The beatific vision: seeing God face to face

386–429 · Augustine of Hippo, Letters 92.4

Moreover, when you read, “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face,” learn from this that we shall then see Him face to face by the same means by which we now see Him through a glass darkly. In both cases alike, the vision of God belongs to the inner man, whether when we walk in this pilgrimage still by faith, in which it uses the glass and the αἴνιγμα, or when, in the country which is our home, we shall perceive by sight, which vision the words “face to face” denote. Let the flesh raving with carnal imaginations hear these words: “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” If this be the manner of worshipping Him, how much more of seeing Him! For who durst affirm that the Divine essence is seen in a corporal manner, when He has not permitted it to be worshipped in a corporal manner?

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 34.2

Further, because the glass sets before us the thing seen indefinitely, he added, “darkly,” to show very strongly that the present knowledge is most partial. “But then face to face.” Not as though God hath a face, but to express the notion of greater clearness and perspicuity.

391–430 · Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermones 51-147) 3.6

When we come to the “pure in heart,” there is the vision of God promised. And not without good cause; for there, in the heart, are the eyes, by which God is seen. Speaking of these eyes, the Apostle Paul saith, “The eyes of your heart being enlightened.” At present then these eyes are enlightened, as is suitable to their infirmity, by faith; hereafter as shall be suited to their strength, they shall be enlightened by sight. “For as long as we are in the body we are absent from the Lord; For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Now as long as we are in this state of faith, what is said of us? “We see now through a glass darkly; but then face to face.”

c. 407 · Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John (In Epistulam Iohannis ad Parthos Tractatus X) 4.5

How shall the ungodly not see, when He shall set some on the right hand, others on the left? To those on the right hand He will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom:” to those on the left He will say, “Go into everlasting fire.” They will see but the form of a servant, the form of God they will not see. Why? because they were ungodly; and the Lord Himself saith, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Therefore, we are to see a certain vision, my brethren, “which neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man:” a certain vision, a vision surpassing all earthly beautifulness, of gold, of silver, of groves and fields; the beautifulness of sea and air, the beautifulness of sun and moon, the beautifulness of the stars, the beautifulness of angels: surpassing all things: because from it are all things beautiful.

c. 1252–1256 · Thomas Aquinas, Supplement to the Third Part of the Summa Theologica Suppl., q. 92, a. 2, co.

I say then that God can nowise be seen with the eyes of the body, or perceived by any of the senses, as that which is seen directly, neither here, nor in heaven: for if that which belongs to sense as such be removed from sense, there will be no sense, and in like manner if that which belongs to sight as sight be removed therefrom, there will be no sight. Accordingly seeing that sense as sense perceives magnitude, and sight as such a sense perceives color, it is impossible for the sight to perceive that which is neither color nor magnitude, unless we call it a sense equivocally. Since then sight and sense will be specifically the same in the glorified body, as in a non-glorified body, it will be impossible for it to see the Divine essence as an object of direct vision; yet it will see it as an object of indirect vision, because on the one hand the bodily sight will see so great a glory of God in bodies, especially in the glorified bodies and most of all in the body of Christ, and, on the other hand, the intellect will see God so clearly, that God will be perceived in things seen with the eye of the body, even as life is perceived in speech. For although our intellect will not then see God from seeing His creatures, yet it will see God in His creatures seen corporeally. This manner of seeing God corporeally is indicated by Augustine (De Civ. Dei xxii), as is clear if we take note of his words, for he says: "It is very credible that we shall so see the mundane bodies of the new heaven and the new earth, as to see most clearly God everywhere present, governing all corporeal things, not as we now see the invisible things of God as understood by those that are made, but as when we see men . . . we do not believe but see that they live."

