NOT SO FAR FROM HEAVEN.
By Clarence Santee
WHEN speaking of this earth in its relation to heaven, it is natural to think of it as being out of the circle of worlds that compose heaven; as far removed, in every way, from God’s design in creating it. While it is true that this world is not, at the present time, filling the position that the Lord intended in creating it, yet it is still the same material that composed the new world in the beginning. We walk over the same particles of earth that will compose the new world to come. See Ps. 119:89-91. God said to Abraham, “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Gen. 13:17. “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it.” Verse 15. That Abraham did not, during his lifetime, receive the land promised, is certain from the Bible record. Stephen says, “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.” Acts 7:5. This is made still more plain in Heb. 11:8-13, where, in speaking of Abraham and his seed, it is plainly stated that “these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.” Verse 13. So we are living and walking over the identical substance that will be the everlasting home of the family of Abraham. It does not, however, present the same appearance that it did before the curse came upon it in consequence of sin, nor that it will present when the results of sin are removed. Then “the trees were vastly larger, and far surpassing in beauty and perfect proportions anything that mortals can now look upon.” “The whole surface of the earth was changed at the flood. The third dreadful curse now rested upon it in consequence of man’s transgression.” “The beautiful, regular-shaped mountains had disappeared. Stones, ledges, and ragged rocks, appeared upon some parts of the earth which were before out of sight.” “The earth was not one extensive plain; but the monotony of the scenery was broken by hills and mountains, not high and ragged as they now are, but regular and beautiful in shape. The bare, high rocks were never seen upon them, but lay beneath the surface, answering as bones to the earth.” “The air was pure and healthful, and the earth seemed like a noble palace.” The curse hath “devoured the earth.” Isa. 24:6. The circle of the months, with which we are so familiar, will still be retained. The “tree of life” bears “twelve manner of fruits,” and yields “her fruit every month.” Rev. 22:2. “From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship.” Isa. 66:23. The water, without which the earth becomes a lifeless desert, is the same that was brought into existence by the “Word of God.” It is the “water of life” to this earth, even now, filled as it is with the poison washed from the face of nature. There is nothing that will purify itself so quickly as water when in action. In the beginning a “river of life” flowed out from the Garden of Eden. Gen. 2:10. The waters still flow to make the earth habitable. As I crossed the great desert between the East and the Pacific Coast, there were hundreds of miles given up to silence and barrenness. Why was this so? There was soil that would do its part in producing large crops, but it was lifeless. All that it needed was water. Then, even here, we can thank God for the “water of life.” It is God’s gift to man. When we reach the time that these things are all purified, and “the city” is the great center, we shall have no more cause to praise God for the “river of life” than we now have for God’s gift to rich and poor alike, the abundance of life-giving water. We will praise Him more, that is true. But the cause will be that we see His goodness in the gift more plainly than now. We ought to see it now; but we make use of all, and pass on blindly. We are not so far from heaven; and when the poison of sin is taken away, all the elements with which God perfected the earth in the beginning, and with which we now have to do, will be a real, not a mystical, part of heaven. We ought, then, to prize these gifts more highly, striving to use them as God will give them to be used when in the earth made new, praising Him for them, and at the same time see more clearly, and dread more intensely, the blighting results of the sins that have caused so heavy a curse to rest upon the work of His hands that was once pronounced “very good.”