LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter 35. Continuation of the same topic.

      1. If someone attempts to interpret the promises like these as allegory, they will end up contradicting themselves and will be exposed by the very meaning of these sayings. Such as, for instance: «Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate» (Is 6:11); «Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the city and land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it» (Is 13:9); and also:»(The wicked man) shall be taken away so he won’t see the glory of God» (Is 26:10). And when this has come about, «God will extend the existence of man but those that remain will be multiplied on earth; and they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them» (Is 6:12). For all these and other (words) have undoubtedly been said about the resurrection of the righteous which will take place after the coming of the Antichrist and the demise of all the nations that subjected themselves to him. At that time, the righteous will be reigning on earth, multiplying while beholding the Lord, and through Him they will learn to be the vessels of the glory of God and will enjoy communicating and communing with the holy angels in His Kingdom and remaining in fellowship with the spiritual beings. And concerning those whom the Lord will find in the flesh awaiting His return from heaven, those who have suffered persecution but have been rescued out of the hand of the evil one, the prophet says: «And the rest will multiply on the earth» [Is 6:12]. Jeremiah also speaks about the believers who will, just as the Lord taught them, serve Jerusalem and the Kingdom of (Christ) so that those who remain will multiply on the earth: «O Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east, and behold the joy that cometh unto thee from God. Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered together from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God. Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of mourning and affliction, and put on the comeliness of the glory that cometh from God for ever. Cast about thee a double garment of the righteousness which cometh from God; and set a diadem on thine head of the glory of the Everlasting. For God will shew thy brightness unto every country under heaven. For thy name shall be called of God for ever the peace of righteousness, and the glory of God’s worship. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look about toward the east, and behold thy children gathered from the west unto the east by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the remembrance of God. For they departed from thee on foot, and were led away of their enemies: but God bringeth them unto thee exalted with glory, as children of the kingdom. For God hath appointed that every high hill, and banks of long continuance, should be cast down, and valleys filled up, to make even the ground, that Israel may go safely in the glory of God, Moreover even the woods and every sweetsmelling tree shall overshadow Israel by the commandment of God. For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory with the mercy and righteousness that cometh from him». [These words are not in Jeremiah but in the deuterocanonical book of the Prophet Baruch (Bar 4:36—37 and chapter 5 to the end)].

      2. Such sayings cannot refer to the realm above heaven because it says: «For God will shew thy brightness unto every country under heaven» (Bar 5:3). They refer to the times of the Kingdom when the earth will be restored by Christ (to its primitive state) and Jerusalem will be recreated in the image of the heavenly Jerusalem, concerning which the prophet Isaiah says: «Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me» (Is 49:16). In the same way, the Apostle also says in Galatians: «But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all» (Gal 4:26). He says this not about some wandering Eon or some force that may have emanated from Pleroma and Prunica but about the Jerusalem written on the hands (of God). And this (heavenly Jerusalem) John saw coming down to the renewed earth in the book of Revelation [Rev 21:2, 10]. For after the times of the Kingdom, «I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them». He tells us about the universal resurrection and judgment: «I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death» (Rev 20:11—14). This place is called hell; the Lord calls it eternal fire (Mt 25:41). «And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire» (Rev 20:15). Further, John says: «And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven 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, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away» (Rev 21:1—4). Isaiah says the same thing: «There will be a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in it» (Is 65:17—18). The Apostle testifies to the same: «For the fashion of this world passeth away» (1 Cor 7:31). Likewise, the Lord also says: «Heaven and earth pass» (Mt 5:18). With the passing of these two, the new, heavenly Jerusalem will come down

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