Heaven on earth

And, no, it's not a holiday at Haven

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about the impact that our view of God’s character can have on the rest of what we believe, for good or for bad. That prompted me to do a series of posts looking at Stephen Charnock’s reflections on the goodness of God. This newsletter is the second in that series. If you are enjoying these emails, and know someone else who might do too, please share it with them.

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If you joined us for our first installment, you’ll remember how important Stephen Charnock thought God’s goodness was. Not only did he consider goodness as the most pleasant of all of God’s attributes, he also understood it as the attribute by which we see others. At the end of his opening section, Charnock described the goodness of God in these words:

This is the complement and perfection of all his works; had it not been for this, which set all the rest on work, nothing of his wonders [would have] been seen in creation, nothing of his compassions [would have] been seen in redemption.

Charnock built on this observation throughout the rest of his discourse. Over the next 90 pages, he outlined how God’s goodness is manifested in creation, redemption, and providence, and in this week’s newsletter we shall take a look at the first one of these.

The reason for the seasons

At the start of his discussion of creation, Charnock came out swinging by saying that the motive for God’s creating was his goodness. It may sound like a bold claim but important for Charnock was Scripture’s repeated description in Genesis 1 of God’s creation being ‘good’. He wrote that God’s goodness was

the cause that he made anything, and his wisdom was the cause that he made everything in order and harmony. He pronounced everything good, that is, such as became his goodness to bring forth into being, and rested in them more as they were stamps of his goodness than as they were marks of his power or beams of his wisdom.

Charnock goes on to explain that the reason God created light and darkness, heavens and earth, fish, birds and others animals was not because he wanted them to merely exists. No, he made them because he wanted them to exist as good. And so on the seventh day God did not rest from his creating merely because he had brought creation into existence but because it was ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). As Charnock put it,

Nothing was more pleasing to him, than to behold those shadows and copies of his own goodness in his works.

Mud, wasps, and Brussels sprouts

Charnock understood that there is not one thing in all of creation that does not reflect God’s goodness. With characteristic style, he wrote that

The whole world is a map to represent, and a herald to proclaim, this perfection. . . [N]ot a drop of the creation, but is a drop of his goodness.

I suspect that most of us would agree with Charnock that God’s goodness can be seen in creation. We might recall watching a beautiful sunset, downing a refreshing drink, or tucking into a tasty meal. It’s difficult to deny the goodness of these things.

But is all of it good? I mean with mud, wasps, and Brussels sprouts all thrown in? Well, Charnock thought that it was. He saw God’s creation like a book telling a story of God’s goodness. Every creature is a page whose words have gone to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:4).

Charnock believed that God’s goodness is reflected in every creature. Even these.

Charnock did acknowledge, however, that not every creature shares an equal amount of goodness. And moreover the lesser degree of goodness that is in some can be obscured by the greater goodness God has given to others. Charnock exclaimed,

What an admirable piece of goodness is it to communicate life to a fly! How should we stand gazing upon it, till we turn our eye inward and view our own frame, which is much more ravishing!

Everything that God has made reflects his goodness in one way or another. But the greatest example is to be found in humanity. It is to be found in us.

Ruins of a palace, image of a prince

This observation set up the rest of Charnock’s discussion on God’s goodness in creation, in which he focused on the goodness of God in the formation of humanity. The 17th century pastor and theologian proceeded to describe in great detail the ways in which we see God’s goodness in his creating us, as well as the world he provided for us, the laws he gave to us, and the relationship he sought to have with us.

You may be relieved to know that we won’t be looking at all of what Charnock discussed in those papers. However, there was one paragraph that struck me as particularly powerful.

