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| Chapter XXXIII.—Further proofs of the same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it.
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Chapter XXXIII.—Further proofs of the
same proposition, drawn from the promises made by Christ, when He declared that
He would drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples in His Father’s
kingdom, while at the same time He promised to reward them an hundred-fold, and
to make them partake of banquets. The blessing pronounced by Jacob had pointed
out this already, as Papias and the elders have interpreted it.
1. For this reason, when about to undergo His
sufferings, that He might declare to Abraham and those with him the glad
tidings of the inheritance being thrown open, [Christ], after He had
given thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it, and given it to
the disciples, said to them: “Drink ye all of it: this is My blood
of the new covenant, which shall be shed for many for the remission of
sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of
this vine, until that day when I will drink it new with you in my
Father’s kingdom.”4732
Thus,
then, He will Himself renew the inheritance of the earth, and will
re-organize the mystery of the glory of [His] sons; as David says,
“He who hath renewed the face of the earth.”4733
He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples,
thus indicating both these points: the inheritance of the earth in which
the new fruit of the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of His disciples
in the flesh. For the new flesh which rises again is the same which also
received the new cup. And He cannot by any means be understood as
drinking of the fruit of the vine when settled down with his [disciples]
above in a super-celestial place; nor, again, are they who drink it
devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains
to flesh, and not spirit.
2. And for this reason the Lord declared, “When
thou makest a dinner or a supper, do not call thy friends, nor thy
neighbours, nor thy kinsfolk, lest they ask thee in return, and so repay
thee. But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou shall be
blessed, since they cannot recompense thee, but a recompense shall be
made thee at the resurrection of the just.”4734
And again He says, “Whosoever shall have
left lands, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children because of
Me, he shall receive in this world an hundred-fold, and in that to come
he shall inherit eternal life.”4735
For what are the hundred-fold
[rewards] in this word, the entertainments given to the poor, and the
suppers for which a return is made? These are [to take place] in the
times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been
sanctified, in which God rested from all the works which He created,
which is the true Sabbath of the righteous, which they shall not be
engaged in any earthly occupation; but shall have a table at hand
prepared for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes.
3. The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed
his younger son Jacob has the same meaning, when he says, “Behold,
the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has
blessed.”4736
But “the
field is the world.”4737
And
therefore he added, “God give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of
the fatness of the earth, plenty of corn and wine. And let the nations
serve thee, and kings bow down to thee; and be thou lord over thy
brother, and thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee: cursed shall
be he who shall curse thee, and blessed shall be he who shall bless
thee.”4738
If any one, then,
does not accept these things as referring to the appointed kingdom, he
must fall into much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with
the Jews, who are involved in absolute perplexity. For not only did not
the nations in this life serve this Jacob; but even after he had received
the blessing, he himself going forth [from his home], served his uncle
Laban the Syrian for twenty years;4739
and not
only was he not made lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down
before his brother Esau, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father,
and offered many gifts to him.4740
Moreover, in what way did he inherit much corn and wine here, he who
emigrated to Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land in
which he was dwelling, and became subject to Pharaoh, who was then ruling
over Egypt? The predicted blessing, therefore, belongs unquestionably to
the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear rule upon their
rising from the dead;4741
| 4741
From this to the end of the section there is an Armenian version extant,
to be found in the Spicil. Solesm. i. p. 1, edited by M. Pitra,
Paris 1852, and which was taken by him from an Armenian ms. in the Mechitarist Library at
Venice, described as being of the twelfth century. | when also
the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an
abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven, and from the
fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the disciple of the
Lord, related that they had heard
from him how the Lord used
to teach in regard to these times, and say: The days will come, in which
vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and in each branch
ten thousand twigs, and in each true4742
| 4742 This word “true” is not found in the
Armenian. | twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one of the
shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten
thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty
metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a
cluster,4743
| 4743 Or, following
Arm. vers., “But if any one shall lay hold of an holy
cluster.” | another shall cry out, “I am a better
cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me.” In like manner [the
Lord declared] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and
that every ear should have ten thousand grains, and every grain would
yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres) of clear, pure, fine flour;
and that all other fruit-bearing trees,4744
| 4744 The Arm. vers. is here followed; the old Latin reads,
“Et reliqua autem poma.” | and seeds and grass,
would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam iis
consequentem); and that all animals feeding [only] on the productions
of the earth, should [in those days] become peaceful and harmonious among
each other, and be in perfect subjection to man.
4. And these things
are borne witness to in writing by Papias, the hearer of John, and a
companion of Polycarp, in his fourth book; for there were five books
compiled (συντεταγμένα) by
him.4745
| 4745 [See pp.
151–154, this volume.] | And he says in addition,
“Now these things are credible to believers.” And he says
that, “when the traitor Judas did not give credit to them, and put
the question, ‘How then can things about to bring forth so
abundantly be wrought by the Lord?’ the Lord declared, ‘They
who shall come to these [times] shall see.’ ” When
prophesying of these times, therefore, Esaias says: “The wolf also
shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall take his rest with the
kid; the calf also, and the bull, and the lion shall eat together; and a
little boy shall lead them. The ox and the bear shall feed together, and
their young ones shall agree together; and the lion shall eat straw as
well as the ox. And the infant boy shall thrust his hand into the
asp’s den, into the nest also of the adder’s brood; and they
shall do no harm, nor have power to hurt anything in my holy
mountain.” And again he says, in recapitulation, “Wolves and
lambs shall then browse together, and the lion shall eat straw like the
ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread; and they shall neither
hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”4746
I am quite aware that some persons
endeavour to refer these words to the case of savage men, both of
different nations and various habits, who come to believe, and when they
have believed, act in harmony with the righteous. But although this is
[true] now with regard to some men coming from various nations to the
harmony of the faith, nevertheless in the resurrection of the just [the
words shall also apply] to those animals mentioned. For God is rich in
all things. And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the
animals should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food
originally given by God (for they had been originally subjected in
obedience to Adam), that is, the productions of the earth. But some other
occasion, and not the present, is [to be sought] for showing that the
lion shall [then] feed on straw. And this indicates the large size and
rich quality of the fruits. For if that animal, the lion, feeds upon
straw [at that period], of what a quality must the wheat itself be whose
straw shall serve as suitable food for lions?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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