What does it mean that "at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11)?

Besides, the same blessed truth is plainly taught in our text: "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." What a wonderful place and portion we have here! The Lord's name be praised. What a field for meditation! Enter it, my soul, I pray thee; come and meditate with spiritual power on these wonderful words, "Thy right hand" — the place of dignity, power and special privilege. "Fulness of joy" — nothing lacking. "all spiritual blessings." "Pleasures for evermore." Not only is it the place of honour and joy, but it is our everlasting place — "for evermore." "Pleasures for evermore." No alloy, no fear of these pleasures ever coming to an end — they are "for evermore."

But in entering upon resurrection He has opened the path of life to us in all its inviting beauty before our souls, "a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it." Faith delights to have Him conduct it along that shining way which His own steps have traced, that path of the just which "is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." In His presence even here on earth our fullest joy is found, and the fulness itself awaits us, and is surely very nigh at hand! Addressing Him, the saint loves to say, "Thou wilt show me the path of life" (is doing it, and will, the blessedness of it being enhanced a thousand-fold by His own discovery of it to our souls); "In thy presence is fulness of joy" (oft in measure proved down here, but to be immeasurably proved ere long when we shall know, if we have not yet learnt it, that His presence is more, oh, how much more! than the glory itself); "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (the unceasing, unabating bliss which shall be ours in endless enjoyment in the place of dignity and glory).

230 I will now refer to Psalms 16 and 17, which collaterally throw light on this part of our subject. In Psalm 16, which is (with others) quoted in Scripture as shewing the humanity of Jesus, His taking our sorrows and position of dependence on and obedience to God (that is, our position as saints), it is said, "I have said to Jehovah, Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee - to the saints on the earth, in them is all my delight." That is, having the divine glory, He associates Himself with the saints on the earth, those excellent in God's sight. At the close He shews that, as One who is the head of these, the path of life is shewn to Him. In God's presence is fulness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures for evermore. This, then, in principle, is a part of our hope, as His "companions," though He be anointed with the oil of joy above us. We are in God's presence, where fulness of joy is. Where God's presence shews itself, it fills all things, and excludes all contrary to itself. It necessarily makes infinitely and perfectly happy. It sufficed to Christ's hope - His who knew it best and perfectly - surely, then, to ours: and, as we have seen, we have a nature capable, without alloy or mixture, of perfectly enjoying that presence.

But it is different with the creature who is set in relationship with his Creator. He is not sufficient for himself, but must find all his delight in God. All he has is from the bounty of God, but God is greater than all He gives; and it is Himself, and not merely that which He gives, that makes man’s cup of happiness overflow. Our Lord, when here upon earth, in the days of His humiliation, found all His delight in God. He says, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup” (Ps. 16:5). And this was not to end upon earth, for He also says, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy: at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” True happiness, therefore, is found in the knowledge and enjoyment of God Himself; and that His creature might find his happiness here, He has made Himself manifest in His beloved Son. In Him we find God, and in Him we are brought to the fountain of all blessing.

The path of life, trodden by the Lord, led through death. Not death as making atonement for His people, but as setting forth the blessedness of a life that death cannot touch. It is the path of life through death. Here the prospect of death raises no cloud upon His spirit. So far from being cast down at the thought of death, His heart is glad, His tongue rejoices, for His flesh will rest in hope. For the one treading the path of life, death is but a means to the fuller enjoyment of the life. At the moment when the natural man treading the path of death is filled with gloom and apprehension the one treading the path of life is marked by joy, praise and the rest of hope.

The secret of this joy is found in having the glorious end in view. The path of life may pass through a world of sorrow, may lead through the valley of the shadow of death, but it ends at last in the presence of God. For Christ, and those that are Christ's, this indeed is the Father's presence. This is more than glory, it is the Father's house where the Father's heart is displayed and the Father Himself is fully known and enjoyed. Here amidst the sorrows of earth we may taste the cup of life, there amidst the joys of heaven we shall enter upon the fulness of life. Here there are pleasures by the way, there are found the pleasures for evermore.

Seventhly (verse 11), we learn that the path of life through this world of sorrow and trial, will lead to the presence of Jehovah, or, as the Christian can say, to the Father's house, there to find ourselves in the presence of Christ, to be with the One who was with us in the path, there to find "fulness of joy", and "pleasures for evermore". In the world around we see men abandoning themselves to "the pleasures of sin", which are but "for a season". The believer, who treads the path of life, may, indeed, meet with manifold trials, but they too, are only "for a season". But the "light affliction which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

This then is the path of life, as unfolded in this beautiful Psalm, and marked out by One who has trodden the path in perfection. Let us ever remember that the life of which the Psalm speaks is the inner life lived with God. One has said, "It is important to remember that there is an inward divine life which dwells and joys in God, having nothing to do with circumstances, though enabling us to go through them" (J.N.D.).

The path of faith that He trod truly led Him into death, and through death it was proved to be a path of life. The paradox is complete enough; but the life is discovered to be life in resurrection and hence beyond the power of death for ever. The perfect Man is not merely in Jehovah's presence for there indeed all the saints will ultimately be; He is also at Jehovah's right hand, where are pleasures for evermore; and that is a place where saints will never be. It is a place of pre-eminence reserved for Him alone.

"In Thy presence fullness of joy." What, indeed, to Him who says this, — the Son of the Father, in His self-assumed exile, His face now toward the glory which He had with Him before the world was! There is really no "in," and to leave it out brings out better, perhaps, the force: "fullness of joys, Thy presence! At Thy right hand" — the place of approbation — "pleasures for evermore."

We can also apply Psalm 16: 11 to ourselves: ‘Thy countenance is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.’ We can hardly imagine how great that joy will be. When the disciples saw the Lord as the risen One, it says that they could not believe for joy (Luke 24:41). They were still on earth, not yet glorified and had not yet experienced the judgment seat of Christ (where all that might stand between the Lord and us will be removed). How great will our joy be when this takes place! Then the call will go forth: ‘Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready’ (Rev. 19:7). The fact that we shall need a body of glory (Phil. 3:21) to experience this moment speaks for itself.

Before we seek to trace the blessedness of this path, let us ask ourselves "What is the life to which the Lord refers when He speaks of the path of life?" There is the common round of life with all its varied duties and relationships — a life which is enacted on earth, bounded by time and ended by death. There is too the life of service and conflict with the enemy; but this again is limited to an earthly sphere. The "life" of which the Lord speaks is not confined to earth, limited to time, or touched by death. It is the inner life lived, with God and before God. A "life" indeed that is lived on earth, that sustains the soul in its passage through time and death, that is enjoyed in fulness at the right hand of God, and endures for evermore. It is this life that is so blessedly set before us in the Sixteenth Psalm. Being the "inner life" of communion with God, it is a life that is independent of circumstances, though sustaining us in circumstances. For this reason adverse circumstances have little place in the Psalm. They are recognised, for a godless world, death and the grave are mentioned, but only as the dark background of a life which can be lived untouched by evil in a world of evil.