Beatific Vision...what is that?!

The following is an attempt to capture the essence of the beatific vision with a much fuller, more technical discussion by Kyle Strobel on the link at the end. 

The beatific vision (first God's own, than ours) creates eternal and infinite delight (happiness) because that which is most beautiful and delightful (God) is beheld, engaged and communed with (participated in).

We experience this vision now by faith (through a glass darkly...from a distance). The greater our faith the more we experience it. But in eternity we will experience it directly (face-to-face). As God reveals more of himself now, our capacity to experience him in eternity also increases. 

The essence of the life of God is the giving and receiving of infinite glory/honor/love/ delight in and among the persons of the Godhead (Trinity). It is this foundational, primary, eternal, and infinite community of Glory/Beauty/Delight we too are designed for and called (offered) to participate in.

Our sharing and participation in this blissful vision and experience is our greatest joy/happiness. This, in turn, moves us to share this/him with others. As we do, our delight in him is further magnified and intensified.

As God's image-bearers, our joy is God's greatest joy (outside of the joy he has always known and knows within himself as Father, Son, and Spirit).

It is ours only because it is first his.

Our taking part in and sharing (passing along..." paying it forward" if you will) his glory to others throughout the world not only brings God honor/glory but also gives him great joy, as well as us.

God delights in our delight in him and our sharing that delight with others. This is what he does (i.e. he delights in himself and the sharing of this delight. He is our delight). Partaking and delighting in Him is what we are also designed for. In this primary way (among other ways) we are just like him (in his image). 

He does not wish to keep his glory to himself but desires it be multiplied throughout the earth, thereby increasing that glory - not by him becoming more glorious within himself - He is already infinitely glorious i.e. His glory cannot be taken away or added to - but in his glory being experienced by more people i.e. more broadly disseminated and in this sense multiplying his glory i.e. the experience of it among a greater number.

This is why he sends us and why we go.

All things are from him through him and to him. To him be the glory forever! Amen! (Rom 11:36) He is the Alpha and Omega; The Beginning and End (Rev_22:13).

Joh 16:14  He will glorify me -- display my infinite worth/beauty --, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine -- i.e. all that the Father has -- and declare it to you. 

Joh_17:5  And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory -- majesty, beauty, infinite delight/joy -- that I had with you before the world existed.

Joh 17:13  But now I (Jesus) am coming to you (Father), and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy (delight) fulfilled in themselves

Joh_17:22  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

Joh_17:24  Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (i.e. from all eternity past before anything was created there has been this dynamic, overflowing giving and receiving glory between the Father and Son in and by the Spirit. Christ came so we could participate in this in the same way they do).

A much fuller and more technical discussion of the beatific vision by Dr. Kyle Strobel is available here.

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Other posts related to beatific vision 

The importance and necessity of the Trinity 

The essence of God's life 

 
Thoughts on the Trinity 

Overview of Jonathan Edwards theology.

Why do the Father and Son love each other? 

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The following is a reproduction of Strobel's article with highlights and notes added by me. (endnotes are not included. For endnotes click here for the full article. 

The essence of God's life (and therefore ours)

The below thoughts are inspired by Kyle Strobel's comments from an interview with Tony Reinke as Kyle reflects on insights from Jonathan Edwards. Direct quotes by Kyle Strobel are in "quotes" and italicized.

To listen to the full interview click here  

Beatific 

God's self-knowledge (Logos) is beatific. It is not a sterile, unattached, impersonal knowing of facts or simple information about Himself, it is personal and relational knowledge. It is a knowing that causes the one who knows to desire/long for - i.e. have affection for - the One beheld/known. 

This is because of the beauty of God. That which is infinitely beautiful can not be looked upon without stirring infinite affections. In short, God's life comprises beatific vision i.e. beholding and enjoying that which is infinitely beautiful i.e. Himself.

How?

Christ is God the Father's perfect self-knowledge/understanding. An understanding so exact and complete it manifests/generates — eternally begets — a distinct and separate person, with his own self-understanding and will (which is perfectly aligned with the Fathers), as the only (eternally) begotten Son. 

The Father delights in the beauty of the Son, who is the Father's exact and perfect self-understanding (Logos), and image of himself. 

and  

The Son delights in the Father and enjoys the Father's delight in Him. 