1261–1264 · Thomas Aquinas, Of God and His Creatures: An Annotated Translation (With some Abridgement) of the Summa contra Gentiles 3.63

From what has been said it evidently appears that in that final happiness which comes of the vision of God every human desire is fulfilled, according to the text: Who filleth thy desire with good things (Ps. cii, 5). And every human endeavour there finds its final good: as may be seen by discussing the several heads. — I. As man is an intelligent being, there is in him a desire of investigating truth, which desire men follow out in the pursuit of a contemplative life. And this will manifestly be fulfilled in that vision, since by the sight of the first and highest truth all things that man naturally desires to know will become known to him (Chap. L).

1265–1273 · Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, q. 3, a. 8, s.c.

On the contrary, It is written (1 Jn. 3:2): "When He shall appear, we shall be like to Him; and [Vulg.: 'because'] we shall see Him as He is." I answer that, Final and perfect happiness can consist in nothing else than the vision of the Divine Essence. To make this clear, two points must be observed. First, that man is not perfectly happy, so long as something remains for him to desire and seek: secondly, that the perfection of any power is determined by the nature of its object.

1538 · Louis of Blois, A Mirror for Monks A Mirror for Monks, Chapter VI. We Must Daily Call to Mind the Manifold Sins Which We Have Committed

Oh, what a wealth of consolation, what a sea of delights, what an abundance of joys, what profundity of most pure pleasure will it be to behold that incircumscriptible light, to see that most amiable brightness, to see that unspeakable glory of the most high Trinity, to see the God of Gods in Sion, to see Him not a riddle, but face to face, to see also the glorified Humanity of the only-begotten God! For if the visible bravery of the heavens be a beautiful sight, or to behold the glittering clearness of the stars, to see the glorious beauty of the sun, to see the shining of the pale-faced moon, to consider the grateful light of the air, to contemplate the elegant neatness of birds, flowers, grass, and colours, to listen to the sweet chanting of the nightingales and larks, to hear the melodious harmony of harp and lute, to smell the fragrant roses and lilies, to draw the breath that spices and perfume send forth, to taste the deliciousness of divers palate-pleasing fruits; if, I say, there be so great pleasure in these things, what a torrent of most sincere delight will it be perfectly to contemplate that immense beauty, and perfectly to taste that infinite sweetness from whence all beauty, all sweetness of things created floweth down to us.

1546 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, part 1 (chapters 1-14) 13.12

Now I know in part That is, the measure of our present knowledge is imperfect, as John says in his Epistle, (1 John 3:1,2,) that we know, indeed, that we are the sons of God, but that it doth not yet appear, until we shall see God as he is. Then we shall see God — not in his image, but in himself, so that there will be, in a manner, a mutual view.

1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on 1 John 3.2

In short, God now presents himself to be seen by us, not such as he is, but such as we can comprehend. Thus is fulfilled what is said by Moses, that we see only as it were his back, (Exodus 33:23;) for there is too much brightness in his face. We must further observe, that the manner which the Apostle mentions is taken from the effect, not from the cause; for he does not teach us, that we shall be like him, because we shall see him; but he hence proves that we shall be partakers of the divine glory, for except our nature were spiritual, and endued with a heavenly and blessed immortality, it could never come so nigh to God yet the perfection of glory will not be so great in us, that our seeing will enable us to comprehend all that God is; for the distance between us and him will be even then very great.

1645 · Samuel Rutherford, The Trial and Triumph of Faith The Trial and Triumph of Faith, Sermon IX

“And they shall see his face,” (Rev. 22:4.) They do nothing else, but stare, gaze, and behold his face for ages, and are never satisfied with beholding: suppose they could wear out their eyes at the eye-holes in beholding God, they should still desire to see more. To see Him face to face, hath a great deal more in it, than is expressed; words are short garments to the thing itself. Your now sinful face to his holy face, your piece clay face to his uncreated soul-delighting face, is admirable.

