JOY IN HEAVEN
A. J. Gaskin
Malachi 3: 16, 17; 1 Peter 2: 7–9
I was thinking of joy in heaven tonight, and the various ways in which heaven is joyful. In Zephaniah the prophet speaks of joy in heaven. God joying over His own with singing (Zephaniah 3: 17), and we remember that in Luke 15 there is joy in heaven over one repenting sinner. There is joy in heaven tonight, I believe, as the saints come together, and God delights to look down and see what has been wrought out by the work of Christ. We all need to be freshly reminded that everything is based on the work that our Lord Jesus Christ has done. How wonderful it is that He came here as a Babe in that lowly form. The humanity of Christ, how much it appeals to our hearts, that He carried all these things out in this way, as a Man among men. God’s great purposes of love, how precious they are, and how wonderfully they have been brought about, and we should not fail to give our God something for His own pleasure at this time.
I thought this verse we know so well is encouraging, when it says, “they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”, often. We have these occasions, and thank God for them, and perhaps we could speak a little more often, but all the same I think heaven is looking down tonight and taking account of those who speak one to another about Jehovah. They spoken often one to another, then it says, “Jehovah observed it, and heard”. Think of heaven, not only heaven, but the Lord Himself, taking account of what the saints are saying as they come together, and He hears them. I think we should be impressed that there is, we might say with great reverence, an ear in heaven listening even as we come together; not just us but all those who love Christ. You think of the thousands of those that love Him, and what a return there is for our God and Father.
Now it says, “Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. It does not tell us who wrote in the book, but there are heavenly agencies that keep account of these things, not just pass them over. When it is a book of remembrance it is something more permanent, not just a word but something on which God delights to look. You think of something being written in heaven that the blessed God Himself can look at and be engaged with, if I might say so with reverence. There it is, it says, “Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”.
Then He says, “And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure”, a treasure or possession, something that God
has here in this very scene, something which is for His glory and which He delights to possess. How wonderful that is. The work of Christ has been so great and glorious that something has now been worked out in living persons which gives precious pleasure to the heart of God, “they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure”. In Exodus 19, in the very early times when his people came out of Egypt, God refers to them as “my own possession”
(Exodus 19: 5), as if He might say to Himself, What a treasure I have now. Those people were the persons who were redeemed by precious blood. The evidence that the blood was shed was on the doorposts and on the lintel (Exodus 12: 7), the blood which protected His people from judgment. So there is something which is specially for the heart of our God and Father, in that He says, “they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth Him”.
I was thinking very simply that it is very encouraging and comforting that God can look down tonight in this very place where we are, and wherever there are those who come together to think of Him, and He is receiving His own portion and having delight in these things. You can think of God’s inheritance in the saints as it is set out in Ephesians. I believe it is all part of this wonderful thing; it is what Christ has brought about for the heart of His God and Father, and we come into it. It is the beloved saints that God delights in, those who have been redeemed by precious blood.
I thought of this chapter in 1 Peter because there are references to the thought of preciousness. It says, “Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious”, that is Christ. He stands out uniquely in this preciousness, and our hearts go out to Him. We can say precious Saviour, indeed, and precious Lord, and we delight to think of Him in that way, the precious One. And then it goes on to speak of this preciousness, “To you therefore who believe is the preciousness”. Not just
the precious Saviour and the precious Lord and the precious One who is at God’s right hand, the One that we love and esteem, but the whole system is a matter of preciousness. He is the One who has set it on, and I believe that includes all the saints at this present time, something precious for the heart of our God and Father.
It goes on to say, “But ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession”. That, I think, again brings out the wonder and grace and wonderful fact that God is delighting over His inheritance in the saints. The inheritance, what a marvellous thing that is, that God looks on the saints as being something that He can inherit, something that He can enjoy. I just felt that we might say, with reverence, God is looking down tonight on His inheritance here, and it is giving Him great joy, joy in heaven. Beloved, let us be among those who are giving some joy to the heart of our God and Father, “that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”. The excellencies are the excellencies of Christ. How our hearts rejoice in that. Not only does God find joy and happiness in those who have been redeemed by that precious blood, but He has joy in His heart over His own beloved Son in His own presence now. Think of the joy in heaven, and our hearts can rejoice in this, beloved. Let us rejoice more, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Aberdeen
13 December 1994