0A.18. Chapter I.

Chapter I. The Savior in the Old Testament was Described by Various Predictions and Types, to Prepare the World for His Reception with Faith and Obedience. In this psalm is a mixture of history and prophecy. The words of the text applied by the apostle to Christ’s resurrection and ascension, and glory in Heaven. The divine presence is the supreme and eternal felicity of the saints in Heaven. The glory of the place considered. The happiness of Heaven illustrated by sensible representations. The divine wisdom and goodness was pleased, before and during the legal dispensation, by various predictions and types to delineate the person of our Redeemer, and the work of redemption, to prepare the minds of men for his reception at his coming into the world. All the evangelical prophecies recorded in the Old Testament, as dispersed rays, are conspicuously united in him, "the Sun of Righteousness;" and as in a curious piece of work, each stone according to its natural vein and color is so exactly disposed, and with that proportion joined to another, that the lively figure of the human body results from the composure; so by variety of types, the entire image of our Savior’s life is represented from his first appearing on earth, to his ascending to Heaven.

Now the due comparing and observing the harmonious agreement between the prophecies and types of the Old Testament, and the history of the New, is a powerful means to produce and establish a true faith in the blessed Jesus as the promised Messiah; for it is an infallible argument of divine providence, in disposing times and things so, as the oracle should be verified in the outcome, and the mysterious figures substantially exhibited in the manifestation of the Son of God. It is true, his miracles raised admiration, and argued the concurrence of power truly divine; for the exercise of an absolute dominion over the order of nature, is a royalty reserved to God; but that his miraculous operations were foretold, added more authority to his person, and efficacy to his doctrine.

Therefore our Savior himself, in answer to the public question sent from John the Baptist, whether he were the expected Savior of the world, commanded the messengers to tell him what they heard and saw, "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up," Matthew 11. Which healing miracles were foretold by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 35, as the clear and distinguishing characters of the Messiah when he would come. The fulfilling God’s word by the works of Christ, of which there was sensible evidence, was an irrefutable testimony that his miracles were true, and performed for the confirmation of the truth.

Now of all the chosen saints that foretold the coming of Christ, the new law of grace, and the new kingdom of glory, that he should reveal and establish—of all that represented him in various particularities, concerning his person and offices, there was not a more illustrious type than David, that by prophetic words, and by prophetic actions did so clearly describe him. In this psalm composed by him, there is a mixture of history and prophecy; some things in the literal and immediate sense referring to David, "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Our being at God’s right hand, implies the highest honor; his being at our right hand, implies present and sure protection and defense. And of this David had the infallible promise of God to secure his hope, notwithstanding all his unrighteous and implacable enemies. But the following verses are applicable to David, but in a lower sense, and by a remote metaphor, and have their literal and principal accomplishment in our Savior. "You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor allow your holy One to see corruption;" that is, the body of our Savior should be exempted from the corrupting power of the grave, and restored the third day to life. In this sense, the prophecy is applied by Peter to our Savior’s alone; for David died, "and saw corruption," Acts 2:27; Acts 2:29 and his body still remains under the dominion of death. And this last verse, "You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures for evermore;" is applied by the apostle to Christ—his resurrection, ascension to Heaven, "and sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high." "You will show me the path of life;" that is, introduce him into the kingdom of glory, and by experimental fruition make him partaker of it, "In your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures for evermore." In these words the causes and excellencies of the heavenly life are expressed. The causes are the glorious presence of God, and the intimate application of his presence, and discovery of his peculiar love to the saints. This our blessed Savior had respect to, as the complete reward of his sufferings, "You have revealed the paths of life to me; You will fill me with gladness in Your presence." Acts 2:28. And his right hand implies his bounty that dispenses, and his power that secures our happiness. The excellencies of it, are "fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore." From the words I shall observe one proposition: The enjoyment of the divine presence in Heaven, is the supreme and everlasting felicity of the saints, and In discoursing of this point, I will:

Consider the place wherein the divine presence is gloriously revealed.

Show that the enjoyment of the divine presence is the supreme felicity of the saints.

Prove that the felicity shall be everlasting.

