01.24. The Eternal Life.

24. The Eternal Life. The end and destination of things, as well as their origin and being, are veiled in an impenetrable darkness to the inquiring mind of man. Whoever expects science to shed light on these mysteries must sooner or later come to the realization, together with a scholar of the new age: what the end and purpose of history is, I do not know and no one knows.

Nevertheless, there are always new attempts to answer these vexing questions or to cut them off and eradicate them from the human heart. Not so long ago, many scholars took this position; materialism was in vogue and proclaimed loudly that all was finished with death and that belief in immortality was foolishness. One of their spokespersons openly declared that the belief in a survival beyond the grave was the last enemy, which science had to fight and, if possible, overcome. This visible and tangible world was the only one that existed; and with it there could be no beginning and no end, because it revolved in an eternal cycle. The practical consequence of this superficial and comfortless doctrine was that people declared every argument against eternity to be of no value and wanted to enjoy this sensual life as much as possible. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

There are still many who think and act in this way, but a turn has come in the direction of the spirits. On closer examination, the questions of eternity turned out not to be so foolish and worthless, nor so easy to answer, as had at first been thought. The study of the religions of the peoples revealed that the belief in immortality is peculiar to all mankind and is found even among the most savage and uncivilized tribes. A national scientist, who has made a great name for himself in this field of science, testified a few years ago that we find the belief in immortality everywhere, among all peoples, at every stage of development, where no philosophical reflections have undermined it or other causes have pushed it into the background, and that the belief in immortality is not only a part of life, but also a part of the life of mankind, and that it is everywhere connected with religion. Yes, all peoples start from the conviction that man is immortal by nature, and that not immortality but death must be explained. Death is felt everywhere to be something unnatural; according to the beliefs of many peoples, it is the work of hostile spirits; there was a time when it did not exist and undisturbed life was the lot of mankind. In the Pagan world, however, very different notions of the state of souls after death were formed. Some people think that the souls remain with the bodies in the tombs, maintain intercourse with the living, influence their fate and can still appear to them. Others believe that after death the souls all gather in a large realm of the dead, where they lead a shadowy life and a faded existence, or even sink completely into unconsciousness and sleep. Very widespread is also the opinion that the souls, after having left the human body, immediately change into another body, and, depending on how they have lived and behaved on earth, receive the body of a tree, of some animal, of a human being or of a higher being. And finally, the idea of immortality has often been elaborated in the sense that the good and the bad receive different fates after death and continue their existence in different places. The different ways in which the state of souls after death is viewed, the different ceremonies for the burial or cremation of bodies and for the service rendered to the dead; sometimes the whole religion of the heathen peoples is practically absorbed in veneration of the ancestors. Often the view is limited to the state of the souls after death; but it also happens that one looks beyond and includes the end of the world. And then the expectation is always that one day good will triumph over evil, light over darkness, heavenly power over that which rules the earth and under the earth.

All these heathen ideas, which were overcome or purified by Christianity, have returned in the new era and find followers by the thousands. Materialism was so unsatisfactory after a short time that many went to the other extreme; man always remains the same; his heart does not change and cannot live without hope. The fact that souls continue to exist after death, that they appear to those left behind and can make revelations, that they take on another body immediately upon death, depending on their behavior on earth, and continue to develop in it, is again being hailed as new and highest wisdom in many circles. Even the phenomena of the invocation, veneration and fear of the dead are not absent; for many, spirit service has replaced the service of the one and true God.

It is a remarkable sign of the times that this spirit service is closely associated with the doctrine of evolution. At first this connection seems strange; how can someone who assumes the development of man from the animal believe in the "survival of souls after death"? But on closer consideration this connection appears to be very simple and natural. For if, in the past, the living was able to develop from the dead, the soul from the metabolism, man from the animal, why should it be impossible for man to develop much further and higher in the future, not only here on earth, but also beyond the grave? If life can come from death, death can also lead to a higher life. If the animal could become a human being, the human being could also ascend to become an angel. With the one term of evolution, everything is made possible and everything is explained. But at the same time that this house of cards has been built for hope, the foundation itself begins to totter. The proponents of the immortality and development theories mentioned above want little or nothing to do with the Scriptural teaching on death and the grave, judgment and punishment. In their view, death is no reward for sin, but only a moment of passage to a different and higher life; there is no judgment except in the sense that everyone has to bear the consequences of his or her own will and actions; there is no room for hell, because everyone is included in the process of development and sooner or later, after a shorter or longer period of wandering, ends up there. But the question whether an eternal life is still possible, a life of uninterrupted bliss and glory, is suddenly doomed to silence. People have fought so long against the Christian doctrines of death and the grave, of judgment and punishment, and have rejoiced so much in their disappearance, that they have forgotten to ask whether the hope of an eternal life, of an endless salvation, is not also thereby lost. As soon as that question is asked, it is revealed that in the heat of the battle the expectation of an eternal life has also been destroyed. With the same knife with which all fear was tried to be cut out of a man’s heart, all hope in his soul was also killed.

