‘ Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise ’’ (Luke xxiii.43).
In this connection it is worth while to call attention to that remarkable expression found in John iii. 13, already quoted: ‘‘No one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.’ 1 am aware that the last clause of this verse is not found in some of the manuscripts, and is omitted in some of the critical editions of the New Testament text. But still the under- lying thought is entirely harmonious with what we know of the self-consciousness of Jesus,
The Only One Who Knows 23
which one writer fitly expresses by the remark that ‘‘Christ’s proper abode and home were in ‘heaven,’’ and that ‘‘he maintained a vital and continuous communion therewith, dwelling in the Spirit in heaven, even while in the flesh upon earth.”’ In a very real sense it was true that Jesus was in heaven while yet he trod the hills and vales of Judea and Galilee.
We reach the conclusion, therefore, in our quest for knowledge about heaven, that no one but Jesus Christ had first-hand information, and that he did possess while on earth full knowledge of those ‘‘heavenly things’’ which he withheld from Nicodemus, because that *“‘teacher of Israel’’ was incapable of receiving them. This fullness of knowledge Jesus pos- sessed and was able to impart to discerning men, in virtue of the fact that he declared concerning himself: that he lived in heaven before the in- carnation, that he came down from heaven at the bidding of his Father, that he was in com- munion with heaven while still upon earth, and that he was going to return to heaven at the close of his earthly mission, to share in the glory that he had with the Father before the foundation of the world. Relying upon the soundness of these conclusions, and believing that Jesus knew all about heaven, let us examine his words as recorded by the Evangelists and reverently gather the information they contain.
CHAPTER III THE NATURE OF HEAVEN
NE of the age-long questions that men have asked concerning Heaven is, whether
it is a place, or merely a state, or whether it is both a place and a state of being. Consulting the utterances of the only One who knows, we hear Jesus saying to his disciples in that memorable talk in the upper room on the even- ing before his death: ‘‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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 goand prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also’”’ (John xiv. 1-3). This is the clearest and most definite statement recorded in the Gospels, wherein Jesus throws light upon the question under consideration. He calls the future home of his faithful disciples ‘‘a place,”’ and further describes it as ‘‘my Father’s house,”’ declaring that in that ‘‘house”’ are ‘‘many mansions,’ or dwelling places. The word translated ‘‘place’’ is the standard term used in the New Testament to denote “any portion of space marked off, as it were, from surrounding
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The Nature of Heaven 25
space.” (See article ‘‘topos’’ in Thayer’s Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament.)! The word rendered ‘‘house’’ means primarily ‘‘an inhabited edifice, a dwelling,’’ and is used in that sense uniformly by the New Testament writers. (See article ‘‘ozkza’’ in Thayer’s Lexicon.) In harmony with these terms de- noting place is the utterance of Jesus as recorded in Matthew v. 34: ‘‘Swear not... by heaven, for it is the throne of God.’’ If there is a throne, it is fair to infer that there must be space for it to occupy, and this means that heaven is a place. The word translated ‘‘mansions’’ ap- pears to confirm this view. The Greek word ““monat”’ in John xiv. 2 means dwellings, places of abode, and of these Jesus says there are many in his Father’s house. Note also that he uses the adverb ‘‘where”’ in speaking of the future home of his disciples: ‘If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be’’ (John xii. 26). ‘‘Where”’ and “‘there’’ in their literal sense imply location or place. Futhermore in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, one of the most solemn utterances that ever fell from the lips of Jesus, he represents the beggar as being carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom, which is a figurative way of saying that Lazarus went to heaven. Is not this an intimation that
1tarper & Brothers, publishers, New York.
26 What Jesus Said about Heaven
space is a characteristic of the future home of the saints?
If the plan of this treatise included a discus- sion of the testimony of the Apostles and other New Testament writers, many passages might be quoted to show the harmony of their utter- ances with the words of their Divine Master. But we are concerned chiefly with what Christ himself taught. It may be said in general, how- ever, that outside the utterances of the Master, as recorded in the four Gospels, we have no new and definite light in the New Testament con- cerning the question as to whether heaven is a place, or a state, or both. Where the Apostles speak at all they simply echo the words and thoughts of Him who “spake as never man spake.”
