Chapter 355—Everlasting Happiness
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at
thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16:11
.
During His ministry Jesus lived to a great degree an outdoor life.... Much
of His teaching was given in the open air.
In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called “a country” (
Hebrews
11:16
). There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living
waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the
tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear
as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths
prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains
swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits.
On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long
pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.
The Bible presents to our view the unsearchable riches and immortal
treasures of heaven. Man’s strongest impulse urges him to seek his own
happiness, and the Bible recognizes this desire and shows us that all heaven
will unite with man in his efforts to gain true happiness. It reveals the
condition upon which the peace of Christ is given to men. It describes a
home of everlasting happiness and sunshine, where no tears nor want shall
ever be known.
Let all that is beautiful in our earthly home remind us of the crystal river
and green fields, the waving trees and living fountains, the shining city and
the white-robed singers, of our heavenly home—that world of beauty which
no artist can picture, mortal tongue describe....
To dwell forever in this home of the blest, to bear in soul, body, and
spirit, not the dark traces of sin and the curse, but the perfect likeness of our
Creator, and through ceaseless ages to advance in wisdom, in knowledge, and
in holiness, ever exploring new fields of thought, ever finding new wonders
and new glories, ever increasing in capacity to know and to enjoy and to
love, and knowing that there is still beyond us joy and love and wisdom
infinite—such is the object to which the Christian’s hope is pointing.
[364]
504