“Fifthly, there will only be joy and bliss. ‘Enter Thou into the joy of thy Lord’ (Mat. 25:21). When the soul may behold God perfectly and be surrounded by the glory of the Lord, walk forever in the light of His countenance; when God will fill the soul with His all- sufficiency, encompass it with His love, and overshadow it with all His perfections— how can it be any different but that the soul will delight itself in a ‘peace which passeth all understanding,’ in adoration which will bring the soul into ecstasy, and in an inexpressible joy, and thus lose herself entirely in God.
Oh, how wondrous it will be when, together with all the angels and the elect, they may reverently bow before the Lord and jubilate forever with them the eternal hallelujah!
Sixthly, bring to mind all that you have ever beheld of God: all the joy and peace you have ever tasted, all the union and communion with God you have ever enjoyed, and all the being lifted heavenward you have ever experienced.
Then add thereto all the enrapturing sermons you have ever heard, all that others have shared with you of their experiences, and all the love you have ever perceived in a gathering of saints. Consider all this collectively and then compare these minute rays of light to the joy and bliss that will be enjoyed in the state of perfection.
‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him’ (1 Cor. 2:9).
That which will enhance all this blessedness even more is that there will neither be fear of losing it nor of its termination— for no one will disturb it, assault it, or remove it.
Instead, it will endure to all eternity. This life is “eternal life” (John 10:28), an “eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15), “eternal glory” (1 Pet. 5:10), “the everlasting kingdom” (2 Pet. 1:11), and it is “eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1).”
–Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout, vol. 4: Ethics and Eschatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1995), 4: 366-367.
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