"Now we shall see him," to wit, Christ in his glory. Not by
revelation only, as we do now, but then face to face; and he will
have us with him to this very end. Though John was in the Spirit
when he had the vision of Christ, yet it made him fall at his feet
as dead; and also turned Daniel's beauty into corruption, it was so
glorious and so overweighing a glory that he appeared in. But we
shall at the day of our resurrection be so furnished, that we shall
with the eagle be able to look upon the sun in his strength. We
shall then "see Him as he is," who now is in the light that no eye
hath seen, nor any man can see till that day.
Now we shall see into all things; there shall not be any thing hid
from us. For the Spirit, with which we shall in every cranny of soul
and body be filled, "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God." We see what strange things have been known by the prophets and
saints of God; and that when they knew but in part. Abraham could by
it tell to a day how long his seed should be under persecution in
Egypt. Elisha by it could tell what was done in the king of
Assyria's bedchamber. Abijah by this could know Jeroboam's wife so
soon as, yea, before her feet entered within his door, though he saw
her not. The prophet of Judah could tell by this what God would do
to Bethel for the idolatry there committed, and could also point out
the man by name that should do the execution, long before he was
born.
What shall I say? Enoch by it could tell what should be done at the
end of the world. How did the prophets circumstantially prophesy of
Christ's birth, his death, his burial, of their giving him gall and
vinegar, of their parting his raiment and piercing his hands and
feet, of his riding on an ass also. All this they saw when they
spake of him. Peter also, though half asleep, could at the very
first word call Moses and Elias by their names, when they appeared
to Christ in the holy mount. He is very ignorant of the operation of
the Spirit that scrupleth these things.
But now, I say, if these things have been done, seen, and known by
spiritual men while their knowledge has been but "in part," how
shall we know, see, and discern, when "that which is perfect is
come!" which will be at the resurrection: "It is raised a spiritual
body."
Paul said to the Philippians that he was confident that he who had
begun a good work in them, would perform it until "the day of
Christ." Which day of Christ was not the day of their conversion,
for that day was past with them already, they were now the children
of God; but this day of Christ is the same which in other places is
called the day when he shall come with the sound of the last trump
to raise the dead. For you must know that the work of salvation is
not at an end with them that are now in heaven; no, nor ever will be
until their bodies be raised again. God has made our bodies the
members of Christ, and God does not count us thoroughly saved, until
our bodies be as well redeemed and ransomed out of the grave and
death, as our soul from the curse of the law and dominion of sin.
Though God's saints have felt the power of much of his grace, and
have had many a secret word fulfilled on them, yet one word will be
unfulfilled on their particular person, so long as the grave can
shut her mouth upon them. But when the gates of death do open before
them, and the bars of the grave do fall asunder, then shall be
brought to pass that saying which is written, "Death is swallowed up
of victory." And then will they hear that most pleasant voice,
"Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the
dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead."
The body is no such ridiculous thing in the account of Christ as it
was in the account of the Sadducees. "The body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body;" and that
not only in this world, but in that which is to come.