Thomas Watson · 9 of 36

The Second Petition in the Lord’s Prayer · Part 4

(7) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all vexing cares. The Greek word for care comes from a primitive which signifies to cut the heart in pieces. Care tortures the mind, wastes the spirits, and eats out the comfort of life. Care to prevent future dangers, and preserve present comforts, is an evil spirit that haunts us. All care is full of fear, and fear is full of torment. 1 John 4: 18. God threatens it as a judgement. ‘They shall eat their bread with carefulness.’ Ezek 12: 19. Every comfort has its care, as every rose has its thorns; but in the kingdom of heaven we shall shake off the viper of care. What needs a glorified saint to take any anxious care, who has all things provided to his hand? There is the tree of life, bearing all sorts of fruit. When the heart shall be freed from sin, the head shall be freed from care.

(8) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all doubts and scruples. In this life the best saint has his doubting, as the brightest star has his twinkling. If there were no doubting, there would be no unbelief. Assurance itself does not exclude all doubting. ‘Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes.’ Psa 26: 3. At another time, ‘Lord, where are thy former loving kindnesses?’ Psa 89: 49. A Christian is like a ship at anchor, which, though safe, may sometimes be tossed upon the water. Sometimes a Christian questions his interest in Christ, and his title to the promise. As these doubting eclipse a Christian’s comfort, so they bear false witness against the Spirit. But, when the saints shall come into the kingdom of heaven, there shall be no more doubting; the Christian shall then say, as Peter, ‘Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me.’ Acts 12: 11. Now I know that I am passed from death to life, and I am got beyond all rocks, I have shot the gulf, now I am in my Saviour’s embraces for ever.

(9) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all society with the wicked. Here we are sometimes forced to be in their company. ‘Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.’ Psa 120: 5. Kedar was Ishmael’s son, whose children dwelt in Arabia, a profane, barbarous people. Here the wicked are still raising persecutions against the godly, and crucifying their ears with their oaths and curses. Christ’s lily is among thorns; but in the heavenly kingdom there shall be no more any pricking brier. ‘The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend.’ Matt 13: 41. As Moses said, ‘Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever;’ so will God say, Stand still, and see the salvation of God; these your enemies, that vex and molest you, you shall see them again no more for ever. Exod 14: 13. At that day, God will separate the precious from the vile; Christ will thoroughly purge his floor; he will gather the wheat into the garner; and the wicked, which are the chaff, shall be blown into hell.

(10) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all signs of God’s displeasure. Here he may be angry with his people. Though he has the heart of a father, he may have the look of an enemy; and this is sad. As when the sun is gone, the dew falls; so when the light of God’s face is gone, tears drop from the saints’ eyes. But in the kingdom of heaven, there shall be no spiritual eclipses, there shall never appear any tokens of God’s displeasure; the saints shall have a constant aspect of love from him, they shall never complain any more, ‘My beloved had withdrawn himself.’ Cant 5: 6.

(11) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all divisions. The saddest thing in the world is to see divisions among them that are good. It is sad that such as have one faith, should not be of one heart. Ephraim envies Judah, and Judah vexeth Ephraim. It is matter of tears, to see those who are united to Christ, divided one from another. The soldier’s spear pierced Christ’s side, but the divisions of saints wound his heart. But in the kingdom of heaven there shall be no vilifying one another, or censuring. Those who before could hardly pray together, shall praise God together. There shall not be one jarring string in the saints’ music.

(12) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from vanity and dissatisfaction. What Job says of wisdom, in chap. 28: 14; ‘The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me;’ I may say concerning satisfaction; every creature says, ‘It is not in me.’ Take things most pleasing and from which we promise ourselves most content, still, of the spirit and essence of them all we shall say, ‘Behold, all was vanity.’ Eccl 2: 11. God never did, nor will, put a satisfying virtue into any creature. In the sweetest music the world makes, either some string is wanting, or out of tune. Who would have thought that Haman, who was so great in the king’s favour, that he ’set his seat above all the princes’ of the provinces, for want of the bowing of a knee, would be dissatisfied? Est 3: 1. But in the kingdom of heaven, we shall be freed from these dissatisfactions. The world is like a landscape painting, in which you may see gardens with fruit trees, curiously drawn, but you cannot enter them; but into the joys of heaven you may enter. ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ The soul shall be satisfied while it bathes in those rivers of pleasure at God’s right hand. ‘I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.’ Psa 17: 15.

