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Prophets and Kings
there.” “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty
of the Lord.”
Isaiah 35:10
;
51:3
;
Psalm 87:7
;
Isaiah 24:14
.
In the earth made new, the redeemed will engage in the occupations
and pleasures that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the begin-
ning. The Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. “They
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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 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.
The prophets to whom these great scenes were revealed longed to
understand their full import. They “inquired and searched diligently:
... searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which
was in them did signify.... Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto
themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now
reported unto you.”
1 Peter 1:10-12
.
To us who are standing on the very verge of their fulfillment, of
what deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the
things to come—events for which, since our first parents turned their
steps from Eden, God’s children have watched and waited, longed and
prayed!
Fellow pilgrim, we are still amid the shadows and turmoil of earthly
activities; but soon our Saviour is to appear to bring deliverance and
rest. Let us by faith behold the blessed hereafter as pictured by the
hand of God. He who died for the sins of the world is opening wide
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the gates of Paradise to all who believe on Him. Soon the battle
will have been fought, the victory won. Soon we shall see Him in
whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence the
trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness. The former
things “shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” “Cast not away
therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God,