the place of the more immediate residence of the Most High, Gen.
xiv, 19. The Jews enumerated three heavens: the first was the region of
the air, where the birds fly, and which are therefore called “the fowls
of heaven,” Job xxxv, 11. It is in this sense also that we read of the
dew of heaven, the clouds of heaven, and the wind of heaven. The second
is that part of space in which are fixed the heavenly luminaries, the
sun, moon, and stars, and which Moses was instructed to call “the
firmament or expanse of heaven,” Gen. i, 8. The third heaven is the seat
of God and of the holy angels; the place into which Christ ascended
after his resurrection, and into which St. Paul was caught up, though it
is not like the other heavens perceptible to mortal view.
2. It is an opinion not destitute of probability, that the construction
of the tabernacle, in which Yahweh dwelt by a visible symbol, termed
“the cloud of glory,” was intended to be a type of heaven. In the
holiest place of the tabernacle, “the glory of the Lord,” or visible
emblem of his presence, rested between the cherubims; by the figures of
which, the angelic host surrounding the throne of God in heaven was
typified; and as that holiest part of the tabernacle was, by a thick
vail, concealed from the sight of those who frequented it for the
purposes of worship, so heaven, the habitation of God, is, by the vail
of flesh, hidden from mortal eyes. Admitting the whole tabernacle,
therefore, in which the worship of God was performed according to a
ritual of divine appointment, to be a representation of the universe, we
are taught by it this beautiful lesson, that the whole universe is the
temple of God; but that in this vast temple there is “a most holy
place,” where the Deity resides and manifests his presence to the
angelic hosts and redeemed company who surround him. This view appears
to be borne out by the clear and uniform testimony of Scripture; and it
is an interesting circumstance, that heaven, as represented by “the
holiest of all,” is heaven as it is presented to the eye of Christian
faith, the place where our Lord ministers as priest, to which believers
now come in spirit, and where, they are gathered together in the
disembodied state. Thus, for instance, St. Paul tells the believing
Hebrews, “Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to
the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written,”
or are enrolled, “in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than the blood of Abel,” Heb. xii, 22–24. Here we are presented with the
antitype of almost every leading circumstance of the Mosaic
dispensation. Instead of the land of Canaan, we have heaven; for the
earthly Jerusalem, we have the heavenly, the city of the living God; in
place of the congregation of Israel after the flesh, we have the general
assembly and church of the first-born, that is, all true believers “made
perfect;” for just men in the imperfect state of the old dispensation,
we have just men made perfect in evangelical knowledge and holiness;
instead of Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, we have Jesus the
Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant; and instead of the blood
of slaughtered animals, which was sprinkled upon the Israelites, the
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, to make a typical
atonement, we have the blood of the Son of God, which was shed for the
remission of the sins of the whole world; that blood which doth not,
like the blood of Abel, call for vengeance but for mercy, which hath
made peace between heaven and earth, effected the true and complete
atonement for sin, and which therefore communicates peace to the
conscience of every sinner that believes the Gospel.
3. Among the numerous refinements of modern times that is one of the
most remarkable which goes to deny the locality of heaven. “It is a
state,” say many, “not a place.” But if that be the case, the very
language of the Scriptures, in regard to this point, is calculated to
mislead us. For that God resides in a particular part of the universe,
where he makes his presence known to his intelligent creatures by some
transcendent, visible glory, is an opinion that has prevailed among Jews
and Christians, Greeks and Romans, yea, in every nation, civilized or
savage, and in every age; and, since it is confirmed by revelation, why
should it be doubted? Into this most holy place, the habitation of the
Deity, Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended; and there, presenting
his crucified body before the manifestation of the divine presence,
which is called “the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,” he offered
unto God the sacrifice of himself, and made atonement for the sins of
his people. There he is sat down upon his throne, crowned with glory and
honour, as king upon his holy hill of Zion, and continually officiates
as our great High Priest, Advocate, and Intercessor, within the vail.
There is his Father’s house, into which he is gone before, to prepare
mansions of bliss for his disciples; it is the kingdom conferred upon
him as the reward of his righteousness, and of which he has taken
possession as their forerunner, Acts i, 11; Heb. vi, 19, 20.
4. Some of the ancients imagined that the habitation of good men, after
the resurrection, would be the sun; grounding this fanciful opinion on a
mistaken interpretation of Psalm xix, 4, which they rendered, with the
LXX and Vulgate, “He has set his tabernacle in the sun.” Others, again,
have thought it to lie beyond the starry firmament, a notion less
improbable than the former. Mr. Whiston supposes the air to be the
mansion of the blessed, at least for the present; and he imagines that
Christ is at the top of the atmosphere, and other spirits nearer to or
more remote from him according to the degree of their moral purity, to
which he conceives the specific gravity of their inseparable vehicles to
be proportionable. Mr. Hallet has endeavoured to prove that they will
dwell upon earth, when it shall be restored to its paradisaical state.
The passages of Scripture, however, on which he grounds his hypothesis,
are capable of another and very different interpretation. After all, we
may observe, that the place of the blessed is a question of
comparatively little importance; and we may cheerfully expect and pursue
it, though we cannot answer a multitude of curious questions, relating
to various circumstances that pertain to it. We have reason to believe
that heaven will be a social state, and that its happiness will, in some
measure, arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions
and exercises of mutual benevolence. All the views presented to us of
this eternal residence of good men are pure and noble; and form a
striking contrast to the low hopes, and the gross and sensual
conceptions of a future state, which distinguish the Pagan and
Mohammedan systems. The Christian heaven may be described to be a state
of eternal communion with God, and consecration to hallowed devotional
and active services; from which will result an uninterrupted increase of
knowledge, holiness, and joy, to the glorified and immortalized assembly
of the redeemed.
xiv, 19. The Jews enumerated three heavens: the first was the region of
the air, where the birds fly, and which are therefore called “the fowls
of heaven,” Job xxxv, 11. It is in this sense also that we read of the
dew of heaven, the clouds of heaven, and the wind of heaven. The second
is that part of space in which are fixed the heavenly luminaries, the
sun, moon, and stars, and which Moses was instructed to call “the
firmament or expanse of heaven,” Gen. i, 8. The third heaven is the seat
of God and of the holy angels; the place into which Christ ascended
after his resurrection, and into which St. Paul was caught up, though it
is not like the other heavens perceptible to mortal view.