It is clear that if development is the one, all-embracing law of the world and humanity, here and hereafter, the expectation of eternal life is robbed of all solid ground. The idea that in the end everything will be right is in itself a conjecture which finds no support in Scripture, conscience, nature or history. But even if this were the case for a moment, the situation could never be permanent. For the same law of development that governed all previous situations and caused this one would at the same time cause it to change into another. In the theory of development there is no point of rest, no end and no goal; the salvation which many expect it to bring is cancelled out in the same instant; an eternal, blissful life is not possible with it. Hence some, convinced of the impossibility of a resting point, have again seized upon the old pagan doctrine of the eternal return of all things, and present it as the solution to the world problem. When the present world has reached the climax of its development, it collapses and everything begins anew from the beginning. After the flood, the ebb comes in, to cause another flood; after the ozz/winding comes the z’zzwelling, which causes another development; and so it goes on endlessly; there is only time, no eternity; only movement, no rest; only becoming, no being; only creature, no Creator, who is and who was and who will be. The word of Scripture is confirmed by it, that those without Christ are alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, that these also have no hope and are without they may well guess and wish, and even never give up, but they have no solid ground for their expectations and lack the certainty of Christian hope. As soon as we turn to Israel, however, we are led into another circle of thought. The Old Testament never mentions the so-called immortality of the soul, nor does it provide any evidence for it; but it has ideas about life and death which are not found elsewhere and which cast the whole future in a different light. In Scripture, death never equals destruction and non-existence, but dying and being dead form the antithesis of the whole rich and full life which was originally destined for man in the fellowship with God here on earth. When man dies, not only his body but also his soul is affected. He no longer belongs to the earth, but is an inhabitant of the realm of the dead, which is thought to be in the depths of the earth, to belong to the lowest places and to lie beneath the waters and the foundations of the mountains, Numbers 16:30, Deuteronomy 32:22, Job 26:5, Psalms 63:10 etc. The dead still exist there, but their existence is no longer worth the name of life, and is like a non-being, Job 7:21, Job 14:10, Ps. 39:14. They are weakened and powerless, Psalms 88:5, Isaiah 14:10, living in silence, Job 3:13, Job 3:18, Psalms 94:17, Psalms 115:17, in a land of darkness, Job 10:21-22, and destruction, Job 26:6, Job 28:22. Everything that bears the name of life ceases there; God and man are no longer seen, Isaiah 38:11; the Lord is no longer believed and thanked, Psalms 6:6, Psalms 115:17, His virtues are no longer proclaimed and His miracles no longer seen, Psalms 88:11-13. The dead know no more, they have no wisdom or knowledge; they do no work and have no part in anything that happens under the sun, Job 14:21, Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, Ecclesiastes 9:10.

Thus death was felt by the pious in Israel, as a general banishment from the realm of life and light. And on the other hand, life was life as a fullness of salvation and blessing. Life was not thought of in a deductive, philosophical way as a bare existence. But life, according to its essence, included a fullness of blessings; the fellowship with God in the first place, but then also the fellowship with his people, and the fellowship with the land that the Lord had given to his people. Life is the full and rich existence of man in the unity of his soul and body, in the oneness with God and in the harmony of his environment; it includes bliss and glory, virtue and happiness, peace and joy. If man had remained obedient to God’s command, he would have tasted this rich life and not seen death, Genesis 2:17. No separation would then have taken place between his soul and his body, and no bond would have been broken that bound him to God, to mankind, and to the earth. Man would have lived on forever in the rich community in which he had been placed from the beginning; he would have been immortal as man in the unity and fullness of his being.

However, even though death has entered into the world for sin’s sake, God nevertheless re-establishes fellowship with mankind out of grace, and establishes His covenant with Israel. In this covenant, in principle, that full fellowship which man originally enjoyed is now restored. The covenant, as it existed in the Old Testament, included again fellowship with God, but consequently also fellowship with his people and with his land. Fellowship with God is the first and most important thing in the covenant; without it there can be no talk of life. God covenanted with Abraham and his seed, saying: I will be your God and the God of your seed, Genesis 17:7; He led Israel out of Egypt and entered into covenant with them at Sinai, Exodus 19:5, Exodus 20:2, Ezekiel 16:8.

Therefore, for the people of Israel and for every member of that people, there is no life and no joy except in the fellowship with the Lord. The wicked did not understand this, and broke the covenant, and sought life and peace in their own ways; they left the sprinkling of the living water and hewed out trays for themselves, broken trays that hold no water, Jeremiah 2:13. The Lord was the portion of their inheritance, their rock and stronghold, their shield and high place, Psalms 16:5, Psalms 18:3; His mercy was better to them than life, Psalms 63:4; He was their chief blessing, besides whom nothing pleased them in heaven or earth, Psalms 73:25; though they were forsaken by all and pursued and oppressed by their enemies, yet in Him they rejoiced, and they rejoiced in the God of their salvation, Habakkuk 3:18. In this fellowship with God they overcame all the miseries of this earthly life, but also the fear of the grave, the terror of death, and the darkness of the realm of the dead. The godless may enjoy temporary prosperity, but they ultimately perish and come to an end, Psalms 73:18-20; their path leads to death, Proverbs 8:36, Proverbs 11:19. But for the pious the fear of the Lord is the sprinkling frame of life, Proverbs 8:35, Proverbs 14:27. He saves them many times in this life, but He also has power over the realm of the dead; with His Spirit He is also present there, Psalms 139:7-8, and nothing is hidden from

Him there, any more than in the hearts of the children of men, Job 26:6, Job 38:17, Proverbs 15:11. The Lord kills and makes alive; He can bring down into the abyss, but also raise up again, Deuteronomy 32:39, 1 Samuel 2:6, 2 Kings 5:7; He can take Enoch and Elijah to Himself without death, Genesis 5:24, 2 Kings 2:11, and bring back to life those who have died, 1 Kings 17:22, 2 Kings 4:34, 2 Kings 13:21. He can even nullify death, and by raising it from the dead completely triumph over it, Job 14:13-15, Job 19:25-27, Hosea 6:2, Hosea 13:14, Isaiah 25:8, Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 37:11-12, Daniel 12:2. But even though the believers of the Old Testament realized to a greater or lesser degree that their fellowship with the Lord could not be destroyed or even broken off by their death, their descent into the pit, and their return to the state of death, they generally lived in a different circle of thought. Their feelings were so completely different from ours. When we think of the future, we almost only envision our own death and the acceptance of our souls into heaven. But the Israelites - had a conception of life far richer than ours. In their consciousness, fellowship with God was inseparable from fellowship with his people and his land. The true, full life was the victory of all separation, the restoration and confirmation of that rich community in which man was originally created. The covenant was established by God not with a single person, but with His people, and furthermore with the land, which He had given to that people as an inheritance. Therefore, death had only been completely conquered and life brought to light when the Lord Himself came to live among His people in the future, cleansed them of all unrighteousness, gave them victory over all their enemies, and made them live safely in a land of prosperity and peace. That is why the faithful Israelite’s eye rarely focused on the end of his own personal life, but usually stretched farther out into the future of his country and his people. He always felt himself to be part of the whole, as a member of his family, his family, his tribe, his people, of that people with whom God had established His covenant and whom He could never abandon or destroy by virtue of that covenant. And in the future of that people, the believer among Israel found his own future assured; his immortality and eternal life found their guarantee in his participation in the theocracy. There might be a day in the Lord’s wrath, there would be a life in His mercy; the present might seem as if God had forgotten His people and their right before Him, but after the chastisement God would return and establish a new covenant that could never be broken. The longing of the souls of Israel’s pious people for that future stretched out; they were a people of hope, and the promise of the Messiah was the core of their expectations.

