Today's installment continues to summarize some of Thomas Watson's thoughts on what it means to pray 'Your Kingdom Come'. Where yesterday's summary focused on the bad we will be freed from, today's focus is on the good we will receive.
"...in the kingdom of heaven is a glorious fulfillment of all good. Had I as many tongues as hairs on my head, I could not fully describe this. It is a place where there is no want of anything...I might as well span the universe, or drain the ocean, as explain the glory of this kingdom....the kingdom of heaven is above all hyperbole. Were the sun ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not parallel the luster of this kingdom."
We shall have immediate communion with God Himself.
"If God, enjoyed by faith, gives so much comfort to the soul, how much more when He is enjoyed by immediate vision! ...if one flower should have the sweetness of all flowers, how sweet would that flower be! All the beauty and sweetness which lies scattered in the creature is infinitely to be found in God. To see and enjoy Him, therefore, will ravish the soul with delight."
We shall see the glorified body of Jesus Christ.
"Put a back of steel to a glass and you may see a face in it (a mirror). Christ's human nature is as a back of steel put to the divine nature, thorough which we may see God...and we not only see God's glory, but some of His glory shall be put upon us...a beggar may behold the glory of a king and not be the happier; but Christ's glory shall be ours, 'We shall be like Him.' 1 John 3:2. We shall shine by His beams."
There shall be incomprehensible joy.
"The sea is not so full of water as the heart of a glorified saint is of joy. There can be no more sorrow in heaven than there is joy in hell."
Honour and Dignity are put upon the saved.
"All the come into heaven are kings. They have, 1) a crown [Rev 2:10], 2) their white robes [Rev 3:9], and, 3) they sit with Christ upon the throne [Rev 3:21]. When all the titles and ensigns of worldly honour shall lie in the dust...the saints' honour shall remain."
It shall be satisfying.
"If we go for happiness to the creation, we go to the wrong box. Only Heaven's glory is equal to the vast desire of an immortal soul. A Christian bathing himself in these rivers of pleasures, cries out in divine ecstasy, I have enough. The soul is never satisfied till it has God for its portion, and heaven for its haven. Dissatisfaction arises from some defect, but God is an infinite good, and there can be no defect in that which is infinite."
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
- Which of Watson's suggestions most captures your hope of God's Kingdom?
- How might you pray with a longing for that particular promise and hope?
NOTE: I have attempted to simply some of Watson's language. If you wish to read more of his thoughts, bravely click here.