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Book IV. XX. 5.
… The prophets, then, indicated beforehand that God should be seen by men;
as the Lord also says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
But in respect to His greatness, and His wonderful glory, “no man shall see God and live,”
Exodus 33:20
for the Father is incomprehensible;
but in regard to His love, and kindness, and as to His infinite power, even this He grants to those who love Him, that is, to see God, which thing the prophets did also predict. “For those things that are impossible with men, are possible with God.”
Luke 18:27
For man does not see God by his own powers;
but when He pleases He is seen by men, by whom He wills, and when He wills, and as He wills.
For God is powerful in all things, having been seen at that time indeed, prophetically through the Spirit, and seen, too, adoptively through the Son;
and He shall also be seen paternally in the kingdom of heaven, the Spirit truly preparing man in the Son of God, and the Son leading him to the Father, while the Father, too, confers
[upon him]
incorruption for eternal life, which comes to every one from the fact of his seeing God. For as those who see the light are within the light, and partake of its brilliancy;
even so, those who see God are in God, and receive of His splendour. But
[His]
splendour vivifies them;
those, therefore, who see God, do receive life. And for this reason, He,
[although]
beyond comprehension, and boundless and invisible, rendered Himself visible, and comprehensible, and within the capacity of those who believe, that He might vivify those who receive and behold Him through faith. For as His greatness is past finding out, so also His goodness is beyond expression;
by which having been seen, He bestows life upon those who see Him.
It is not possible to live apart from life, and the means of life is found in fellowship with God;
but fellowship with God is to know God, and to enjoy His goodness.
Book IV. XX. 10.
The prophets, therefore, did not openly behold the actual face of God, but
[they saw]
the dispensations and the mysteries through which man should afterwards see God. As was also said to Elias: “You shall go forth tomorrow, and stand in the presence of the Lord;
and, behold, a wind great and strong, which shall rend the mountains, and break the rocks in pieces before the Lord. And the Lord
[was]
not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord
[was]
not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord
[was]
not in the fire;
and after the fire a scarcely audible voice” (vox auræ tenuis).
1 Kings 19:11-12
For by such means was the prophet— very indignant, because of the transgression of the people and the slaughter of the prophets — both taught to act in a more gentle manner;
and the Lord's advent as a man was pointed out, that it should be subsequent to that law which was given by Moses, mild and tranquil, in which He would neither break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.
Isaiah 42:3
The mild and peaceful repose of His kingdom was indicated likewise.
For, after the wind which rends the mountains, and after the earthquake, and after the fire, come
the tranquil and peaceful times of His kingdom,
in which the spirit of God does, in the most gentle manner, vivify and increase mankind. This, too, was made still clearer by Ezekiel, that the prophets saw the dispensations of God in part, but not actually God Himself. For when this man had seen the vision
Ezekiel 1:1
of God, and the cherubim, and their wheels, and when he had recounted the mystery of the whole of that progression, and had beheld the likeness of a throne above them, and upon the throne a likeness as of the figure of a man, and the things which were upon his loins as the figure of amber, and what was below like the sight of fire, and when he set forth all the rest of the vision of the thrones, lest any one might happen to think that in those
[visions]
he had actually seen God, he added: “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God.”
Ezekiel 2:1
Book IV. XXXIII. 11.
For some of them, beholding Him in glory, saw His glorious life (conversationem)
at the Father's right hand;
others beheld Him coming on the clouds as the Son of man;
Daniel 7:13
and those who declared regarding Him, “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,”
Zechariah 12:10
indicated His
[second]
advent, concerning which He Himself says, “Do you think that when the Son of man comes, He shall find faith on the earth?” Paul also refers to this event when he says, “If, however, it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you that are troubled rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with His mighty angels, and in a flame of fire.”
2 Thessalonians 1:6-8
Others again, speaking of Him as a judge, and
[referring], as if it were a burning furnace,
[to]
the day of the Lord, who “gathers the wheat into His barn, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,”
Matthew 3:12
were accustomed to threaten those who were unbelieving, concerning whom also the Lord Himself declares, “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Matthew 25:41
And the apostle in like manner says
[of them], “Who shall be punished with everlasting death from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when
He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in those who believe in Him.”
