Is it wrong for Christians to hope for pleasure in the afterlife?
Psalm 36:8
It’s incredible how saturated with pleasure-seeking many of the psalms are! David is noteworthy for his declarations of the pleasure inherent in being with God. In Psalm 16:11, he wrote “…You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” In his books Desiring God and The Pleasures of God, John Piper talks about this pleasure-seeking strain in the Bible and in the human heart, saying that God is actually most glorified when people find their greatest pleasure in him, not when they deny any desire for pleasure. Here, Psalm 36, David discusses the abundance of God’s household. To sit at the feast with God is to be completely sated with blessing upon blessing. To live with God is to “drink from your river of delights” (verse 8).
“…for Christians, abundance in heaven is first and foremost an enjoyment of God himself, as he fully reveals himself to them.”
Of course, it’s not Christianity alone that promises such pleasure and delight in the next world. Some Native Americans spoke rhapsodically of a “happy hunting ground” where the Great Spirit made sure there was an abundance of bison and deer for the warriors to hunt. Muslims look forward to a paradise where there will be wine, women, and song for days without end. Hinduism, Buddhism, and other religions all look forward to some kind of bliss after death. But the significant difference is that for Christians, abundance in heaven is first and foremost an enjoyment of God himself, as he fully reveals himself to them. David prefaced his statements about the abundance of God’s house with these words: “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep… how priceless is your unfailing love” (Psalm 36:5-6)! It is clear that David felt the true abundance in the house of God was the Master of the House himself! God is, in himself, an abundant being, possessing each of his attributes in infinite measure. Is he loving? Then he is infinitely loving! Is he holy? Then his holiness has no boundary! Is he powerful? Then his power cannot be measured! For this reason, David searches the universe to choose things which are relatively limitless and majestic – the heavens, the skies, the mighty mountains, the deep of the ocean, to express the abundance of God.
And David speaks not just of abundance, but of delightful abundance: “You give them drink from the river of delights” (Psalm 36:8). For the chosen and redeemed children of God, it is delightful to be in the presence of this infinite being! He soothes our hearts with his gentleness, challenges our minds with his intellect, rouses our praise with his actions in history, overwhelms our senses with his creativity. Yet the present enjoyment of all this abundance pales in comparison with what is our inheritance: full and unfettered indulgence in the abundance of God with no sin to torment, nor time to truncate.
