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Friday
Revelation 21 – 22
Read the below extracts from John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards.
Calvin writes, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion:
‘Christ, the Sun of Righteousness [Malachi 4 v 2], shining through the gospel and
having overcome death, has, as Paul testifies, brought us the light of life [2 Timothy 1
v 10]. Hence we likewise by believing “pass out of death into life” [John 5 v 24], being
“no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and of the household
of God” [Ephesians 2 v 19], who “made us sit” with his only-begotten Son “in heavenly
places” [Ephesians 2 v 6], that we may lack nothing for full happiness… Paul says in
another passage that “we have died, and our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ,
who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with him in glory” [Colossians 3 v 3 –
4]… Let us always have in mind theeternal happiness, the goal of resurrection—a
happiness of whose excellence theminutest part would scarce be told if all were said
that the tongues of all mencan say. For though we very truly hear that the Kingdom of
God will be filled withsplendour, joy, happiness, and glory, yet when these things are
spoken of, theyremain utterly remote from our perception, and, as it were, wrapped
in obscurities,until that day comes when he will reveal to us his glory, that we may
behold it face to face [cf. 1 Corinthians 13 v 12].’
In The Table Talk of Martin Luther, Luther writes:
‘“God will create a new heaven and a new earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell.”
It will be no arid waste, but a beautiful new earth, where all the just will
dwelltogether. There will be no carnivorous beasts, or venomous creatures, for all
such,like ourselves, will be relieved from the curse of sin… The foliage of the trees,
andthe verdure of the grass, will have the brilliancy of emeralds; and we
ourselvesdelivered from our mundane subjection to gross appetites and necessities,
shallhave the same form as here, but infinitely more perfect. Our eyes will be radiant
asthe purest silver, and we shall be exempt from all sickness and tribulation. We
shallbehold the glorious Creator face to face.’
In his sermon Heaven, a World of Love, Edwards said:
‘The most stately cities on earth, however magnificent their buildings, yet havetheir
foundations in the dust, and their streets dirty and defiled, and made to betrodden
under foot; but the very streets of this heavenly city are of pure gold, likeunto
transparent glass, and its foundations are of precious stones, and its gatesare pearls…
There are many principles contrary to love, that make this world like a tempestuous
sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindredpassions keep life