Growing in Jesus Christ

The Everlasting Golden Age, Part 2

"He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

This is the consummation of all glories & joys in the new heaven & new earth is the beatific vision - that God will be with us as 'our' God. My God, and your God. This is what Matthew 5:8 was referring to "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." No longer will we have to rely on faith to see our invisible God - He will be completely & fully visible for us to see. How is that possible? Isn't God a spirit being - meaning that He doesn't have a physical composition, a physical body like we do?

There will be two aspects to the beatific vision. 

1. We shall behold God in Christ Jesus with our physical & glorified eyes, Christ who is the 'image of the invisible God' - the most perfect visible, tangible representation of God. We shall behold Him, His face shining like the sun at full strength, eyes blazing with flaming fire of inexpressible intensity, His hands with the holes of His crucifixion still present - we shall behold the visible, incarnate God the Son, in all the absolutely inexhaustible & immeasurable heights, depths, lengths & breadths of His transcendent purity, love, goodness, majesty, omnipresence, sovereignty, omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom & beauty; all communicated & expressed tangibly & visibly in the body & mannerisms of Jesus Christ. That's why it says in Revelation 21 that the Lamb is the lamp - the channel, the vessel through which the light of the glory of God shines through. Christ Jesus is THE perfect, flawless fusion between God & man - He is ALL of God - all of God's infinite divinity, holiness, love, righteousness, benevolence, beauty, knowledge, wisdom & power concentrated into one human body. 

And even that is only the beginning. Please take your time to read through the next sentence carefully. Throughout all of eternity future, we will be the constant recipients of seeing (with ever-increasing clarity), experiencing (with ever-increasing intensity) and understanding (with ever-increasing depth) more, and more, and more displays & expressions of the qualities of God - His love, His grace & kindness, His righteousness & integrity, His omnipotent power & infallible wisdom & inexhaustible knowledge & overwhelming majesty & ravishing loveliness - displayed & manifested through the works & deeds of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:7 speaks of how "in the coming ages [God] will show us the exceeding/immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Notice the usage of the plural "ages" - to emphasize that the explosively thrilling, glorious & exhilarating prosperity of living with God, and our King Jesus Christ will continue forever & ever. We will not only live forever with God, but the bottomless depths & towering heights of satisfaction & euphoria of receiving the abounding riches of God's glory will persist throughout eternity future. 

Paul also makes it clear from the verse that the grace - the favour that God will lavish toward us in Christ Jesus is in inexhaustible, extravagant abundance. Mark the words. "Exceeding, or immeasurable" - God's riches cannot be measured or quantified by mathematical calculations or terminologies - nothing, and no one can measure it or comprehend it but God Himself. "Riches of grace" - God isn't simply gracious; His grace is infinitely abounding, endlessly wealthy & opulent, indescribably precious & valuable. "In kindness" - God's favour; His gracious disposition towards us isn't abstract; it's deeply & uniquely personal for each one of us. There's an emotional dynamic here; when God shows us grace, He does so with real, passionate tenderness & gentleness & heartfelt compassion. 

Not only that, we will behold God in His Triune manner of existence - using our spiritual senses, the intellectual & emotional capacities & faculties of our heart, mind & soul. Joe Rigney once mentioned that because God is Triune, we must always conceive of His glory, His communication of His Being, in Trinitarian terms. This was his definition of the glory of God, "God's glory is his Trinitarian fullness, or the abundance of perfections and knowledge and love and joy and life that he has within the Godhead. Or, to put it another way, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit knowing, loving, and rejoicing in each other from all eternity simply is the glory of God."