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At Home in the New Jerusalem, December 14
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
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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be superseded by a radiance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which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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