In past generations, our ancestors found great joy and benefit in being reminded about heaven’s magnificence. It’s not the appearance (as beautiful as it will be) or the conditions (as blissful as those will be) that should be most enticing to us. Neither will it be the loved ones with whom we will be re-united or even just the new condition of our hearts, no longer carrying the guilt and embarrassment of our sinful nature. No, the best part of heaven will be seeing our Savior, no longer through a glass darkly, but face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). What a tremendous thing for us to look forward to!
When we review literature of the godly writers of years gone by, even centuries before us, we find them speaking not infrequently about “the beatific vision.” Put most simply, that means the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise in the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount that the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8). Sadly, we tend to read that too figuratively, when we should read it more literally: that in some way, we will actually see God! And since God the Father is a spirit and does not have a physical body, this clearly means that we will see God in the person of the Son Jesus Christ. As Jesus Himself said to Thomas in John 14:8-9, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father; for I and the Father are one.”
So when we think about heaven, what is it that should thrill us most? It is that we will see our Redeemer, hear His voice saying “Welcome home,” and join Him in singing the praises of the Father (Hebrews 2:12) and join with all the saints and angels singing “Worthy is the Lamb” (Revelation 5:12). There will be many things that we won’t find in heaven, and which will be a cause of joy. We learn that from Revelation 21 and 22. There will be no tears or sadness, no disease or death, no pain or disappointment, no fear or anxiety, no hunger or war, no sin or curse, no night … since the Lamb will be its light. Because of all that, there will no longer be any need for police … or doctors … or lawyers … or morticians … or mechanics … or plumbers … or pharmacists … or politicians!
But the best thing about heaven will not be what won’t be there, but rather what will be there. We will enjoy the spectacular beauties of heaven. We will feast on the fruit from the tree of life in every season. We will be reunited with family and friends. We will even meet great men and women from church history – like Augustine and Wycliffe and Luther and Calvin and Spurgeon. More than that, we’ll meet the “heroes” of Scriptural history – like Moses and David and Isaiah and Paul and John. But the best thing by far will be seeing Jesus “face to face.”
As we examine the scriptures, we find that there are many more references to this “beatific vision” than we have yet recognized. Here is just a brief sampling:
| Genesis 3:8-10 | While it does not tell us that Adam saw God, that is implied in the report that God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam in the cool of the day |
| Exodus 33:10-11 | God spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend |
| Numbers 12:6-8 | God spoke with Moses mouth to mouth |
| Job 19:26 | After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another |
| Psalm 16:11 | In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore |
| Psalm 27:4 | One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after … to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple |
| Isaiah 6:1 | In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne |
| Matthew 17:1-13 | Jesus was transfigured before the three disciples in dazzling white |
| 2 Corinthians 4:6 | God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ |
| Hebrews 1:3 | He is the radiance of the glory of God |
| 2 Peter 1:16-18 | We were eyewitnesses of His majesty |
| 1 John 3:2 | When He appears … we shall see Him as He is |
| Revelation 1:12 | I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me … when I saw Him, I fell at His feet at His feet as though dead. |
For those interested in examining further the historical development of this “beatific vision,” a recent book by Samuel G. Parkinson would be a good starting place: “To Gaze Upon God; The Beatific Vision in Doctrine, Tradition, and Practice” (Inter Varsity Press, 2024).
That sight and experience awaits each one of us for whom He has shed His blood. It will bring us “joy unspeakable and full of glory,” as we read in 1 Peter 1:8. When our eyes behold Him, our blessed Savior, in this Beatific Vision, the greatest magnificence of heaven will be before us, not just on that day, but for an eternity of every-increasing delight! In his book, “God Is the Gospel,” John Piper makes this extraordinary – and probing – question.
The critical question for our generation–and for every generation–is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?
We have a very emotionally moving hymn about this in “Face to Face,” written in 1898 by Carrie Elizabeth Ellis Breck (1855-1934). A devout Christian, she was devoted to her husband and five daughters. She had no sense of pitch, and could not carry a tune, but she had the gift of poetic rhythm, and wrote more than 2,000 poems. She was not particularly robust in health, and had to take frequent rests while doing chores. At such times, she would sit in her favorite rocking chair, take up a notebook, and write poetry, often with a baby on her knee, or playing at her feet. She was born on a frosty January day in 1855, in the quaint New England town of Walden, Vermont. Her lineage traced back to Col. Timothy Ellis, a decorated veteran of the Battle of Ticonderoga in the Revolutionary War. This heritage of courage and conviction would echo through her own life’s work, though her battlefield would be the realm of words and faith. She was the second of their seven children.
When Carrie was eight, her family transplanted their roots to Vineland, New Jersey, southeast of Philadelphia, living there on Landis Avenue. Here, amid the bustling community, young Carrie’s talent for poetry began to flourish. Despite limited formal education, her gift caught the eye of local patrons who sponsored her involvement in the community literary society for youth. Carrie’s childhood neighbor was Henry Clay Work, a composer known for his Civil War songs including “Marching Through Georgia” and “Grandfather’s Clock.” Carrie later reminisced, “I distinctly remember his pleasant, kind-hearted wife allowing me to thrum on their little melodeon with my childish fingers.” These early brushes with literary and musical notables would shape her future path. She trained as a teacher at Bridgewater State Normal School.
Carrie’s upbringing was steeped in faith. As Charles Gabriel, a renowned American composer and lyricist of gospel songs, noted, “Her parents and grandparents were God-fearing people. And she cannot remember when Bible reading and prayer were not her daily home custom.” This foundation of faith would become the wellspring of her poetic inspiration. On May 28, 1884 Carrie married Frank A. Breck, a local farmer who was involved in fruit juice production. Together, they raised their five daughters as active members of the First Presbyterian Church in Vineland. Carrie’s life became a beautiful balance of domesticity and creativity. One of their daughters, Flora Elizabeth Breck (1886–1962), wrote several books for choir directors and Sunday School teachers.