(13) In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the torments of hell. ‘Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.’ 1 Thess 1: 10. Consider the multiplicity of those torments. In this life the body is usually exercised but with one pain, the stone or headache, at one time; but in hell there is a diversity of torments; there is darkness to affright, fire to burn, a lake of sulphur to choke, chains to bind, and the worm to gnaw. The torments of hell will seize upon every part of the body and soul. The eye shall be tortured with the sight of devils, and the tongue that has sworn so many oaths shall be tortured. ‘Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.’ Luke 16: 24. The memory will be tormented to remember the mercies that have been abused, and seasons of grace neglected. The conscience will be tormented with self-accusations.

In the pains of hell there is no mitigation, no mixture of mercy. In this life God in anger remembers mercy. Hab 3: 2. But in hell there is no alleviation or lessening of the pains. As in the sacrifice of jealousy, God would have no oil or frankincense put into it, so, in hell, there is no oil of mercy to lenify the sufferings of the damned, no incense of prayer to appease his wrath. Numb 5: 15. In the pains of hell there is no intermission. The poets feign of Endymion, that he got leave of Jupiter always to sleep. What would the damned in hell give for one hour’s sleep! ‘They have no rest day nor night.’ Rev 14: 11. They are perpetually on the rack. In the pains of hell there is no expiration; they must always lie scorching in flames of wrath. ‘The smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever;’ but in the heavenly kingdom, the elect shall be freed from all infernal torments. ‘Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come.’ A prison is not made for the king’s children. Christ drank that bitter cup of God’s wrath that the saints might never drink it.

A second thing in the kingdom of heaven is, a glorious fruition of all good. Had I as many tongues as hairs on my head, I could not fully describe this. It is a place where there is no want of anything. Judges 18: 10. It is called ‘the excellent glory.’ 2 Pet 1: 17. I might as well span the firmament, or drain the ocean, as set forth the glory of this kingdom. Coelum non habet hyperbolum; the kingdom of heaven is above all hyperbole. Were the sun ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not parallel the lustre of this kingdom. Apelles’ pencil would blotch, angels’ tongues would lessen it. I can but give you the skiagraphia, or dark shadow of it; expect not to see it in all its orient colours till you are mounted above the stars. But let us not stand afar off, as Moses, to behold this Canaan, but enter into it, and taste the honey. The privileges of this heavenly kingdom are:

(1) We shall have an immediate communion with God himself, who is the inexhaustible sea of all happiness. This divines call ‘the beatific vision.’ The psalmist triumphed in the enjoyment he had of God in this life. ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’ Psa 73: 25. If God, enjoyed by faith, gives so much comfort to the soul, how much more when he is enjoyed by immediate vision! Here we see God darkly through the glass of ordinances but in the kingdom of heaven we shall see him ‘face to face.’ 1 Cor 13: 12. We shall have an intellectual sight of him; we shall see him with the eyes of our mind; we shall know him as much as the angels in heaven do. Matt 18: 10; we shall know as we are known. 1 Cor 13: 12. We shall have a full knowledge of God, though not know him fully; as a vessel in the sea is full of the sea, though it holds not all the sea. To see and enjoy God will be most delicious; in him are beams of majesty, and bowels of mercy. God has all excellencies concentred in him, bonum in quo omnia bona [the good in which are all good things]. If one flower should have the sweetness of all flowers how sweet would that flower be! All the beauty and sweetness which lies scattered in the creature is infinitely to be found in God. To see and enjoy him, therefore, will ravish the soul with delight. We shall see God so as to love him, and be made sensible of his love; and when we shall have this sweet communion with him he shall be ‘all in all;’ light to the eye, manna to the taste, and music to the ear. 1 Cor 15: 28.

(2) In the kingdom of heaven, we shall with these eyes see the glorified body of Jesus Christ. The Saviour makes it a great part of the glory of heaven to view the glory of his human nature. ‘That they may behold my glory.’ John 17: 24. When Christ was transfigured upon earth, it is said, that ‘his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.’ Matt 17: 2. If the glory of his transfiguration was so great, what will the glory of his exaltation be! Much of the glory of God shines in Christ, by virtue of the hypostatic union. ‘In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’ Col 2: 9. Through Christ’s humanity, as through a bright mirror, we may see some beams of the divine majesty shine forth. Put a back of steel to a glass and you may see a face in it. Christ’s human nature is as a back of steel put to the divine nature, through which we may see God, and then our capacities are enlarged to a wonderful degree, to receive this glorious object; and we not only see God’s glory, but some of his glory shall be put upon us. Non tantum aderit gloria sed inerit [Glory will be not only present, but within]. Bernard. A beggar may behold the glory of a king and not be the happier; but Christ’s glory shall be ours, ‘We shall be like him.’ 1 John 3: 2. We shall shine by his beams.