The Spirit

God's life (Spirit/Love/affectionate delight) springs forth out of this beatific vision between the Father and Son i.e. the beholding of the infinite beauty of the Son, the perfect self-understanding/ Logos of the Father, and the Son's response of mutual delight in and love (Spirit) for his Father. 

This love also flows (overflows) out (as the Spirit) to his creatures/creation, particularly his image-bearers (us) - who are most able to take part in and enjoy this mutual delight in the beauty of God. 

The Father generates — eternally and continuesly begets i.e. without beginning or end — the only begotten Son. The Son and Father gazing upon one another in love, generates (eternally) and continuously the Spirit as love.

Perfect, continuous, infinite knowledge and partaking of the beauty of God produces perfect and infinite love/affections as (in the form of) the Spirit.

God's life is religious affection (generated from within between the Father and the Son) and pure act (flowing out to others via the Spirit).

The Son is the perfect (exact) image of God, and the Spirit illuminates (reveals, displays, glorifys) that image.

God's life comprises (is) 

Perfect, continuous, infinite knowledge/truth (understanding/Logos) manifested as the Son.

and  

Perfect, continuous, infinite 

love/affection 

(will/spirit) 
manifested as the Spirit.

We are like God

All perfect knowledge of God is affectionate knowledge, i.e. A kind of knowledge that always produces affections, joy, desires, and longings. It is true of God and therefore, as bearers of his image (i.e. those like God) must also be true of us.

"The knowledge he has in his own life governs how we know him as well."

"Religious affection is seeing God in his true beauty and thereby knowing God and having your affections inclined towards him."

"The only way for us to know God is through God's self-revealing."

I would add this is only by the Spirit revealing to us the true nature of the Son as the eternal Logos of God.

"You can't have true knowledge of God without having your heart inclined towards him because all knowledge of God is affectionate."

"Because this is true in God's life, it has to be true in our life."

We are partakers of God's very own nature

"The sight of the Father Christ has by nature, we are given by grace."

2Pe 1:3-4  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of ¹sinful desire. 

...His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness... 

How? ...through the knowledge of him. i.e. God has given us (it is by grace) everything we need to take part in and experience life and godliness.

...he has granted to us his precious and very great promises... 

How? By his own glory and excellence, i.e. By his infinite worth and perfect action/conduct

Why? So that through them (by faith in those promises) you may become partakers of the divine nature.

Beholding God by faith is a darkened (dim...because it is not direct but indirect [i.e. it is by faith not sight] and therefore not perfectly clear) version of the beatific vision. I Cor 13:12, I John 3:2


Beholding God now and in the future

We behold God now by faith (i.e. not directly or face to face) and will behold him in eternity by sight. The common denominator is beholding him i.e. being caught up and participating in the beatific vision (the eternal delight of the Father gazing upon his Son and his Sons response of joy/delight). 

In both cases (now by faith and in eternity by sight) this beholding is progressive. As we see God now by faith we are changed as our faith increases. 

As we see God in eternity by direct sight we will also be changed as our understanding/ view/experience of him in all his glory, majesty and beauty grow fuller/clearer. 

It grows not because we don't have direct sight but because God is infinite and seeing all that he is will never come to an end but is always increasing/expanding i.e. we will never reach the end of our partaking of God's beauty, majesty, wonder and glory, for there is no end to God. We will continually experience the height, width, length and depth of God but never reach their end.

The process of our progress in eternity has nothing to do with sinfulness, for Christ himself increased in faithfulness (learned obedience through the things he suffered). His learning had nothing to do with being sinful but with being incarnated as a finite man i.e. as a perfect yet finite man, his relationship with (faith toward) his Father was tested and thereby progressed/grew. Sin - i.e. unbelief - wasn't the reason for change, his being finite - during his incarnation - was. He was always obedient (i.e. without sin) but he went from untested to tested faith-obedience. 

As finite creatures, we too will constantly be growing in our relationship and understanding (and joy) of the infinite i.e. God. The reason is that there is no end to the infinite i.e. God. Therefore we will never reach the "end", "width", "bottom", or "top" of God.

God has created us like himself with the capacity to take part in the Infinite. Our beholding him will increase by virtue of him being infinite and our being finite i.e. We will always be expanding since we will never arrive i.e. we will never be infinite in our knowing and seeing since only God is infinite (though we are eternal i.e. have no end and therefore will increase in our experience of God - and delight in Him - throughout eternity).

