In the historic days of ’76, a young Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, valiantly aided the American colonists in their struggle for independence. Naturally, a place of love and honor was kept for him in the heart of every colonial American. In later years, Lafayette journeyed once more from the land of his birth to the new land of liberty. A triumphant procession awaited him; old soldiers saluted him; great generals received him. A royal welcome was accorded him; and waving banners and martial music escorted him to the great amphitheater at Castle Garden.
As the curtain was lifted, there appeared before the wondering gaze of the French general an exact reproduction of his boyhood home. Tender memories of the dearest friend on earth were linked with that hallowed spot, and Lafayette wept like a child.
When the veil of sin and sorrow is lifted from this world at the second coming of Jesus, our wondering eyes shall behold the heavenly Father, who loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us; we shall look upon the dazzling beauty of a glorified Christ, our elder Brother, our Redeemer, our Friend; we shall gaze upon the living green of our heavenly home, the eternal summer land, the celestial homeland; and all the bitter tears, the wasted years, the haunting fears, will be forgotten as we sing the glory song of redemption.
“When the battle is over, the victory won,
When the trials are ended, the journey is done,
I shall look on a splendor more bright than the sun,
In my home in the Palace of Light.”
Some one has said that time is a little space between two eternities. Oftentimes our eyes grow weary with beholding things in this “little space” called time. There is sorrow and suffering, there are thorns and thistles, there are decay and death. The wasting and pestilence, the devouring scourge, cry out the story of the fall of man and the curse of sin. But, even now, in the beauty of nature, we may glimpse the perfection of our Eden home before the seeds of sin were sown and the harvest of death was reaped. What shall it be when the cruel reign of death is forever ended, when the blight of sin is forever removed, when the desert blossoms as a rose, and the lame, the halt, and the blind are clothed in the garments of eternal youth? What shall it be when the sun shall rise in splendor on the beauty of the hills and over a world that is beautified with the very presence of God?
In days of old there lived a man who delighted in obedience to God and who trusted in the promises of God. His was a life of abiding faith. At one time the Lord told Abraham to look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, and promised him the earth for an eternal inheritance. “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” Galatians 3:16. The fulfillment of the promise was made possible in the substitutionary death and the victorious life of the Lord Jesus. And the inheritance belongs to every child of faith.
“If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29.
The promise to Abraham, “the father of the faithful,” has not been fulfilled and could not be fulfilled so long as the stain of sin is on the earth. In Acts 7:5 we read, “And He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.”
WITH OUR EVANGELIST
VARNER J. JOHNS
Abraham did not expect an inheritance in a sorrow-filled, sin-cursed world. He looked beyond this vale of tears to the mountain peak of eternity. “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.” Hebrews 11:10.
The description of that city of light, the capital city of the new earth, is given to us in the last two chapters of the Bible. I have read of Babylon the beautiful, where the wealth of an empire was lavished on its hanging gardens and magnificent buildings. I have gazed upon the incomparable beauty of Rio de Janeiro, with its green-clad, cone-shaped hills overlooking the sparkling blue waters of a bay that is dotted with emerald isles, with the tropical sun shining upon the red-tiled roofs of pastel-colored mansions, with gilded domes and granite walls along avenues paved with marble blocks in mosaic patterns. And then I have read of the corruption of ancient Babylon, and I have looked upon poor suffering bits of humanity in Rio of the Southern Cross. Hideous tropical ulcers, extending from the foot to the knee and eating to the bone, feet that look like huge toadstools because of an incurable fungus growth, legs swollen to an enormous size from the bite of a mosquito, flesh rotting away from the dread plague of leprosy—all testify to the fact of sin; and as I have looked upon the marred beauty, I have understood the meaning of the words, “Though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.”
In the New Jerusalem disease and degradation and death are not even memories; sadness and sorrow and suffering are all forgotten. The tree of life is there, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations; the river of life is there, and its sparkling water is always pure and clear. There are walls of jasper adorned with precious stones. There are foundations that reflect the beauty of the rainbow. There are gates of pearl and streets of gold. And there is no night there, for the glory of the Lord is its light.
