In the darkest days of her long conflict with evil, the people of God have been given revelations of the eternal purpose of Jehovah. They have been permitted to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when the redeemed will possess the Promised Land. Today the controversy of the ages is rapidly closing, and the promised blessings are soon to be realized. Despised, persecuted, forsaken, God’s children in every age have looked forward to the time when He will fulfill His assurance, “I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.” Isaiah 60:15.
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Not without severe conflict is the church to triumph. “The bread of adversity,”“the water of affliction” (Isaiah 30:20), these are the common lot of all; but none who put their trust in the One mighty to deliver will be overwhelmed. “Thus saith the Lord that created thee, ... I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” Isaiah 43:1-3.
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There is forgiveness with God; there is acceptance full and free through the merits of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”“Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour.” Verse 25; 60:16.
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No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, And you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord And their vindication from Me, says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17, RSV
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Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter on her final conflict. She is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer. The darkest hour of the struggle immediately precedes the day of final deliverance. “When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall,” God will be to His church “a refuge from the storm.” Isaiah 25:4.
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The word of the Lord to His faithful ones is: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” Isaiah 26:20, 21.
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In visions of the great judgment day, the inspired messengers of God were given glimpses of the consternation of those unprepared to meet their Lord. “Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”“For they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:1, 5, RSV.
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“And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”“In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of His majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth.” Isaiah 2:17, 20, 21, RSV.
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Of those times when the pride of man shall be laid low, Jeremiah testifies: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” Jeremiah 30:7.
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The day of wrath to the enemies of God is the day of final deliverance to His church. The Lord “will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 25:8, RSV. And as the prophet beholds the Lord descending from heaven, with all the holy angels, to gather the remnant church from among the nations of earth, he hears the exultant cry:
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Lo, this is our God; We have waited for Him, And He will save us: This is the Lord; We have waited for Him, We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Verse 9
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The voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints from the prison house of death. “Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!” Isaiah 26:19, RSV.
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Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, And the tongue of the dumb sing. Isaiah 35:5, 6
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Those who have triumphed over sin and the grave are now seen happy in the presence of their Maker, talking freely with Him as man talked with God in the beginning. “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.”“The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Isaiah 65:19; 33:24.
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Waters shall break forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert; The burning sand shall become a pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water.
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“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” Isaiah 35:6, 7; 40:2, RSV.
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Violence shall no more be heard in your land, Devastation or destruction within your borders; You shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise.
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Your people shall all be righteous; They shall possess the land forever, The shoot of My planting, The work of My hands, That I might be glorified. Isaiah 60:18, 21, RSV
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The prophet caught the sound of music there, such music and song as, save in the visions of God, no mortal ear has heard or mind conceived. “Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” Isaiah 51:3. “As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there.” Psalm 87:7.
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What Life Will Be Like in the New Earth
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In the earth made new, the redeemed will engage in the occupations and pleasures that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the beginning. The Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. “They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of My people be, and My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” Isaiah 65:21, 22, RSV. Every power will be developed, every capability increased, the grandest enterprises carried forward, the highest ambitions realized.
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The prophets to whom these scenes were revealed longed to understand their full import, inquiring “what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them ... . They were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you.” 1 Peter 1:11, 12, RSV.
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Fellow pilgrim, we are still amid the shadows and turmoil of earthly activities, but soon our Saviour is to appear. Soon we shall see Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. And in His presence the trials of this life will seem as nothingness. The former things “shall not be remembered or come into mind.”“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming One shall come and shall not tarry.” Isaiah 65:17; Hebrews 10:35-37, RSV.
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Look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city into the wide, unbounded future of glory. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” James 5:7, 8, RSV.
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The nations of the saved will know no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family. The morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming, “There shall be no more sin, neither shall there be any more death.”
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“From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord.”“For the Lord will comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord.”
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“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 66:23; 51:3; 62:5, RSV.
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