2 Thessalonians 1:9-10
There are also some
[of them]
who declare, “You are fairer than the children of men;” and, “God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows;” and, “Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Most Mighty, with Your beauty and Your fairness, and go forward and proceed prosperously;
and rule You because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.” And whatever other things of a like nature are spoken regarding Him, these indicated that beauty and splendour which exist in His kingdom, along with the transcendent and pre-eminent exaltation
[belonging]
to all who are under His sway, that those who hear might desire to be found there, doing such things as are pleasing to God. Again, there are those who say, “He is a man, and who shall know him?” and, “I came unto the prophetess, and she bore a son, and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God;” and those
[of them]
who proclaimed Him as Immanuel,
[born]
of the Virgin, exhibited the union of the Word of God with His own workmanship,
[declaring]
that the Word should become flesh, and the Son of God the Son of man (the pure One opening purely that pure womb which regenerates men unto God, and which He Himself made pure);
and having become this which we also are, He
[nevertheless]
is the Mighty God, and possesses a generation which cannot be declared. And there are also some of them who say, “The Lord has spoken in Zion, and uttered His voice from Jerusalem;”
Joel 3:16
and, “In Judah is God known;” — these indicated His advent which took place in Judea. Those, again, who declare that “God comes from the south, and from a mountain thick with foliage,”
Habakkuk 3:3
announced His advent at Bethlehem, as I have pointed out in the
preceding book.
From that place, also, He who rules, and who feeds the people of His Father, has come. Those, again, who declare that at His coming “the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall
[speak]
plainly, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear,”
Isaiah 35:5-6
and that “the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, shall be strengthened,”
Isaiah 35:3
and that “the dead which are in the grave shall arise,”
Isaiah 26:19
and that He Himself “shall take
[upon Him]
our weaknesses, and bear our sorrows,”
Isaiah 53:4
—
[all these]
proclaimed those works of healing which were accomplished by Him.
Book V. XXVI. 2.
If therefore the great God showed future things by Daniel, and confirmed them by His Son;
and if Christ is the stone which is cut out without hands, who shall destroy temporal kingdoms, and introduce an eternal one, which is the resurrection of the just;
as he declares, “The God of heaven shall raise up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,” — let those thus confuted come to their senses, who reject the Creator (Demiurgum), and do not agree that the prophets were sent beforehand from the same Father from whom also the Lord came, but who assert that prophecies originated from diverse powers. For those things which have been predicted by the Creator alike through all the prophets has Christ fulfilled in the end, ministering to His Father's will, and completing His dispensations with regard to the human race. …
Book V. XXXII. 1.
Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain
[orthodox persons]
are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God's dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and
of the
[earthly]
kingdom which is the commencement of incorruption, by means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum );
and it is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behooves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated, and that the judgment should take place afterwards. For it is just that in that very creation in which they toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by suffering, they should receive the reward of their suffering;
and that in the creation in which they were slain because of their love to God, in that they should be revived again;
and that in the creation in which they endured servitude, in that they should reign. For God is rich in all things, and all things are His. It is fitting, therefore,
that the creation itself, being restored to its primeval condition, should without restraint be under the dominion of the righteous;
and the apostle has made this plain in the Epistle to the Romans, when he thus speaks: “For the expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature has been subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope;
since the creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.”
Romans 8:19, etc.
Book V. XXXII. 2.
Thus, then, the promise of God, which He gave to Abraham, remains steadfast. For thus He said: “Lift up your eyes, and look from this place where now you are, towards the north and south, and east and west. For all the earth which you see I will give to you and to your seed, even forever.”
Genesis 13:13-14
And again He says, “Arise, and go through the length and breadth of the land, since I will give it unto you;”
Genesis 13:17
and
[yet]
he did not receive an inheritance in it, not even a footstep, but was always a stranger and a pilgrim therein.
Acts 7:5;
Hebrews 11:13
And upon the death of Sarah his wife, when the Hittites were willing to bestow upon him a place where he might bury her, he declined it as a gift, but bought the burying-place (giving for it four hundred talents of silver)
from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite.
Genesis 23:11
Thus did he await patiently the promise of God, and was unwilling to appear to receive from men, what God had promised to give him, when He said again to him as follows: “I will give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt even unto the great river Euphrates.”
Genesis 15:13
If, then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said: “For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham.”
Luke 3:8
Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “But you, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.”
Galatians 4:28
And again, in the same Epistle, he plainly declares that they who have believed in Christ do receive Christ, the promise to Abraham thus saying, “The promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. Now He does not say, And of seeds, as if
[He spoke]
of many, but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ.”
Galatians 3:16
And again, confirming his former words, he says, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know therefore, that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham. But the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, declared to Abraham beforehand, That in you shall all nations be blessed. So then they which are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Galatians 3:6, etc.
Thus, then, they who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, and these are the children of Abraham.
