Saturday, December 14, 2024

The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and the Son....

 

There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified new earth, a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” “Her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.Saith the Lord:I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people.” ... 

In the City of God there shall be no night. None will need or desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing the will of God and offering praise to His name. We shall ever feel the freshness of the morning and shall ever be far from its close. And they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light. The light of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which immeasurably surpasses the brightness of our noontide. The glory of God and the Lamb floods the Holy City with unfading light. The redeemed walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day. 

I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The people of God are privileged to hold open communion with the Father and the Son. Now we see through a glass, darkly. We behold the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of nature and in His dealings with men; but then we shall see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between. We shall stand in His presence and behold the glory of His countenance.38The Great Controversy, 676-677. 

There we shall know even as also we are known. There the loves and sympathies that God has planted in the soul will find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages, the sacred fellowship that binds together the whole family in heaven and earth—all are among the experiences of the hereafter.39Education, 306. Mar 356

 

In Christ's parable teaching the same principle is seen as in His own mission to the world. That we might become acquainted with His divine character and life, Christ took our nature and dwelt among us. Divinity was revealed in humanity; the invisible glory in the visible human form. Men could learn of the unknown through the known; heavenly things were revealed through the earthly; God was made manifest in the likeness of men. So it was in Christ's teaching: the unknown was illustrated by the known; divine truths by earthly things with which the people were most familiar. COL 17

 

 

Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. Isaiah 65:18. KJV