What No Eye Has Seen

What No Eye Has Seen

C.S. Lewis wrote about the 'weight of glory' — the undreamed-of glory awaiting those who are children of God. He described the longing for heaven not as escapism but as the most natural desire in the universe: the desire for the home we were made for, the beauty we were made to inhabit, the relationship we were made to enjoy. '1 Corinthians 2:9,' he wrote, 'is a negative definition: no eye, no ear, no mind. Whatever is coming is beyond every category of our current experience. The best day you've ever had on earth is a thumbnail sketch of one corner of what is coming.'

1 Corinthians 2:9 is a quote from Isaiah 64:4 applied by Paul to the wisdom of God — specifically to the gospel itself, but extending by implication to all of what God has prepared. The triple negation (no eye, no ear, no mind) is the Bible's way of saying: your imagination is not adequate for this. The most creative human mind, given the most favorable circumstances for imagining heaven, will fall short of the reality. This is not discouraging; it is encouraging. The best you can conceive is less than what is coming. The worst day of your earthly life is finite and temporary. What is prepared is unlimited and permanent.