God’s People Delivered
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man was created in the likeness of God, not only in character, but
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in form and feature. Sin defaced and almost obliterated the divine
image; but Christ came to restore that which had been lost. He will
change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body.
The mortal, corruptible form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted
with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. All blemishes
and deformities are left in the grave. Restored to the tree of life in
the long-lost Eden, the redeemed will “grow up” (
Malachi 4:2
) to the
full stature of the race in its primeval glory. The last lingering traces
of the curse of sin will be removed, and Christ’s faithful ones will
appear in “the beauty of the Lord our God,” in mind and soul and body
reflecting the perfect image of their Lord. Oh, wonderful redemption!
long talked of, long hoped for, contemplated with eager anticipation,
but never fully understood.
The living righteous are changed “in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye.” At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are
made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their
Lord in the air. Angels “gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other.” Little children are borne by holy
angels to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are
united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together
to the City of God.
On each side of the cloudy chariot are wings, and beneath it are
living wheels; and as the chariot rolls upward, the wheels cry, “Holy,”
and the wings, as they move, cry, “Holy,” and the retinue of angels
cry, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” And the redeemed shout,
“Alleluia!” as the chariot moves onward toward the New Jerusalem.
Before entering the City of God, the Saviour bestows upon His
followers the emblems of victory and invests them with the insignia
of their royal state. The glittering ranks are drawn up in the form of
a hollow square about their King, whose form rises in majesty high
above saint and angel, whose countenance beams upon them full of
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benignant love. Throughout the unnumbered host of the redeemed
every glance is fixed upon Him, every eye beholds His glory whose
“visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than
the sons of men.” Upon the heads of the overcomers, Jesus with His
own right hand places the crown of glory. For each there is a crown,
bearing his own “new name” (
Revelation 2:17
), and the inscription,