(3) In the kingdom of heaven we shall enjoy the society of ‘an innumerable company of angels.’ Heb 12: 22.

But is there not enough in God to fill the soul with delight? Can the sight of angels add to its happiness? What need is there of the light of torches, when the sun shines?

Besides the divine essence, the sight of angels is desirable. Much of God’s curious workmanship shines in the angels; they are beautiful, glorious creatures; and as the several strings in a lute make the harmony sweeter, and the several stars make the firmament brighter, so the society with angels will make the delight of heaven the greater; and we shall not only see them with the glorified eye of our understanding, but converse with them.

(4) In the kingdom of heaven, we shall have sweet society with glorified saints. Oh! what a blessed time will it be when those who have prayed, wept, and suffered together, shall rejoice together! We shall see the saints, in their white linen of purity, and see them as so many crowned kings: in beholding the glorified saints, we shall behold a heaven full of suns. Some have asked whether we shall know one another in heaven? Surely, our knowledge will not be diminished, but increased. The judgement of Luther and Anselm, and many other divines is, that we shall know one another; yea, the saints of all ages, whose faces we never saw, and, when we shall see the saints in glory without their infirmities of pride and passion, it will be a glorious sight. We see how Peter was transported when he saw but two prophets in the transfiguration; but what a blessed sight will it be when we shall see the whole glorious company of prophets, and martyrs, and holy men of God! Matt 17: 3. How sweet will the music be when all shall sing together in concert in the heavenly choir! And though, in this great assembly of saints and angels, ‘one star may differ from another in glory,’ yet no such weed as envy shall ever grow in the paradise of God; there shall be perfect love, which, as it casts out fear, so also envy. Though one vessel of glory may hold more than another, every vessel will be full.

(5) In the kingdom of heaven there shall be incomprehensible joy. Aristotle says, ‘Joy proceeds from union.’ When the saints’ union with Christ is perfected in heaven, their joy shall be full. All the birds of the heavenly paradise sing for joy. What joy, when the saints shall see the great gulf shot, and know that they are passed from death to life! What joy, when they are as holy as they would be, and as God would have them to be! What joy to hear the music of angels; to see the golden banner of Christ’s love displayed over the soul; to be drinking that water of life which is sweeter than all nectar and ambrosia! What joy, when the saints shall see Christ clothed in their flesh, sitting in glory above the angels! Then they shall enter into the joy of their Lord. Matt 25: 21. Here joy enters into the saints; in heaven ‘they enter into joy.’ O thou saint of God, who now hangest thy harp upon the willows, and mingles thy drink with weeping, in the kingdom of heaven thy water shall be turned into wine; thou shalt have so much felicity that thy soul cannot wish for more. The sea is not so full of water as the heart of a glorified saint is of joy. There can be no more sorrow in heaven than there is joy in hell.

(6) In heaven honour and dignity are put upon the saints. A kingdom implies honour. All that come into heaven are kings. They have, 1. A crown. Rev 2: 10. ‘I will give thee a crown of life.’ Corona est insigne regiae potestatis [A crown is the sign of royal power] This crown is not lined with thorns, but hung with jewels; it is a never-fading crown. I Pet 5: 4. 2. The saints in heaven have their robes. They exchange their sackcloth for white robes. ‘I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, clothed with white robes.’ Rev 7: 9. Robes signify their glory, white their sanctity. And, 3. They sit with Christ upon the throne. Rev 3: 21. We read in 1 Kings 6: 32, the doors of the holy of holies were made of palm-trees, and open flowers covered with gold — an emblem of that victory, and that garland of glory, which the saints shall wear in the kingdom of heaven. When all the titles and ensigns of worldly honour shall lie in the dust, the mace, the silver star, the garter, the saints’ honour shall remain.

(7) In the kingdom of heaven we shall have a blessed rest. Rest is the end of motion; heaven is centrum quietativum animae, the blessed centre where the soul acquiesces and rests. In this life we are subject to unquiet motions and fluctuations. ‘We were troubled on every side’ (2 Cor 7: 5): like a ship on the sea having the waves beating on both sides; but in the kingdom of heaven there is rest. Heb 4: 9. How welcome is rest to a weary traveller! When death cuts asunder the string of the body, the soul, as a dove, flies away, and is at rest. This rest is when the saints shall lie on Christ’s bosom that hive of sweetness, that bed of perfume.

