Heaven

The doctrine of heaven is not a side issue in Reformed and Puritan teaching; it is the goal of grace, the inheritance of the saints, and the final answer to the problem of sin and suffering. These authors insist that heaven is never a wage earned by human effort but a gift purchased by Christ and given freely to sinners. At the same time, they are not afraid to speak of degrees of glory, of heaven as a reward, and of present Christian experience as a foretaste of the world to come. Understanding heaven rightly shapes how believers live, suffer, and hope.

Heaven as a Gift of Grace, Not Merit

The strongest and most repeated emphasis in these authors is that heaven cannot be earned. Spurgeon is blunt: Nay, friends, we cannot buy heaven with gold nor good works, nor prayers, nor anything in the world. But how is it to be got? Why it is to be got for asking only Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Justification by Grace” He insists that grace, not human merit, is the only basis on which a believer can receive heaven and its reward (Romans 5:21). If heaven were earned by merit, believers would feel like intruders there because they have no claim to it (Romans 5:21). But because heaven is given by grace, believers may enter it with boldness, gladness, and confidence (Romans 5:21).

Matthew Henry agrees, though he also speaks of eternal life as a reward. He explains that eternal life is the gift of God, not earned by obedience; sinners merit hell, but saints do not merit heaven (Romans 6:23). Henry can say that eternal life is the reward God gives to those who patiently continue in well-doing, and it includes glory, honor, and undisturbed peace (Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10). But this reward language does not cancel grace. The happiness of the saved remnant comes not from their merit but from God's mercy, and the joy and glory of heaven spring from God's enduring mercy (Romans 9:23).

Jonathan Edwards presses the point further by grounding heaven in Christ's finished work. Christ has gone to heaven as our forerunner to take possession of our glory, and believers are already seated with him in heavenly places (Hebrews 6:20, Ephesians 2:6). Heaven is a purchased possession, not something acquired by our own obedience after Christ merely removes the penalty of sin (Ephesians 1:14). Edwards points to the worship of the redeemed as proof: the saints in heaven thank Christ for purchasing heaven and redeeming them to God, not merely for giving them opportunity to earn it themselves (Revelation 5:9).

Spurgeon summarizes the whole matter with characteristic force: And he looked at me, and he said, "It is of Grace and not of merit." Then I thought I would take the crown, but lo, I awoke and the dream was over Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace”

Degrees of Glory: A Point of Tension

Here the authors do not all speak with one voice. Spurgeon is deeply suspicious of any talk of degrees of glory based on works. He argues that the idea of degrees of glory in heaven based on works is a subtle way of reintroducing self-righteousness and boasting (Romans 3:27). If there are degrees of glory in heaven, they cannot be based on works but must come from divine grace alone (Romans 3:27). Spurgeon even suggests that in heaven, believers will have such perfect union and fellowship that private distinctions, ranks, and honors will be lost (Romans 3:27).

Edwards, however, takes a different approach. He acknowledges that Scripture teaches different degrees of future glory according to different degrees of holiness and good works (1 Corinthians 3:8). He is honest about the theological problem this creates: different degrees of glory seem inconsistent with all saints being entitled to glory by the same imputed righteousness of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:8). If all have glory as the reward of the same righteousness, it is hard to explain why all do not have the same degree of glory (1 Corinthians 3:8).

Edwards resolves the tension by distinguishing between the purchase of heaven and the capacity of the saint. Christ's righteousness purchased complete and perfect happiness for every saint according to each one's capacity. Christ's righteousness did not purchase a fixed degree of happiness, but eternal life or perfect happiness for all according to their several capacities. He uses a memorable image: the saints are like vessels of different sizes cast into a sea of happiness, where every vessel is full; Christ purchased this fullness for all. God sovereignly determines the capacity of each saint, and Christ's righteousness does not determine this (Ephesians 4:4–7).

Edwards then explains why degrees of glory can still be called a reward. God may dispense degrees of glory according to whatever rule he pleases, not less because of what Christ has done. If Adam had persevered in perfect obedience, God would still have been at liberty to make some of one capacity and others of another. The angels obtained eternal life by a covenant of works, yet some are higher in glory than others according to the capacities God gave them. In the case of believers, God has been pleased to fix the degree of capacity, and so of glory, by the proportion of the saints' grace and fruitfulness here. God gives higher degrees of glory in reward for higher degrees of holiness and good works because it pleases him, yet all happiness is the fruit of Christ's purchase.

Edwards is careful to protect justification. Christ's righteousness is concerned in the degree of happiness only as it merits that happiness should be full and perfect according to capacity, not in the degrees of perfect happiness. The degree of a believer's eternal happiness is determined by the degree of their obedience and holiness. Heaven itself may be given as a reward for believers' holiness and good works in a secondary sense without undermining justification by Christ's righteousness alone.

Spurgeon and Edwards thus differ in emphasis. Spurgeon fears that any degrees of glory based on works will feed pride. Edwards fears that denying degrees of glory will ignore clear biblical teaching. Both agree that grace is the foundation of all heavenly happiness.