All those hopes had their foundation in the covenant that God had established with His people. Already the law of that covenant implied that Israel, if they disobeyed the voice of the Lord and walked in their own ways, would be punished severely by the Lord and visited with all kinds of plagues; precisely because they were known by Him from all the nations of the earth, He would visit all unrighteousness upon them. Isaiah 3:2. But this chastisement will be temporary; after it is finished the Lord will have mercy on His people again and let them share in His salvation, Leviticus 26:42 ff, Deuteronomy 4:29 ff, Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Deuteronomy 32:15-43. For God cannot forget his covenant, Leviticus 26:42; He chastises his people with moderation and leaves them only for a little time, Isaiah 27:7, Jeremiah 30:11; He loves his people with an everlasting love, Mich. He owes it to his own name, to his fame among the Gentiles, to redeem his people at the end of the time of punishment and to make them triumph over all his enemies, Deuteronomy 32:27, Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 48:9, Ezekiel 36:22.

There will therefore be a ״day of the Lord", a great and fearful day, Joel 2:11, Joel 2:31, Malachi 4:5, when the Lord will have mercy on His people and take revenge on His enemies. The kingdom that He will then establish does not come about in the gradual development of the people’s moral strength, but it comes from above, from the heavens, and will be brought to earth by the Lord’s anointed. The promise of such an Anointed One goes back in the history of Israel and mankind to ancient times. Already in Paradise the battle of the seed of women and the seed of snakes is announced, and victory is promised to the former (Genesis 3:15). Abraham is told that all the generations of the earth will be blessed in him and in his seed, Genesis 12:3, Genesis 26:4. Judah is praised above his brethren, because from him shall come forth the Shiloh, whom all the nations shall obey, Genesis 49:10. But this promise takes on a particularly solid form when David is appointed king over all Israel and receives the promise that his house will endure for ever, 2 Samuel 7:6, 2 Samuel 23:5. The prophecy elaborates on this promise; the Ruler, through whom God will establish His kingdom, will be born of the Davidic royal house in Bethlehem, Micah 5:1-2; He shall come forth from it as a rijsje out of his hewn tree, Isaiah 11:1-2, as a sprout from his tribe, Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah 34:5-6, Jeremiah 33:14-17, Zechariah 3:8, Zechariah 6:12; He shall grow up in poverty, Isaiah 7:14-17, be meek and humble, riding on the foal of a donkey, Zechariah 9:9, and as the suffering servant of the Lord bear the iniquities of His people, Isaiah 53:1-12. And yet this humble son of David is at the same time David’s Lord, Psalms 110:1, Matthew 22:43, the Anointed One (Messiah) par excellence, the true King of Israel, who connects with the royal dignity the prophetic and the priestly, Deuteronomy 18:15, Psalms 110:1-7, Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 53:1, Zechariah 5:1, Zechariah 6:13, Malachi 4:5 etc., the Ruler, to whom all nations will be subject, Genesis 49:10, Psalms 2:1-12, Psalms 72:1-20, and who will bear the name of Immanuel, the Lord our Righteousness, Wonder, Council, Strength God, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:5, Jeremiah 23:6. The kingdom that this Messiah has come to establish will be a kingdom of righteousness and peace and will bring a wealth of spiritual and temporal blessings. Psalms and prophets are full of the glory of that Messiah Kingdom. Through His Anointed One, the Lord will bring His people back from exile and at the same time give them a sincere conversion of heart. Many will perish in the judgment that He will hold over His people, Amos 9:8-10, Hosea 2:13, Ezekiel 20:33 f. But there will be a remnant according to the election of grace, Isaiah 4:3, Isaiah 6:13, Jeremiah 3:14, Zeph. 3:21, Zechariah 13:8-9. And these remnant shall be unto the Lord an holy people, whom He shall betroth unto Himself for ever, Hosea 1:10, Hosea 2:15, Hosea 2:18, Hosea 2:22, Isaiah 4:3, Isaiah 11:9. He will establish a new covenant with them, forgive their sins, cleanse them from all impurity, give them a new heart, write His law in that heart, pour out His Spirit on them, and come and dwell among them Himself, Micah 5:11 f., Joel 2:28, Isaiah 44:21 f., Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:25 f., etc., etc. And with these spiritual benefits will come all kinds of temporal blessings. There will be no more war, swords will be turned into spades and spears into sickles, and all will sit down in peace under their vine and fig tree. The land shall be exceedingly fruitful, the animals shall have a different nature, heaven and earth shall be renewed; there shall be no more sickness, nor sorrow and lamentation, and death shall be swallowed up in victory. In these victories the dead Israelites will also share, because they will be brought back from the dead, Isaiah 26:19. Daniel 12:2, and the Gentiles will at the end acknowledge that the Lord is God and in Him they will bless and boast, Jeremiah 3:17, Jeremiah 4:2, Jeremiah 16:19, Ezekiel 17:24, etc. The people of the saints will receive the dominion over all the nations of the earth, Daniel 7:14, Daniel 7:27, and the anointed King of David’s house will rule from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth, Psalms 2:8, Psalms 22:28, Psalms 72:8.

All these Old Testament promises were fulfilled when Christ appeared in the flesh; for in His person and through His work that kingdom of heaven was founded on earth, which had been expected by the pious people of Israel for centuries; He confirmed in His blood that new and better covenant, which the Lord would establish with His people in the last days; and on the day of Pentecost He sent forth into the congregation that Spirit of grace and of prayer, who would guide it into all the truth and perfect it to the end. But what the prophecy of the old covenant summarized in one grand vision, fell apart at its fulfillment, came to stand one after the other, and was not accomplished in a single moment or day, but through a long lapse of time and piece by piece. In particular, the New Testament teaches us that the one coming of the Messiah, which the prophets expected, is divided into a first and a second coming. According to the prophecy, the Messiah was to come for redemption and for judgment, for the redemption of his people and for judgment on his enemies. But as this prophecy is fulfilled, it comes to light that each of these two purposes is accomplished by a special coming of the Christ.