It may not be without interest and a certain degree of value, however, to quote in exposition of the words of Jesus a few opinions which wise and devout men have expressed on this subject. Dr. Augustus H. Strong, an eminent theologian, uses this language: ‘‘Is heaven a place, as well as a state? We answer that this is probable, for the reason that the presence of Christ’s human body is essential to heaven, and that this body must be confined to place. Since deity and humanity are _ indissolubly united in Christ’s single person, we cannot regard Christ’s human soul as limited to place
The Nature of Heaven 27
without vacating his person of its divinity. But we cannot conceive of his human body as thus omnipresent. As the new bodies of the saints are confined to place, so, it would seem, must be the body of their Lord. But, though heaven be the place where Christ manifests his glory through the human body which he as- sumed in the incarnation, our ruling conception of heaven must be something higher even than this—namely, that of a state of holy com- munion with God. Although heaven is prob- ably a place, we are by no means to allow this conception to become the preponderant one in our minds. ... Heaven and hell are es- sentially conditions, corresponding to character, conditions in which the body and the surround- ings of the soul express and reflect its inward state. The main thing to be insisted on is there- fore the state; place is merely incidental. The fact that Christ ascended to heaven with a human body, and that the saints are to possess glorified bodies, would seem to imply that heaven is a place.’
To similar purpose is the opinion expressed by the great Swiss theologian, F. L. Godet: ‘“This heavenly dwelling is above all the emblem of a spiritual state: that of communion with
2‘‘Systematic Theology,” by Augustus Hopkins Strong, D.D., LL.D.; American Baptist Publication Society, publishers, Philadelphia.
28 What Jesus Said about Heaven
the Father, the filial position which is accorded to Christ in the divine glory, and in which he will give believers a share. But this state will be realized in a definite place, the place where God most illustriously manifests his presence and his glory—heaven.’ Dr. Marcus Dods makes this comment: ‘‘‘My Father’s house’ is used here [in John xiv. 2] of the immediate presence of the Father and of that condition in which his love and protection are uninter- ruptedly and directly experienced. ‘This is most naturally thought of as a place, but with the corrective that ‘it is not in heaven one finds God, but in God one finds heaven.’’’4 Let one more quotation suffice, from the Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, by Abbott and Conant:® “Is heaven a place, or a state? Both a place and a state—a place infinitely more beautiful than any eye hath ever seen—a state infinitely more blessed than any heart hath ever con- ceived.’
These opinions of wise and devout men are offered, not as having authority, but merely as interpretative of the Master’s words, and like all interpretation should be taken for only what they are worth. I see no reason, however, for
’Godet’s Commentary on John, Funk & Wagnalls, publishers, New York.
4Expositor’s Greek Testament, George H. Doran
Company, publishers, New York. 6’ Harper & Brothers, publishers, New York.
The Nature of Heaven 29
dissenting from the view that what the Scrip- tures call ‘‘heaven’’ combines the characteristics of both a state anda place. Yet, while the idea of state, or condition, seems to call for no special comment just here, it should be said that we cannot definitely know what is included in the Scriptural use of “place’’ as applied to the future abode of the saints. How far spatial relations may be predicated of the world to come, must remain an insoluble problem while our present limitations remain.
If heaven is a place, where is it? Some have conjectured the great star Sirius, while others think that this earth, renovated and refitted, will be the future abode of the saints. All such speculations are vain. A veil of impenetrable mystery conceals the location of heaven, and with this we must be content.
CHAPTER IV THE FATHER IN HEAVEN
JF Jesus said but little about Heaven as a
place, leaving the question of locality un- certain, as of but little importance, not so has he left us in doubt as to who are the inhabitants of the House of Many Mansions. First of all, he said over and over again that Heaven is the Home of the Father—his Father and ours. It is interesting to note that the first recorded utterance of Jesus, when he was twelve years old, reveals his consciousness of the Fatherhood of God. To his mother, in reply to her chiding question as to why he had detached himself from their company when they started home- ward from Jerusalem, he said: ‘‘ How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house?’ Nearly a score of years later, when he uttered those revolutionary sayings that are commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, he used the expression ‘‘ your Father who is in heaven,” or its equivalent, no less than twenty-nine times. In this filial rela- tion toward his Father he associates himself with his disciples, as may be seen in the message which he sent to his brethren by Mary Magda- lene on the morning of his resurrection: ‘‘Go
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The Father in Heaven 31
unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God”’ (John xx. 17).
There is a wealth of meaning in the way in which Jesus associates Heaven with the Father- hood of God. The literature of the world, aside from the New Testament and writings based upon it, knows little if anything of the paternal relation of the Infinite One to mankind. Even the Old Testament saints appear to have had but a dim idea of such a relation. To them he was Creator, King, Lawgiver, Judge, Deliverer, but rarely ever realized as Father. At least that is the impression conveyed by the utter- ances of psalmists and prophets, the most spiritual men of the ages before the advent of the Son, who alone reveals the Father in his fullness to men. Jesus also knew perfectly that God is Sovereign over the universe, as he voiced the truth on a memorable occasion: ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes”’ (Matt. xi. 25). But the favorite word of Jesus when talking with God or telling others about him was “Father,” as the Gospels abundantly show. In prayer he appeals to the Hearer of prayer as “Father,” or as ‘‘Holy Father,” or ‘‘Righteous Father,’’ as recorded in the prayer before the cross (John xvii. 11-25).
