Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; also by the parable of the servants watching, to whom the Lord promised that He would minister.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his
opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after
their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah,
and Daniel; also by the parable of the servants watching, to whom the Lord
promised that He would minister.
1. Then,
too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this
nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The dead
shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those
who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to
them.”4747
And this again Ezekiel
also says: “Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you
forth out of your graves; when I will draw my people from the sepulchres,
and I will put breath in you, and ye shall live; and I will place you on
your own land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”4748
And again the same speaks thus: “These things
saith the Lord, I will
gather Israel from all nations whither they have been driven, and I shall
be sanctified in them in the sight of the sons of the nations: and they
shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. And they
shall dwell in it in peace; and they shall build houses, and plant
vineyards, and dwell in hope, when I shall cause judgment to fall among
all who have dishonoured them, among those who encircle them round about;
and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of
their fathers.”4749
Now I have shown a
short time ago that the church is the seed of Abraham; and for this
reason, that we may know that He who in the New Testament “raises
up from the stones children unto
Abraham,”4750
is He who will gather, according to the Old
Testament, those that shall be saved from all the nations, Jeremiah says:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more
say, The Lord liveth, who
led the children of Israel from the north, and from every region whither
they had been driven; He will restore them to their own land which He
gave to their fathers.”4751
2. That the whole creation shall, according to
God’s will, obtain a vast increase, that it may bring forth and
sustain fruits such [as we have mentioned], Isaiah declares: “And
there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill,
water running everywhere in that day, when many shall perish, when walls
shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
seven times that of the day, when He shall heal the anguish of His
people, and do away with the pain of His stroke.”4752
Now “the pain of the stroke” means
that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is,
death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead,
and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says:
“And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee to
pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob
thy father.”4753
This is what the Lord
declared: “Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh
shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself,
and make them to sit down [to meat], and will come forth and serve them.
And if He shall come in the evening watch, and find them so, blessed are
they, because He shall make them sit down, and minister to them; or if
this be in the second, or it be in the third, blessed are
they.”4754
Again John also says
the very same in the Apocalypse: “Blessed and holy is he who has
part in the first resurrection.”4755
Then, too,
Isaiah has declared the time when these events shall occur; he says:
“And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a
desert. And after these things the Lord shall remove us men far away
(longe nos faciet Deus homines), and those who shall remain shall
multiply upon the earth.”4756
Then
Daniel also says this very thing: “And the kingdom and dominion,
and the greatness of those under the heaven, is given to the saints of
the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominions shall
serve and obey Him.”4757
And lest
the promise named should be understood as referring to this time, it was
declared to the prophet: “And come thou, and stand in thy lot at
the consummation of the days.”4758
3. Now, that the promises were not announced to the
prophets and the fathers alone, but to the Churches united to these from
the nations, whom also the Spirit terms “the islands” (both
because they are established in the midst of turbulence, suffer the storm
of blasphemies, exist as a harbour of safety to those in peril, and are
the refuge of those who love the height [of heaven], and strive to avoid
Bythus, that is, the depth of error), Jeremiah thus declares: “Hear
the word of the Lord, ye
nations, and declare it to the isles afar off; say ye, that the Lord will scatter Israel, He will
gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his flock of sheep. For the Lord
hath redeemed Jacob, and rescued him from the hand of one stronger than
he. And they shall come and rejoice in Mount Zion, and shall come to what
is good, and into a land of wheat, and wine, and fruits, of animals and
of sheep; and their soul shall be as a tree bearing fruit, and they shall
hunger no more. At that time also shall the virgins rejoice in the
company of the young men: the old men, too, shall be glad, and I will
turn their sorrow into joy; and I will make them exult, and will magnify
them, and satiate the souls of the priests the sons of Levi; and my
people shall be satiated with my goodness.”4759
Now, in the preceding book4760
I have shown
that all the disciples of the Lord are Levites and priests, they who used
in the temple to profane the Sabbath, but are blameless.4761
Promises of such a nature, therefore, do indicate in the clearest
manner the feasting of that creation in the kingdom of the righteous,
which God promises that He will Himself serve.
4. Then again, speaking of Jerusalem, and of Him
reigning there, Isaiah declares, “Thus saith the Lord, Happy is he who hath seed
in Zion, and servants in Jerusalem. Behold, a righteous king shall reign,
and princes shall rule with judgment.”4762
And with regard to the
foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says: “Behold, I will
lay in order for thee a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for thy
foundations; and I will lay thy ramparts with jasper, and thy gates with
crystal, and thy wall with choice stones: and all thy children shall be
taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children; and in
righteousness shalt thou be built up.”4763
And yet again
does he
say the same thing: “Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my
people [a joy]; for the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her,
nor the voice of crying. Also there shall not be there any immature
[one], nor an old man who does not fulfil his time: for the youth shall
be of a hundred years; and the sinner shall die a hundred years old, yet
shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them
themselves; and shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them
themselves, and shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others
inhabit; neither shall they prepare the vineyard, and others eat. For as
the days of the tree of life shall be the days of the people in thee; for
the works of their hands shall endure.”4764
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