Jesus said repeatedly during his stay on earth that he had come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), to serve and to give his soul as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), to save the world (Matthew 17:17), and to save the world (Matthew 17:17). Matthew 20:28, not to condemn the world, but to save it, John 3:17, John 12:47, 1 John 4:14. But at the same time He says just as clearly and powerfully that He, by the light that He lets shine, brings about a judgment, a separation in the world, John 3:19, John 9:39, John 4:28, and John 5:39, John 3:19, John 9:39, and will one day return to judge all the living and the dead, John 5:22, John 5:27-29. He must now be crucified and killed, but after that He will rise again and ascend to the place where He was before, Matthew 16:21, John 6:62, in order to come again at the end, to gather all nations to Himself, and to judge each one according to his actions, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 24:30, Matthew 25:32, etc.

Between these two comings there is a great difference. In the first, Christ appeared in the weakness of the flesh, in the form of a servant, to suffer and die for the sins of His people, Phil. At the second He will be revealed in great power and glory, as a King who goes forth conquering and that He may conquer, Matthew 24:30, Revelation 6:2, Matthew 19:11. But both comings belong closely together; the first paves the way to the second, because according to the idea of the Scriptures and the constitution of the kingdom of heaven, only suffering leads to glory, the cross to the crown, humiliation to exaltation, Luke 24:26. At His first coming Christ laid the foundation, at His second He brought about the completion of the building of God; this is the beginning, this the end of His Mediatorial Work. Because Christ is a perfect Saviour, who brings not only the possibility but the reality of salvation, He cannot, must not and will not rest until He brings His own, whom He bought with His blood and renewed with His Spirit, to where He is, and makes them beholders and sharers of His glory (John 14:3, John 17:24). The Father has not given Him a half, but a complete work to do; He must give eternal life to those whom the Father has given Him, John 6:39, John 10:28; present His church to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, Ephesians 5:27, and hand over the kingdom to Him after it is completely finished and completed, 1 Corinthians 15:23-28.

Because the first and second coming of Christ belong so intimately to each other, and the one without the other is not even conceivable or manageable, Scripture lays so little stress on the length or brevity of the time that must elapse between the two; the temporal connection recedes far behind the objective one. The time between the two is often represented as very short; the believers of the New Testament live towards the end of the ages, 1 Corinthians 10:11, in the last times, 1 Peter 1:20, in the last hour, 1 John 2:18; they have only a little time left to suffer, 1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 5:10, for the day is approaching, Hebrews 10:25, Hebrews 10:38, the future is near. Paul did not consider it impossible that he and his fellow believers might yet experience Christ’s Second Coming, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 1 Corinthians 15:51.

However, Scripture does not offer a definite doctrine on that future, because elsewhere it testifies explicitly that the day and hour of that future is hidden from men and angels and has been determined by the Father by His own power, Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7. Any attempt to calculate the time of this future is unauthorized and unfruitful, Acts 1:7, for the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night, at an hour which men do not know, Matthew 24:42-44, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:4, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3, Revelation 16:15. The Lord has a different measure of time than we have; with Him one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day; His seeming slowness is longsuffering, not wanting some to perish but all to come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:8-9. But what Scripture does want to teach us with these various statements about the interval, is this, that the first and second coming of Christ are closely related to each other. It is one work that the Father has entrusted to Christ, and that work extends to all ages and encompasses the entire history of mankind. It began in eternity; it was continued in time; and it ends again in eternity. The short time that Christ lived on earth in the flesh is but a small part of the centuries over which He was appointed Lord and King. What He acquired then by His suffering and death, He applies to the church through His Word and Spirit from the moment of His ascension, and He completes it at His return. Yes, He has gone to heaven in order to be closer to His own, to become more and more closely associated with them, and to draw ever closer to them. The time that elapses between His first and second coming is one continuous coming of Christ to the world.

Just as in the days of the Old Testament He preceded His coming in the flesh by all kinds of appearances and activities, so now He is preparing His Second Coming by the judgment and separation which He is bringing about in the world of men through His Word and Spirit. It is one continual coming of Christ, of which the believers in the New Testament are witnesses; they see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power of God and coming on the clouds of heaven, Matthew 26:64, they see His coming in the preaching of His word and in the working of His Spirit, John 14:18-20, John 16:16, John 16:19 f. Christ did not come to earth only once, but He is always coming; He is the coming one and the one who is to come, Hebrews 10:37, Revelation 1:4, Revelation 1:8. For these reasons, the New Testament believers looked forward to that return with great longing. Like the devotees of the Old Covenant, they seldom thought or spoke about their personal end at death; all their expectations were focused on the reappearance of Christ and the completion of the Kingdom of God. They were aware that they were living in the day of fulfilment, the day that the prophecy of the Old Testament had described as the great and august day of the Lord, and which stretches from the ascension to the return of Christ. The nearness with which they pictured this Second Coming is but another expression of the absolute certainty with which they awaited it. Their strong faith is the root of their unshakeable hope.

Jesus spoke a great deal about faith and love and little about hope when He was with His disciples, because it was then important to focus all their attention on His person and work. But he gave numerous promises about his resurrection and ascension, his sending of the Spirit and his return in glory. Because of Christ’s suffering and death, the disciples were for a time dejected and disappointed in their expectations, Luke 24:41, but through His resurrection they were reborn to a living hope, 1 Peter 1:3, 1 Peter 1:21. Christ Himself was now their hope, the object and including, of all their expectations, 1 Timothy 1:1; for when He returns, He fulfills all His promises and grants perfect salvation and eternal life to His confessors. Therefore they live in hope, and constantly await the blessed hope and appearance of glory of their great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13); and in that expectation the whole suffering creature, which is subject to vanity, shares with them the hope that it too will be set free from the servitude of destruction to the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21).