Heaven as Inheritance and Reward

Henry develops the biblical language of inheritance. Believers have a title to future glory that is connected to their adoption as sons (Romans 8:17). All saints are heirs of heaven, not by their own merit but purely by God's act of making them heirs (Romans 8:17). In this present life believers are heirs under age, being educated and prepared for their inheritance (Romans 8:17). The comfort of being an heir lies in the value of the inheritance, and believers are heirs of God himself (Romans 8:17). The saints' inheritance consists in the vision and enjoyment of God himself (Romans 8:17). Believers are joint-heirs with Christ, and by virtue of their union with him they will share in his glory (Romans 8:17).

Henry also speaks of future glory as the reward of present sufferings and the accomplishment of present hopes (Romans 8:17–25). Christians suffer with Christ for his sake and will be glorified with him (Romans 8:17). The sufferings of this present time are light and short compared to the eternal weight of glory to be revealed (Romans 8:18). The glory to come surpasses all present knowledge and enjoyment, and will be revealed in believers, not just to them (Romans 8:18). Sufferings cannot merit glory, nor should they deter believers from pursuing it (Romans 8:18). A believing view of the glory to be revealed supports the spirit under all present sufferings (Romans 8:18).

Edwards adds a pastoral insight about preparation. God does many things to prepare saints for glory after he has already accepted them as heirs of glory, just as a parent prepares a child for an inheritance after the child is already an heir. This means sanctification is not the condition of justification. If whatever prepares a person for glory were the condition of justification, then perfect holiness would be the condition, since nothing spiritually defiled can enter heaven.

The Body, the Soul, and the Fullness of Glory

Henry is especially rich on the future of the body. The soul of the believer is spiritually alive now and will enter eternal life at death (Romans 8:10). The soul's life is secured by the imputed righteousness of Christ and by inherent righteousness, which qualifies it for eternal life (Romans 8:10). But the believer still waits for something more. What believers wait for is the redemption of the body, when the body will be rescued from death and corruption and made like Christ's glorious body (Romans 8:23). The adoption of believers will not be complete until their bodies are brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:23).

Henry also looks forward to the renewal of creation. At the time of the restitution of all things, the creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into a glory suited to the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21). Christ has purchased final deliverance from sin, which will be completed through death and eternity (Romans 7:24–25).

Henry speaks of glorification as already done because of its certainty, since nothing can come between the justified soul and glory (Romans 8:30). God's design of love in bringing the elect to heaven has its full accomplishment in their eternal glorification (Romans 8:30). God aims at glory in all he does for the elect, including choosing, calling, regenerating, and even afflicting them (Romans 8:30). Believers are more than conquerors because they conquer with little loss, losing only what is worthless like dross, and with great gain, obtaining glory, honor, peace, and an unfading crown of righteousness (Romans 8:37).

Present Foretastes of Heavenly Joy

These authors do not treat heaven as only a future reality. They see present Christian experience as a beginning of glory. Henry writes that grace is the beginning of glory, so present spiritual blessings make believers long for the full enjoyment of heavenly glory (Romans 8:23). Joy in the Holy Ghost is spiritual joy worked by the Spirit in believers, respecting God as their reconciled Father and heaven as their expected home (Romans 14:17). The joy and peace of believers arise chiefly from their hopes of what is laid up for them (Romans 15:13).

Spurgeon connects peace with God to heavenly joy. Peace with God should produce overflowing joy and a foretaste of heavenly joy (Romans 5:1). He also marvels that grace makes the worst sinner fit for heaven, giving him a crown and a place among the glorified (Romans 5:20).

Henry sees Christian fellowship as a foretaste of heaven. Christian fellowship, when rightly conducted, is a foretaste of heaven and an earnest of the future gathering of all believers to Christ (Romans 15:24). Yet the satisfaction believers have in fellowship with other saints in this world is only partial, compared both with communion with Christ and with the future communion of perfected saints in heaven (Romans 15:24). Christ received us so that we might glorify God in this world and be glorified with him in the world to come (Romans 15:7).

The Eternal End: Glory, Honor, and Praise

Heaven is finally about God himself. Henry says those who seek worldly glory and honor are often disappointed, but those who seek immortal glory and honor will receive them along with peace (Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10). If the fruit is unto holiness, the end will be everlasting life, a sure and happy end despite the difficult way (Romans 6:22). God is to be glorified forever for the gospel, and believers should long to join the holy angels in eternal praise (Romans 16:27).

Spurgeon returns to the note of grace with which the doctrine begins. But if it is of God's Grace and not of works—why, then, we may walk into Heaven with boldness! We may receive the crown with gladness, and sit down with the redeemed with joy and confidence Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace” Henry echoes the same confidence: In earthly inheritances this rule does not hold, only the first-born are heirs; but the church is a church of first-born, for they are all heirs. Heaven is an inheritance that all the saints are heirs to. They do not come to it as purchasers by any merit or procurement of their own; but as heirs, purely by the act of God; for God makes heirs Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” The hope of heaven is not a fragile wish but a certain inheritance, secured by Christ, given by grace, and enjoyed forever.