Chapter 354—Eden Life Renewed
They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another
inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree
are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of
their hands.
Isaiah 65:21, 22
.
There will be employment in Heaven. The redeemed state is not one of
idle repose.
In the earth made new, the redeemed will engage in the occupations and
pleasures that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the beginning. The
Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field....
There every power will be developed, every capability increased. The
grandest enterprises will be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations will be
reached, the highest ambitions realized. And still there will appear new
heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend,
fresh objects of study to call forth the powers of body and mind and soul.
“His servants shall serve him” (
Revelation 22:3
). The life on earth is the
beginning of the life in heaven; education on earth is an initiation into the
principles of heaven; the lifework here is a training for the lifework there.
What we now are, in character and holy service, is the sure foreshadowing
of what we shall be.
“The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister”
(
Matthew 20:28
). Christ’s work below is His work above, and our reward for
working with Him in this world will be the greater power and wider privilege
of working with Him in the world to come. “Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, that I am God” (
Isaiah 43:12
). This also we shall be in eternity....
In our life here, earthly, sin-restricted though it is, the greatest joy and
the highest education are in service. And in the future state, untrammeled by
the limitations of sinful humanity, it is in service that our greatest joy and
our highest education will be found—witnessing, and ever as we witness
learning anew “the riches of the glory of this mystery;” “which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory” (
Colossians 1:27
).
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