Even though the New Testament believers have focused almost all their attention on the return of Christ, there are still some data in the New Testament that shed light on the situation that will arise when they die. According to the Roman Church, only a few saints and martyrs can make it on earth by their good works to the point that they will be received into heaven immediately upon death. The great majority of believers, when they die, go for a shorter or longer time to purgatory (vague from wipe, clean; so purification or purification fire), to pay there the temporary punishments they have earned by their sins and could not satisfy in their earthly life.

Purgatory is not a place of conversion, where the unbelievers and the ungodly still have the opportunity to be saved, because they go to hell at once; nor is it really a place of purification and sanctification, because the believers who come there cannot acquire new virtues and merits; But it is only a place of punishment, where the faithful, who are ״being saved’ on the one hand and ״poor’ on the other, are tormented by material fire until the degree of their temporary punishment is completed. Thus, according to Rome, besides a fighting church on earth and a triumphant one in heaven, there is also a suffering church in purgatory, whose members can be helped in their suffering by intercessions, good works, indulgences and especially by sacrifices, and also, because they are ahead of the faithful and closer to salvation, can call upon the angels and the saints in heaven for assistance.

Because many did not understand this Roman confession properly, they often glorified it to a greater degree and made use of the doctrine of the vague fire to advocate a continuing purification of the faithful after death; they could not understand how believers, who remained imperfect and prone to all evil until their dying years, could be freed from all sin at death and made ready for heaven. And others have gone much further, applying the idea of evolution to the life hereafter as well, and thus imagine that all people without distinction on the other side of the grave continue in a straight line the life they led here on earth and perhaps also in their earlier existence. Death is not an abrogation of this life or a punishment for sin, but merely the transition to another form of existence, just as the caterpillar changes into the butterfly. And this development (evolution) continues until everything is right again or until it does not return. But the Holy Scriptures know nothing of all this dreary teaching. Everywhere she presents it as if this earth were the only place of conversion and purification; she never mentions a preaching of the Gospel on the other side of the grave, not even in Matthew 12:32, 1 Pet. Death, as the punishment for sin, is a total break from life here on earth, and at the last judgment the intermediate state is never taken into account; the judgment is exclusively over what has been done by the body, whether good or bad, 2 Corinthians 5:10. For in the fellowship with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, dying is no longer dying. The covenant that God has made with His own by grace, guarantees complete salvation and eternal life; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. He that believeth in Christ, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die for ever, John 11:25-26, neither shall he come into judgment: for he is passed from death unto life, John 5:24.

Hence at death believers are immediately taken up with Christ into heaven. If justification and sanctification were man’s own work, which he had to accomplish by his own power or by the power of the supernatural gift he had received, it would be incomprehensible that he would complete this work in the short time of this life, and then a purgatory and a continuing purification after this life must be accepted. But Christ has accomplished everything for his own; not only has he borne the punishment for them and obtained the complete forgiveness of all their sins, but he has also fulfilled the law in their place and brought eternal life to light in immortality. He who believes is immediately freed from God’s wrath and partakers of eternal life; at the same time he is ״ready for heaven’. If he must remain on earth, it is not in order to complete himself and earn eternal life through good works; but it is necessary for the sake of his brothers, so that he may walk in the good works which God has prepared and for which he was created in Christ, Php 1:24, Ephesians 2:10. Even the suffering that he still has to bear many times on earth is no longer a punishment or penance, but a fatherly chastisement that serves for his education, Hebrews 12:5-11, a completion of the remnants of the tribulations that Christ is constantly suffering in the body of his church, in order to build it up and confirm it in the truth, Colossians 1:24.

Because of Christ’s perfect work, heaven is open to believers immediately upon their death. They no longer have to bear the punishment for their sins in purgatory, because Christ has accomplished and gained everything. According to the parable in Luke 16, the poor Lazarus is taken by the angels into Abraham’s womb immediately after his death, in order to enjoy eternal salvation there, in fellowship with Abraham. When Jesus died on the cross, He commanded His own spirit into the hands of His Father, and promised the murderer beforehand that he would be with Him this very day in paradise, Luke 23:43, Luke 23:46. The first Christian martyr, Stephen, cried out to the Lord Jesus while he was being stoned and prayed that He would receive his spirit, Acts 7:59. Paul is assured that when he is dissolved, he will be with Christ and dwell in the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Php 1:23. According to Revelation 6:8, Revelation 7:9, etc., the souls of the martyrs and of all the saved are in heaven, before the throne of God and before the Lamb, clothed with long white garments and palm branches in their hands. For blessed are the dead, "who die in the Lord, from henceforth; they rest from their labors which they did on earth, and which follow with them, Revelation 14:13, Hebrews 4:9; and they live and reign with Christ all the days until His return, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:6.

