Lesson 15: Purchases Pleasure Through Hope
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place 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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son’” Revelation 21:1-7.

Man's capacity for pleasure finds its full satisfaction when his life is surrendered to the Will of God. There is first the immediate delight of obedience. The response to love is in itself the essence of delight. This is illustrated from all that we know of love in the human relation, but its highest realization is to be found in this realm of submission to the government of God. Infinite meaning lies within the words of Christ, "I delight to do Your will, O my God."


Not only is there this joy of love's response to love, there is also the hope of completion and union: for if the present will of love is delightful, the perfect result of love will be the perfection of delight. Consequently, through all the mystery that often surrounds the obedience of today, there shines the glow of the perfect union which alone can satisfy the Eternal Love.

The heaven towards which we look is, as to our own condition, realized capacity and realized functions of being. The powers which are today suggestions or prophecies will then be possessions; and these all, moving within the realm of God’s intention, will create the highest delight of which the spirit of man is capable. It is in this sense that the old word of the Psalmist is true: "In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11).

Not, however, to the future alone do we look for this answer to the second demand of our nature. Here and now, to abide in the Will of God is to find the secret of happiness in all life. Submission to the King involves the finding of the mystic key that opens every avenue of pure delight, for in His Will the powers which He in love created are no longer prostituted to ignoble purposes, but serve the purpose of that love creation.

Question: How do you see pleasure in your life after you surrender to God’s will?