Paths to Contemplation - 4

God’s invitation to come to know him in eternity

If we cannot know God through our mind, emotions or senses, what are we to do?  If  our hearts yearn for this unknown and unknowable God, and no images we can create ourselves can satisfy us, what are we to do?

If only God’s intervention can allow us to know God directly, then the crucial question is whether God will intervene to give us this knowledge, and, if so, under what circumstances?  For example, are there exercises we can practice that will bring about God’s intervention?  Must we have a particular state of mind or soul before God will intervene?  Does God even want humans to come to know him, and, even if God does want humans to know him, can this knowledge be found while we are still living on earth?

For Christians, the answer is clear.  Scripture, tradition and the experience of mystics testify through the ages that God has chosen to allow humans to “see” him as he is.  There are instances even in the Old Testament when God allows at least certain individuals a glimpse of himself.  In this regard, there is Moses on Sinai as well as the experience of Elijah recounted in 1 Kings Chapter 19.  The glory of God filled the temple at its dedication (1 Kings Chapter 8) and was apparent in visions like those of Isaiah (Isaiah Chapter 6).  But it is in the New Testament that God’s invitation to come to union with himself in love, and through that union to know him, is made clear in, through and by Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully human.

Jesus’ divine glory was partially revealed to three terrified disciples at the Transfiguration.  So important was this event considered to be in the early Church that it is recorded in all three synoptic Gospels and is mentioned by Peter, an eye witness, in 2 Peter Chapter 1.  

It is in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, however, that we read one of the clearest descriptions of the destiny to which Christians are called: “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face.  The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.”(Jerusalem Bible translation) And how is this face to face vision of God to come about?  The sight of God is the fulfillment of love.  Of faith, hope and love, it will be love that we carry into eternity.

Faith concerns what is not yet seen or possessed.  It is a firm trust that God is faithful, a confidence in God’s present activity in our lives, even when we do not sense God close at hand or feel God’s power working in us.   Hope looks to the future.  It is the belief that God will be true to his promises and grant us the Kingdom through Jesus Christ.  When we see God face to face, we will have no need of either faith or hope.  Then it is only through absolute love of God, that we will be able to look into the face of God without pain.

Perhaps we think of heaven as a place that is filled with every earthly pleasure.  What would such a paradise include?  Perhaps championship golf courses, or magnificent sunsets on demand, or the ability to wish for meals exquisitely prepared but without the calories and having to clean up afterwards.  Whatever we can imagine, whatever pastimes or gastronomical joys we build into heaven, they will not, they cannot, satisfy us for eternity.  Only the knowledge of an infinite God into which we continue to grow forever will satisfy us.  Our hearts were made for God, as Augustine said.  They were not made primarily for sensory or sensual enjoyment.

Sensual and sensory enjoyment is not necessarily sinful.  It is can be source of enormous legitimate pleasure, as ought to be found in sexual intercourse between a husband and wife who love one another dearly.  Food was given to enjoy as well as to sustain life.  Sunsets are beautiful to look at.  But our bodies have been given to us first and foremost to enable us to learn what God wants us to learn that we might come to God in love.  It is only in God that we can find our fulfillment as human beings.

What if we had to live on earth for two hundred years?  I suspect we would all get tired of life well before we died, even assuming we could maintain good health until almost the time of our deaths.  If heaven were merely an extension of earth without the aches and pains and obligations of our present life, then we would soon get tired of life in heaven as well.  After we have played golf for a thousand years, what would joy golf hold for us?  After we have sampled every delicacy that can delight our palates, what joy would eating hold for us?  After we had mastered every branch of science and read every book that had been written, what would we do then?  But if we can look into the face of God and know God as God knows us, love with the love of God, know with the mind of God, what does anything else matter?

We might also ask: If we come to know God after death, can we come to know God while we are yet alive?  We have already seen that we cannot know God except by the power of God, but does God only give us that knowledge after we have died?

There are many who believe that once one has been “saved,” by whatever act or statement brings about salvation, there is nothing more to do than to wait to collect the reward the saved are assured of when they die.  Some would agree that one should lead a “good life” once one is saved, but they would also say that because no one can earn salvation through works(or lose it through bad ones), at most  good works are signs that someone is saved, and not a means of salvation in themselves.

The immediate effect of being saved is to have personal guilt due to sin completely removed and the punishment remitted that one might have otherwise had to suffer because of sin.  Although the punishment to be imposed because of sin is often graphically described in terms of fiery torment, the “eternal reward” that one gains from salvation is usually left rather vague.  Often it is simply earthly pleasures pumped up to a higher degree, just as God is often described in pumped up human terms.  If a human is good, God is all-good.  If a human is just, God is all-just.  You get the pattern.  Thus, if playing golf on earth is fun, playing golf in heaven is all-fun.

But, as noted earlier, playing golf is not what humans long for.  They long to know God, even though they cannot describe this God.  Heaven cannot be heaven without imparting a direct vision of God.