1651–1677 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. II The Blessed Estate of Them That Die in the Lord, Opened in a Sermon at the Funeral of, Sermon

We shall have other eyes, and other light. Prophecy is but in part now, our intuition shall be then immediate: 1 John iii. 2, ‘We shall see him as he is;’ now we see him not as he is, but as he is pleased to reveal himself; now we see what he is not—not corruptible, not mortal, not changeable—rather than what he is. Now we see him as he is in us, and as he is in other creatures. We track him by the effects of his power and wisdom and goodness; but then we shall see him as he is in himself, we shall see him face to face, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. In the creatures there is vestigium, the track and footprint of God; in the law there is umbra, a shadow; in the gospel, imago, an image, a fair draught of God as in a picture; but in heaven, face to face. We have excellent books to study the large manifestations of his glory, the majesty of Christ’s person; we shall always sit about the throne, and behold God in the face of the Lamb; there God makes out himself in the highest manifestation that we are capable of.

1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 17

‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God’. This sight of God in glory is, first, partly mental and intellectual. We shall see him with the eyes of our mind. If there be not an intellectual sight of God, how do the ’spirits of just men made perfect, see him? But second, it is partly corporeal; not that we can with bodily eyes behold the bright essence of God.

1660 · Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes 17

But when I say our seeing of God in heaven is corporeal, my meaning is that we shall with bodily eyes behold Jesus Christ, through whom the glory of God, his wisdom, holiness, and mercy, shall shine forth to the soul. Put a back of steel to the glass and you may see a face in it. So the human nature of Christ is as it were a back of steel through which we may see the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). In this sense that scripture is to be understood, ‘With these eyes shall I see God’ (Job 19:26, 27).

1673 · Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory Chapter Xxx.directions for the Sick

If David in the wilderness so impatiently thirsted to appear before God, the living God, in his sanctuary at Jerusalem, Psal. xlii. how earnestly should we long to see his glory in the heavenly Jerusalem! The glimpse of his back parts, was as much as Moses might behold, Exod. xxxiv. yet that much put a shining glory upon his face, ver. 29, 30. The sight that Stephen had when men were ready to stone him, was a delectable sight, Acts vii. 55, 56. The glimpse of Christ in his transfiguration ravished the three apostles that beheld it, Matt. xvii. 2, 6. Paul's vision which rapt him up into the third heavens, did advance him above the rest of mankind! But our beatifical sight of the glory of God, will very far excel all this. When our perfected bodies shall have the perfect glorious body of Christ to see, and our perfected souls shall have the God of truth, the most perfect uncreated light to know, what more is a created understanding capable of? And yet this is not the top of our felicity; for the understanding is but the passage to the heart or will, and truth is but subservient to goodness: and therefore though the understanding be capable of no more than the beatifical vision, yet the man is capable of more; even of receiving the fullest communications of God's love, and feeling it poured out upon the heart, and living in the returns of perfect love; and in this intercourse of love will be our highest joys, and this is the top of our heavenly felicity.

1681 · John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded 1.6

We can never have an immediate enjoyment of God in the immensity of his nature, nor can any created understanding conceive any such thing. God’s communications of himself unto us and our enjoyment of him shall be in and by the manifestation of his glory in Christ. He who can see no glory, who is sensible of no blessedness, in these things, is a stranger unto that heaven which the Scripture reveals and which faith leads unto.

1684 · John Owen, Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ 12

Vision, or the sight which we shall have of the glory of Christ in heaven, is immediate, direct, intuitive; and therefore steady, even, and constant and it is so on a double account:— 1. Of the object which shall be proposed unto us; 2. Of the visive power or faculty wherewith we shall be endued: from the imperfection of both which in this world ariseth the imperfection of our view of the glory of Christ by faith, as has been declared. 1. The object of it will be real and substantial. Christ himself, in his own person, with all his glory, shall be continually with us, before us, proposed unto us. We shall no longer have an image, a representation of him, such as is the delineation of his glory in the Gospel. We “shall see him,” saith the apostle, “face to face,” 1 Cor. xiii. 12; — which he opposeth unto our seeing him darkly as in a glass, which is the utmost that faith can attain to. “We shall see him as he is”, 1 John iii. 2; — not as now, in an imperfect description of him. As a man sees his neighbour when they stand and converse together face to face, so shall we see the Lord Christ in his glory; and not as Moses, who had only a transient sight of some parts of the glory of God, when he caused it to pass by him.

