Radiant Religion

We Shall See His Glory and Honor, December 18

Glory and honour are in His presence; strength and gladness are in His place. 1 Chronicles 16:27. RRe 354.1

Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence.... As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here. But what is this compared with the hereafter?—The Desire of Ages, 331. RRe 354.2

The true Christian’s joys and consolation must and will be in heaven. The longing souls of those who have tasted of the powers of the world to come, and have feasted on heavenly joys will not be satisfied with things of earth. Their amusement will be in contemplating their treasure—the Holy City, the earth made new, their eternal home. And while they dwell upon those things which are lofty, pure, and holy, heaven will be brought near, and they will feel the power of the Holy Spirit, and this will tend to wean them more and more from the world and cause their consolation and chief joy to be in the things of heaven, their sweet home.—Early Writings, 112. RRe 354.3