After describing the intricacies of the human body, Charnock moved on to depict the goodness which shines in the nature of the human soul. ‘Who can express the wonder of that comeliness that is wrapped up in this mask of clay?’, asked Charnock. Even now, after the devastation of our rebellion against God in the fall, Charnock insisted that it could still be seen. He went on,

In the ruins of a palace, we may see the curiosity displayed and the cost expended in the building of it. In the ruins of this fallen structure, we still find it capable of a mighty knowledge, a reason able to regulate affairs, govern states, order more mighty and bulky creatures, find out witty inventions. . . To the other creatures of this world, God had given out some small mites from his treasury. But in the perfections of man, he has opened the more secret parts of his exchequer and liberally bestowed those portions that he has not expended upon the other creatures on earth.

And this was not to mention anything of that most remarkable aspect of God’s creation of humanity: man being made in God’s image. About that Charnock wrote that

as a coin bears the image of the prince, so did the soul of man the image of God. . . God made man not in the image of angels, to be conformed to them as his prototype, but in the image of the blessed God, to be conformed to the divine nature.

In order for us to enjoy a relationship of the greatest happiness with God, it was not enough that he created us like his other creatures. Rather, it was necessary that God imprint upon us something of his own nature. Or, as Charnock put it, it was imperative that man

was possessed with such a nature by the hand of divine goodness, such a loftiness of understanding, and purity of faculties, that he might have been forever happy as well as the standing angels.

Heaven on earth

It’s at this point that we come to the paragraph that I alluded to earlier. For after describing the glorious complexity of our bodies and the illustrious mystery of our souls, Charnock draws our attention to the goodness that can be glimpsed in how they exist together. And, as he does, Charnock makes a remarkable point: that in the uniting of the human body and soul we find the connection of heaven and earth. He wrote,

As to the life of man in this world, God by an immense goodness copied out in him the whole creation and made him an abridgment of the higher and lower world—a little world in a greater one. The link of the two worlds, of heaven and earth, as the spiritual and corporeal natures are united in him, the earth in the dust of his body and the heavens in the crystal of his soul.

Do you see what Charnock is saying? Our bodies - with eyes that can read, ears that can listen, mouths that can talk, and feet that can walk - are the pinnacle of God’s physical world. And our souls - with a mind to contemplate our creator, an awareness to self-reflect, a judgment to determine right and wrong, and a conscience to detect vice and virtue -, well, they are imprints of the spiritual. As Charnock put it, man’s ‘soul is heaven, and his body is earth.’

Holiday heaven

One of the more unusual memories that I have from my childhood is of the adverts that would regularly appear on the T.V. at this time of year for Haven Holidays. Set to the tune of Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 hit, the narrator would promise that a week at one of their resorts was worth shelling out for because ‘heaven is a place on earth’.

Whilst I am fairly certain that Charnock never had the opportunity of experiencing the glitz and glamour of a holiday park, I am also pretty sure that he would have questioned the theological claim of their marketing department. Because, for Charnock, the place that heaven is found on earth is not in any particular holiday resort, but in the body and soul of every man, woman, and child.

Yet, here is the irony. It’s often on holiday that we can forget this fact. I realise that not everyone has the opportunity to go away this summer, nor at any other time. But the experience of those who do is that it is whilst on holiday that we can be most tempted to neglect our bodies and souls. Whether it’s through over eating, over drinking, or something else, we fail to honour the goodness of our body, never mind the goodness of the one who gave it to us.

And likewise, when it comes to our souls, holidays can often be a time spiritual drought rather than refreshment. In the busyness of every day life we can find ourselves wishing for more time in the day so that we can spend more time with God in Bible reading and prayer. But when the hustle and bustle of our regular routine gives way to the emptier days of holiday, we can find it even harder to dedicate the time for the care of our own souls.

Don’t get me wrong. Holidays can provide a good opportunity for some much-needed rest. They can provide a good opportunity for some much-needed celebration. I’ve just come back from one. It’s just that, if you’re anything like me, what I end up giving myself on holiday isn’t always particularly restful either for my body or my soul. In short, I forget that the closest thing to heaven on earth isn’t a holiday but the souls of you and me.