The Beatific Vision and the Future-Driven Shape of Sanctification (Part 4) Sanctification is often spoken of as duty, discipline, or effort. While Scripture does call believers to strive, it consistently locates the energy for that striving not in fear or self-reliance, but in hope. The New Testament does not motivate holiness by endlessly pressing Christians back upon themselves, but instead it pulls them forward, and the horizon toward which it pulls them is the promise of

How the Beatific Vision Shapes Christian Worship (Part 5) Worship Oriented Toward Sight Too often, Christian worship is described in functional terms. It instructs, encourages, corrects, and unites the people of God, and just to be clear, all of this is true, but it is not yet sufficient. Instead, scripture frames worship in eschatological terms. The gathered church stands between promise and fulfillment, between faith and sight, and when this tension is lost, worship easily

Once the beatific vision is placed back at the center of Christian hope, resistance often follows. For some, the doctrine can feel too mystical, too abstract, or too foreign to modern Protestant instincts. Additionally, some worry that it drifts beyond Scripture into speculation. Others fear it turns Christianity into an escape from real life, and still others assume it belongs to Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox theology and therefore sits awkwardly within a Reformed frame