Although the believers receive heavenly bliss at their death, in a certain sense this situation can still be called preliminary and incomplete. After all, their bodies are still in the grave and subject to destruction; soul and body are still separated and do not yet share together, in harmony with one another, in eternal glory; taken as a whole, as persons, believers in the interim state are still in the state of death, just as Jesus was after his death and before his resurrection, even though his soul had been taken up into paradise. That is why they are also called asleep or dead in Christ 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:18; their being dead is called sleeping, John 11:11, 1 Corinthians 11:30; seeing the loss, Acts 13:36. All this proves that the intermediate state is not yet the final state. Since Christ is a perfect Saviour, He is not satisfied with the salvation of the soul, but He also brings about the redemption of the body. Only then will God’s kingdom be complete, when Christ has nullified all dominion and all power and strength, put all enemies under His feet, and has completely conquered the last enemy, death. In heaven and on earth there is therefore a longing for the future, in which the last battle will be fought and the complete victory achieved. The souls of the martyrs in heaven cry out in a loud voice: How long, O holy and true Lord, will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who live on the earth? Revelation 6:10, and the Spirit and the bride on earth say, Come, Lord Jesus, yes come quickly! Revelation 22:17. And not only that, but Christ himself, both in heaven and on earth, is preparing his own coming. In the house of His Father He prepares a place for His own; and when He has prepared their place, He comes again and takes them to Himself, that they also may be where He is (John 14:2-3). And on earth He reigns as King, in the church by His grace, in the world by His power, until He has gathered all His elect and subdued all His enemies, 1 Corinthians 15:25. He does not rest, but never stops working, and in His work He says: Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to repay every man according to his works, Revelation 22:12, Revelation 22:20. The history of the world, which lies between Jesus’ ascension and return, is one continuous coming of Christ, one continuous gathering of his congregation, one continuous subduing of his enemies. We often fail to see it and we do not understand it, but Christ is indeed the Lord of time, the King of the ages; He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, Revelation 22:13. Because the Father loved the Son, He created the world in Him, chose the congregation and destined all those who were given to Him to experience His glory, John 17:24. The completion of the Kingdom of God is therefore not the result of the guided development of nature, nor is it the product of human labor. For although the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, a leaven and a seed, it grows without the knowledge or consent of mankind. John 4:27. Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but it is God alone who gives the growth, 1 Corinthians 3:6. Scripture knows no independent nature and no independent man; it is always God who sustains the world and makes history. And especially as the end approaches, He will intervene in an extraordinary manner and, through the appearance of Christ, bring history to a standstill and cause time to pass into eternity. That will be a tremendous event, when Christ, sent by the Father (Acts 3:20, 1 Timothy 6:15), will appear on the clouds of heaven, just as He was taken up into heaven when He left the earth, so He will return from heaven to earth at His return (Php 3:20). At his ascension a cloud took him up and concealed him from the disciples; on clouds of heaven, which extend beneath him like a chariot, he returns to earth, Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7. He appeared the first time on earth in the form of a servant, but He comes back the second time with great power and glory, Matthew 24:30, as a King of kings and as a Lord of hosts, seated on a white horse, with a sharp sword coming out of His mouth, surrounded by His angels and saints, Matthew 25:31, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, Revelation 19:14, and announced by the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of angels, Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. To give us an impression of the majesty and glory in which Christ will appear, Scripture uses, and must use, words and images that are beyond our comprehension. And it is often difficult for us to distinguish between the matter itself and the representation given of it. But this is certain: Christ comes again, the same Christ who was born of Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died, was buried, rose again and ascended into heaven; but He returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. He that descended is the same also that ascended above all heavens, that he might accomplish all things, Ephesians 4:10. He who destroyed and humbled himself is the same, who was exalted by God, and received a name above all names, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Php 2:6-11. He, who was once sacrificed to take away the sins of many, will at the next time be seen without sin by those who expect Him for salvation, Hebrews 9:28. This Maran-atha is the consolation of the congregation; He, who loved her from eternity and gave Himself up for her in death, will come again to take her to Himself and share her eternally in His glory. Her Saviour and her Judge are one and the same person. This comfort of the believers, however, is considerably weakened by the so-called Chiliases, the advocates of the doctrine of a millenarian kingdom. They distinguish between a first and a second coming of Christ. At his first reappearance, Christ will conquer the anti-Christian power, conquer Satan, awaken the dead believers, gather the congregation around him, especially the congregation of Israel, converted as people, and rule with and through her over the nations. After this kingdom has existed for a shorter or longer period of time and Satan has been released, He comes again for the second time, to raise all people from the dead, to pronounce judgment on them all, and to establish the completed Kingdom of God on the renewed earth. This distinction between the two Christ comings postpones the end of the world’s history for a long time; when Christ appears on the clouds of heaven, the end of the centuries has not yet come, but a provisional state of dominion and power, of spiritual and material blessings, of which it is difficult for the. Chileans themselves find it difficult to form a good idea, and they are strongly divided among themselves as to the character and duration of this state of affairs. The basic error of this chiliastic error lies in a wrong conception of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. The purpose of the election of Abraham and his seed was not to place the people of Israel at the head of all nations in the future, or even in the completed kingdom of God, but to bless all the nations of the earth in Him who was the true seed of Abraham, Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:14; Israel was elected, not at the expense, but for the benefit of mankind. When the Christ appeared on earth, all the promises of the Old Testament therefore began to be fulfilled in Him and in His congregation. They do not lie in wait for fulfilment throughout the New Testament dispensation, but are continually being fulfilled from the first coming of Christ to his return. Not only is Christ in his person the true prophet, priest and king, the true servant of the Lord, and his sacrifice the true sacrifice of peace, the true circumcision, the true passover, Romans 3:25, 1 Corinthians 2:11, etc.; but his congregation is also the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, the true sacrifice of peace, etc. But his church is also the true seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the true people of God, the true temple and the true Zion; all the blessings of Abraham and all the promises of the Old Covenant are for the church through Christ and are fulfilled for her in the course of the centuries, Romans 9:25-26, Romans 11:17, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Galatians 3:14, Galatians 3:29, etc. But just as the life of Christ is divided into a state of humiliation and exaltation, so His congregation and every believer in particular cannot enter the kingdom of glory except through the school of suffering. There is no separate suffering church in purgatory, as Rome says, but the suffering church is the same as the struggling church here on earth. Nowhere does the New Testament open up the possibility that the church of Christ will once again come to power and dominion in this dispensation. On the contrary, a disciple is not above his master and a servant is not above his lord; if they persecuted Jesus, they will also persecute his disciples, John 15:19-20. Even the New Testament repeatedly expresses the expectation that towards the end of the centuries wickedness will increase, temptation and apostasy will spread, - Matthew 24:37 f., Luke 17:26 f., Luke 18:8 etc. The day of Christ is preceded by the great apostasy, the revelation of the man of sin, the antichrist, 2 Thessalonians 3:1 ff, Whose coming has been prepared by many false prophets and false Christs, Matthew 7:5, Matthew 24:5, Matthew 24:24, 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:3, but who finally appears himself, and concentrates all his power in a worldly empire (the beast from the sea or the abyss, Revelation 11:7, 31:1-10), which, supported by the false religion (the beast of the earth, Revelation 13:11-18), has its seat in Babylon, Revelation 17:1-18 and Revelation 18:1-24, and from there launches the final, fierce attack against Christ and his kingdom. But by his appearing in glory, Revelation 19:11-16, Christ puts an end once and for all to the power of the beast of the sea and the earth, Revelation 19:20, and also brings Satan to his knees. The latter, however, takes place in two stages; first Satan is seized and bound as the tempter of the Christian peoples, Revelation 20:1-3, cf. Revelation 12:7-11, then as the tempter of the peoples who are in the four corners of the earth, Revelation 20:7-10. In the meantime, the faithful, who have been faithful to the testimony of Jesus and to the word of God until death, live and reign as kings with Christ in heaven all the time (symbolically represented by the number of a thousand years, Revelation 20:3-7), during which Satan is driven out from the nations among which the church is spreading, and in the midst of the heathen nations a new power is organized against the kingdom of Christ, Revelation 20:4, compare Revelation 2:26, Revelation 3:21. In this living and reigning with Christ consists the first resurrection; the other dead, who have followed the beast and his image, do not live and reign, but they live and reign, and have no fear of the second death, the punishment of hell; they are already priests of God and of Christ, Revelation 20:6, and after the resurrection and world judgment they will be admitted as citizens into the new Jerusalem. The appearance of Christ is followed by the resurrection of the dead. Although this is also attributed to God in general, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 2 Corinthians 1:9, yet it is more specifically the work of the Son, to whom the Father gave life in Himself, John 5:26, who is the resurrection and the life Himself, John 11:25, and who received the power to raise all the dead from their graves by the voice of His mouth, John 5:28-29. It is clearly taught here, as elsewhere in Daniel 12:2, Matthew 10:28, Acts 24:15, Revelation 20:12-13, that there will be a resurrection of all men, both the unrighteous and the righteous. But between the two there is a great difference; the first is a proof of the power and righteousness of Christ, the second is also a demonstration of His mercy and grace; the first consists only in a reunion of soul and body and is executed in judgment, John 5:29, but the second is a resurrection of life, a resurrection of the whole person, a renewal of soul and body both in the fellowship and through the Spirit of Christ, John 5:29, Romans 8:11, Php 3:21. It does not follow with certainty that both resurrections differ in time, that the resurrection of the righteous precedes that of the unrighteous by a shorter or longer period; but the one differs from the other in quality and nature; only the former is a blessed resurrection and has its cause and guarantee in the resurrection of Christ; Christ is the first, the first-born from the dead, followed by those of Christ in His future, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.