1740 · Jonathan Edwards, The Portion of the Righteous 1

The saints in heaven shall see God. They shall not only see that glorious city, and the saints there, and the holy angels, and the glorified body of Christ; but they shall see God himself. This is promised to the saints. Matt. v. 8. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 1 Cor. xiii. 12. “For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” This is that which is called by divines, “the beatific vision,” because this is that in which the blessedness of the saints in glory does chiefly consist. This is the fountain, the infinite fountain of their blessedness. The sight of Christ, which has already been spoken of, is not here to be excluded, for he is a divine person; the sight of him in his divine nature therefore belongs to the beatifical vision.

1740 · Jonathan Edwards, The Portion of the Righteous 1

It will be an immediate sight, it will be no apprehension of God’s excellency by acquiring it from his works; neither will it be such a spiritual sight of God as the saints have in this world, seeing him in his word and making use of his ordinances, which is called seeing “through a glass darkly.” Then they shall see him “face to face.” 1 Cor. xiii. 12. They shall not only see the glory of God as reflected from other things, but they shall see him as we see the sun, by his own light in a clear hemisphere. It will be an intuitive view of God. What knowledge the saints have of God in this world is like the twilight before sun-rising; it is not the direct light of the sun, but the light of the sun reflected, and it is comparatively a dim light; but hereafter the saints shall enjoy the perfect day, they shall see God as we immediately behold the sun after it is risen above the horizon, and no cloud or vapour in the heavens to hinder its sight.

1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 8 184

We are not to dream that we shall see God with our bodily eyes; for being a pure spirit, he cannot be the object of any corporeal sense. But we shall have such a sight of him, as a pure spirit is capable of; we shall see him with the eyes of our minds and understanding. And in this sense, we do in some degree see God in this life, by faith and knowledge; but it is but darkly, and as it were through a glass that we see him, as the apostle expresseth it. But when we come to heaven, our understanding shall be raised and cleared to such a degree of strength and perfection, that we shall know God after a more perfect manner, than we are capable of in this state of mortality. And this perfect knowledge of him, together with the happy effects of it, those affections which it shall raise in us, and that blessed enjoyment of the chief good which we are not able to express, is that which is called the sight of God.

1858 · Horace Bushnell, Sermons for the New Life 8

To say that we shall know God as he knows us, is certainly the strongest declaration possible, and it is probably hyperbolical; for it would seem to be incredible that a finite mind should at once, or even at any time in its eternity, comprehend the infinite, as it is comprehended by the infinite. It is also more agreeable to suppose that there will be an everlasting growth in knowledge, and that the blessed minds will be forever penetrating new depths of discovery, clearing up wider fields of obscurity, attaining to a higher converse with God and a deeper insight of his works, and that this breaking forth of light and beauty in them by degrees and upon search, will both occupy their powers and feed their joy. Still, that there will be a great and sudden clearing of God’s way, as we enter that world, and a real dispersion of all the clouds that darken us here, is doubtless to be expected; for when our sin is completely taken away, (as we know it then will be,) all our guilty blindness will go with it, and that of itself will prepare a glorious unveiling of God and a vision of his beauty as it is.

1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 14 (1868) 824

First, that they shall literally and physically, with their risen bodies, actually look into the face of Jesus. And secondly, that spiritually their mental faculties shall be enlarged so that they shall be enabled to look into the very heart, and soul, and Character of Christ—so as to understand Him, His work, His love—as they never understood Him before. They shall literally, I say, see His face, for Christ is no phantom! And in Heaven, though Divine, and therefore spiritual, He is still a Man, and therefore material like ourselves. The very flesh and blood that suffered upon Calvary is in Heaven!

