What Do You Yearn for in Heaven?

Jeff Pollard

Dear brethren, 

Samuel Rutherford died in 1661. As he lay dying, his heart and lips overflowed with love for Christ and the glory of seeing Him. Nearly 200 years later, in 1857, “The Last Words of Samuel Rutherford” appeared in The Christian Treasury. The writer was a Scottish woman named Ann Ross Cousin. Her poem, later entitled “Immanuel’s Land,” then appeared in a volume entitled Immanuel’s Land and Other Pieces. All the poems in that volume were well received, but “Immanuel’s Land” was hailed as an “exquisite piece of poetry” that contained “matchless stanzas.” While Mrs. Cousin was responsible for the versification, the thoughts and expressions were from Samuel Rutherford’s letters and the burning love and high thoughts of Christ he uttered on his deathbed. “Immanuel’s Land” was eventually reduced to five stanzas and is usually known to English speaking Christians today as “The Sands of Time Are Sinking.” It is recorded that Rutherford’s last words were “Glory, Glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s Land.” And as he prepared to enter eternity, what were Rutherford’s thoughts of heaven? “The King there in His beauty, Without a veil is seen.” “Oh! Christ He is the fountain, the deep sweet well of Love!” “The bride eyes not her garment, But her dear Bridegroom’s face; I will not gaze at glory, But on my King of Grace.” The last line beautifully sums up the sacred fire of love, rising from every regenerate heart: “The Lamb is all the glory, Of Immanuel’s land.” For Rutherford, heaven was about seeing, loving, adoring, worshiping, and existing eternally in the presence of Jesus Christ. 

Is that the way modern Christians think? No doubt, some do. It seems, however, that many, if not most, think only of seeing that dearly loved family member that has passed away, or of consorting with the great saints that have preceded us to glory, or of exploring the depths of eternal existence, or of discovering an eternal fishing hole with which work does not interfere, or pretty much what humans do on earth now but just better versions of it. To be reunited with loved ones, and to discover the exquisite beauty of eternity in the ethereal regions will no doubt be a part of that ravishing world to come. But I agree with Rutherford: The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s Land! I want to see Him Who loved me and gave Himself for me. I want to see that sacred head that wore my crown of thorns. I want to see His hands and feet that hung on nails for the justification, sanctification, and glorifying on my immortal soul. I want to see the spear-pierced side that proved Him dead so that I might live in holy splendor with Him for all eternity. 

I want to see and to be like Jesus my Lord and Savior, the Father’s holy child. I want to be in that place with Him where no defiling thought, wicked word, or vile deed will ever again stain and deform my life. I want the glory of the King in His beauty to penetrate every fiber of my being and to fill me with eternal holiness that will never again know the corruption, the filthiness, the perversion, and the horror of sin. Whatever the joys of heaven prove to be, to see the King in His beauty and to drink of His love to an ocean’s fullness is the glory of Immanuel’s Land. I want to see the Bridegroom’s face. How about you?

Courtesy of Chapel Library