(8) The saints in the kingdom of heaven shall have their bodies richly bespangled with glory. They shall be full of brightness and beauty. As Moses’ face shined, that Israel were not able to behold the glory (Exod 34: 30), so the bodies of the saints shall shine seven times brighter than the sun, as Chrysostom says; they shall have such a resplendence of beauty on them, that the angels shall fall in love with them; and no wonder, for they shall be made like Christ’s glorious body. Phil 3: 21. The bodies of saints gloried need no jewels, when they shall shine like Christ’s body.

(9) In the heavenly kingdom is eternity. It is an eternal fruition, they shall never be put out of the throne. ‘They shall reign for ever and ever.’ Rev 22: 5. It is called ‘the everlasting kingdom’ (2 Pet 1: 11), and an ‘eternal weight of glory.’ 2 Cor 4: 17. The flowers of paradise, of which the saints’ garland is made, never wither. If there could be a cessation of heaven’s glory, or the saints had but the least fear or suspicion of losing their felicity, it would infinitely abate and cool their joy; but their kingdom is for ever, the rivers of paradise cannot be dried up. ‘At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’ Psa 16: 2: The kingdom of heaven was typified by the temple which was built with stone, covered with cedar overlaid with gold, to show that the fixed permanent state of glory abides for ever. Well may we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come.’

[2] The properties or qualifications of the kingdom of heaven.

(1) The glory of this kingdom is solid and substantial. The Hebrew word for glory signifies a weight, to show how solid and weighty the glory of the celestial kingdom is. The glory of the worldly kingdom is airy and imaginary, like a blazing comes, or fancy. Agrippa and Bernice came with a great pomp, with a great fancy. Acts 25: 23. The earth hangs like a ball in the air, without anything to uphold it. Job 26: 7. The glory of the heavenly kingdom is substantial, it has twelve foundations. Rev 21: 14. That which God and angels count glory, is true glory.

(2) The glory of this kingdom is satisfying. ‘With thee is the fountain of life.’ Psa 36: 9. How can they choose but be full who are at the fountainhead? ‘When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness,’ i.e., when I awake in the morning of the resurrection, having some of the beams of thy glory shining in me, I shall be satisfied. Psa 17: 15. The creature says, concerning satisfaction, ‘It is not in me.’ Job 28: 14. If we go for happiness to the creature, we go to the wrong box: heaven’s glory only is commensurate to the vast desires of an immortal soul. A Christian bathing himself in these rivers of pleasures, cries out in divine ecstasy, I have enough. The soul is never satisfied till it has God for its portion, and heaven for its haven. Dissatisfaction arises from some defect, but God is an infinite good, and there can be no defect in that which is infinite.

(3) The glory of heaven’s kingdom is pure and unmixed. The streams of paradise are not muddied, omnia clara, omnia jucunda [all are clear, all are delightful]. There gold has no alloy. There is no bitter ingredient in that glory: it is pure as the honey that drops from the comb. There the rose of Sharon grows without thorns. There is ease without pain, honour without disgrace, life without death.

(4) The glory of this kingdom is constantly exhilarating and refreshing; there is fulness, but no surfeit. Worldly comforts, though sweet, yet in time grow stale. A down-bed pleases awhile, but soon we are weary and would rise. Too much pleasure is a pain; but the glory of heaven never surfeits or nauseates; because, as there are all rarities imaginable, so every moment fresh delights spring from God into the glorified soul.

(5) The glory of this kingdom is distributed to every individual saint. In an earthly kingdom the crown goes but to one, a crown will fit but one head; but in that kingdom above, the crown goes to all. Rev 1: 6. All the elect are kings. The land is settled chiefly upon the heir, and the rest are ill provided for; but in the kingdom of heaven all the saints are heirs. ‘Heirs of God, and co- heirs with Christ.’ Rom 8: 17. God has land enough to give to all his heirs.

(6) Lucid and transparent. This kingdom of heaven is adorned and bespangled with light. 1 Tim 6: 16. Light is the glory of the creation. ‘The light is sweet.’ Eccl. 11: 7. Hell is a dark dungeon; fire, but no light. Matt 22:13. The kingdom of heaven is a diaphanum [transparency], all embroidered with light, clear as crystal. How can there be want of light, where Christ the Sun of Righteousness displays his golden beams? ‘The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’ Rev 21: 23.

(7) The glory of this kingdom is adequate and proportionable to the desire of the soul. In creature fruitions, that which commends them, and sets them off to us, is suitableness. The content of marriage lies not in beauty or portion, but in suitableness of disposition. The excellence of a feast is, when the meat is suited to the palate. One ingredient in the glory of heaven is, that it exactly suits the desires of the glorified saints. We shall not say in heaven, ‘Here is a dish I do not love!’ There shall be music to suit the ear in the anthems of angels; and food that suits the glorified palate in the hidden manna of God’s love.