Now God made promise of the earth to Abraham and his seed;
yet neither Abraham nor his seed, that is, those who are justified by faith, do now receive any inheritance in it;
but they shall receive it at the resurrection of the just.
For God is true and faithful;
and on this account He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:5
Book V. XXXIII. 1.
For this reason, when about to undergo His sufferings, that He might declare to Abraham and those with him the glad tidings of the inheritance being thrown open,
[Christ], after He had given thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it, and given it to the disciples, said to them: “Drink all of it: this is My blood of the new covenant, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine, until that day when I will drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
Matthew 26:27
Thus, then, He will Himself renew the inheritance of the earth, and will re-organize the mystery of the glory of
[His]
sons;
as David says, “He who has renewed the face of the earth.” He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples, thus indicating both these points: the inheritance of the earth in which the new fruit of the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of His disciples in the flesh. For the new flesh which rises again is the same which also received the new cup. And
He cannot by any means be understood as drinking of the fruit of the vine when settled down with his
[disciples]
above in a super-celestial place;
nor, again, are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains to flesh, and not spirit.
Book V. XXXIII. 2.
And for this reason the Lord declared, “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your neighbours, nor your kinsfolk, lest they ask you in return, and so repay you. But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and you shall be blessed, since they cannot recompense you, but a recompense shall be made you at the resurrection of the just.”
Luke 14:12-13
And again He says, “Whosoever shall have left lands, or houses, or parents, or brethren, or children because of Me, he shall receive in this world an hundred-fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life.”
Matthew 19:29;
Luke 18:29-30
For
what are the hundred-fold
[rewards]
in this word, the entertainments given to the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made?
These are
[to take place]
in the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been sanctified, in which God rested from all the works which He created, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous,
which they shall not be engaged in any earthly occupation;
but shall have a table at hand prepared for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes.
Book V. XXXIII. 3.
The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same meaning, when he says,
"Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed."
Genesis 27:27, etc.
But “the field is the world.”
Matthew 13:38
And therefore he added, “God give to you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, plenty of grain and wine. And let the nations serve you, and kings bow down to you;
and be lord over your brother, and your father's sons shall bow down to you: cursed shall be he who shall curse you, and blessed shall be he who shall bless you.”
Genesis 27:28-29
If any one, then, does not accept these things as referring to the appointed kingdom, he must fall into much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with the Jews, who are involved in absolute perplexity. For not only did not the nations in this life serve this Jacob;
but even after he had received the blessing, he himself going forth
[from his home], served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years;
Genesis 31:41
and not only was he not made lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down before his brother Esau, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father, and offered many gifts to him.
Genesis 33:3
Moreover, in what way did he inherit much grain and wine here, he who emigrated to Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land in which he was dwelling, and became subject to Pharaoh, who was then ruling over Egypt?
The predicted blessing, therefore, belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead;
when also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven, and from the fertility of the earth: as the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, related that they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times, and say:
The days will come, in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches,
and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, “I am a better cluster, take me;
bless the Lord through me.” In like manner
[the Lord declared]
that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear should have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds (quinque bilibres)
of clear, pure, fine flour;
and that all other fruit-bearing trees, and seeds and grass, would produce in similar proportions (secundum congruentiam iis consequentem);
and that all animals feeding
[only]
on the productions of the earth, should
[in those days]
become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to man.
Book V. XXXIV. 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 You is health to them.”
Isaiah 26:19
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 you shall live;
and I will place you on your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:12, etc.
And again the same speaks thus: “These things says 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.”
Ezekiel 28:25-26
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,”
Matthew 3:9
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, says the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord lives, 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.”
Jeremiah 23:6-7
Book V. XXXIV. 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.”
Isaiah 30:25-26
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 you shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause you to pass over the whole earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father.”
Isaiah 58:14
This is what the Lord declared: “Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He comes 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.”
Luke 12:37-38
Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.”
Revelation 20:6
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.”
Isaiah 6:11
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.”
Daniel 7:27
And lest the promise named should be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophet: “And come, and stand in your lot at the consummation of the days.”
Daniel 12:13
Book V. XXXIV. 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, you nations, and declare it to the isles afar off;
say, that the Lord will scatter Israel, He will gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his flock of sheep.
For the Lord has 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.”
Jeremiah 31:10, etc.
Now, in the preceding book 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.
Matthew 12:5
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.
Book V. XXXIV. 4.
Then again, speaking of Jerusalem, and of Him reigning there, Isaiah declares, “Thus says the Lord, Happy is he who has seed in Zion, and servants in Jerusalem. Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment.”