We do not understand how this is possible in the face of the terrible catastrophe of death. Hence the fact that many reject the resurrection of the body and consider that after death the soul takes on another body, whether human or animal, a finer or coarser material body. But they forget that the preservation of the unity of the soul by death encounters other, but in the essence of the matter equally important, objections, so that many teach the immortality of the soul only in the sense that the spirit of the person continues to live, without preserving the unity of the self-consciousness. But then immortality falls away altogether, for if self-consciousness and memory are completely destroyed in death, the person who lives on is no longer the same as the one who lived on earth.

However, this self-consciousness of man includes both the possession of the body and that of the soul. The body is not a prisoner of the spirit, but belongs to the essence of mankind. That is why it is redeemed by Christ, who is a perfect Savior, just as much as the soul. Man was created in the image of God and corrupted by sin; man is therefore redeemed by Christ from sin and death, made in the image of God, and led into His kingdom. But the body that believers receive again at the resurrection does not correspond to their earthly body in outward appearance, in accidental characteristics, or in material quantity, but only in essence. It is not a natural body, but a spiritual one; a body that is elevated above sexual life, Matthew 22:30, above the need for food and drink, 1 Corinthians 6:13, immortal, immortal, spiritualized and glorified, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, and made like Christ’s after His resurrection, Php 3:21. The resurrection is followed by the judgment. From the beginning, since God set up enmity, there has been a separation among the people between the female and the serpent seed, Genesis 3:15. This division continued in the Old Testament between Seth and Cain, Semahaphet, Israel and the nations, and among Israel itself between the children of promise and the children of the flesh. When Christ came to earth, He confirmed and sharpened this division, although His first coming was not for the condemnation of the world, but for its salvation, John 3:17, Matthew 10:34-36. Through his person and his testimony he brought about a judgment, a division among the people, John 3:19-21, which continues to the present day and reaches its conclusion in the last judgment. There is a judgment going through the history of all peoples, generations, families and persons; if we knew the secrets of the hearts of men, we would be much more convinced of this than we are today. But still, world history is not world judgment. There remains too much injustice unpunished, too much good unrewarded, for our consciences to be satisfied by the present dispensation of time. Head and heart of mankind, reason and conscience, philosophy and religion, the whole history of the world cries out for a final, just and decisive judgment. And such a judgment we face according to the testimony of Scripture. It is set for man to die once, and after that to face judgment, Hebrews 9:27. Although God alone is the Lawgiver and Judge of all men, Genesis 18:25, Psalms 50:6, Isaiah 33:22, James 4:12, yet the last judgment is held more specifically by Christ, to whom the Father has entrusted it, because He is the Son of man, John 5:22, John 5:27, Acts 10:42, Acts 17:31, Romans 14:9. Judging the living and the dead is the completion of His work as mediator, the final stage of His exaltation; it will show that He has completely fulfilled everything the Father gave Him to do, that He has put all His enemies under His feet and has completely and eternally saved His entire congregation. But when Christ executes the judgment, then we also know how it will be: merciful and gracious, and at the same time strictly righteous. For He knows man and knows all that is in him; He knows the hidden corners of the heart and discovers all malice and deviance, but He also sees the smallest and weakest principle of faith and love that is present there. He does not judge by appearances and does not look at the person of a person, but He judges by truth and righteousness. With law and gospel as His standard, He will judge the works, Matthew 25:35 ff, the words, Matthew 12:36, the thoughts of men, Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 4:5, for nothing remains hidden and everything is revealed, Matthew 6:4, Matthew 10:26. For all those who can say with Peter: You know all things, You know that I love You, this judgment is a source of comfort; but for all those who did not want this Christ to be King over them, it is a cause of fear and of anxious dread. For this judgment brings about a complete and eternal separation between man and man. Just as there were among Israel those who said: The Lord does not see, and the God of Jacob does not notice, Psalms 94:7; He who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with such; or, Where is the God of judgment? Malachi 2:17; so there are also many today who placate themselves with the thought that there is no final judgment, that the possibility of conversion remains open even after this life and after the end of the world’s history, that therefore all men, and even the devils, will be partakers of salvation in the long run, or that the wicked, who continue to resist, will finally be destroyed forever. But conscience and Scripture oppose these vain imaginations equally. The history of the world is ending in eternal separation. In the night of judgment two will be on one bed; one will be accepted and the other will be abandoned; two women will be milling together, one will be accepted and the other will be abandoned; two will be in the field, one will be accepted and the other will be abandoned, Luke 17:34-36. The righteous shall enter into eternal life, but the unrighteous shall be given over to eternal pain, Matthew 25:46. There is a heaven of glory, but there is also a gehenna, a hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not extinguished, Mark 9:44, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matthew 8:12, where there is darkness and destruction and death for all eternity, Matthew 7:13, Matthew 8:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Revelation 21:8. It is the place where God’s wrath will be revealed in all its horror, Romans 2:8, Matthew 9:22, Hebrews 10:31, Revelation 6:16-17.

