What Do Saints Do in Heaven? Jonathan Edwards on Being Present With the Lord
What will believers actually do in heaven?
For many Christians, heaven can become a vague idea: peace, rest, reunion, relief from suffering. Those promises matter. But Jonathan Edwards presses further. In part two of “True Saints, When Absent From the Body, Are Present With the Lord,” he shows that heaven is not merely the absence of pain. It is active, joyful, Christ-centered fellowship.
The sermon continues Edwards’s exposition of the Christian hope from 2 Corinthians 5:8: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. In part one, Edwards emphasized that departed believers go to be with Christ. In part two, he unfolds what that presence includes.
The answer is breathtaking: the saints participate in Christ’s kingdom, rejoice in the progress of His redemption, join Him in glorifying the Father, and are exhorted to seek this blessed end with seriousness.
The Saints Reign With Christ
Edwards begins by describing the saints’ participation in Christ’s dominion.
Christ has been exalted by the Father. He reigns as King, heir, and head of His people. Because believers are united to Him, they share in His inheritance according to their capacity. Edwards connects this to Scripture’s language of believers as joint heirs with Christ and to Christ’s promise in Revelation 3:21 that the one who overcomes will sit with Him on His throne.
This does not mean the saints rule independently from Christ. Edwards is careful to root everything in union with Him. What Christ possesses, His people possess in Him. What Christ enjoys, His people enjoy through fellowship with Him.
That is better, Edwards says, than if all things were given to the saints separately to manage by their own discretion. Their inheritance is held and ordered by an infinitely better wisdom — the wisdom of their Head and Husband, whose will is perfectly united to theirs in glory.
Heaven Is Interested in Christ’s Work on Earth
One of the most striking sections of the sermon is Edwards’s insistence that the saints in heaven are not indifferent spectators.
He argues that the family in heaven is not cut off from the family on earth. The saints are with Christ, the King who governs His church. They are with angels, who are sent as ministering spirits. They are surrounded by the realities of Christ’s kingdom and have a clearer view of God’s work than believers do in this world.
Edwards uses a vivid image: leaving this world for heaven is not like losing sight of Christ’s kingdom. It is like ascending from a deep valley or thick forest to the top of a high mountain. The saints rise above “mists and clouds” into clearer light.
From that heavenly vantage point, they behold the glory of God in the work of redemption. They see divine wisdom, holiness, grace, and power displayed in ways that appear confusing to us below. They can better perceive how events connect, how Satan’s opposition is overthrown, and how God brings His purposes to completion.
This gives heaven a deeply active joy. The saints rejoice because Christ rejoices. The progress of the gospel is His reward, and because they are united to Him, they share in the joy of His reward.
The Joy Set Before Christ Becomes the Joy of Heaven
Edwards ties this to the work of Christ in redemption.
Christ endured the cross for the joy set before Him. That joy includes the salvation of His people, the advancement of His kingdom, and the reward promised by the Father in the covenant of redemption. Edwards points to Isaiah 53, where the suffering servant sees His seed and is satisfied.
The saints in heaven share in that joy. During their earthly lives, believers pray, labor, and sometimes suffer for the advancement of God’s kingdom. When they die, they do not cease to care about that kingdom. They enter a better position to rejoice in its progress.
This is a richer vision of heaven than passive rest. Rest is real, but it is not boredom. The departed saints participate in Christ’s triumph, His joy, and His kingdom purpose.
The Saints Share in Christ’s Victories
Edwards then turns to the future victory of Christ’s kingdom.
He draws from Daniel, Revelation, Matthew, Psalms, and the prophets to show that Christ will reign over all nations and bring His kingdom to its appointed fullness. Edwards’s language reflects his own eschatological framework, but the central point is clear and broadly biblical: Christ’s people share in Christ’s triumph because they are united to Him.
The saints who suffered with Christ will reign with Christ. Those who were meek will inherit the earth. Those who forsook all for His name will receive the promised inheritance. Those who died in faith before seeing all God’s promises fulfilled will, in glory, rejoice when those promises are accomplished.
Edwards mentions Abraham, David, Daniel, and the saints of old as examples of believers who died in faith and later enjoy the fulfillment of what God promised.
This strengthens Christian endurance. Faithful labor in this life is not wasted. Suffering with Christ is not forgotten. The believer’s hope is tied to the certainty that Christ’s kingdom will not fail.
Heaven Is Worship and Service, Not Mere Observation
Edwards’s third major point is that departed saints have fellowship with Christ in His blessed and eternal employment of glorifying the Father.
Heaven is not only contemplation. It is action. Edwards points to Revelation 22:3: “His servants shall serve Him.” The angels burn with activity in God’s service, and the saints become like the angels in this respect.
Most importantly, Christ Himself leads the worship of heaven.
Edwards connects this to John 17:1, where Jesus prays, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” Christ is glorified in heaven, and He glorifies the Father there. He leads the redeemed assembly in praise, much as He led His disciples in singing after instituting the Supper.
Edwards draws biblical patterns from David, Moses, and Revelation. David led Israel’s songs. Moses led praise after the Red Sea. In Revelation, the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and the multitude responds in thunderous praise: “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
In other words, heaven is not silent. It is filled with worship led by Christ Himself.
The Sermon Becomes an Exhortation
After unfolding the privileges of being present with Christ, Edwards turns to exhortation.
He urges hearers to seek this great privilege earnestly. Earthly life is fragile. Our bodies are temporary tabernacles that will decay and fall. Every soul must enter the eternal world.
That reality should not produce mere fear or speculation. It should awaken serious seeking after Christ. The blessedness Edwards describes belongs to those who are in Him.
The sermon’s occasion was a funeral, and Edwards applies the doctrine through the death of a faithful minister — David Brainerd. He points to Brainerd’s deep conviction of sin, clear conversion, love for Christ, holiness, self-denial, gospel labor, and steadfastness in the face of death.
Edwards does not use Brainerd as a sentimental example. He presents him as evidence of the beauty of thorough, experiential religion and as a sober reminder that death will come for all.
Why This Teaching Still Matters
Modern Christians often speak of heaven in general terms. Edwards gives us a more biblical and Christ-centered vision.
According to this sermon, heaven means:
being with Christ personally;
sharing in Christ’s kingdom as those united to Him;
rejoicing in the progress and completion of redemption;
seeing God’s wisdom more clearly than we do now;
joining Christ and the heavenly assembly in worship;
receiving the promised end of faith, labor, and suffering;
being stirred now to seek Christ with seriousness.
This vision helps believers grieve with hope, labor with endurance, and think about eternity with greater clarity.
Heaven is not a vague spiritual waiting room. It is the presence of Christ. It is fellowship with the King. It is participation in His joy, His victory, and His praise of the Father.
Watch the Full Sermon
This article summarizes part two of Jonathan Edwards’s “True Saints, When Absent From the Body, Are Present With the Lord.” Watch the full Sermon Academy video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qul-F2HXOm0
Then explore the related Sermon Academy page: https://www.sermonacademy.com/videos/v/jonathan-edwards-true-saints-when-absent-from-the-body-are-present-with-the-lord-part-2
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