05/08/2022 – “What is the essence of heaven? [It is the] beatific vision, love , and enjoyment of the Triune God. For the three divine persons have an infinitely perfect vision and love and enjoyment of the divine essence and of one another. And in this infinite knowing, loving and enjoying lies the very life of the triune God, the very essence of their endless and infinite happiness. If the blessed are to be endlessly and supremely happy, then, they must share in the very life of the triune God, in the divine life that makes them endlessly and infinitely happy.” E.J. Fortman // Chapter 19 – “How WIll We Worship God? (pgs.: 195 – 203)
I am going to quote snippets of the chapter with the goal that it draws you to purchase the book. Let’s get started with a summary of this chapter:
“… People of the world are always striving to celebrate, they just lack ultimate reasons to celebrate (and therefore find lesser reasons). As Chrstians, we have those reasons – our relationship with Jesus and the promise of Heaven. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3) Does that excite you? If it doesn’t, you’re not thinking correctly…
Will we always be engaged in worship? Yes and no. If we ahve a narrow view of worship, the answer is no. But if we have a broad view of worship, the answer is yes. As Cornelius Venema explains, worship in Heaven will be all-encompassing: “No legitimate activity of life — whether in marriage, family, business, play, friendship, education, politics, etc. — escapes the claims of Christ’s kingship… Certainly those who live and reign in Christ forever will find the diversity and complexity of their worship of God not less, but richer, in the life to come. Every legitimate activity of new creaturely life will be included within the life of worship of God’s people…
Even now, we’re told, ‘Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances.’ (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18). That God expects us to do many others things, such as work, rest, and be with our families, shows that we must be able to be joyful, pray, and give thanks while doing other things.
Have you ever spent a day or several hours when you sensed the presence of God as you hiked, worked, gardened, drove, read, or did the dishes? Those are foretastes of Heaven — not because we are doing nothing but worshipping, but because we are worshipping God as we do everything else.
‘Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5: 19-20)
… We must distinguish the biblical promise of seeing God from the beliefs of Buddhism, Hinduism, or New Age mysticism, in which individuality is obliterated or assimiliated into Nirvana. Though God will be absorbing, we will not be absorbed by him. Though we may feel lost in God’s immensity, we will not lose our identity when we see him. Instead we will find it. ‘Whoever loses his life for me will find it? (Matthew 16:25)…
A man said to a few of us at a gathering, ‘ I find myself longing for Heaven.’ After he left, someone said to me, ‘Shouldn’t he be longing for God, not Heaven?’ This may sound spiritual, but is it? Scripture speaks positively of ‘longing for a better country” (Hebrews 11:16). I don’t know a man’s heart, but his statement was bibilically warranted. The right kind of longing for Heaven is a longing for God, and longing for God is longing for Heaven. If we understand what Heaven is (God’s dwelling place) and who God is, we will see no conflict between the two. A woman who longs to be reunited with here husband could well say, ‘ I just want to go home.’
… Every thought of Heaven should move our hearts toward God, just as every thought of God will move our hearts toward Heaven. That’s why Paul could tell us to set our hearts in Heaven, not just ‘set our hearts on God.’ To do one is to do the other. Heaven will not be an idol that competes with God but a lens by which we see God… If we come to love Heaven more — the Heaven God portrays in Scripture –we will inevitably love God more. If Heaven fills our hearts and minds, God will fill our hearts and minds.
Those who love God should think more of Heaven, not less.”
Soli Deo Gloria!