“We now turn to specific themes about the world to come. The first is God’s love toward his people. Jonathan Edwards said, “Heaven is a world of love.”
God’s love will heal and comfort His people. Their healing springs from God’s Son dying as the substitute under the penalty for their sins (Isa. 53:5), but the complete healing of believers awaits the perfect consolation of the age to come. At the resurrection of the dead and the beginning of “a new heaven and a new earth, … God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:1, 4).
Christ will become our holy companion. The Lord Jesus promises, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3). He prays, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (17:24). Paul concludes his teaching on the resurrection and rapture of the church by saying, “So shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).
In Christ, we will have God. Augustine said,
God Himself, who is the Author of virtue, shall there be its reward; for, as there is nothing greater or better, He has promised Himself. What else was meant by His word through the prophet, “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people,” than, I shall be their satisfaction, I shall be all that men honorably desire—life, and health, and nourishment, and plenty, and glory, and honor, and peace, and all good things?
The day of Christ’s return will be His wedding day to His people (Rev. 19:7–8; 21:2, 9). The prophet Isaiah declares, “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isa. 62:5). And Zephaniah says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:17). Bernard of Clairvaux said,
[God will] intoxicate his dearest ones with the torrent of his delight. … Here is fullness without disgust, insatiable curiosity which is not restless, an eternal and endless desire which knows no lack, and lastly, that sober intoxication which does not come from drinking too much, which is no reeking of wine, but a burning for God.
Are you preparing for the marriage of the Lamb? Make sure that you are betrothed to Christ.
Do you trust Him alone for salvation from sin (Matt. 1:21)?
By grace, do you love Christ more than this world and your life in it (Matt. 10:37–39; 13:44)?
If so, then meditate often on God’s eternal love for you. And respond to God’s love with many works of love. Prepare for the great wedding day by living wholeheartedly in devotion to Him.
Fill your time, by His grace, with good works that you will be privileged to present to Him on that day for his pleasure.
As you wait for His return, let your love for God overflow in daily praise (Ps. 136:1). This will be your preparation for the eternal worship in the new heaven and the new earth.”
–Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Essentials of Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2025), 903-905.
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