Friday, December 14, 2012

Chap. 348---At Home in the New Jerusalem


"Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. Isaiah 65:18.
There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified new earth, “a crown
of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” “Her
light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
“The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of
the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.” Saith the Lord: “I will rejoice in
Jerusalem, and joy in my people.” ...
In the City of God “there shall be no night.” None will need or desire repose.
There will be no weariness in doing the will of God and offering praise to His name.
We shall ever feel the freshness of the morning and shall ever be far from its close.
“And they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them
light.” The light of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not painfully
dazzling, yet which immeasurably surpasses the brightness of our noontide. The
glory of God and the Lamb floods the Holy City with unfading light. The redeemed
walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day.
“I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the
temple of it.” The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the
Father and the Son. “Now we see through a glass, darkly.” We behold the image of
God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of nature and in His dealings with men;
but then we shall see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between. We shall
stand in His presence and behold the glory of His countenance.
There we shall know even as also we are known. There the loves and sympathies
that God has planted in the soul will find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure
communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels
and with the faithful ones of all ages, the sacred fellowship that binds together “the
whole family in heaven and earth”—all are among the experiences of the hereafter."

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