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Labor for Pleasure and Enjoyment, December 20
Activities in Heaven
And 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 the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the
mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, be-
side those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers,
shall find a home.
“My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure
dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”
In the earth made new the redeemed will engage in the occupations
and pleasure that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the beginning.
The Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. “They shall build
houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit
of them....”
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 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.
There certainly is and ever will be employment in heaven. The
whole family of the redeemed will not live in a state of dreamy idleness.
There remaineth a rest to the people of God. In heaven activity will
not be wearing and burdensome; it will be rest. The whole family of
the redeemed will find their delight in serving Him whose they are by
creation and by redemption.
To the weary and heavy laden, to those who have fought the good
fight of faith, it will be a glorious rest; for the youth and vigor of immor-
tality will be theirs, and against sin and Satan they will no longer have to
contend.
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