25 July 2012

Eternally Swallowed Up

Jonathan Edwards, reflecting on seeing Christ in the next life, while preaching on 2 Corinthians 5:8 at the funeral of David Brainerd:
The nature of this glory of Christ that they shall see, will be such as will draw and encourage them, for they will not only see infinite majesty and greatness; but infinite grace, condescension and mildness, and gentleness and sweetness, equal to his majesty . . . so that the sight of Christ's great kingly majesty will be no terror to them; but will only serve the more to heighten their pleasure and surprise. . . .

The souls of departed saints with Christ in heaven, shall have Christ as it were unbosomed unto them, manifesting those infinite riches of love towards them, that have been there from eternity. . . . They shall eat and drink abundantly, and swim in the ocean of love, and be eternally swallowed up in the infinitely bright, and infinitely mild and sweet beams of divine love.
--Jonathan Edwards, 'True Saints Are Present with the Lord,' in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 25: Sermons and Discourses, 1743-1758 (Yale University Press, 2006), 233

2 comments:

  1. I had to look "unbosom" up in the dictionary. It appears that "bosom" can mean "to hide" so "unbosom" would roughly mean "to reveal." That seems the definition that best fits the context.

    Is that how you understood it?

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  2. Hi Dave.

    Yes, though "bosom" and "unbosom" have a deep, gut-level affective dimension to them beyond simply hiding/revealing.

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