James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 
	We are at the central aspects of heaven; the Lamb is its lamp. To consider heaven apart from Jesus Christ is absolutely ludicrous. Jesus Christ and heaven are almost synonymous. It is only through His death and resurrection that we can go to heaven. It is only through His divine, present ministry that we are prepared and enabled to live in heaven. Jesus Christ will be clearly seen in heaven in all His glory and splendor because He is the heart of all heaven’s blessings. 
As we read in this morning’s passage, there is a distinct difference between that which is of this world and that which is from heaven. In the life, we are learning how we ought to live before God, and that is the crux of this morning’s consideration of heaven. Christ is now showing us the nature of God and He will continue to do so in heaven, where we will be able to see God clearly focused in Jesus Christ. What is begun on this earth, with regard to our seeing the Father, will be completed as Jesus fully reveals Him to our unveiled vision in heaven. 
	This promise of Jesus is recorded in Matt 5:8. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. We are seeing Him to a limited extent in this life. This is witnessed as the purity of Christ is daily worked out in our beings. But we are faced with the limitations of our human eye sight and senses and the fact that, as Christ points out "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24. 
How then do we see God? Quote, Thomas Boston speaks of it as a mental ‘seeing’: ‘Not with their bodily eyes, in respect of which, God is invisible (1 Tim.1:17), but with the eyes of their understanding; being blessed with the most perfect, full and clear knowledge of God, and of divine things, which the creature is capable of. This is called the beatific vision, and is the perfection of understanding.’ At the heart of the vision will be God the Father, because ‘the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28). End quote.
	While this will undoubtedly be our experience in heaven, it is too much and too marvelous and too glorious for our finite minds at this time. We do not have the current faculties and abilities to comprehend the reality of this glorified vision of God. John Owens addresses this aspect as he states, quote, ‘Scripture gives us another notion of heaven and glory’. Heaven is where faith is turned into sight. ‘What then is the principal and present object of faith…? The infinite, incomprehensible excellencies of the divine nature are not proposed in Scripture as the immediate object of our faith.’ Rather, the immediate object of our faith here is the manifestation of those excellencies in Christ. And that faith will be turned into sight. In other words, the object of our faith here will be the object of our sight hereafter. ‘The glory of heaven…is the full, open, perfect manifestation of the glory of the wisdom, goodness and love of God in Christ.’ So as Christ is the principle revealer of God in heaven, we shall see God supremely in Him. End quote.
	Jesus talked about this faith being our eyesight into the depth and the nature and the power and the glory of God. It is through faith, exercised at this time, that we are enabled to see beyond the physical realm and see the working hand of God. As He told us in Matt 17:20…for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Many look at this in terms of physical mountains, and I would not limit God in stating that the movement of a physical mountain is not impossible to Him. He can do anything and everything that He deems fit to do. 
	But we often see this faith exercised in the movement of the mountains of man’s hearts and beings. So often, in counseling, I hear the statement that this or that person is so set in his or her way that nothing will ever change them. They are so rock hard in their ways and that is the way it is, period! Nothing will ever cause them to be different, to change from their pattern of thinking and behavior. Yet, when faith is applied in that heart through prayer and trust in the sovereign hand of God, there is movement. Many times it is a complete crumbling of the hardness of heart into the softness of love and compassion. It is faith that sees God working, ruling and overruling, in these lives. That is how we get a glimpse of Him in operation. We can even say that we see Him moving that mountain before our very eyes, as we trust Him and have faith in Him. This is a vital aspect of our vision of God on this earth.
	Matt 21:21+22 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." 
In line with this faith that sees the hand of God in operation, is the heart within us. We can ask Jesus to reveal the Father to us even now. But, I caution that we must be prepared for all that that entails. Our eyes need to be removed from their consideration of our wants and our desires to that which pleases Him, Alone. This passage is so often twisted and quoted with regard to us receiving all that we want. The reality of it is that we are brought into that place where all that we want is simply that which brings glory to God. In that earnest request, we can be blessed with seeing God. But, be aware of the fact that it is most often at the cost of truly seeing ourselves, in our foul human nature in opposition to His beauty and His perfection and His holiness. 