1905–1906 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Isaiah 6.2

I know that it is often said that the joy of the future life for men is what the theologians call ‘the beatific vision,’ in which there shall be direct sight of God, using that word in its highest sense, as applied to the perceptions of the spirit, and not of the sense. But I do not think the Bible teaches us that. It does teach us ‘We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ But who is the ‘Him’? Jesus Christ. And, in my belief, Jesus Christ will, to all eternity, be the medium of manifesting God, and there will remain, to all eternity, the incapacity which clogs creatures in time—‘ No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him.’ But my text, whilst it thus suggests solemn thoughts of a Light that cannot be looked at with undazzled eyes, does also suggest to us by contrast the possibility of far feebler-sighted and more sinful creatures than these symbolical seraphs coming into a Presence in which God shall be manifest to them; and they will need no veil drawn by themselves across their eyes. God has veiled Himself, that ‘we, with unveiled faces, beholding His glory, may be changed into the same image.’ So the seraph, with his white wings folded before his eyes, may at once stand to us as a parallel and a contrast to what the Christian may expect.

391–430 · Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermones 51-147) 77.11

We shall see God. Now this will be so great, yea so great a thing will it be, that in comparison of it, all the rest is nothing. I said that we shall be living, that we shall be safe and sound, that we shall suffer no hunger and thirst, that we shall not fall into weariness, that sleep will not oppress us. All this, what is it to that happiness, whereby we shall see God? Because then God cannot be now manifested as He is, whom nevertheless we shall see; therefore, “what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,” this the good shall see, this shall the godly see, this the merciful shall see, this shall the faithful see, this shall they see who shall have a good lot in the resurrection of the body, for that they have had a good obedience in the resurrection of the heart.

440–461 · Leo the Great, Sermons (Tractatus) 95.8

What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great the blessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue declare? And yet this shall ensue when man’s nature is transformed, so that no longer “in a mirror,” nor “in a riddle,” but “face to face” it sees the very Godhead “as He is,” which no man could see; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal contemplation obtains that “which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man.” Rightly is this blessedness promised to purity of heart.

1077–1078 · Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogium 26

Not yet, then, have I told or conceived, O Lord, how greatly those blessed ones of thine shall rejoice. Doubtless they shall rejoice according as they shall love; and they shall love according as they shall know. How far they will know thee, Lord, then! and how much they will love thee!

1373 · Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love 43

And then shall we see God face to face, homely and fully. The creature that is made shall see and endlessly behold God which is the Maker. For thus may no man see God and live after, that is to say, in this deadly life.

1540 · John Calvin, Commentary on Romans 5.2

The hope of the glory of God has shone upon us through the gospel, which testifies that we shall be participators of the Divine nature; for when we shall see God face to face, we shall be like him. (2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 3:2.)

1672 · John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened Up The Fountain of Life, Sermon 15. Of the blessed Inheritance purchased by the Oblation of Christ, being the

The formal happiness is the fulness of satisfaction resulting from the blessed sight and enjoyment of God, by a soul so attempered to him, Psal. 17: 15. “When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness.” This sight of God, in glory, called the beatifical vision, must needs yield ineffable satisfaction to the beholding soul, inasmuch as it will be an intuitive vision. The intellectual or mental eye shall see God, 1 John 3: 2. The corporeal glorified eye shall see Christ, Job 19: 26, 27. What a ravishing vision will this be! and how much will it exceed all reports and apprehensions we had here of it! Surely one half was not told us. It will be a transformative vision, it will change the beholder into its own image and likeness. “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,” 1 John 3: 2. As iron put into the fire, becomes all fiery; so the soul, by conversing with God, is changed into his very similitude. It will be an appropriative vision; “Whom I shall see for myself,” Job 19: 26, 27. In heaven interest is clear and undoubted, fear is cast out: no need of marks and signs there; for what a man sees and enjoys, how can he doubt of? It will be a ravishing vision; these we have by faith are so, how much more those in glory? How was Paul transported, when he was in a visional way wrapt up into the third heaven, and heard the unutterable things, though he was not admitted into the blessed society, but was with them, as the angels are in our assemblies, a stander by, a looker-on. If a spark do so inflame, what is it to lie down like a Phoenix in her bed of spices! Like a Salamander to live and move in the fire of love! It will also be an eternal vision; vacabimus et videbimus, (as Augustinus said) we shall then be at leisure for this employment, and have no diversions from it for ever. No evening is mentioned to the seventh day’s sabbath; no night in the new Jerusalem.

