So then, that we might in the next world be heirs of the highest good, God has made us heirs of his own good self; 'Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ'; heirs of God through Christ (Rom 18:17; Gal 4:7). This God, this eternal God, therefore, is of necessity to be the object of our hope, because he is, of grace, become our hope. The church in heaven, called the body and temple of God, is to be a habitation for himself and, when it is finished, to dwell forever and ever. We hope for, to wit, to be possessed on that day with eternal life, eternal glory (1 Tim 6:12,19). Now this eternal life and eternal glory are through God the hope of his people (1 Peter 5:10; 1 John 5:20). And for this end, and to this bliss, are we called and regenerate in this world, 'That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life' (Titus 3:7). Nor can it be, that heaven and happiness should ever be the portion of them that make not God their hope, any more than such a lady should hope to enjoy the estate of such a lord, who first makes not the lord himself her husband. Heaven, heaven is the talk of the ignorant, while the God of heaven they cannot abide. But shall such ever come to glory? But,
II. God must be the special object of our hope, and he is unique and must be enjoyed by us in the next world, or nothing can make us happy. For the illustrating of this matter, we will suppose that which is not to be considered. As,
1. Suppose a man, when he dieth, should go to heaven, that golden place; what good would this do him if he was not possessed of the God of it? It would be, as to sweetness, but a thing unsavory; as to durableness, but a thing uncertain; as to society, as a thing forlorn; and as to life, but a place of death. All this is made to appear by the angels that fell, for what was heaven to them when fallen? Suppose they stayed but one-quarter of an hour after their fall before they were cast out; what sweetness found them there but guilt? What remains but a continual fall of heart and mind? What society, but to be abandoned of all? And what life, but death in its perfection? Yeah, if it is true that some think that for the promotion of grace, they are admitted yet to enter that place to accuse the saints on earth, what do they find there, but what is grievous to them? It is the presence of God that makes heaven Heaven in all its beauteousness. Hence, when he speaks of heaven, David says, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee?' (Psa 73:25). As who should say, What would heaven yield to me for delights if I was there without my God? It is the presence of God that will make heaven sweet to those who are his. And as it is that that makes the place, so it is interest in him that makes the company, and the deeds done there, pleasant to the soul. What solace can he have without God, though he were in heaven, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the prophets and angels? How could he join in their thanks, praises, and blessings forever and ever, in whose favor, mercy, and grace they are not concerned?
2. Suppose a man, when he dies, should be made to live forever, but without the enjoyment of God, what good would his life do him? Why would it be filled with horror, darkness, desolation, sorrow, and all things that would tend to make it bitter to the soul? Witness they that live in hell; if it be proper to say they live in hell? It is no more possible for a man to live happily, were he possessed of all that heaven and life could afford him, suppose him to be without interest in God, than it is for a man that hath all the enjoyments of this world if the sun was taken from him out of the firmament. All things, whether heaven, angels, heavenly pleasures, and delights, have had their being of him, so their being is continued by him and made sweet of him.
Now, for the good managing of our hope concerning this unique object, these things must be considered. And now I speak to all. We must know him, right; we must come to him. (1.) We must know him right. It is essential to happiness, and so to the making of the God of heaven our hope, to know him rightly (John 17:1-3). It is not every fancy, or every imagination of God, that thou mayst have, that will prove that thou knowest God aright. In him, there 'is no variableness, neither shadow of turning' (James 1:17). He is only what he is, whatever imagination we have of him. We may set up idols and images of him, as much in our minds as some do in their houses and temples, and be as great, though not so gross, idolaters as they. Now, if thou wouldst know him, thou must diligently feel for him in his works, in his Word, and in his ways, if perhaps thou mayst find his knowledge (Prov 2:1-5; Acts 17:27). (2.) Beware, when thou hast seen him, that thou go to him by his Son, whom he has sanctified and sent into the world, to be the way for sinners to go to God; and see that thou keepest in this path always, for out of him he is found intolerable, and a consuming-fire. (3.) Busy thyself with all thy might to make an interest in his Son, and he will willingly be thy Saviour, for he must become thine before his Father can be the object of thy hope (John 3:36). He that hath the Son, hath the Father, but contrariwise, he that hath not him has neither (2 John 9). (4.) Stay not in some transient comforts, but abide restless till thou seest a union betwixt thee and this Blessed One; to wit, that he is a root, and thou a branch; that he is head, and thou a member. And then shalt thou know that the case is so between thee and him when grace and his Spirit has made thee to lay the whole stress of thy justification upon him and has subdued thy heart and mind to be 'one spirit' with him (Rom 4:4,5; 1 Cor 6:17). (5.) This done, hope thou in God, for he is become thy hope, that is, the object of it. And for thy encouragement, consider that he can bear up thy heart, and has said he will do it, as to this very thing, to all those who thus hope in him. 'Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart,' all ye that hope in the Lord (Psa 31:24). It is manifest, as was said before, that many difficulties lie in the way of hoping, but God will make those difficulties easy, by strengthening the heart of him that hopeth, to hope. He has a way to do that, which no creature can hinder, by the blessed work of his Holy Spirit. He can show us he loves us and may encourage our hope. And as he can work in us for our encouragement, so he can and will, as was said before, himself, in his time, answer our hope by becoming our hope himself. 'The Lord shall be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel' (Joel 3:16).