Isaiah 31:9,
Isaiah 32:1
And with regard to the foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says: “Behold, I will lay in order for you a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for your foundations;
and I will lay your ramparts with jasper, and your gates with crystal, and your wall with choice stones: and all your children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of your children;
and in righteousness shall you be built up.”
Isaiah 54:11-14
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 you;
for the works of their hands shall endure.”
Isaiah 65:18
Book V. XXXV. 1.
If, however, any shall endeavour to allegorize
[prophecies]
of this kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very expressions
[in question]. For example: “When the cities” of the Gentiles “shall be desolate, so that they be not inhabited, and the houses so that there shall be no men in them and the land shall be left desolate.”
Isaiah 6:11
“For, behold,” says Isaiah, “the day of the Lord comes past remedy, full of fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out of it.”
Isaiah 13:9
And again he says, “Let him be taken away, that he behold not the glory of God.”
Isaiah 26:10
And when these things are done, he says, “God will remove men far away, and those that are left shall multiply in the earth.”
Isaiah 6:12
“And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them themselves: and plant vineyards, and eat of them themselves.”
Isaiah 65:21
For all these and other words were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule;
in
[the times of]
which
[resurrection]
the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings;
and
[with respect to]
those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the Wicked one.
For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: “And those that are left shall multiply upon the earth,” And Jeremiah the prophet has pointed out, that as many believers as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both be under the rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that
[His]
kingdom shall be in it, saying, “Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and behold the joy which comes to you from God Himself. Behold, your sons shall come whom you have sent forth: they shall come in a band from the east even unto the west, by the word of that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour which is from your God. O Jerusalem, put off your robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendour from your God. Gird yourself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding from your God;
place the mitre of eternal glory upon your head. For God will show your glory to the whole earth under heaven. For your name shall for ever be called by God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and behold your sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For the footmen have gone forth from you, while they were drawn away by the enemy. God shall bring them in to you, being borne with glory as the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command of God. For God shall go before with joy in the light of His splendour, with the pity and righteousness which proceeds from Him.”
Book V. XXXV. 2.
Now all these things being such as they are, cannot be understood in reference to super-celestial matters;
“for God,” it is said,
“will show to the whole earth that is under heaven your glory.”
But in the times of the kingdom, the earth has been called again by Christ
[to its pristine condition], and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the Jerusalem above, of which the prophet Isaiah says,
“Behold, I have depicted your walls upon my hands, and you are always in my sight.”
Isaiah 49:16
And the apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, “But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”
Galatians 4:26
He does not say this with any thought of an erratic Æon, or of any other power which departed from the Pleroma, or of Prunicus, but of the Jerusalem which has been delineated on
[God's]
hands. And in the Apocalypse John saw this new
[Jerusalem]
descending upon the new earth.
Revelation 21:2
For after the times of the kingdom, he says, “I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens;
and there was no more place for them.”
Revelation 20:11
And he sets forth, too, the things connected with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning “the dead, great and small.” “The sea,” he says, “gave up the dead which it had in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead that they contained;
and the books were opened. Moreover,” he says, “the book of life was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works;
and death and hell were sent into the lake of fire, the second death.”
Revelation 20:12-14
Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord styled eternal fire.
Matthew 25:41
“And if any one,” it is said, “was not found written in the book of life, he was sent into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15
And after this, he says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth have passed away;
also there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband.” “And I heard,” it is said, “a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them;
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them as their God. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
Isaiah also declares the very same: “For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth;
and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and exultation.”
Isaiah 65:17-18
Now this is what has been said by the apostle: “For the fashion of this world passes away.”
1 Corinthians 7:31
To the same purpose did the Lord also declare, “Heaven and earth shall pass away.”
Matthew 24:35
When these things, therefore, pass away above the earth, John, the Lord's disciple, says that the new Jerusalem above shall
[then]
descend, as a bride adorned for her husband;
and that this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image — that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation. And of this tabernacle Moses received the pattern in the mount;
Exodus 25:40
and nothing is capable of being allegorized, but all things are steadfast, and true, and substantial, having been made by God for righteous men's enjoyment. For as it is God truly who raises up man, so also does man truly rise from the dead, and not allegorically, as I have shown repeatedly. And as he rises actually, so also shall he be actually disciplined beforehand for incorruption, and shall go forwards and flourish in the times of the kingdom, in order that he may be capable of receiving the glory of the Father. Then, when all things are made new, he shall truly dwell in the city of God. For it is said, “He that sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And the Lord says, Write all this;
for these words are faithful and true. And He said to me, They are done.”
Revelation 21:5-6
And this is the truth of the matter.
See also
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