In His presence there is fulness of joy

[MW]

Ralph Erskine (The Rent Vail of the Temple), Sermons 1:102:

The life of the saint here is mostly a life of desire. He can never get his desire fully satisfied; and when you get any desirable meeting with the Lord, why, it is but a blink and away. Your desires are but increased thereby, and your melancholy wants remain unsupplied: but, within the vail all desires shall be satisfied, all wants shall be supplied; for “In his presence there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand rivers of pleasure for evermore.” No clouds, no night, no desertion there; no such complaint as this, “why hidest thou thy face?” The best communion and enjoyment here admits of interruption, but that which is above is uninterrupted; no tempting devil, no deceitful heart, no dismal cloud to darken their day, or interrupt their vision and fruition of God. Christ is here only passing by us, and as a wayfaring man that tarries only for a night; yea, hardly for a night: no sooner does he enter, but he is away; no sooner does the heart begin to open to him sometime, than, alas! he is gone. Song 5:6, “I opened to my beloved, but he had withdrawn himself, and was gone:” but then their enjoyment shall be full, and everlasting, and uninterrupted; for, “So shall they ever be with the Lord.”

 

[earl40]

How is the above reconciled to Rev. 6:10 and the apparent angst they appear to have in your POV?

 

[KMK]

What's more is, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life." (Pro 13:12) The earthly life of the saint is mostly that of deferred hope because that is a necessary means by which we attain heavenly life. "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" (Rom 8:24)

Nevertheless, the heartsick desire of the saint is infinitely better than the satisfaction of the hypocrite, "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?" (Job 27:8) And it is also better than that of the wicked, for "a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken." (Ps 37:16,17)

 

[MW]

How is the above reconciled to Rev. 6:10 and the apparent angst they appear to have in your POV?

I would not consider the present state of the martyrs to be the focus of the vision. Their unlawful death is crying out for vengeance on the "earth" or "land." It is like Abel's blood crying to the Lord from the ground. It may help to consider it in the light of Matthew 23:34-36, and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.

 

[earl40]

I would not consider the present state of the martyrs to be the focus of the vision. Their unlawful death is crying out for vengeance on the "earth" or "land." It is like Abel's blood crying to the Lord from the ground. It may help to consider it in the light of Matthew 23:34-36, and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.

Thank you, in that in my thinking the present state of the martyrs is one of being blessed with no angst, and your answer confirms how what I asked fits into such.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

Thank you, this post and the comments are comforting and encouraging. I've never heard the difficulties of our sojourn explained this way.


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[RobertYettle]

Thank you for this.