In 1914, the Brecks moved to Portland, Oregon, where Frank worked as head of the Breck Fruit Juice company, and where Carrie would spend her final two decades. By the time of her passing in 1934, she had penned over 2000 poems, many of which became beloved hymns. On one occasion, she wrote: “For more than forty years, I have had the habit of verse-writing, in such intervals of time as the life of a busy mother and housewife afforded.” Her first published hymn was “Something for Jesus,” which appeared in the “Christian Herald” in February, 1893. In 1927, she published a collection of 199 poems, entitled “To Comfort Thee, and Other Verses.” Carrie E. Breck’s life reminds us that sometimes the most profound expressions of faith are born in the quiet moments between life’s demands. Her legacy lives on in the countless voices that still sing her words today.
This song expresses the joy of being able to greet the Savior when He comes. The imagery is clearly drawn primarily from 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”
Stanza 1 says that we are waiting for Christ who died and promised to come back from heaven (Acts 1:11). Therefore, we wait for that glorious day of His return (Philippians 3:20), and we do so with great eagerness (Titus 2:13), wondering what it will be like when we behold Him. The rapture in this instance is not the idea promoted in dispensational theology of believers being taken out of the world. Rather, it is rapture in the original sense of great joy and exhilaration.
Face to face with Christ, my Savior,
Face to face- what will it be
When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me?
The refrain expresses the hope of the Christian in seeing Jesus when He comes. As already noted, there is a sense in which we can see Jesus “face to face” spiritually, as it were, in His revealed and completed word right now. But certainly the most thrilling anticipation for every believer as he reflects about Christ’s second coming, the resurrection, and heaven will be that moment of fully being with our Savior “face to face in all His glory.”
Face to face I shall behold Him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all His glory,
I shall see Him by and by.
Stanza 2 reminds us that our view of Jesus now is only there faintly as in a mirror rather than in person (2 Corinthians 3:18). And we do so, even though while waiting for Him to return, we do not know exactly what we shall be like when we see Him (1 John 3:1-2). But by faith we look forward to the day when He will come back and we can be with Him (2 Peter 3:10-13).
Only faintly now I see him
With the darkened veil between,
But a blessed day is coming
When His glory shall be seen. [Refrain]
Stanza 3 tells us that when we do see Him, “grief and pain” will be banished, and in their place will be great rejoicing in His presence 1 (Thessalonians 2:19). At that time, He will usher us into an eternal existence where there will be no “grief and pain” (Revelation 21:4), where “crooked ways are straightened and the dark things shall be made plain,” because the corruptible and mortal will have been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:56).
What rejoicing in His presence,
When are banished grief and pain;
When the crooked ways are straightened
And the dark things shall be plain. [Refrain]
Stanza 4 concludes that when we do see Christ, it will be a “blissful moment,” because when Jesus returns, we shall have “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:7-9), when we shall be reunited with those who have fallen asleep in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). What will make it most blissful is being with our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who loves us so (Philippians 1:23).
Face to face- oh, blissful moment!
Face to face- to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ who loves me so. [Refrain]
The music for Carrie’s hymn was written by Grant Colfax Tullar (1869-1950) in 1898, the same year that she wrote the lyrics. He was born August 5, 1869, in Bolton, Connecticut. He was named after the American President Ulysses S. Grant and Vice President Schuyler Colfax. After the American Civil War, his father was disabled and unable to work, having been wounded in the Battle of Antietam. Tullar’s mother died when he was just two years old so Grant had no settled home life until he became an adult. Yet from a life of sorrow and hardship he went on to bring joy to millions of Americans with his songs and poetry.
As a child, he received virtually no education or religious training. He worked in a woolen mill and as a shoe clerk. The last Methodist camp meeting in Bolton was in 1847. Tullar became a Methodist at age 19 at a camp meeting near Waterbury in 1888. He then attended the Hackettstown Academy in New Jersey. He became an ordained Methodist minister and pastored for a short time in Dover, Delaware. For 10 years he was the song leader for evangelist Major George A. Hilton. Even so, in 1893 he also helped found the once well-known Tullar-Meredith Publishing Company in New York, which produced church and Sunday school music. Tullar composed many popular hymns and hymnals.
As a Methodist minister, he was in an evangelistic meeting with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Rutherford, New York, and staying in the home of the local minister, Charles L. Mead. One day he and the Meads spent the day visiting the sick. That evening there was not enough jelly at the supper table for everyone because Mrs. Mead, having gone visiting with her husband and Tullar, did not have time to fill the jelly dish before they ate and left for the evening service. Knowing Tullar’s fondness for jelly, she told him he could have what was left. Tullar replied, “So this is all for me, is it?” The phrase, “All for me,” struck him as a good theme for a hymn, so he excused himself to wrote both a text, beginning, “All for me the Savior suffered,” and the accompanying music. The song was sung at the evening service.
However, Tullar was not fully pleased with his words, and as he talked with Mead about them later that evening he resolved to revise them later when he had the opportunity, but this never happened. The next morning, the postman brought a letter from Carrie Breck with several poems in it. As he read the very first one, which began, “Face to face with Christ, my Savior,” he found that this poem exactly fit the melody that he had composed the night before, so he discarded his own text and replaced it with hers. The song first appeared in the 1899 collection, “Sermons in Song #2,” published by the Tullar-Meridith Co. of New York City, NY, founded by Tullar and his friend Isaac Meridith.
Here is a link to the singing of the hymn.