10-14-13<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to conduct a little tour today. To a place called Beulah Land. It is a place of relationship, though not actual geography, mentioned in the Bible. It appears in John Bunyan\u2019s \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress.\u201d It is the subject of more than a dozen well-known hymns and gospel songs. Our brief journey here will look over that land as much for what Beulah is NOT, as much as what it is. A clearer picture of the Bible\u2019s message is never a bad thing.<\/p>\n
Many people, including some teachers and many hymn-writers, have assumed that Beulah Land is a picture of Heaven \u2013 if not an alternate name, then a poetic allegory. Such connections are also frequently ascribed to \u201cCanaan Land,\u201d \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d and other terms. They all point forward, spiritually, and are meant to encourage God\u2019s people to persevere. But they are not literal nor allegorical nor biblical pictures of Heaven. <\/p>\n
The reference to Beulah Land appears only once, actually, in the Bible, and only in earlier translations. Isaiah 62:4: \u201cThou shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shall be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delights in thee, and thy land shall be married.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a certain point in the history of Israel and Judah, those nations were apostate and they \u201cmarried\u201d themselves to foreign gods. The Lord had in fact briefly abandoned His people (Desolate, Forsaken) in response (Isa. 54:7), but the verse of chapter 62 refers to God later bringing them to the Holy City, called Hephzibah in this reconciliation. And the picture of a full, restored relationship with God \u2013 as a marriage would be \u2013 is called a state of Beulah.<\/p>\n
Hephzibah means \u201cMy Delight Is in Her.\u201d The word \u201cBeulah\u201d means \u201cMarried.\u201d Neither, however, means Heaven. The recent English Standard Version translation is more literal: \u201cYou shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.\u201d A wonderful place to be\u2026 a blessed relationship there\u2026 a Land to strive toward\u2026 but not Heaven.<\/p>\n
Many believers through the centuries have prayed to attain Beulah Land as Heaven, to live at least at in Beulah land as Heaven\u2019s border region. The idea was propelled by the allegorical writer John Bunyan in \u201cPilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d \u2013 \u201cThe Enchanted Ground is a place so nigh to the land Beulah, and so near the end of their race\u201d; the place \u201cwhere the sun shineth night and day.\u201d A wondrous place, but\u2026 not Heaven.<\/p>\n
Why do I think it is important that we recognize the distinction? What could be so bad about all the depictions of Beulah Land, a marriage relationship with the Lord?<\/p>\n
As beautiful, paradisiacal, fragrant, pleasing, the Land of Beulah is \u2013 described by the most fervent writers, poets, and songwriters \u2013 and for all the images our spirits can summon, all the pictures of Beulah Land are NOTHING compared to what Heaven will be!<\/p>\n
The Land of Beulah is wondrous because we compare it our lives here on earth. Having a relationship with God akin to a marriage is amazing. Yet Heaven will be all the more wondrous \u2013 superlative \u2013 and there we will have an eternal lifetime of joy with Him. <\/p>\n
Is \u201cthe Good the enemy of the Perfect\u201d? Sometimes. But our recognition of a Land of Beulah, the most beautiful place we can imagine, should not be substitute for seeking Heaven, the most beautiful place we can scarcely imagine. A Wedding is a happy day. A Marriage is a joyous life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see far down the mountain, Where I wandered weary years,
\nOften hindered in my journey By the ghosts of doubts and fears.
\nBroken vows and disappointments, Thickly sprinkled all the way,
\nBut the Spirit led, unerring, To the land I hold today.\u201d<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
We closed with lines from what is probably the most familiar hymns about Beulah Land. This version is sung by Squire Parsons, who also wrote another song that is beloved in the contemporary church, \u201cSweet Beulah Land.\u201d <\/p>\n