Yet in this eternal punishment, which afflicts all the wicked, there will be a great difference of degree and degree. The Gentiles, who did not know the Mosaic law, but sinned against the law, which was known to them by nature through their conscience, will also be lost without that law, Romans 2:12. Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon will be more bearable in the day of judgment than Capernaum and Jerusalem, Matthew 10:15, Matthew 11:22, Matthew 11:24. Those who knew the will of the Lord and did not do it, will be struck with double blows, Luke 12:47. Even among evil spirits a distinction is made in the degree of their wickedness, Matthew 12:45. Therefore everyone will receive retribution according to his deeds, Matthew 16:27, Romans 2:6, Revelation 22:12. The judgment will be so perfectly righteous that no one will be able to make a comment on it; his own conscience will have to say yes and amen to it. Just as Christ fights with spiritual weapons here on earth, so He will also justify Himself in the consciences of all people on judgment day through His Word and Spirit. For he is the faithful and true one, who does not war except in righteousness; the sharp sword that issues from his mouth is the sword of the word, Revelation 19:11, Revelation 19:15, Revelation 19:21.

Therefore at the end of days, whether willingly or unwillingly, every knee shall bow in the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Php 2:11. It is not the punishment of the wicked that is in itself the final goal, but the glory of God, which is revealed in the victory of Christ over all His enemies. Sinners shall be removed from the earth, and the wicked shall be no more. Praise the Lord, my soul, Hallelujah. Psalms 104:35.

After the final judgment and the expulsion of the wicked comes the renewal of the world. The Holy Scriptures often speak of this in very strong terms and then say that heaven and earth will perish, vanish like smoke, become old as a rug, and that God will then create new heavens and a new earth, Psalms 102:27, Isaiah 34:4, Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, Matthew 24:35, Hebrews 1:11-12, 2 Peter 3:10, 2 Peter 3:12-13, 1 John 2:17, Revelation 21:1. But still, an entirely new creation is not to be thought of. For the present heaven and earth pass away in their present form, 1 Corinthians 7:31, and, just as the old earth perished through the waters of the flood, they are burned and cleansed by fire, 2 Peter 3:6-7, 2 Peter 3:10. But just as man is created by Christ, but not destroyed and then created anew, 2 Corinthians 5:17, so also the world remains preserved in its essence, even though it undergoes such a transformation in its form that it can be called a new heaven and a new earth. The world as a whole is also approaching the great day of its rebirth, Matthew 19:28. In this new creation God then establishes His kingdom. For Christ has completed the work that was entrusted to Him ’as Mediator to do; He has reigned as King for so long, until He has put all His enemies under His feet and raised up all those given to Him by the Father to eternal life. After that, and for ever, He remains the head of the church, who gives it His glory to behold and fills it with His fullness, John 17:24, Ephesians 1:23. But His work of redemption is finished; He has completed the kingdom and now surrenders it to God and the Father, in order to be subject Himself as Mediator, who has subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all, 1 Corinthians 15:24, 1 Corinthians 15:28. That kingdom then encompasses heaven and earth, and brings with it a wealth of spiritual and physical blessings. Not only the Old, but also the New Testament clearly teaches that the pious shall inherit the earthly kingdom, Matthew 5:5. The whole creation will one day be freed from the servitude of destruction to the freedom of the glory of God’s children, Romans 8:21. The heavenly Jerusalem, which is now above and signifies the city where God dwells with His people, will then come down to earth, Revelation 21:2. And in this new Jerusalem, in the immediate presence of God, there will be no more sin, no more sickness and no more death, but in the world of matter also reigns glory and immortality, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, Revelation 7:16-17, Revelation 21:4, as a revelation of the eternal, holy and blissful life, which all citizens in the community of God share, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 21:3, Revelation 22:1-5. In that kingdom, too, there will be separation and variation in the unity of the community. There are those who are small and those who are great, Revelation 22:12, those who are first and those who are last, Matthew 20:16; each one receives his own name and place, Revelation 2:17, according to the works of faith and love that he has done on earth. For he that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he that soweth in blessedness shall also reap in blessedness, 2 Corinthians 9:6. There is reward in heaven for all the reproach that a disciple of Jesus endures for his sake, and for the work he does in his name, Matthew 5:12, Matthew 6:1, Matthew 6:6, Matthew 6:18, etc. Even the cup of cold water, which is given to one of His children in the name of a disciple, will not be forgotten by Jesus on Judgment Day; He will crown and reward the good works that He Himself accomplished in and through His own. Thus all are partakers of the same salvation, the same eternal life, and the same fellowship with God; but among them there is still a difference in splendor and glory. According to the measure of their faithfulness and diligence, the churches receive from their Lord and King a distinctive jewel and crown, Revelation 2:1-29, Revelation 3:1-22. There are many, many dwellings in the one Father’s house, John 14:2.

Through this variety of rank and place and task the community of the saints is enriched. As the harmony of song is increased by the variety of voices, and the beauty of light is multiplied by the richness of colors and shades, so will Christ one day be glorified in the great multitude of His saints and become wonderful in the thousand times thousands who believe in His name. For all the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem will see the face of God and bear His name upon their foreheads. And they will all sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb before the throne, and each in his own way will proclaim the great works of God: Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord, Thy God Almighty, Thy ways fair and true, Thy King of the saints; who would not fear Thee, and would not glorify Thy name? Revelation 15:3-4. For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things: to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.