The Highway Forums General Discussion Devotional Quotes JC Ryle

"Do we find Christ's name precious to us? Do we feel our hearts burn within us at the thought of His dying love? We will have perfect communion with Him in heaven. "We will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:17) "We will be with Him in paradise." (Luke 23:43 43) We will see His face in the kingdom. These eyes of ours will behold those hands and feet which were pierced with nails, and that head which was crowned with thorns. Where He is, there also will be the children of God. When He comes, they will come with Him. When He sits down in His glory, they will sit down by His side. This is indeed a blessed expectation! I am a dying man in a dying world. All before me is dark. The world to come is a unknown harbor. But Christ is there, and that is enough. Surely if there is rest and peace in following Him by faith on earth, there will be far more rest and peace when we see Him face to face. If we have found it good to follow the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness, we will find it a thousand times better to sit down in our eternal inheritance, with our Joshua, in the promised land." ~ J.C. Ryle

What if you are following him by faith but you still don't find rest and peace here on earth, will you find it when you see him face to face or will you still be burdened in your soul after you die?

First of all

I have a question which I would like to ask for my own clarification so that I might be able to answer your first question.

1. Could you define "rest and peace here on earth"?

And,

2. The second question is an easy one. In glorification ALL that was not perfect in body and soul here on earth will be made perfect, but in two phases. a) upon death your soul will be purged of all that is of sin and you shall be with Christ (Rev 7:13-17; 21:3,4). The only thing which I can find which will remain is the burden of the soul to be reunited with the body because we as humans were created to be both body and soul (cf. Rom 8:23) and for justice to be done in regard to the persecution of the saints; the Church (cf. Rev. 6:9,10). And, b) when the soul is rejoined with the body, it will be a spiritual, incorruptible body (cf. 1Cor 15:52f; 2Cor 5:2-4; 1Jh 3:2).

And, I'm curious since you didn't list any favorite authors in your profile, if perhaps you read such writers as J.C. Philpot, Huntington, Brother Andrew, or A.W. Tozer?

"Let us arm ourselves with a thorough knowledge of the Word of God. Let us read our Bibles more diligently than ever, and become familiar with every part of them. Let the Word dwell in us richly. Let us beware of anything which would make us give less time and less heart to the perusal of its sacred pages. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit – let it never be laid aside. The Bible is the true lantern for a dark and cloudy time – let us beware of traveling without its light." ~ J.C. Ryle

. . . Beware of being wise above that which is written. Beware of forming fanciful theories of your own, and then trying to make the Bible square with them. Beware of making selections from your Bible to suit your taste. Dare not to say, ‘I believe this verse, for I like it. I refuse that, for I cannot reconcile it with my views.’ Nay! but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? By what right do you talk in this way? Surely it were better to say, over every chapter in the word, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’ Ah! if men would do this, they would never deny the unquenchable fire.”

“Another real danger to young men is thoughtlessness and lack of consideration. Lack of thought is one simple reason why thousands of souls are cast away forever. Men will not consider—will not look forward—will not look around them—will not reflect on the end of their present course, and the sure consequences of their present ways—and awake at last to find they are damned for lack of thinking.”

Letters to Young Men