p. 7 | Our Bible Reading

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, Cal. · Feb 24, 1909

Our Bible Reading

The Home of the Redeemed.

"WE'VE no abiding city here, Sad truth were this to be our home; But let this thought our spirits cheer, We seek a city yet to come."

1. What promise of the Saviour encourages the desire for a home? "Let not your heart be troubled. . . . In My Father's house are many mansions; . . . I go to prepare a PLACE FOR YOU. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3.

2. When will this longing be realized? "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4: 16-18.

3. How long will the redeemed remain in heaven? "They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Rev. 20:4.

4. What will be the condition of the earth during this period? "Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." Isa. 24: 1-3, 5.

5. Beyond this what did the prophets see? "I saw a NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away." Rev. 21:1. "According to His promise, we look for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13.

6. At this time what takes place? "I saw the holy city, NEW JERUSALEM, COMING DOWN OUT OF HEAVEN from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev. 21:2. "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." Zech. 14:4.

7. What will become of sin and sinners? "When the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. . . . And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20: 7-9.

8. How will this fire affect the earth? "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10.

9. What Old Testament prophecy will thus be fulfilled? "Behold, I CREATE NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH; and the former things shall not come into mind." Isa. 65:17.

10. For how long, how far-reaching, and how secure will this inheritance be? "Jehovah knoweth the days of the perfect; And THEIR INHERITANCE SHALL BE FOREVER." Ps. 37:18. "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River unto the ends of the earth." Ps. 72:8. "But the meek shall inherit the land, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. 37:9.

11. In this restoration of the earth for the abode of man, what is accomplished in the purpose of God? "Thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else." Isa. 45:18. "The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah; But the earth hath He given to the children of men." Ps. 115:16.

NOTE.—For one thousand years after the resurrection, according to these scriptures, the saints of God will live in heaven, where they reign with Christ in the capital city of the new earth, the New Jerusalem. At the end of that time they come again to this earth, the holy city descends, the wicked are destroyed, the earth is purified, and becomes the eternal abode of the ransomed. H.