Friends, I want to be there. My inheritance in that beautiful city was dearly bought with the precious blood of Jesus, and I would not barter it away for a mess of the bitter pottage of sin. My mansion is being built by nail-pierced hands, and I would not exchange my title for a thousand townships of the richest land in this world of sin. My crown is being fashioned by a King, and I would not exchange it for the jeweled coronets of the mightiest kingdoms of earth.
The temple of God is within the jasper walls of the New Jerusalem, and the throne of God is within the temple. It is to this capital city that we shall go up from our country homes, every Sabbath to worship before God, every month to partake of the fruit of the tree of life. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from5one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22, 23.
I can hear some one say, “Surely we shall not be real beings and have real homes in the new earth!” Banish the thought of spirit forms, and spirit harps, and spirit crowns—we shall be as real as we are to-day, but with all the marks of sin removed, and with the bloom of perennial youth upon us. We shall not work and toil and slave to build a little protecting home for our old age, only to have the mortgage foreclosed and our tottering feet walking the street in search of bread. We shall not plant and cultivate and reap, only to have some one come in and take the harvest. Listen to Isaiah 65:17, 21, 22:
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” “And they 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.”
It is a fundamental principle in redemption that all that was lost because of the disobedience of Adam will be restored because of the obedience of Christ. The Eden home shall be restored. The image of God that was marred in man shall be restored. The dominion that was lost to the enemy shall be restored to Christ, and to His cherished people. “And Thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8.
“But I thought we all went to heaven,” some one says.
Yes, we do go to heaven when Jesus comes, but only for a thousand years. A millennium of happiness amid the wonders of God’s great universe, a thousand years of joy, meeting with the redeemed, visiting the unfallen worlds, and viewing the handiwork of God in the land of far distances is our privilege when Jesus comes. But at the close of the thousand years the New Jerusalem comes down to this earth, the earth itself is purified and beautified, and it becomes our eternal home. Said Jesus, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
THIS WORLD HONORED
Though this earth is but a grain of sand upon the shore of the ocean of eternity, though the heaven of heavens has been from of old the dwelling place of the infinite God, yet this earth shall be honored above all the myriads of worlds. The temple of God shall be with men, “and He will dwell with them, . . . and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Where stood the cross on Calvary’s hill will be the royal throne. On the plains of old Judea will be the royal city. Oh, the mystery of redeeming love that lifts fallen man from the depths of degradation and exalts him to reign with Jesus through eternity! Oh, the love, the wondrous love!
And there is an abundant entrance for all through the gates of pearl. Even the vilest sinner can be saved by grace, and enter in through the gates into the city. But God can never immortalize sin. Your cherished sins must be surrendered, your idols of gold and of pleasure must be broken down, your old habits must be abandoned. There will be no unlovely traits of character in the lives of the redeemed; no cruel, critical tongue, no harsh, unyielding, or selfish spirit can be there.
“The twelve gates were twelve pearls.” The history of the pearl is a history of suffering. Some foreign substance is introduced between the mantle of the mollusk and its shell. Because of the pain and the suffering, a substance is thrown out and about the stone, and the pearl is formed. The story of redemption is a story of suffering. Unutterable anguish pierced the heart of the Son of God as He bore the weight of the sins of the world to Calvary’s cross. He drank the bitter cup alone, and He died that we might live. And we, too, must suffer, if we would win. “Crucified with Christ” that we might be raised with Him to newness of life, suffering with Christ that we might reign with Him, is the secret of victory. Do you have trials and disappointments? Are you bowed down with infirmity or suffering? Is your heart torn with anguish? Remember this,6
What and Where Is Heaven?
(Continued from page 5)
that it is through gates of pearl, through gates of suffering, that we enter into the palace of light. When we are tested and tried in the furnace of affliction, we shall come forth as gold, worthy to tread the streets of gold, worthy to enter the joys untold.
“Open ye the gates,” we shall hear the angels sing, “that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” The blind shall enter in with undimmed vision; the lame with unbroken strength. The deaf shall enter in with abundant hearing; the sick with never-ending health. Enter into peace; enter into perfection; enter into health; enter into happiness. The gate stands ajar; Jesus bids you enter. The gate may be strait and the way may be narrow, but the crown is worth the cost. Will you enter in?
I have gazed upon the incomparable beauty of Rio de Janeiro, with its green-clad, cone-shaped hills overlooking the sparkling blue waters of a bay that is dotted with emerald isles.
