Andrew P.C.
Puritan Board Junior
Thomas Goodwin, Works, Vol. 9 Pg.103-104:
"God is said to rejoice over us: Zeph. 3:17, ‘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 rejoice over thee with singing.’ If in this life, when absent from him, much more when we come home to him, and he hath us present with him in the presence of his glory. ‘And that land,’ the type of it, ‘shall be called Beulah;’ that is, ‘Thy delight is in her: for the Lord delighteth in thee,’ Isa. 62:4. He loves us when sinners; but delights in us that so far as we are holy. And now, when he sees us come first afore his presence, faultless and perfectly holy, then his delight and his joy in us is full; and then, at that time, when we come first into his presence, says God with himself, Lo, I loved this my creature from everlasting, and I designed him then by choice, not only to be mine, my peculiar, but I chose him for myself to rejoice in, and to communicate my whole self unto. And now that, after so long a time, seeing that holiness I designed, to be completed in him, to prepare him for my enjoyment of him, and for his full enjoyment of me, in the presence of my glory, I thus solemnly present him with exceeding great joy unto myself; for I shall have more joy and solace in him than he shall have in me: for it was for myself that I first did choose him, as my ultimate end, which is now accomplished and perfected."
"God is said to rejoice over us: Zeph. 3:17, ‘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 rejoice over thee with singing.’ If in this life, when absent from him, much more when we come home to him, and he hath us present with him in the presence of his glory. ‘And that land,’ the type of it, ‘shall be called Beulah;’ that is, ‘Thy delight is in her: for the Lord delighteth in thee,’ Isa. 62:4. He loves us when sinners; but delights in us that so far as we are holy. And now, when he sees us come first afore his presence, faultless and perfectly holy, then his delight and his joy in us is full; and then, at that time, when we come first into his presence, says God with himself, Lo, I loved this my creature from everlasting, and I designed him then by choice, not only to be mine, my peculiar, but I chose him for myself to rejoice in, and to communicate my whole self unto. And now that, after so long a time, seeing that holiness I designed, to be completed in him, to prepare him for my enjoyment of him, and for his full enjoyment of me, in the presence of my glory, I thus solemnly present him with exceeding great joy unto myself; for I shall have more joy and solace in him than he shall have in me: for it was for myself that I first did choose him, as my ultimate end, which is now accomplished and perfected."
