The doctrine of happiness

1. Happiness is related to the essence or the character of God. God always possessed perfect happiness in eternity past; this happiness is a part of His character. God is not only perfect but He possesses perfect and eternal happiness, Romans 1:25. He is also happy with His perfect plan of grace and therefore grace is the expression of His happiness. Therefore grace is the source of our perfect happiness, it is acquired through GAP and through the ECS.

2. Happiness is related to the divine decrees. In eternity past God desired to share His happiness with man in time and this is only possible through salvation, Psalm 51:12, plus the daily function of GAP, Nehemiah 8:10.

3. Happiness is accomplished through grace. In grace God found a way to share His happiness with man in time and therefore every benefit to man comes through grace. E.g. salvation by grace, Ephesians 2:8,9.

4. Such happiness is confined to the plan of God.

a) Man enters the plan of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 16:31.

b) However being saved means that such happiness is only potential, not a reality.

c) Salvation does not imply instant or automatic happiness. The joy of the Lord which you have at the point of salvation is a realisation of salvation and an application to your life that you are saved, but there is no such thing as instant or automatic happiness because you are saved.

d) The moment of salvation may or may not be accompanied by emotional exhilaration. The emotion is not salvation.

e) The potentiality of happiness only becomes a reality when the believer functions under GAP on a daily basis.

f) +H, God’s happiness, is inevitably associated with Bible doctrine, Colossians 1:9-11.

5. The ultimate of happiness in time begins with the filling of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22, and continues to the optimum when the final floor of the ECS is completed, John 17:17. While this is the maximum for phase two there is something beyond this happiness in phase three. it is called “exceeding joy” in Jude 24.

6. The recognition of human happiness in time. There are three designations of happiness in the Bible: -H which is pseudo happiness; neutral H; and +H. +H is God’s happiness; neutral H is the happiness based upon observing the laws of divine establishment; -H is pseudo happiness, it has exhilaration but it doesn’t last.

Human happiness or -H is in contrast to +H. In the devil’s world there exists, first of all, -H which is temporary and superficial. It depends upon the details of life, it depends on pleasant environment, stimulating circumstances, having one’s own way, never being crossed. However, boredom, frustration, restlessness, instability, all neutralise this pseudo happiness.

Neutral H, the observing of the laws of divine establishment. Under neutral H two unbelievers can have a miserable life but find each other as right man, right woman and in their relationship have neutral H. This is genuine human happiness. It is a temporary exhilaration.

7. God has designed +H to be permanent and stabilised through GAP and the ECS, John 17:13,17; Colossians 1:9-11. Inner happiness or +H possesses the capacity for both relationship with God and capacity for life in itself. The ECS completed is the ultimate in this. This happiness sustains in the most difficult circumstances of life. Here is a happiness which can pass the adversity as well as the prosperity test. Since GAP is the source of ECS GAP is the source of this perfect happiness, 1 John 1:4.

8. Therefore we have the daily buildup of happiness. Under the universal priesthood of the believer the daily function of GAP means the daily buildup of happiness or +H, Matthew 4:4; Jeremiah 15:16; James 1:25.

9. The problem of the plural in both languages. The plural indicates the buildup of happiness through doctrine. The doctrine builds happiness which stimulates desire for more doctrine which builds more happiness. So we have “happinesses” usually translated “blessed.”

10. Such happiness protects from disillusion.

a) Disillusion regarding the circumstances of life, Philippians 4:11,12.

b) Disillusion regarding the details of life, Hebrews 13:5,6.

c) Disillusion regarding other believers, Hebrews 12:2.

11. Inner happiness enhances capacity for love. Once the top floor of the ECS is completed and the believer’s capacity for love is intensified, along with his capacity for life, there is maximum blessing, there is double blessing [as per point ]. You have capacity to love God and to respond to His love, you have capacity to appreciate God, and you have capacity for life. This also has forward and backward implications. The fragrance of memory is looking back to a point of great happiness — Song of Solomon 3:1; 4:6; 8:6. We also have the ability to anticipate. So again there is a double portion under happiness. You can look back to the blessings of happiness, they are retained as a permanent part of your memory.

12. Inner happiness is commanded of the believer in phase two, Philippians 4:4. This command is obeyed by learning Bible doctrine, Jeremiah 15:16; John 13:17; 1 John 1:4. Hence, any command to be happy is always a command to learn doctrine, always a command to utilise the grace provision of the intake of doctrine.