Yet at the same time, there will never be a moment we do not feel fully and infinitely loved. So much so that songs of praise will forever be on our lips and in our hearts. What changes throughout eternity is our capacity to receive that love...it is always increasing since there is no end to God and His beauty-glory.

Beauty

Primary beauty is God's life of love i.e. The life of love that transpires between the Father and Son in, by and through the Spirit. 

All knowledge of God is first visual, it is beholding his beauty. Not a physical but a spiritual beauty and beholding. 

Why is it when we see something beautiful it "takes our breath away?" Because beholding God (the most beautiful/glorious) is an affectionate knowledge. 

Beauty and beholding begins with God. All beholdings of beauty (i.e. any other beauty) is an extension and faint reflection of this ultimate beholding of our most beautiful God. 

We are drawn to (we move toward) and have affection for that which is beautiful. Why? Because we were ultimately made for God who is infinite and primary beauty and the cause of everything else which is beautiful. 

Everything else is secondary beauty and a glimmer or manifestation of God, who is the Creator of all things (i.e. all secondary beauty). All beauty other than God's is meant to point us to Him who is primary beauty. 

Spiritual vs physical beauty

Since God is not physical the beauty of God is also not physical but relational (he took on human form in Christ but he is not "human form." It is not the essence of his being (i.e. human form is not part of his essential nature). The beauty of God is not something we physically behold but something we see displayed in relationship. 

Harmony is a quality of relationship that characterizes the beauty within God.

What is relational beauty? It is harmony within ²diversity -- e.g. Christ is equally God and man. God reveals himself to us most fully as a #man. The diversity of the finite and infinite unite (harmonize) in one being, the God/Man Jesus. It is when things which are very different from each other work in harmony -- united and driven by and due to love. Such as the love/harmony between man and women, who are wired differently emotionally and physically. It is also how God exists/relates to himself as the triune God; Father, Son, and Spirit, as well as to us his image-bearers. 

#God does so because we are human and he values "humanness" i.e. humanity. When he finished creating he proclaimed over his physical creation as "very good." 

Things you would normally consider not working together, work because of love. This is the essence of beauty and what makes something beautiful.   

Physical beauty is secondary beauty. Relational beauty is primary beauty. 

Primary beauty is God's own life as a being of relationship in, by and through the Father, Son and Spirit. 

God is beautiful because God is love and life. All of this makes God glorious. 

The way problems are solved is by God's presence. Since God is life and all problems are a manifestation of the absence of life, God's presence is the solution. And this is because the essence of life is love/value/glory. Because we were made for love/value/glory we are most complete when we take part in these i.e. When we take part in God himself and his life...when he is most present with us and we with him.  

A thorough discussion of the ideas that inspired the above comments is discussed extensively in Kyle Strobel's book "Jonathan Edward's Theology: A Reinterpretation"

For related thoughts to the above, starting with the basics and progressing to the more technical...

Click on

Trinity-its importance and necessity. 

Some thoughts on the trinity and 

here.

For a thorough discussion by Kyle Strobel of the beatific vision click here. 

For a more concise  discussion on the love, life, Spirit and essence of God click here

________________________________________Footnotes:

¹How are we freed from sinful desire? By finding a superior desire that is more satisfying than the one we seek to be freed from. If you wish to lose your appetite for cold, stale fast food (which is better then nothing if you are starving and nothing else is available), eat freshly prepared organic gourmet cooking...or better yet, find a gourmet cook that delights in preparing tasty, health sustaining meals you personally prefer. 

²Though God is one, in essence, he is distinct in persons. Each person (Father, Son, and Spirit) having their own self-understanding and will. Edwards roots this definition of person in the Father who characterizes the Son as the perfect self-understanding of God and the Spirit as the perfect willing/affections/choosing

/passion of God.

Though much of what Edwards says is not directly stated in scripture it is implied and woven throughout the Bible. I encourage you to look for these things in your study of scripture. As you do they may start to jump off the pages. John 17 is a good place to start.

This link touches on this more.

Why do the the Father and Son love each other?

What is it exactly that the Father loves about the Son and the Son about the Father?

