What would it look like to enjoy the privileges of heaven during life on earth?
In 1890, less than two years before his death–possibly with premonitions of his approaching entry into the Celestial City–, Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon entitled “Heaven Above, and Heaven Below”, in which he sets forth the idea that heaven is both a present and future reality.
“The fact is,” Spurgeon declares, “that heaven is God fully enjoyed.… [the one w]ho knoweth God knoweth heaven.” In heaven, God Himself will be our deep and unending delight. God has prepared a place of pure perfection for His people: every need supplied, every tear wiped away, and all evil removed. Better yet, all our desires will be transformed to reflect God’s heart. Our hearts will be pure, fixed on Christ, without a hint of sin remaining. Our sanctification will be complete.
However, the privileges of heaven aren’t exclusively reserved for the afterlife. “Think of what you are by grace,” Spurgeon continues, “and remember that what you will be in glory is already outlined and foreshadowed in your life in Christ.” As believers, we don’t have to wait until heaven to experience some of our inheritance. Through Jesus, we are justified, forgiven, and completely righteous in God’s eyes. Our Heavenly Father’s face is shining on us as brightly today as it will for all the ages to come.
As believers here on earth, we cannot possess greater riches than we already have in Christ. Christians are just as wealthy today as they will be in heaven. “The richest saint in glory has no greater possession than his God: and even I also can say, in the words of the psalm, ‘Yea, mine own God is he.’”
Does the disposition of your heart here on earth reflect your status as an heir of heaven? How does the hope of heaven shape your life in the meantime?
Excerpt:
“Already you are as much forgiven as you will be when you stand without fault before the throne of God. The Lord Jesus has washed you whiter than snow, and none can lay aught to your charge. You are as completely justified by the righteousness of Christ as you ever can be; you are covered with his righteousness, and heaven itself cannot provide a robe more spotless…. To-day we have the spirit of adoption, and enjoy access to the throne of the heavenly grace; yea, and to-day by faith we are raised up in Christ, and made to sit in the heavenlies in him. We are now united to Christ, now indwelt by the Holy Ghost: are not these great things, and heavenly things? The Lord hath brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Although we may, from one point of view, lament the dimness of the day, yet, as compared with our former darkness, the light is marvellous; and, best of all, it is the same light which is to brighten from dawn into mid-day. What is grace but the morning twilight of glory?”
Read the rest of the sermon here.