to be copied and eminently to be desired.
10. II. But now, secondly, THE MATTER OF THIS PASSAGE. And here we will dive into the very depths of it, God helping us; for without the Spirit of God I feel I am utterly unable to speak to you. I do not have those gifts and talents which qualify men to speak; I need a miraculous, supernatural communication from on high, otherwise I stand like other men and have nothing to say. May that be given me; for without it I am dumb. As for the matter of this verse, I think it contains a double blessing. The first is a beholding — “I will behold your face in righteousness”; and the next is a satisfaction — “I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness.”
11. Let us begin with the first, then. David expected that he should behold God’s face. What a vision will that be, my brethren! Have you ever seen God’s hand? I have seen it, when sometimes he places it across the sky, and darkens it with clouds. I have seen God’s hand sometimes, when the chariots of night drag along the shades of darkness. I have seen his hand when, launching the thunderbolt, his lightning splits the clouds and rends the heavens. Perhaps you have seen it in a gentler fashion, when it pours out the water and sends it rippling along in rills, and then rolls into rivers. You have seen it in the stormy ocean — in the sky decked with stars, in the earth gemmed with flowers; and there is not a man living who can know all the wonders of God’s hand. His creation is so wondrous that it would take more than a lifetime to understand it. Go into the depths of it; let its minute parts engage your attention; next take the telescope, and try to see remote worlds, and can I see all God’s handiwork — behold all his hand? No, not so much as one millionth part of the fabric. That mighty hand in which the young comets are brooded by the sun, in which the planets roll in majestic orbits; that mighty hand which holds all space, and grasps all beings — that mighty hand, who can behold it? But if such is his hand, what must his face be? You have heard God’s voice sometimes, and you have trembled; I, myself, have listened awe struck, and yet with a marvellous joy, when I have heard God’s voice, like the noise of many waters, in the great thunderings. Have you never stood and listened, while the earth shook and trembled, and the very spheres stopped their music, while God spoke with his wondrous deep bass voice? Yes, you have heard that voice; and there is a joy marvellously instinct with love which enters into my soul, whenever I hear the thunder. It is my Father speaking, and my heart leaps to hear him. But you never heard God’s loudest voice. It was only his whisper when the thunder rolled. But if such is the voice, what must it be to behold his face? David said, “I will behold your face.” It is said of the temple of Diana, that it was so splendidly decorated with gold, and so bright and shining, that a porter at the door always said to every one that entered, “Take heed to your eyes, take heed to your eyes; you will be struck with blindness unless you take heed to your eyes.” But oh! that view of glory! That great appearance. The vision of God! to see him face to face, to enter into heaven, and to see the righteous shining bright as stars in the firmament; but best of all, to catch a glimpse of the eternal throne! Ah! there he sits! It is almost blasphemy for me to attempt to describe him. How infinitely far my poor words fall below the mighty subject! But to behold God’s face, I will not speak of the lustre of those eyes, or the majesty of those lips, that shall speak words of love and affection; but to behold his face! You who have dived into the Godhead’s deepest sea, and have been lost in its immensity, you can tell a little of it! You mighty ones, who have lived in heaven these thousand years, perhaps you know, but you cannot tell, what it is to see his face. We must each of us go there, we must be clad with immortality. We must go above the blue sky, and bathe in the river of life: we must out soar the lightning, and rise above the stars, to know what it is to see God’s face. Words cannot set it forth. So there I leave it. The hope the Psalmist had was, that he might see God’s face.
12. But there was a peculiar sweetness mixed with this joy, because he knew that he would behold God’s face in righteousness. “I shall behold your face in righteousness.” Have I not seen my Father’s face here below? Yes, I have, “through a glass darkly.” But has not the Christian sometimes beheld him, when in his heavenly moments earth is gone, and the mind is stripped of matter? There are some seasons when the gross materialism dies away, and when the ethereal fire within blazes up so high that it almost touches the fire of heaven. There are seasons, when in some retired spot, calm and free from all earthly thought, we have taken our shoes from off our feet, because the place upon which we stood was holy ground; and we have talked with God! Even as Enoch talked with him, so has the Christian held intimate communion with his Father. He has heard his love whispers; he has told out his heart, poured out his sorrows and his groans before him. But after all he has felt that he has not beheld his face in righteousness. There was so much sin to darken the eyes, so much folly, so much frailty, that we could not get a clear prospect of our Jesus. But here the Psalmist says, “I will behold your face in righteousness.” When that illustrious day shall arise, and I shall see my Saviour face to face, I shall see him “in righteousness.” The Christian in heaven will not have so much as a speck upon his garment; he will be pure and white; yes, on the earth he is
Pure through Jesus’ blood, and white as angels are.
But in heaven that whiteness shall be more apparent. Now, it is sometimes smoked by earth, and covered with the dust of this poor carnal world; but in heaven he will have brushed himself, and washed his wings, and made them clean; and then he will see God’s face in righteousness. My God! I believe I shall stand before your face as pure as you are yourself; for I shall have the righteousness of Jesus Christ; there shall be upon me the righteousness of God. “I shall behold your face in righteousness.” Oh Christian, can you enjoy this? Though I cannot speak about it, do your hearts meditate upon it? To behold his face for ever; to bask in that vision! True, you cannot understand it; but you may guess the meaning. To behold his face in righteousness!
13. The second blessing, upon which I will be brief, is satisfaction. He will be satisfied, the Psalmist says, when he wakes up in God’s likeness. Satisfaction! This is another joy for the Christian when he shall enter heaven. Here we are never thoroughly satisfied. True, the Christian is satisfied in himself; he has that within which is a wellspring of comfort, and he can enjoy solid satisfaction. But heaven is the home of true and real satisfaction. When the believer enters heaven I believe his imagination will be thoroughly satisfied. All he has ever thought of he will see there; every holy idea will be solidified; every mighty conception will become a reality; every glorious imagination will become a tangible thing that he can see. His imagination will not be able to think of anything better than heaven; and should he sit down through eternity, he would not be able to conceive of anything that should outshine the lustre of that glorious city. His imagination will be satisfied. Then his intellect will be satisfied.
Then shall I see, and hear, and know,
All I desired, or wished, below.
Who is satisfied with his knowledge here? Are there not secrets we want to know — depths in the arena of nature that we have not entered? But in that glorious state we shall know as much as we want to know. The memory will be satisfied. We shall look back upon the vista of past years, and we shall be content with whatever we endured, or did, or suffered on earth.
There, on a green and flowery mount,
My wearied soul shall sit,
And with transporting joys recount
The labours of my feet.
Hope will be satisfied, if there is such a thing in heaven. We shall hope for a future eternity, and believe in it. But we shall be satisfied as to our hopes continually: and the whole man will be so content that there will not remain a single thing in all God’s dealings, that he would wish to have altered; yes, perhaps I say a thing at which some of you will demur — but the righteous in heaven will be quite satisfied with the damnation of the lost. I used to think that if I could see the lost in hell, surely I must weep for them. Could