The Father is the initiator, the first cause of all things, which makes Him the most valuable and worthy of highest regard, adoration, and praise over all beings. Nothing comes close to the infinite worth of God. All life depends on and comes from Him, all love, all beauty, all power, all knowledge - everything good and right is from God.

The Son is the means by which the Father reveals himself and acts out these qualities toward His creation – creation being everything that ¹comes from God that is not God. Without Christ, we would not know or see God as He truly is. To see Christ is the see the Father. And if we wish to see God we must see Christ. Christ “… is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation (copy or engraving) of his being...” (Heb 1:3a). The Father delights in being known so others might find life and joy in Him and therefore He delights in ²Christ making Him known.

Because the Son willingly and delightfully agreed(s) to be the means by which the Father reveals Himself -- in and through His incarnation, death, and resurrection -- the Father has utmost regard, adoration, delight, and praise for the Son. Because the Father initiates all of this, the Son has the utmost regard, adoration, delight, and praise for the Father.

And where does the Spirit fit into this triumvirate (threefold) relational dynamic? The Spirit is God or to say it as the bible does, God is Spirit. The life, love, Spirit of God is the essence of God as the ultimate relational being. The Spirit ties, units, and holds (or binds if you will) the triune community together. The love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father occurs in, by, and through the Spirit. 

The Spirit is the infinite manifestation of ³love and delight of this relationship between the Father and Son as well as the means by which this love and delight occurs, is revealed, overflows, and is poured out on others. Without the Spirit, there would be no God or love between the Father and Son. Without love and delight between the Father and Son, there is no Spirit, no God. 

For an extended discussion on the Spirit, click here. 

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Footnotes:

¹Christ also comes forth from God as the *only begotten of the Father. But this is not something that occurs at a point in time. The Son has always been - i.e. He is eternally begotten (He eternally issues forth) - and will always be the only eternally begotten of the Father - i.e. the Son is God and the only eternally begotten being who is.

Though He is not created, he is begotten i.e. as the creation issues forth from God, so does Christ but without a beginning. Christ has always (eternally) issued forth from the Father. 

The creation issues forth from the Father also but at a point in time. The creation also issues forth through the Son. Without the Son, there would be no creation. Neither would there be a direct and personal revelation of God.

*“only begotten” indicates his begetting is unique to all other beings or things that come from (are begotten by) the Father. That uniqueness of the Son’s begetting is that it is an eternal begetting, making the Son equal to the Father, not equal to creation, and distinct from creation as well. Christ is the means by which creation came to be.

Christ is begotten and eternal at the same time. This is significant since begetting implies a beginning. There is no beginning with Christ. He is eternal and has always been. 

This is why he is the only begotten Son. He is one of a kind. He is the God/man and the connection between God and man. He holds the Father's hand in one hand and our hand in the other, if you will. God and man unite by Him, through Him, and in Him. For these reasons also, the Father loves and delights in His Son. 

For a more extended discussion on "only begotten" click here. 

²The Father also delights in you and I showing forth and making Him known to others. We too are image-bearers of the Father but created, not eternal as the Son is (though we are everlasting). So we are like the Son - but without all the "Omni's" - omnipresent, omniscient etc... at least in our current state (we don't know what we shall be but when we see him we will be like him - which is why Christ is called our elder brother and the first fruits of all creation). 

Since we are now righteous in Christ and to the same degree as Christ - i.e. perfectly righteous - he views and addresses us only as sons and daughters of God, wholly cherished, only loved, never rejected or forsaken.

³We could also characterize this love and delight as passionate. It is so intense it issues forth as a distinct being who is the Spirit. 

Passion originally referred to the intense emotions that occur in suffering, hence the “passion of Christ.” I am using passion in a positive sense. But the intense and passionate love the Son has for the Father and the Father for the Son and the love they both have for us, His image-bearers, compelled Christ to take on the suffering He endured to restore us back to the Father. 

This delight/love/passion occurs as the Father and Son behold the beauty of the other. This has been referred to by past theologians (Jonathan Edwards particularly) as the “beatific vision.” This is the delight the Father and Son have in and for each other as they behold the beauty of the other. It is also the delight God calls us to participate in once we are restored to the Father in and through Christ. For a further discussion on beatific vision click here.

Other posts related to the beatific vision 

The importance and necessity of the Trinity 

The essence of God's life 

Thoughts on the Trinity 

Overview of Jonathan Edwards theology.