To Gaze Upon God, Samuel G. Parkison. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007662) 2024.

Summary: An exploration of the importance of the beatific vision in scripture and church history and its contemporary significance.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (I John 3:1-3, New International Version).

As a young Christian reading through scripture, this passage stopped me in my tracks. It told me that a day was coming where I would see Christ as he is, in all his glory. What’s more, it assured me I would be like him and that this was a great motive for cleaning up my act in this life. What I caught a glimpse of in that day is the beatific vision that is the telos or end toward which our lives as followers of Jesus is directed. As a result, it gave me an intense motivation to grow in Christ-likeness. I’ve likened it to preparations for my wedding day. I wanted to look my best and be my best for the woman I was marrying! And so it is with Jesus.

In To Gaze Upon God, Samuel G. Parkison retrieves for the contemporary church a doctrine that has given comfort and joy to Christians through the ages. He begins by asking what is the beatific vision. Parkison observes that as creatures in the image of God, we exist from, through, and to him. He is our source, our life, and our end. And this end is nothing less than to “dwell in the house of the Lord” and to “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. It is this one thing for which the Psalmist asks in Psalm 27:4.

Parkison then devotes a chapter to elaborating that vision. First he considers the Old Testament theophanies and promises of the beatific vision. Then he considers a number of New Testament passages including the Transfiguration and the passage cited above. In conclusion, he argues that the desire for the beatific vision is good and godly. Not only this, it is seeing “the invisible,” connects with our faith in this life, and walks hand in hand with our transformation. Finally, we fully realize the beatific vision in the resurrection.

Then Parkison turns in two chapters to consider the “cloud of witnesses: through church history, dividing between those pre-Reformation, and those who were Reformation or post-Reformation. Gregory of Nyssa wrestles with the incomprehensibility of God and for him we ever thirst, find satiation that only feeds our thirst. Many wrestle with in what sense we “see” God, culminating in the ideas of Aquinas of not merely physical, but spiritual sight. Among the reformers, he considers Calvin, the Lutheran Gerhard, Turretin, Owen, and Edwards. While each of those considered offer rich nuances and some critical differences on the doctrine of the beatific vision, Parkison traces a continuity throughout church history in this doctrine.

Some contemporary commentators note a fault line between Aquinas and Owen. Aquinas focuses on knowing the essence of God, Owen on the vision of God in Christ. However, Parkison seeks to reconcile the two through the doctrine of inseparable operations. He writes,

“Therefore, it seems best to conceptualize the beatific vision as a vision of the divine essence in the person and work of Christ, the incarnate Son, by the illuminating and gracious operating principle of the Spirit as the eternal divine subsistence of the Father and Son’s love. The beatific vision, in other words, is made possible by the inseparable operations of the Trinity, and is therefore a truly trinitarian vision. We shall behold the glory of God in his essence, and we shall behold this glory in the face of Jesus Christ by the unveiling and illumining ministry of the Holy Spirit” (p. 156)

Parkison also offers his own take on a number of the questions explored in his historical survey.

All of this is toward an evangelical retrieval of the doctrine of the beatific vision. In a concluding chapter, Parkison considers the implication of the beatific vision for prayer, worship, missions, sin and sanctification, suffering, and our communion with one another. He longs to enliven Christians in all of life by this vision. In a postscript, he argues that the beatific vision tells a better story in the context of global Christianity.

I found this work both devotionally and theologically rich. For evangelicalism that is so earthly minded that it is no heavenly (or earthly) good, it offers a vital corrective. I do believe our fascination with political power reflects the paucity of our vision of Jesus. Likewise for our fascination with health and prosperity gospels. We exist to gaze upon God, and to reflect what we see in the world. Now we do so but dimly, but one day, face to face, in the new creation. We all live toward some vision. Is it toward the beatific vision? This book lifts our eyes toward our beautiful Lord.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.