1 Corinthians 2:9: No Eye Has Seen

"But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.'" 1 Corinthians 2:9

What has God prepared for those who love him? A fancy house with a Ferrari in the garage? A lifelong free Netflix prescription? How about an eternity's supply of your favorite desserts? Absolutely not. What God has prepared for those who love him is much, much greater than this. In fact, it is greater than we could even imagine.

In the context of this verse, Paul is talking about spiritual wisdom. Though the unsaved man cannot understand the things of God because he has not the Spirit of God, the Christian can understand the things of God by the Spirit of God. And what we can understand, Paul says, is this: that God has something prepared for us that is greater than what any eye has seen, what any ear has heard, or what heart has ever imagined. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty great.

When we think of heaven and our eternal state, I believe that we often have the wrong picture. Though it is true that there will be streets of gold (Rev. 21:21) and a bunch of other great and glorious things (the rest of Rev. 21), the fact of the matter is this: the greatest thing about heaven will be God. Read these verses for Revelation 21:3:

“Behold, the dwelling place [lit. "temple"] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God."

What we find in the "New Jerusalem" (which is heaven) is that God is the center of everything. And God is fully among his people, and his people are fully satisfied--not in nice houses, nice cars, or nice livelihoods, but--in Christ alone. Thus, what I would love to argue today is this, that though the "New Jerusalem" will be filled with golden streets, crystal walls, tearless nights, and everlasting praises, the main joy found in heaven will be this: presence with Christ. The primary thing in which God has prepared for us in heaven--a joy in which no eye has seen nor ear has yet heard--is an eternity in the presence of our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A pastor* once said something that I fully agree with: Those who would be satisfied in heaven if Christ were not there, won't be there. In other words, if your ultimate longing and satisfaction is not Christ and Christ alone, then the future heaven will not be the place where you will dwell. You see, my friends, heaven is not primarily about the absence of pain and suffering, but rather the presence of Christ. Yet, the two go certainly go together. Yet, if we merely desire the absence of pain and not the presence of Christ, we have not understood correctly the great things which God has prepared for those who love him.

So, let me encourage you this morning to be satisfied in Christ, to be satisfied in his future plan for you in heaven, which consists of eternal fellowship with him. What he has prepared for us is greater than any eye has seen, ear has heard, or heart could fully imagine. Why? Because what God has prepared for us consists of eternity with the one whom our soul ought to long for. Such eternal bliss our mortal minds cannot imagine.

*I believe it was John Piper, but I could not find the quote attributed to him online. I remember reading it in a book once, and it has forever stuck with me.