(8) The glory of this kingdom will be seasonable. The seasonableness of a mercy adds to its beauty and sweetness, like apples of gold to pictures of silver. After a hard winter in this cold climate, is it not seasonable to have the spring flowers of glory appear, and the singing of the birds of paradise come? When we have been wearied, and tired out in battle with sin and Satan, will not a crown be seasonable?

[3] The kingdom of heaven infinitely excels all the kingdoms of the earth.

(1) It excels in its Architect. Other kingdoms have men to raise their structures, but God himself laid the first stone in this kingdom. Heb 11: 10. This kingdom is of the greatest antiquity. God was the first King and founder of it; no angel was worthy to lay a stone in this building.

(2) This heavenly kingdom excels in altitude. It is higher than any kingdom. The higher anything is the more excellent it is. Fire being the most sublime element, is most noble. The kingdom of heaven is seated above all the visible orbs. There is, 1. The airy heaven, which is the space from the earth to the sphere of the moon. 2. The starry heaven, the place where the planets are, of a higher elevation, as Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. 3. The coelum empyraeum, the empyrean heaven, which Paul calls the third heaven; where Christ is, there the kingdom of glory is situated. This kingdom is so high that no scaling ladders of enemies can reach it; so high that the old serpent cannot shoot up his fiery darts to it. If wicked men could build their nests among the stars, the least believer would shortly be above them.

(3) The kingdom of heaven excels all others in splendour and riches. It is described by precious stones. Rev 21: 19. What are all the rarities of the earth to this kingdom — coasts of pearl, rocks of diamonds, islands of spices? What are the wonders of the world to it — the Egyptian pyramids, the temple of Diana, the pillar of the sun offered to Jupiter? What a rich kingdom is that where God will lay out all his cost! Those who are poor in the world, soon as they come into this kingdom, grow rich, as rich as the angels. Other kingdoms are enriched with gold, this is enriched with the Deity.

(4) The kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in holiness. Kingdoms on earth are for the most part unholy; there is a common sore of luxury and uncleanness running in them. Kingdoms are stages for sin to be acted on. ‘All tables are full of vomit’ (Isa 28: 8); but the kingdom of heaven is so holy that it will not mix with any corruption. There shall enter into it nothing that defileth. Rev 21: 27. It is so pure a soil, that no serpent of sin will breed there. There beauty is not stained with lust, and honour is not swelled with pride. Holiness is the brightest jewel of the crown of heaven.

(5) The kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in its pacific nature. It is regnum pacis, a kingdom of peace. Peace is the glory of a kingdom; pax una triumphis innumeris melior [one peace is better than countless victories]. A king’s crown is more adorned with the white lily of peace, than when beset with the red roses of a bloody war. But where shall we find an uninterrupted peace upon earth? Either there are home-bred divisions or foreign invasions. ‘There was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in.’ 2 Chron 15: 5. But the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of peace; there are no enemies to conflict with; for all Christ’s enemies shall be under his feet. Psa 110: 1. The gates of that kingdom always stand open: ‘The gates shall not be shut at all;’ to show that there is no fear of an assault of an enemy. Rev 21: 25. When the saints die they are said to enter into peace. Isa 57: 2. There is no beating of drums or roaring of cannons; but the voice of harpers harping, in token of peace. Rev 14: 2. In heaven, ‘righteousness and peace kiss each other.’

(6) The kingdom of heaven excels in magnitude; it is of vast dimensions. Though the gate of the kingdom be strait, and we must pass into it through the strait gate of mortification, yet, when once we are in it, it is very large. Though there be an innumerable company of saints and angels, yet there is room enough for them all. The kingdom of heaven may be called by the name of that well in Gen 26: 22: Isaac ‘called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord has made room for us.’ Thou who art now confined to a small cottage, when thou comest into the celestial kingdom, shalt not be straitened for room. As every star has a large orb to move in, so it shall be with the saints, when they shall shine as stars in the kingdom of heaven.

(7) The kingdom of heaven excels in unity. All the inhabitants agree together in love. Love will be the perfume and music of heaven; as love to God will be intense, so to the saints. As perfect love casts out fear, so it casts out envy and discord. Those Christians who could not live quietly together on earth (which was the blemish of their profession) in the heaven shall be all love; the fire of strife shall cease; there shall be no vilifying, or censuring one another, or raking into one another’s sores, but all shall be tied together with the heart-strings of love. There Luther and Zwingli are agreed. Satan cannot put in his cloven foot there to make divisions. There shall be perfect harmony and concord, and not one jarring string in the saints’ music. It were worth dying to be in that kingdom.