I. The PLACE wherein the divine presence is gloriously revealed. It is consistent with the immensity of God to be differently present in some places. The essential presence of God is the same everywhere; the declarative presence of God is special, and otherwise in one place than another. He is more excellently present in the living temples, his saints on earth, by the gracious and eminent operations of his Spirit, than he is in the rest of the world; he is most excellently present in Heaven, by the clearest manifestation, and the express characters and effects of the divine perfections. This inferior world is framed with exquisite order, "The earth is full of the glory of the Lord;" yet it is but the sediment of the creation, the habitation of birds and beasts, nay of rebellious sinners; and by this we may raise our thoughts to conceive something of the glorious sanctuary of life, and blessedness above. It is called the "Heaven of heavens," which is the highest comparison to instruct and astonish us with the amplitude and glory of the place. It is a place befitting the majesty of God, the image of his immensity. Our Savior assures us, "In his Father’s house are many mansions," to receive the innumerable company of glorified saints. It is called "the excellent glory," 2Pe 1:17. The shining firmament, with all the luminaries that adorn it, are but the frontispiece to the highest Heaven. All the luster of diamonds, the fire of emeralds and rubies, the brightness of pearls are dark in comparison of its glory. "It is the throne of the God of glory," wherein his majesty is revealed in the most illustrious manner. For pleasantness it is called paradise, in allusion to the delightful garden planted by the hands of God himself for Adam, his favorite, while innocent. There is "the tree of life." There are rivers of pleasure springing from the divine presence. "It is called the inheritance of the saints in light;" to signify the glory and joy of the place; for light has splendor, and conciliates cheerfulness, and is a fit emblem of both. As on the contrary, Hell is described by "the blackness of darkness forever," to signify the sadness and despair of the damned; and because in that center of misery, a perpetual night and invincible darkness increases the horror of lost souls.

Heaven for stability is called "a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The present world is like a tent or tabernacle set up for a time, while the church is passing through the wilderness; but Heaven is the "City of the living God," the place of his happy residence, the seat of his eternal empire. The visible world, with all its perishing idols, shall shortly fall—this beautiful scene shall be abolished; but the supreme Heaven is above this earthly sphere of mutability, wherein all bodies compounded of the jarring elements are continually changing and dissolving; it is truly called "a kingdom that cannot be shaken."

Briefly, the wise maker has framed Heaven correspondently to the end for which it was designed; it is the seat of his Majesty, his sacred temple wherein he diffuses the richest beams of his goodness and glory, and his chosen servants see and praise his adorable excellencies forever!

II. I will endeavor to show that the ENJOYMENT of the divine presence in Heaven, is the supreme felicity of the saints. To make this Heavenly blessedness more easy and intelligible to us, the Scripture describes it by sensible representations. For while the soul is clothed with flesh, imagination has such a dominion, that we conceive of nothing but by comparisons and images taken from material things. It is therefore set forth by a "Marriage-Feast," Rev 17:7, to signify the joy and glory of the saints above. But to prevent all gross conceits, we are instructed, that the bodies of the saints shall be spiritual, not capable of hunger or thirst, nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those appetites. The objects of the most noble senses, seeing and hearing, the pleasure of which is mixed with reason, and not common to the brutes, are more frequently made use of to reconcile the blessed and heavenly state to the proportion of our minds.

Thus sometimes the saints above are "represented on thrones, and with crowns on their heads; sometimes clothed in white, with palms in their hands; sometimes singing songs of triumph to him who sits on the throne." But the real felicity of the saints infinitely exceeds all these faint metaphors. The apostle, to whom the admirable revelation was exhibited of the sufferings of the church, and the victorious outcome out of them in the successive ages of the world, tells us, "it does not appear what the saints shall be in Heaven. The things that God has prepared for those that love him," are far more above the highest ascent of our thoughts, than the marriage-feast of a king exceeds in splendor and magnificence, the imagination of one that has always lived in an obscure village, who never saw any ornaments of state, nor tasted wine in his life. We can think of those things only according to the poverty of our understandings. But so much we know as is able to sweeten all the bitterness, and render insipid all the sweetness of this world.