Encouragement

Heaven, Part 3— Social Satisfaction

by J.W. Phillips
03/25/25
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Heaven, Part 3—Social Satisfaction

It isn’t just the place of Heaven that will satisfy so immensely but also the people of Heaven. Thomas Watson wrote, “In the kingdom of heaven, we shall have sweet society with glorified saints.”

Writing in the twelfth-century, Bernard of Cluny gave thought to the social joys of Heaven, saying:

I know not, oh, I know not
What social joys are there.
What radiance of glory,
What joy beyond compare.

On earth, we also seem not to know this—not because imagination fails us, but because our heart does. Lamenting this fact, G.D. Watson wrote:

One of the sorrows that comes to a humble and tender heart in this life is the clash of religious souls, the misunderstandings and strife between those who really love Jesus, and the scarcity of broadhearted and intelligent charity and fellowship. “We shall know each other better when the mists have cleared away.”¹

The Bible says that we shall know even as we are known. According to Watson, this means there will be “the mutual, whole-hearted appreciation of each other’s character and history, and of the variety of graces and gifts.”²

Anticipating this happy day, Watson declared, “No imagination we now have can calculate the delicate and multiplied joys we shall have in Heaven, flowing out from the appreciation of all the varieties of the saints of all ages.”³

J.C. Ryle extended this thought when he wrote:

We shall see apostles, prophets, patriarchs, martyrs, reformers, missionaries, and ministers, of whom the world was not worthy. We shall see the faces of those we have known and loved in Christ on earth, and over whose departure we shed bitter tears.

We shall see them more bright and glorious than they ever were before. And best of all, we shall see them without hurry and anxiety, and without feeling that we only meet to part again. In glory there is no death, no parting, no farewell!⁴

Isn’t that good? And just think: When these relationships are restored, our love for each other, due to our glorified status, will greatly increase.

According to Chrysostom, the fourth-century archbishop who was known as the “golden-mouthed orator,” believers “shall have such a resplendence of beauty on them that the angels shall fall in love with them.”⁵ This glory within shall even manifest physically, making our reunion with loved ones far sweeter than we ever imagined.

In Heaven, we will come to learn each other’s stories. No longer burdened by competition-and-comparison thinking, we will appreciate people for who they are and all that is good about them with no thought at all about who they weren’t.

The sharing of these stories will further strengthen our worship of God, as we learn what he did in each person’s life.

This could have been, and should have been, an experience we had on earth. But because we ignored what God said about fellowship, this wasn’t our experience.

In Heaven, it will be.

Notes:
1. G.D. Watson, Heavenly Life, (Salem, Ohio, Schmul Publishing Company, 1994), p.98.
2. Ibid., p.99.
3. Ibid., p.99.
4. J.C. Ryle, “Heaven,” found under Sermon Texts on the website sermonindex.net
5. Thomas Watson, The Lord’s Prayer, Kindle locations: 1688-1689.