And so it is. The Church will have her joy in Christ, but Christ will have His greater joy in the Church. The strongest pulse of gladness that is to beat for eternity will be in the bosom of the Lord over His ransomed Bride. In all things He is to have the pre-eminence; and, as in all things, so in this--that His joy in her will be greater than hers in Him. And all the foreknown to that end, and none less than _all_, will form the Eve of that Adam, and be the Bride or the Woman destined thus to be the Man’s joy and glory. _All_ here are _now_ "fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth," and no less _then_ will the _all_ be demanded. Oh, how the Lord not only prepares the heaven, but in this way prepares the heart for it, that we may enjoy it with _entire ease_, seeing ourselves a needed portion of the holy furniture of the place! As Joseph would comfort his brethren by telling them that it was God who had sent him into Egypt before them, that life might be preserved by a great deliverance. Their wicked hands had done it, it is true; but God’s purpose had done it also, and it is this He would have them now think of, and not the other. For this is the way of love; and "God is love." Love will not only spread the feast, but do what it can to let it be tasted with all confidence and joy of heart. Love will make the guests _sit_ at the table, give them a plentiful board, and ease while enjoying it. Can we, beloved, read these notices of the heaven that is to be ours by-and-by, and for ever, and, as we read, wish our hearts joy that it is so? Can we count ourselves happy, having such prospects as these? As the miser can bear the scorn of the world without, in the thought of his treasures at home, can we in the hope of this joy of heaven live above the earth and its promises? Such things, however, as these, excellent as they are, have something still further with them. The _air_ of a place is more important to us than its _scenery_. If we can get both, of course the better; but if we can have but one, the good air will be surely preferred. Now, heaven, I may say, will have both. It will be filled with a moral element or atmosphere, as well as furnished with glories; and the former (I speak as a man) will be more in the account of our joy than the latter.