We Must Be There.

 

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'Our Future Heavenly Home-

A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare mansions for them in the Father's house. Those who accept the teachings of God's word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. And yet, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” 1179 Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite

 1179 1 Cor. 2:9

mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God. In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a country.1180 There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.

“My people shall dwell in a peaceful habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.” “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.” “They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them, They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shalt not plant, and another eat:... Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” 1181 There, “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree.” 1182 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; [676] ... and a little child shall lead them.” “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” 1183 saith the Lord. Pain cannot exist in the atmosphere of heaven. There will be no more tears, no funeral trains, no badges of mourning. “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, ... for the 

1180 Heb. 11:14-16. 

1181 Isa. 32:18; 60:18; 65:21, 22. 

1182 Isa. 35:1; 55:13. 

1183 Isa. 11:6, 9; 33:24; 62:3; 65:19

former things are passed away.” 1184 “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” 1185 

1184 Rev. 21:4, 11, 24, 3

1185 "   "  '

The Great Controversy  - EG White'

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"We Would See Jesus"  A. T. Jones

(Excerpt continued)

The Place of Gathering- has nothing but attraction. Jesus, the fairest among ten thousand, is there. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Noah, Job, and Daniel, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, the perfection of heavenly society, will be there. Visions of beauty are there, flowers that never fade, streams that never dry, products in variety that never ends, fruits that never decay, crowns that never dim, harps that, know no discord, and all else of which a taste purified from sin and raised to the plane of immortality can form any conception or think desirable, will be there. 

We Must Be There-

We must bask in the forgiving smiles of God, to whom we have become reconciled, and sin no more; we must have access to that exhaustless fount of Vitality, the fruit of the tree of life, and never die; we must repose under the shadow of its leaves, which are for the service of the nations, and never again grow weary ; we must drink from the life-giving fountain, and thirst nevermore; we must bathe in its silvery spray, and be refreshed; we must walk on its golden sands, and feel that we are no longer exiles; we must exchange the cross for the crown, and feel that the days of our humiliation are ended; we must lay down the staff and take the palm branch, and feel that the journey is done; we must put off the rent garments of our warfare for the white robes of triumph, and feel that the conflict is ended and the victory gained; we must exchange the toil-worn, dusty girdle of our pilgrimage for the glorious vesture of immortality, and feel that sin and the curse can never more pollute us. O day of rest and triumph and every good, delay not thy dawning! Let the angels at once be sent to gather the elect. Let the promise be fulfilled which bears in its train these matchless glories.

"Even so, Come, Lord Jesus"

(End Excerpt)