Two ever-present themes addressed by Thomas Watson

After writing about a couple of themes I picked up a book at random (Thomas Watson's Body of Practical Divinity) and turned to a page at random and started to read.

What I turned to was a 13-point section on what we will have in the Kingdom of God.

Points #1 and #12 addressed directly the two main themes.

I was writing about how human beings need so much stuff - and need to do so much stuff - just to survive and the continual hassle of it all. Here is a section from that book addressing that:

"[Being in the Kingdom of God] implies a freedom from the necessities of nature. We are in this life subject to many necessities; we need food to nourish us, clothes to cover us, armour to defend us, sleep to refresh us; but in the kingdom of heaven there will be no need of these things; and it is better not to need them than to have them; as it is better not to need crutches than to have them. What need will there be of food when our bodies shall be made spiritual? I Cor 15: 44. Though not spiritual for substance, yet for qualities. What need will there be of clothing when our bodies shall be like Christ's glorious body? What need will there be of armour when there is no enemy? What need will there be of sleep when there is no night? Rev 22: 5. The saints shall be freed, in the heavenly kingdom, from these necessities of nature to which they are now exposed."

Of course, the question of what replaces our basic experience in such glorified bodies is not addressed in the above passage, but the point is made. We can yearn or pine or complain for something now that can only exist when glorified in the Kingdom of God.

The second theme was the general: "There's nothing to do! no where to go! all is vain; you can go here, go there, but it's all the same, accomplishment...etc....it just leads to golf, seemingly."

The easy response to the above is to say, but have you experienced everything, have you climbed to the top of the mast of a swift sailing ship? Have you harpooned a whale? Have you built a skyscraper? Have you produced a great movie? Have you had a family? Have you blah, blah, blah. It's all the same to someone who has just reached a certain point.

Now, here is the relevant passage from the Watson book addressing that specific theme:

"In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from vanity and dissatisfaction. What Job says of wisdom, in chap. 28: 14; 'The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me;' I may say concerning satisfaction; every creature says, 'It is not in me.' Take things most pleasing and from which we promise ourselves most content, still, of the spirit and essence of them all we shall say, 'Behold, all was vanity.' Eccl 2: 11. God never did, nor will, put a satisfying virtue into any creature. In the sweetest music the world makes, either some string is wanting, or out of tune. Who would have thought that Haman, who was so great in the king's favour, that he 'set his seat above all the princes' of the provinces, for want of the bowing of a knee, would be dissatisfied? Est 3: 1. But in the kingdom of heaven, we shall be freed from these dissatisfactions. The world is like a landscape painting, in which you may see gardens with fruit trees, curiously drawn, but you cannot enter them; but into the joys of heaven you may enter. 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' The soul shall be satisfied while it bathes in those rivers of pleasure at God's right hand. 'I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.' Psa 17: 15."

This sentence says it all (and C. S. Lewis echoed it in one of his books):

"The world is like a landscape painting, in which you may see gardens with fruit trees, curiously drawn, but you cannot enter them; but into the joys of heaven you may enter."

So, straining and trying and despairing to do what you can't do is vain. It has to be remembered. This is perspective. Higher perspective. But when you charge on up the mountain to the summit you can have a false sense of what is possible beyond that.

Then again, Jonathan Edwards said something to the effect of: (paraphrase) You shouldn't be afraid to be too greedy in acquiring spiritual things.

Something like that. Basically he was saying to the more staid Christians that it's OK to strive for more and more spiritual gifts. Still, the flesh is a boundary and we shouldn't let it dispirit us by trying to do things that can only be done in a state of glorification. Not that we need to accept limits, but still, the point is not to get dispirited based on the fact that we are not in glorified bodies.

Further note on this: This post has a passage from Meredith Kline's Kingdom Prologue making the same point as Watson regarding the second theme quoted above. Kline's way of describing it is unique, striking, and powerful.