1673 · Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory Chapter Xxx.directions for the Sick

Look up to God, who is the glory of heaven, and the light, and life, and joy of souls, and believe that you are going to see his face, and to live in the perfect, everlasting fruition of his fullest love among the glorified. If it be delectable here to know his works, what will it be to see the cause of all? All creatures in heaven and earth conjoined, can never afford such content and joy to holy souls, as God alone! Oh if we knew him whom we must there behold, how weary should we be of this dungeon of mortality! and how fervently should we long to see his face! The chicken that cometh out of the shell, or the infant that newly cometh out of the womb, into this illuminated world of human converse, receiveth not such a joyful change, as the soul that is newly loosed from the flesh, and passeth from this mortal life to God. One sight of God by a blessed soul, is worth more than all the kingdoms of the earth. It is pleasant to the eyes to behold the sun; but the sun is as darkness and useless in his glory.

1684 · John Owen, Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ 14

The way on our part whereby we shall receive these communications from God by Christ, which are the eternal springs of life, peace, joy, and blessedness, is this vision the sight whereof we speak. For, as it is expressly assigned thereunto in the Scripture, so whereas it contains the perfect operation of our minds and souls in a perfect state, on the most perfect object, it is the only means of our blessedness. And this is the true cause whence there neither is nor can be any satiety or weariness in heaven, in the eternal contemplation of the same glory. For not only the object of our sight is absolutely infinite, which can never be searched unto the bottom, yea, is perpetually new unto a finite understanding; but our subjective blessedness consisting in continual fresh communications from the infinite fulness of the divine nature, derived unto us through vision, is always new, and always will be so to eternity. Herein shall all the saints of God drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand, be satisfied with his likeness, and refresh themselves in the eternal springs of life, light, and joy for evermore.

1693 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. XX Sermons on Several Texts of Scripture, Sermon upon 2 Corinthians iv. 17

The great object of our eternal blessedness is God. We enjoy him fully, familiarly, and constantly. Our nearness to God is greater, our communion more full. To our felicity three things are necessary, a prepared faculty, a suitable object, the conjunction of both these. In the state of glory all these concur. The faculty is more prepared as we are purified and clarified from the dregs of carnal sense; the object is manifested and dispensed in the greatest latitude, for there God is all in all; the conjunction is more intimate between this object and faculty. Our conjunction here is by faith and imperfect love, there by clear vision and perfect love: ‘He that is joined to the Lord ‘by faith and love ‘is made one spirit,’ 1 Cor. vi. 17. Oh, but what a conjunction will this be, when we shall be joined to the Lord by sight and perfect love! Our sight clear, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, vision shall then succeed to faith, and possession to hope. Surely then our fruition must needs be greater, and the soul be filled with all the fulness of God. It is hard to speak of the state of heaven till the great voice call upon us to come up and see what God has provided for us. But in short, vision makes way for assimilation: 1 John iii. 2, ‘We shall see him as he is, and be like him;’ as iron, by lying in fire, becomes as it were all fire. Assimilation makes way for satisfaction: Ps. xvii. 15, ‘I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.’ The soul is then at rest; it hath enough in having God, and seeing, and loving, and being made like to him.