	Witness how the Lord prayed for Simon Peter. Luke 22:31+32 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Christ called to Peter’s mind the fact that his heart would be tried, would be severely sifted. Jesus did not ask for that sifting to be halted He prayed, rather, that Peter’s faith would turn him back again after the sifting, and that Peter would be strong for his brethren. Peter would undergo an extremely painful and agonizing sifting, but in the process, he would see the very face of God in Jesus. It would be such a sifting of faith that the entire basis of his belief in Christ would be utterly changed. He would see the glory of God in such power and his desperate vision of God’s grace so manifest, that he would be strong in the Lord for those whom he would guide into the truth of Jesus Christ. It was through the trial and the denial and the sifting that his faith would show forth the very glory of God.
	Listen to Peter, after this sifting, as we read of his faithful witness of Christ in Acts 3:16. Peter stood before the leaders of Jerusalem and the people and publicly and forcefully proclaimed the glory of God. He declared the power of Jesus Christ that was clearly evident in the healing of the lame man, for those who had eyes to see it. "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. 
God was seen in physically healing the lame man in the name of Jesus Christ. This was an earthly vision of the power and the might and the majesty of the Most Holy God of all heaven and earth. Peter brought that vision into focus by his testimony of the faith of Jesus Christ. These are the eyes that will see all that faith shows forth of God in His Son. Yes, it is, limited in measure here, but it will be vast in all the eternity of heaven.
	Consider the witness of the Apostle Paul before the throne of King Agrippa. He did not hesitate to proclaim the vision that his eyes beheld on the road to Damascus. Acts 26:15-18 "And I said, 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 'But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' 
	The Apostle Paul has very much to say about the manner in which faith in Jesus Christ reveals the very fullness of the Godhead into our lives. This takes place as we have those spiritual faculties made alive by the Holy Spirit. Rom 1:16+17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." 
Our very life on this earth is changed from seeing everything in terms of physical needs and necessities. We are being translated into our complete source of life. Where once we viewed life from the vantage point of what we needed to survive, we now see that God will make every provision for that which we need. He will do so by that which He deems fit to bring blessing and trust and reliance upon Him into our lives.
Do you not think that this is a life in which we are enabled to see the very Hand of God meeting our every need? The focal point must be removed from what we want and what we think we need and set upon that which He so abundantly and fully supplies in Christ Jesus. This is the manner in which we are enabled to see Him all the more clearly in the heavenly realm. It is as we learn to see Him in this day to day life that He has given us.
	Rom 5:1-5 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. The Apostle Paul proclaims the fact that we see God’s glory as the faith of Jesus Christ brings us into the peace of God. It is through the trials, the testing, the hard times, and the tribulation that we see the very character of God developed in our lives. It is not our own, it is Him and Him Alone. It is only as we look to Him to get us through each day of these lives, that we sense the full peace of God indwelling our beings. 
This is a special and privileged relationship that we have with the God of all creation. It is all part of our coming into an intimate and vital view of our heavenly Father. And it is only through Jesus Christ! What we experience today is translated into our eternal relationship with God through our union with and in Christ.
	Rom 10:6-13 But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down), or' Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" —  that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for "Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." 
	This living faith in Christ is set in His being the very Word of God. Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. As He speaks His word into our hearts and into our beings, our faculties and abilities become trained to ascertain what is of God and what is not of God. This intense service and ministry of Christ will not cease when we are in heaven. On the contrary, we will be ever more enabled to clearly and fully understand what we so dimly struggle to recognize this day. The very mind of Christ will be ours and we will see the Father in a manner hitherto unknown to us.
	 As we are encouraged in 2 Cor 5:6-9, Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. We walk by faith and not by sight. That is the manner of this life today. 
But, in heaven, in the glory of Jesus Christ, our faith will be our sight, even as it is now, more and more, becoming the direction of our earthly walk. We desire to step forward in faith on this planet. We desire to make faith the source of our decisions and our dealings with one another and with God. We attempt, in our humanity, to give counsel and guidance through the principles that we are taught and are learning in our moment by moment walk on this earth. Gal 2:20 becomes our anthem and our standard of operation. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. 
	However, in heaven, there will be no attempts at living up to this standard. It will be our every avenue of life for we will see Jesus clearly and fully. We will not be struggling with our accursed human nature, but will be living in the perfect harmony of the life of Jesus Christ. We will see completely and unmistakably, as was the prayer of the Apostle Paul for each one of us in Eph 3:11-21. Our eyes will behold God and will know Him through the grace and the wisdom and the revelation of Him in Christ, our head and source of life. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 
	But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. So be it!

This morning’s benediction reading is Deut 4:35-40 "To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him. Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time." Amen.