13. Inner happiness is provided for phase three, Jude 24. This is described mechanically in Revelation 21:4.

14. You cannot build happiness on happiness, happiness must be built on Bible doctrine, 2 Corinthians 8:2. Doctrine provides the capacity for happiness. A personal thing that makes you happy today will make you miserable tomorrow apart from doctrine and therefore happiness must be based on doctrine rather than on something that makes you happy for the moment.

15. You cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.

Happiness

I. Happiness is the enjoyment of and pleasure in one’s status, circumstances, and relationships in life. There is a gradation of concepts of happiness: happiness, felicity- intense happiness, and beattitude- supreme felicity. Blessedness refers to happiness related to God and His plan of grace; therefore, it is a technical word for happiness as it relates to God. Happiness in it’s full extent is the utmost pleasure we are capable of enjoying [no one can exede their own capacity].

II. In transition, happiness is a relationship to something; therefore, happiness is: a relationship to prosperity [Ps.123:1-4], related to adversity [1Pt.3:14, 4:14], related to the function of GAP [Prov.3:13], related to grace function [Prov.14:21], related to supergrace status [Ps.146:5]: happiness is lost by reversionism [Prov.28:14] and recovered by supergrace [Prov.16:20], related to a clear conscience [Rom.14:22], related to the LDE [Prov.29:18], related to total military victory [Ps.137:8-9].

III. Happiness is related to the esssence of God. God is perfect, His character is perfect. Perfect character therefore posesses perfect happiness. God is eternal, His happiness is eternal. God is immutable, His happiness is unchangeable. God is +R, His +H is related to the fact that He is always right. God is justice; therefore, His +H is related to always being fair. God is love. His +H is related to His love. God is omnipotent. He has the eternal ability to be happy and to share it on the principle of grace. God is omniscient, His genius makes Him happy. God is sovereign and has decided to share His happiness with us. It is impossible for God to be unhappy.

IV. Happiness is related to the plan of God. God has found a way to give us His happiness without compromising His character [Ps.97:12; Hab.3:18]. Entrance into the plan of God is salvation by faith in Christ, the beginning of the grace function in the plan of God for members of the RF [Ps.9:14, 51:12]. It begins with a potential and is realized at supergrace. At the dedication of the second temple there was great happiness [Neh.12:43]. Since +H is accomplished through grace [Ps.31:7], it is accomplished through GAP whereby the believer transfers BD from the written page into his soul. However this +H must have a starting point. This starting point is entrance into the plan of God by faith in Jesus Christ; but, being saved does not imply instant happiness. God’s happiness is still a potential to the believer and depends on his spiritual growth through the daily function of GAP. The first taste of +H comes from the filling of the HS [Gal.5:22; Rom.14:17; 1Thes.1:6]; however, this experience of +H is limited from having no capacity- not enough BD resident in the soul. Once a balance of residency [the completion of the ECS] is achieved, then God shares His +H with you and it becomes a reality [John 17:13]. Happiness is the status-quo of the supergrace believer [Neh.8:10; Phil.4:4]. Plus-H protects the believer from 3 disallusions: circumsances [Phil.4:11-12], the details of life [Heb.13:5-6], and people. Plus-H stimulates and enhances the capacity for love. There is a future happiness beyond +H in supergrace, phase 3 happiness. There is a millennial happiness [Isa.35:1-2, 64:4-5, 65:18-19, 66:10; and in the beattitudes]. There are 3 human happiness not related to +H: the temporary happiness of sin, happiness from observance of the LDE for unbelievers [Ecc.9:9, 11:8-9], and the happiness of pleasure in the details of life, it is fleeting and the source of future unhappiness. You cannot build your happiness on someone elses happiness, and you cannot build your happiness on the details of life to include environment, people you love, fame, violent revolution, the lust pattern and motivation of the OSN. But, you can build happiness on the balance of residency of BD through the FHS, the daily function of GAP, reaching supergrace, glorifying God in the holding of your supergrace status until dying grace, and by observing the LDE. The happy person provides blessing for others through overflow; therefore, this is called the ministry of refreshemnt [Phil.2:28-29; Rom.15:32; 1Cor.16:17-18; 2Cor.7:13].