1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 5.3-12

Here is the most comprehensive comfort of the blessed; They shall see God. Note, (1.) It is the perfection of the soul's happiness to see God; seeing him, as we may by faith in our present state, is a heaven upon earth; and seeing him as we shall in the future state, is the heaven of heaven. To see him as he is, face to face, and no longer through a glass darkly; to see him as ours, and to see him and enjoy him; to see him and be like him, and be satisfied with that likeness (Ps. xvii. 15); and to see him for ever, and never lose the sight of him; this is heaven's happiness. (2.) The happiness of seeing God is promised to those, and those only, who are pure in heart. None but the pure are capable of seeing God, nor would it be a felicity to the impure. What pleasure could an unsanctified soul take in the vision of a holy God? As he cannot endure to look upon their iniquity, so they cannot endure to look upon his purity; nor shall any unclean thing enter into the new Jerusalem; but all that are pure in heart, all that are truly sanctified, have desires wrought in them, which nothing but the sight of God will satisfy; and divine grace will not leave those desires unsatisfied.

1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 8 184

We will consider the fitness of this metaphor, to express to us the happiness of our future state. And that the Scripture doth very much delight to set forth to us the blessedness of heaven, by this metaphor of seeing, is evident from the frequent use of it in Scripture. (Matt. v. 8.) “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) “We shall see him face to face.” (Heb. xii. 14.) “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” And here in the text, “we shall see him as he is.” And indeed God is pleased, in Scripture, to make sensible descriptions of the happiness and misery of another world, and, by way of accommodation to our understandings, and condescension to the weakness and imperfections of this state, to set forth heaven and hell to us by such things as are sensible; and that, not only to help our understandings to a more easy conception of things, but likewise to move and rouse our affections, which, while we are in the body, and immersed in sense, are commonly most powerfully wrought upon, by sensible representations of things. And therefore hell is described to us by such things as affect the sense of feeling, because that is capable of the greatest and sharpest pain; and the enjoyments of heaven, by the sense of sight, because that is the noblest of all our senses; and the primary and proper object of it is most delightful, and of the most spiritual nature of any corporeal thing.

1823 · Robert South, Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions, Volume 7 52

And lastly; our enjoyment of God is expressed to us by our seeing him, because the sight is of all the other senses the most comprehensive and insatiable. In Eccles. i. 8, The eye (says the wise man) is not satisfied with seeing. That is to say, let it take in never so much of its object, it never surfeits. It is neither subject to satiety nor lassitude. It could presently run over and drink in the beauties of one world, and in the strength of that repast travel fresh into another. For still the more it takes in, the greater is its capacity to take in more. And in a word, it is the only sense, to which satisfaction procures an appetite. In this respect therefore it gives us the fittest representation of our enjoyment of God in glory: who is a good of that immense latitude, that inexhaustible fulness, as to satisfy, or rather satiate the greediest and most grasping appetites of the soul. It is he only who can fill the eye, and keep pace with desire; and, in a word, answer all those cravings and emptinesses of a rational nature, which the whole creation together could never yet do. There will then flow in such a torrent of delight upon all our apprehensive faculties, that the soul will be even overcome, and lost in the enjoyment. As when a vessel is thrown into a river, the river first fills it, and then swallows it up. This therefore is the sum of our happiness in the next world, that we shall see God, and experiment that which we never could in this world; namely, that we shall so see, as to be filled with seeing.

1830 · Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church 2.470

The Word of God compares the heart of man to the eye, and ascribes to perfect Christians enlightened, eyes of the heart. Eph. i. 18. As the eye that is clear can see the light, so the heart that is pure can behold God. But since the sight of God's countenance is the very source of everlasting blessedness, the promise of seeing God is the promise of the highest degree of everlasting blessedness.

1834 · Jonathan Edwards, Miscellaneous Observations: Angels, the Devil, Heaven 5

That the happiness of the saints in heaven, especially since Christ’s ascension, consisting in beholding God’s glory, will consist very much in seeing his glory in the work of redemption. The happiness of departed saints under the Old Testament, consisted much in beholding the glory of God in the works of creation; in beholding which, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. ” But their happiness, since Christ’s ascension, consists much more in beholding the glory of God in the work of redemption, since the old creation, in comparison of this, is no more mentioned, nor comes into mind. But they will be glad and rejoice for ever in this work. The beatific vision of God in heaven consists mostly in beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, either in his work, or in his person as appearing in the glorified human nature.

