HEAVEN, WHAT IT IS, AND WHERE IT IS

by Isaac N. Vanmeter

Signs of the Times- Jan. 7,1874.

DEAR BROTHER BEEBE:- I received a letter last September from Jackson Cooley, of Oregon, requesting my views through the "Signs of the times," on HEAVEN, "what it is, and where it is," and after reflecting more or less on the subject, I have concluded that I know very little about its glorious realities; and if it was not for the difficulties on the mind of the querist, and his rather urgent request for me to write something, I should beg to be excused. It is true that the Holy Scriptures say a great deal about heaven, and also true that I often speak of that glorious abode in trying to comfort the saints; yet I am reminded that I am yet in the flesh, or in the body, that I am finite, a very shortsighted creature, and see through a glass but darkly, and think I feel sensible of my inability to appreciate or explain the sublime realities of the spirit world - of the Paradise of God.

"Will the final place of the saints' rest be on earth, or on the new earth that shall be created?" I answer, No. As I am requested to give only my views, such as they are, I shall venture to do so in a few words, and shall try, to be guided solely by the revelation of God, as human reason and philosophy will utterly fail to shed any reliable light on the subject. The new heavens and new earth spoken of in Isaiah lxv. 17, and Ixvi 22, I understand to set forth in figure the future New Testament church, after the old legal dispensation had passed away, and the new heavens and new earth still looked for by Peter in the year 66 of the christian era, a, few years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the cessation of the Jewish oblations, either alluded to the same glory of the church militant, or to some future prosperity and glory of the church before the end of time.

I am not fully satisfied in my dark and shallow conceptions, that Peter here [II Peter iii. 13] should be understood in a metaphorical sense, but when we compare him with Isaiah, as cited above, and with John in Rev. xxi. 1, who saw his vision perhaps in about 94, and who saw the new heaven and new earth as the abode of the city of God, or tabernacle of God with men, I cannot apply this state of the church to her final rest, or conclude that her final destiny and glory will be in a new earth literally. Whatever may be the future glory of the church on earth, and her exemption during that period from the common calamities and sorrows incident to our sin-cursed world, it appears to me that her final and eternal destiny is elsewhere.

Paul was caught up to the third heaven, to the paradise of God; [II. Cor. 12] Christ came down from heaven, and ascended up into heaven where he was before; the saints at the resurrection shall be "caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air," and ever be with the Lord. -1. Thess. iv. 16, 17. The expressions, "up to heaven," "in heaven above," "from above,""on high," &c., abound, throughout inspiration, referring to where the risen body of our Redeemer has gone, and where his redeemed are to go finally in their risen and celestial bodies, convey the idea to me of an abode far removed from earth. And whether some of the redeemed shall be on one side of our globe, and some on the other, it will make no difference when the "earth and the heavens shall flee away, and there shall be no place found for them," no matter, dear sir, (I hope, brother,) where we may be at the time our Redeemer shall come again to receive us unto himself to behold his glory-, we shall be caught up, and away from this polluted clime, of sin, sorrow and death.

I do not pretend to know, neither am I much concerned about where heaven is located, for as my God, my Redeemer is there, and has a place prepared for each of his saints, where they shall enter into his joys, and behold his glory, I have no uneasiness on this question. I once had a slate and pencil in my hand, and was questioning a deaf mute, who had recently been baptized, and among others I wrote the question, "Where is heaven?" The young lady took the slate and looked at the question a moment, then quickly wrote the word "GOD." I was struck with the answer, as involving a glorious and beautiful truth. Even while here in the body, when and wherever the Lord manifests himself to us as he does not unto the world, whether in prison, or in church, whether among friends, or exiled on some lonely Patmos, we are in a heavenly place; and we often realize that we have a little earnest of the inheritance, a foretaste of the joy, but the incorruptible inheritance of the saints in light is reserved in heaven for them.

Every thing in nature, and in art that is most delightful and happifying, and every human passion and pleasure that is the most ravishing and full of joy is used by inspiration to represent the glory and joy of heaven, and yet, all fail, utterly fail to convey to our finite minds, and to our depraved understandings an adequate idea of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. God must reveal them unto us by his Spirit, and does give us, even here, a foretaste and glimpse of them. The tongues of angels, of inspired men, and of all the sweetest strains of human eloquence fail to bring to our understanding its glorious realities.

"We speak of the realms of the blest, That country so light and so fair; And oft are its glories confessed, But what must it be to be there!"

The happy hunting grounds looked for by the wild red man of America, the golden paradise of the Musselman of Turkey, and the literal and earthly paradise of the Adventist, all seem to me to be far below the enjoyment of the saints when they shall be changed from natural to spiritual in their bodies, and who have been renewed in the spirit of their mind, and shall be "as the angels of God in heaven." I promised to be brief, and shall not therefore attempt to answer all the questions that have been agitated in respect to the nature of the enjoyment of heaven, &c. I am not much concerned whether there shall be degrees in glory-, or whether we shall know each other there; or whether our knowledge shall be progressive; or what language or tongue shall be used there in the praise of God and the Lamb. I believe the saints will be perfectly happy, and perfectly satisfied when they awake in the likeness of their glorified Redeemer, and shall be like him. If there shall be degrees in glory we shall never know it, as every vessel will be full. If there should ever be many languages in heaven, there will be no discord or confusion, and all shall join in one chorus of praise, saying, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." - Rev. vii. 10. 1 believe our knowledge shall be vastly increased, so that we shall know even as we are known; that we shall know each other there, but not with fleshly feelings or affinities, for these shall have passed away, and been swallowed up in immortality, and natural affections be exchanged for a far more exalted and seraphic love.

The enjoyment and happiness of heaven set forth in the scriptures by two modes of representation, the negative and positive; the one informing the saints what they shall be released from, and the other what they shall be brought into possession of,and shall enjoy. There, in that blessed abode, shall be no more death, it shall be swallowed up in victory and immortal life. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. We shall neither hunger nor thirst there. And no scorching sun, nor any heat, and there shall be no night there. There, father Beebe, and brethren in the ministry, will be no snow-storms, nor tempests for us to meet; no weariness, hunger nor fatigue; no perils at home or abroad, no doubts, fears nor fightings; no anxieties, disappointments, and hard trials; no temptations, conflicts nor wrestlings with the powers of darkness, and with spiritual wickedness in high places. No, none of these things, nor anything else that is painful will be witnessed or felt in heaven. No sickness, no dying couch, no slow tolling bell, no dreary grave. No, glory to God! Christ hath conquered death, and brought life and immortality to light.

In that heavenly clime of celestial light and dazzling glory, the weary shall rest, the thirsty shall drink of the ocean of love, eat of the tree of life and live forever, put on immortality and a crown of glory, behold their risen and glorified Redeemer, and be assimilated into his likeness. The complete absence of everything painful, and enjoyment of everything ecstatic to the soul is enough to anticipate, and enough to wean us from earth, and fix our thoughts above.

"In hope of that immortal crown,~ I now the cross sustain,

And gladly wander up and down, And smile at toil and pain."

My own trouble, my strange querist, is not about where or what heaven is, but about myself. Am I destined to that blessed abode? Hope tremblingly says, Yes, through the Redeemer's blood.

Please direct your comments to Mike Krall.

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