32 What Jesus Said about Heaven
And in his intimate conversations with the disciples, as well as in his more public teaching when crowds hung upon his words, every al-— lusion to God is made in the words ‘‘the Fa- ther,’ or ‘‘my Father,” or “your Father.” Accordingly, when he speaks of heaven he calls it ‘‘my Father’s house,” thus associating the future home of the redeemed soul with the presence and blessing of the Supreme Father, ‘from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named”’ (Eph. iii. 15). In harmony with this utterance is the explicit declaration of Jesus to his disciples: ‘‘One is your Father, even he who is in heaven”’ (Matt. xxiii. 9). Jesus represents the Father in heaven as be- holding His human children even in their closest retirement, with ears open to their pray- ers and hands full of blessings to bestow upon them. He said: ‘‘When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee’? (Matt. vi. 6). ‘Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye; Our Fa- ther, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.’ Then follow expressions of ardent desire that the Father’s kingdom may come, and the Father’s will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Last come humble peti-
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tions for daily bread, forgiveness of debts, and protection from the temptations of the Evil One. It is heartening to remember that this prayer of God’s children is addressed to Him who is not merely Maker and Ruler, but in a special sense the Father of those who are voicing their aspirations and needs. And that Father is ‘in heaven,’ far removed from all the limitations of earthly parentage. Even human parents, in spite of their ‘‘being evil’’ and limited by many hampering conditions, know how to give good gifts to their children; how much more then, says Jesus, will your Father in heaven, who is free from alli evil and un- hampered by circumstances, give good things to them that ask Him (Matt. vii. 11). He sheds forth the Holy Spirit from the fountain of his Fatherhood, and he gives not only bread for the body, but ‘“‘the true bread out of heaven,’’ which means his only-begotten Son, who gave his body for the life of the world (John vi. 32-51).
From the stores of his boundless wisdom the Father in heaven reveals to his human children all that they need to know in this world con- cerning his Son and the redeeming work that he came to accomplish. When Jesus asked his disciples, ““Who say ye that I am?” and Simon Peter answered, ‘‘ Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God,” the Master said to him: 3
34 What Jesus Said about Heaven
‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven’’ (Matt. xvi. 15- 17). In harmony with this are the words of Jesus to the disciples, conveying the assurance that the Holy Spirit, the promised Helper, *‘shall guide you into all the truth” (John xvi. 13).
The Father in heaven is one who delights to forgive sins; but he requires that men shall repent and forsake their sins in order to for- giveness. Moreover, he will not accept any man’s repentance as sincere and adequate until he has forgiven those who have sinned against him. Jesus emphasizes this requirement in the words that immediately follow the Lord’s Prayer: ‘‘But if ye forgive not men their tres- passes, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses’’ (Matt. vi. 15). But when these conditions are met, the Father’s heart sheds forth its balm of pardon from the heavenly home into the waiting heart of his penitent and forgiving child. Akin to this are the words of Jesus giving his disciples commandment to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors, with the assurance that they shall thus become “‘the sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the un- just”? (Matt. v. 44, 45). In doing such things
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he declares that his disciples become, in imita- tion of himself, ‘‘the light of the world,’ and his charge to all who would be sons and heirs of the Heavenly Parenthood is this: ‘‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven’’ (Matt. v. 16).
CHAPTER V THE SAVIOUR IN HEAVEN
ESUS said that Heaven is the Home, not of
the Father only, but also of himself, the Divine Saviour of men. To the hostile Jews who hung about him with their evil designs, he declared on a memorable occasion: ‘‘ Before Abraham was born, I am”’ (John viii. 58). In the prayer that he offered in the presence of his disciples on the evening before his death, he prayed: “Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was”’ (John xvii. 5). To some of his disciples who were murmuring their dissent at some things he had just spoken, he put the question: ‘‘What then if ye should be- hold the Son of man ascending where he was before?”’ (John vi. 62). In these passages he distinctly asserts his preéxistence in a sphere where he shared the glory of the Father before the world was created. In another passage he affirms that the Father loved him before crea- tion: ‘‘Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”’ (John xvii. 24). In harmony with these words of Jesus is the declaration of the Apostle John in the Prologue to his Gospel: ‘‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
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with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God’’ (John i. 1, 2). And the Apostle Paul wrote of ‘Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of aservant’’ (Phil. ii. 5-7). In the face of these explicit statements there is no room for doubt concerning the teaching that the original home of the Son was in Heaven with the Infinite Father.
Jesus affirmed also, over and over again, that he left his home in heaven for a time, to dwell among men in order to execute his Father’s gracious purpose of salvation. He speaks