1834 · Jonathan Edwards, The Pure in Heart Blessed 1

This world, let us make the best of it, will be spotted with black and white, varied with clouds and sunshine, and to them who yield their hearts to it, it will yield pain as well as pleasure. But this pleasure of seeing God can suffer no mixture; for this pleasure of seeing God is so great and strong that it takes the full possession of the heart, it fills it perfectly full, so that there shall be no room for any sorrow, no room in any corner for any thing of an adverse nature from joy. There is no darkness that can bear such powerful light. It is impossible that they who see God face to face, who behold his glory and love so immediately as they do in heaven, should have any such thing as grief or pain in their hearts. When once the saints are come into God’s presence, tears shall be wiped from their eyes, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The pleasure will be so great, as fully and perfectly to employ every faculty; the sight of God’s glory and love will be so wonderful, so engaging to the mind, and it shall keep all the powers of it in such strong attention, that the soul will be wholly possessed and taken up.

1834 · Jonathan Edwards, The Pure in Heart Blessed 1

2d. It is called seeing, because it will be most certain. When persons see a thing with their own eyes, it gives them the greatest certainty they can have of it, greater than they can have by any information of others. So the sight that they will have in heaven will exclude all doubting.

1859 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 5 (1859) 274

To view Jesus as the Lamb of God through the glass of faith makes the soul rejoice with joy unspeakable; but oh! to see him face to face, to look into those dear eyes; to be embraced by those divine arms rapture begins at the very mention of it! While I speak of him, my soul is like the chariots of Aminadab, and I desire to depart and to be with him. But what must the vision be when the veil is taken from his face, and the dimness from our eyes, and when we shall talk with him even as a man talketh with his friend.

1865–1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings jan-10.pm

Mark the subject of Job’s devout anticipation “I shall see God.” He does not say, “I shall see the saints”—though doubtless that will be untold felicity—but, “I shall see God.” It is not—“I shall see the pearly gates, I shall behold the walls of jasper, I shall gaze upon the crowns of gold,” but “I shall see God.” This is the sum and substance of heaven, this is the joyful hope of all believers. It is their delight to see him now in the ordinances by faith. They love to behold him in communion and in prayer; but there in heaven they shall have an open and unclouded vision, and thus seeing “him as he is,” shall be made completely like him. Likeness to God—what can we wish for more? And a sight of God—what can we desire better?

1909 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 1 to 8) 5.8

Brethren, I venture to say no word about the blessedness of that future. Heaven’s golden gates keep their secret well. Even the purest joys of earth, about which poets have sung for untold centuries, after all singing need to be tasted before they are conceived of; and all our imaginings about the blessedness yonder is but like what a chrysalis might dream in its tomb as to the life of the radiant winged creature which it would one day become. Let us be content to be ignorant, and believe with confidence that we shall find that the vision of God is the heaven of heavens. We shall owe that eternal vision to the eternal Revealer; for, as I believe, Scripture teaches us that it is only in Him that the glorified saints see the Father, as it is only in Him that here on earth we have the vision of God. That sight is not, like the bodily sense to which it is compared, a far-off perception of an ungrasped brightness, but it is the actual possession of what we behold. We see God when we have God.

1916 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 62 (1916) 3509

What must it be to behold his glory? Some of my brethren think that when they get to heaven they shall like to behold some of the works of God in nature and so on. I must confess myself more satisfied with the idea that I shall behold his glory, the glory of the Crucified, for it seems to me that no kind of heaven but that comes up to the description of the Apostle when he saith, "Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." But to see the stars, has entered into the heart of man, and to behold the works of God in nature, has been conceived of; but the joys we speak of are so spiritual that the Apostle says, "He has revealed them unto us by his Spirit," and this is what he has revealed, "That they may behold my glory."