"The End Itself"

On Friday 21st of July 1843 the Scottish minister Andrew Bonar wrote these words in his diary:

I see plainly that fellowship with God is not means to an end, but is to be the end itself. I am not to use it as a preparation for study or for Sabbath labour; but as my chiefest end, the likest thing to heaven.

Knowing God through the Lord Jesus is not a means to a greater end, it is the greatest end. We are not to see knowing God as a means to the joy of being part of the new heavens and new earth. No, the fulless of joy that we shall have in the new creation shall be the joy of knowing God, of seeinng Him as He is (1 John 3:2). There is no higher end. Knowing Christ Jesus is of "surpassing worth" (Philippians 3:8).