2. It is an opinion not destitute of probability, that the construction
of the tabernacle, in which Yahweh dwelt by a visible symbol, termed
“the cloud of glory,” was intended to be a type of heaven. In the
holiest place of the tabernacle, “the glory of the Lord,” or visible
emblem of his presence, rested between the cherubims; by the figures of
which, the angelic host surrounding the throne of God in heaven was
typified; and as that holiest part of the tabernacle was, by a thick
vail, concealed from the sight of those who frequented it for the
purposes of worship, so heaven, the habitation of God, is, by the vail
of flesh, hidden from mortal eyes. Admitting the whole tabernacle,
therefore, in which the worship of God was performed according to a
ritual of divine appointment, to be a representation of the universe, we
are taught by it this beautiful lesson, that the whole universe is the
temple of God; but that in this vast temple there is “a most holy
place,” where the Deity resides and manifests his presence to the
angelic hosts and redeemed company who surround him. This view appears
to be borne out by the clear and uniform testimony of Scripture; and it
is an interesting circumstance, that heaven, as represented by “the
holiest of all,” is heaven as it is presented to the eye of Christian
faith, the place where our Lord ministers as priest, to which believers
now come in spirit, and where, they are gathered together in the
disembodied state. Thus, for instance, St. Paul tells the believing
Hebrews, “Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to
the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written,”
or are enrolled, “in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than the blood of Abel,” Heb. xii, 22–24. Here we are presented with the
antitype of almost every leading circumstance of the Mosaic
dispensation. Instead of the land of Canaan, we have heaven; for the
earthly Jerusalem, we have the heavenly, the city of the living God; in
place of the congregation of Israel after the flesh, we have the general
assembly and church of the first-born, that is, all true believers “made
perfect;” for just men in the imperfect state of the old dispensation,
we have just men made perfect in evangelical knowledge and holiness;
instead of Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, we have Jesus the
Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant; and instead of the blood
of slaughtered animals, which was sprinkled upon the Israelites, the
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, to make a typical
atonement, we have the blood of the Son of God, which was shed for the
remission of the sins of the whole world; that blood which doth not,
like the blood of Abel, call for vengeance but for mercy, which hath
made peace between heaven and earth, effected the true and complete
atonement for sin, and which therefore communicates peace to the
conscience of every sinner that believes the Gospel.
3. Among the numerous refinements of modern times that is one of the
most remarkable which goes to deny the locality of heaven. “It is a
state,” say many, “not a place.” But if that be the case, the very
language of the Scriptures, in regard to this point, is calculated to
mislead us. For that God resides in a particular part of the universe,
where he makes his presence known to his intelligent creatures by some
transcendent, visible glory, is an opinion that has prevailed among Jews
and Christians, Greeks and Romans, yea, in every nation, civilized or
savage, and in every age; and, since it is confirmed by revelation, why
should it be doubted? Into this most holy place, the habitation of the
Deity, Jesus, after his resurrection, ascended; and there, presenting
his crucified body before the manifestation of the divine presence,
which is called “the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,” he offered
unto God the sacrifice of himself, and made atonement for the sins of
his people. There he is sat down upon his throne, crowned with glory and
honour, as king upon his holy hill of Zion, and continually officiates
as our great High Priest, Advocate, and Intercessor, within the vail.
There is his Father’s house, into which he is gone before, to prepare
mansions of bliss for his disciples; it is the kingdom conferred upon
him as the reward of his righteousness, and of which he has taken
possession as their forerunner, Acts i, 11; Heb. vi, 19, 20.
4. Some of the ancients imagined that the habitation of good men, after
the resurrection, would be the sun; grounding this fanciful opinion on a
mistaken interpretation of Psalm xix, 4, which they rendered, with the
LXX and Vulgate, “He has set his tabernacle in the sun.” Others, again,
have thought it to lie beyond the starry firmament, a notion less
improbable than the former. Mr. Whiston supposes the air to be the
mansion of the blessed, at least for the present; and he imagines that
Christ is at the top of the atmosphere, and other spirits nearer to or
more remote from him according to the degree of their moral purity, to
which he conceives the specific gravity of their inseparable vehicles to
be proportionable. Mr. Hallet has endeavoured to prove that they will
dwell upon earth, when it shall be restored to its paradisaical state.
The passages of Scripture, however, on which he grounds his hypothesis,
are capable of another and very different interpretation. After all, we
may observe, that the place of the blessed is a question of
comparatively little importance; and we may cheerfully expect and pursue
it, though we cannot answer a multitude of curious questions, relating
to various circumstances that pertain to it. We have reason to believe
that heaven will be a social state, and that its happiness will, in some
measure, arise from mutual communion and converse, and the expressions
and exercises of mutual benevolence. All the views presented to us of
this eternal residence of good men are pure and noble; and form a
striking contrast to the low hopes, and the gross and sensual
conceptions of a future state, which distinguish the Pagan and
Mohammedan systems. The Christian heaven may be described to be a state
of eternal communion with God, and consecration to hallowed devotional
and active services; from which will result an uninterrupted increase of
knowledge, holiness, and joy, to the glorified and immortalized assembly
of the redeemed.