Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Joy in Heaven

“Likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.”

“There is joy in heaven to-night,
   And the angels all look on,
 Yet it is not their’s that deep delight,
   Though their praise swells loud at the glorious sight
   Of another repentant one.

 The delight is Thine, O God,
   For in Thee we find the source
   Of that stream of love so deep and broad,
   ‘Tis a stream that none can fathom or ford,
   It has flowed by Calvary’s cross.

 Blessed Lord, we hear Thy voice
   Saying, Friends, rejoice with Me,
 And our hearts are filled with Thine own deep bliss,
   We can share Thy joy in a world like this,
   And throughout Eternity.”

Joy in heaven! Joy in the presence of the angels of God! Do then the angels of God rejoice? They do surely, but this is not their joy, it is the joy of God — the joy of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It is the joy of God that fills heaven when one sinner on earth repents! and all who are there see it, and participate in it. It is a most wonderful thing, and as we consider it we learn what is most to be valued on earth: not gold, or fame and worldly honours, but men, the souls of men, sinners though they be. But could there be anything else but joy in heaven? Well, sorrow and crying and pain and death belong to this world where sin reigns, and these sad things are the progeny of sin, and sin cannot enter heaven where God dwells, and yet — we read some strange and wonderful words in Genesis 6 “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.” Think of that — God grieved at His heart! grieved because men were prodigal men, selling their precious souls to sin and the devil. Was there no sadness in heaven when God was grieved at His heart? Was Jesus sad when He wept over prodigal Jerusalem? Yes, the tears on His cheeks and the lament on His lips were proof of that, and He was God manifest in the flesh, and when He wept the sorrow of God poured itself out in human tears, and heaven was sad. So I conclude that in those ancient times when God grieved over the wickedness of men, there was sadness in heaven. Does anyone suppose that it gave God pleasure to sweep that generation away with a flood? Judgment is His strange work, and a necessity when He executes it, but mercy is His joy. The memory of that judgment soon passed away, and again “the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God,” and the result of that search was sadly recorded, “They are all gone aside, they are altogether filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.” Psalm 14. And must there not have been sorrow in heaven because of that, sorrow because men sought not God, nor desired to?

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son into the world.” Then there was joy in heaven, and the joy was great. The midnight sky was lit with the glory of the Lord, and His angel came down and announced to the shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem, “Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Because the Saviour had come to turn men back to God from destruction, the joy of heaven broke all its bounds, and a multitude of the heavenly hosts proclaimed their gladness by praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.” Then said those shepherds one to another, “Let us go even to Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. That Babe was Emmanuel — God with us and the name that was given to Him was JESUS — which means Jehovah the Saviour.

No story is better known in Christendom than that; would to God its meaning were understood. He had come from His eternal throne to open up a way of repentance for lost and prodigal men, that they might turn, and turning meet a pardoning God; and the joy of heaven at His birth into the world was in anticipation of that. But for this He had to die and rise again from the dead on the third day, and such was the value of the souls of men that He came for that. The gospel that Paul preached, and there is no other true gospel, was, “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15. His resurrection was as necessary as His death, for in that same chapter, written to those who had believed this gospel, it is said, “If Christ be not raised your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins.” It was after His resurrection that the Lord said to His disciples, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24.

The gospel of God is a call to men to repent, which means turn and return; thus the prodigal repented when he arose to go to his father — God offers an eternal forgiveness to all men, it is this that is proclaimed in the gospel, but those only who repent receive this priceless boon. Repentance is a turning to God from the sinful way, because it is realised that it is the way of death, and that God is other than He is supposed to be, that He is not as men have imagined Him, a hard master, an almighty tyrant out of whose presence they had better keep as long as they may, but that He is full of tender pity, that He calls them to come to Him from their wanderings, and will welcome them when they come with the kiss of forgiveness. He gave His only begotten Son to judgment and death that He might do this righteously — that He might be a just God and a Saviour, and of such value are the souls of men in His sight, that He rejoices over every one that repents.

I have seen a wayward but repentant son weeping for his sins and the sorrow he had caused his father, upon that father’s shoulder, while the arms of the old man embraced him and tears rolled down his cheeks, and everyone in the house wept in sympathy with the father’s joy. It was an echo on earth of the joy of heaven. I have heard a mother say when her son had turned to God, “Now Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” Her joy was heaven’s joy reaching down to earth. I had preached the gospel on a Sunday evening in Detroit, U.S.A., and a lady said to me, “My nephew was with me to-night and was very much moved, I wanted him to stay and speak to you, but he is reticent and did not care to, but if you will come to my home he will see you there.” “Certainly,” I said, “I’ll come with you with pleasure.” I was told that he was in his early twenties, and that his mother, more than 1,000 miles away in Canada, had long prayed for his salvation, and knowing that he was to attend this particular gospel meeting had decided to spend the whole time in prayer for him. We waited and waited for him and wondered why he did not come. He came at last when we had almost given up hope of him, and a wonderful joy rang in his voice as he said, “I have found Him.” “Do you mean that you have found the Saviour?” I asked. “Yes,” he said, “and I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I wanted my mother to be the first to hear the news, so I went into the city to telegraph it to her.” But she was not the first to hear the news, before the electric wires carried it to her, heaven had got it. How greatly she rejoiced, yes, but her joy was the joy that had begun in heaven, she was near enough to God to participate in His joy.

There will always be sorrow for sin in the heart of the one who repents, but repentance is more than sorrow for sin it is a complete change of mind, that turns the whole man as the helm turns the ship. The Thessalonians repented when they turned to God from idols. Saul of Tarsus repented when he cried out to Jesus, whom he had hated, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” A young man whom I met repented when he said to me, “I’ve had a look into eternity and I want to be saved.” Repentance comes when the light shines into a man’s heart and he becomes honest to God and confesses the truth, and casts himself upon God’s mercy. When the publican stood afar off and would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” he repented, and there was joy in heaven over him and he went down to his house justified. But repentance does not save the sinner, it is God that does that.
“It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers,
But the blood that atones for the soul.”

Yet no man is saved apart from repentance. Repentance and remission of sins go together in the sinner’s blessing.

We do not read that anything else causes this special joy in heaven in these gospel days and this fact shows us what God’s great interest is. He does not rejoice in the discoveries of science, whatever is discovered is His creation and He knows all things from the beginning, nor does He rejoice in the successful efforts of men to improve the standard of living, for that is merely a material and temporal gain, but He does rejoice when sinners turn to Him, when He finds that which is lost, for the sons of men are more to Him than shining worlds. He gave His Son for their salvation, and when they repent, they come into harmony with Him; they were dead but are alive again, they were lost and are found, and it is meet that heaven should make merry and be glad.

Sometimes we turn to the Scriptures and read of a time that is coming, the very thought of which thrills the soul. It is in Revelation 19 “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come.” That will be when the whole multitude of the saved are gathered home, and the work of Father, Son and Holy Ghost in regard to them is completed, then will heaven be the scene of continuous and eternal joy, but that joy begins now when one sinner repents — “They began to be merry.”