The Blessed Privilege

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

A glorious prospect!  At that day the veil will be pulled off, and God will show himself in all his glory to the soul, just as a king on a day of coronation, shows himself in all his royalty and magnificence.  This sight of God will be the heaven of heaven.  We shall indeed have a sight of angels, and that will be sweet—but the quintessence of happiness and the diamond in the ring will be this—'We shall see God!'  It would be night in heaven, if the Sun of Righteousness did not shine there.  It is the king's presence, which makes the court. Absalom counted himself half-alive, unless he might see the king's face (2 Samuel 14:32).

Now concerning this blessed sight of God, it is so sublime and sweet, that I can only draw a dark shadow of it.  We shall better understand it when we come to heaven.  O what will it be when we shall see him 'face to face'!
When Christ was transfigured on the mount, he was full of glory (Matthew 17:2).  If his transfiguration was so glorious, what will his exaltation be!  What a glorious time will it be when (as it was said of Mordecai) we shall see him in the presence of his Father, arrayed in royal apparel, and 'with a great crown of gold upon his head' (Esther 8:15).  This will be glory beyond hyperbole! If the sun were ten thousand times brighter than it is—it could not so much as shadow out this glory.  In the heavenly horizon we behold beauty in its first magnitude and highest elevation.  There we shall 'see the king in his beauty' (Isaiah 33:17).  All lights are but eclipses, compared with that glorious vision.

This sight of God will be a TRANSFORMING sight.  'We shall be like him' (1 John 3:2).  The saints shall be changed into glory.  As when the light springs into a dark room, the room may be said to be changed from what it was; the saints shall so see God—as to be changed into his likeness! (Psalm 17:15).  Here on earth, God's people are blackened and sullied with infirmities—but in heaven they shall be as the dove covered with silver wings.  They shall have some rays and beams of God's glory shining in them.  The crystal, by having the sun shine on it, sparkles and looks like the sun.  Just so, the saints by beholding the brightness of God's glory shall have a tincture of that glory upon them.  Not that they shall partake of God's very essence, for as the iron in the fire becomes fire—yet remains iron still, so the saints by beholding the luster of God's majesty shall be glorious creatures—but yet creatures still.

This sight of God will be a JOYFUL sight.  'thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.' (Acts 2:28).  After a sharp winter, how pleasant will it be to see the Sun of Righteousness displaying himself in all his glory!  Does faith breed joy?  'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:' (1 Peter 1:8).  If the joy of faith is such, what will the joy of vision be!  The sight of Christ will amaze the eye with wonder, and ravish the heart with joy.  If the face of a friend whom we entirely love so affects us and drives away sorrow—O how cheering will the sight of God be to the saints in heaven!  Then indeed it may be said, 'Your heart shall rejoice!' (John 16:22).  There are two things which will make the saints' vision of God in heaven joyful.

[1] Through Jesus Christ, the dread and terror of the divine essence shall be taken away. Majesty shall appear in God to preserve reverence—but however, it will be a majesty clothed with beauty and tempered with sweetness, to excite joy in the saints.  We shall see God as a friend, not as guilty Adam did, who was afraid, and hid himself (Genesis 3:10)—but as Queen Esther looked upon King Ahasuerus holding forth the golden scepter (Esther 5:2).  Surely this sight of God will not be dreadful, but delightful!

[2] The saints shall not only have vision, but fruition.  They shall so see God, as to enjoy him.  True blessedness lies partly in the understanding—by seeing the glory of God richly displayed; and partly in the will—by a sweet delicious taste of it and acquiescence of the soul in it.  We shall so see God—as to love him—and so love him as to be filled with him.  The seeing of God implies fruition.  'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord' (Matthew 25:21) not only behold it—but enter into it.  'In thy light shall we see light' (Psalm 36:9).  'At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' (Psalm 16:11); there is fruition.  So great is the joy which flows from the sight of God—as will make the saints break forth into triumphant praises and hallelujahs.

~excerpt from Thomas Watson's exposition of The Beatitudes