Жизнь вечная

The righteous, the saints, and all sinners who repent with a broken heart are promised by God eternal life, eternal joy and eternal bliss! They will be with God forever. They will see God face to face and enjoy this, like a sweet drink, forever. They will be comforted forever, they will rejoice and rejoice forever. They will reign as kings and lords forever. No sinner will enter that eternal life unless he is washed and cleansed by contrition of heart and hot tears, unless by faith he whitens his robes in the Blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14). You see, Christian, that like water flowing by, and everything floating on it, so the time of our life and all our well-being and ill-being passes over time. This is how our whole life will pass. Just as we now have our past days, and everything that happened in them, our happiness and misfortune, has passed, so our whole other life, and everything that happens in it, will pass. And just as we see our past days, as in a dream, and with them all the well-being and adversity, so we will see the rest of the time at the end of life, as in a dream. And only then will we remember and dream that such and such happened to us. Such is our life in this world! The life of the next century will not be as the Word of God and our faith assures us. There our life will one day begin, but will never end, it will be unceasing and unchangeable. Our body will not have weakness, decrepitude, old age, death and corruption, but will have a spiritual body, incorruptible, immortal, healthy, strong, light and prosperous. It is sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in humiliation, raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised... For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. When this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then the word that is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory (1 Cor. 15, 42–44, 53–55)? There will also be glory, honor, peace, comfort, joy, joy and unceasing bliss. God's chosen ones will continually see God face to face and therefore will continually be comforted, rejoice, and have fun; They will reign with Christ unceasingly, as members with the head. We suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). Likewise, in an unfavorable eternity there will be constant death. Once dead, the condemned will continually die and wish for death; They will incessantly suffer and suffer, and will not feel any consolation, cooling, or relief. This is the second death, and eternal death. Wherever a person lives, as long as he lives in this world, he does not live without danger. From the mother's womb to the grave, a person faces constant warfare. Therefore, it is decent and correct to say this to us, Christians, about eternal life: there we will truly be safe. We won't have anything to fear there; We will live there without any fear, we will live in a calm and peaceful city; there we will have perfect peace and rest, which is why eternal life in the Holy Scriptures is called rest (see: Matt. 11:29; Heb. 4:11). If only in one eternal life there is security, peace, tranquility, joy, joy, and true, and perfect, and eternal bliss, let us hasten there, Christian, let us hasten, despising all the vanity of this world. We will be safe there. Blessed is he whom You have chosen and accepted; he will dwell in Your courts. Let us be satisfied with the blessings of Thy house: holy is Thy church, wondrous in righteousness. Hear us, O God, our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and those who are far off at sea (Ps. 64:5-6)! Eternal life is the gift of God, which Christ, the Son of God, earned with His Blood to those who believe in His name, as the apostle says: the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23). For man, as a sinner and damned in himself, and subject to nothing other than eternal condemnation, cannot deserve and does not deserve anything other than death, as it is said: the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). He can and does destroy himself, but he cannot save himself. It is necessary for the Son of God, as the Good Shepherd, to take him, like a lost sheep, on His shoulders (see: Luke 15:4-6) and bring him to His Father, as Christ says: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). He shepherds His sheep, that is, those who believe in Him, and those who listen to His voice, and follow Him, and saves them, and opens to them the door of eternal life. Eternal life with all its bliss is the truth, and temporary life with all the blessings of this world is a shadow. The shadow is visible while the tree stands and the sun shines; If a tree falls, the shadow also falls, or the sun disappears, and the shadow disappears. So is this life. A man dies, earthly life departs from him, and with life all his bliss, like a shadow, disappears, and it becomes as if both the man and his bliss did not exist. Judge for yourself, where are the kings, princes, nobles, rich, strong, wise now? Where is their glory and bliss? They fell, their glory and bliss disappeared, like a shadow when a tree falls or when the sun hides. Such is all the bliss of this world! Truth is eternal life, which, once found, never departs. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which, having found, a man hid, and out of joy over it he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44). The field here means the future age, in which the Kingdom of Heaven with its treasure is hidden. There it is hidden, but in Holy Scripture it is revealed to us, and here it is found. Who gets it? The one who truly and vividly believes God’s word and promise, and looks to it with faith, and strives for it with hope. Such a one joyfully renounces everything in this world, and considers everything dear to the world to be nothing, embraced by one desire to find that priceless treasure. For the heavenly treasure is like a beautiful and priceless pearl, against which all the wealth of this world is as nothing. Let us turn our hearts away from this world and look for those pearls of great value, and let us search diligently, without being lazy, for as dear as this treasure is, it is so important and urgent for us - there is only one thing we need (Luke 10:42). We see that here [in this life] everyone desires and wants to live in a well-built, beautiful, rich and glorious city and to live in a rich and beautiful house, and in eternal life there will be a beautiful, rich and glorious city, the city of God, the highest Jerusalem, whose artist and builder is God. Who can describe its beauty? For eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him has not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). This city is pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the city wall are decorated with all kinds of precious stones. The streets of the city are pure gold, like transparent glass, and so on (Rev. 21, 18–19, 21). There is the house of the heavenly Father, in which there are many mansions (John 14:2). In that city, beautiful and glorious, and in those sweet abodes, the chosen ones of God will dwell, they will be in dwellings of peace, and in safe churches, and in supreme chambers. We also see here how pleasant it is for people who have love among themselves and have gathered together to have lunch, dinner, eat, drink and have fun. We see this in the world, and there God’s chosen ones will lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 8:11), and will eat and drink at the table of Christ in His Kingdom (Luke 22:30). Then they will be satisfied from the fatness of the house of the Lord, and will drink from the stream of His sweetness (Isa. 65:13-14; Ps. 35:9), since there is the source of life. We see here how people love to dress in beautiful and bright clothes, and there God’s chosen ones will be clothed in clean and bright fine linen, in the robe of salvation and the robe of righteousness (Rev. 19:8; Isa. 61:10). Then the humble body of the saints will be transformed so that it will be consistent with the glorious body of Christ (Phil. 3:21). Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). We also see here that everyone wants to live in the royal court and be known as his court servant, and there God’s chosen ones and saints will live in the house of God, in the courtyard of the Heavenly King. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house (Lord); forever and ever they will praise You (Ps. 83:5). It is also noted here that everyone wants to hear sweet singing, and how sweetly he is comforted by it, it is impossible to say, but there the sweet singing of the angels of the saints and elect is heard. In that city, on every street, they sing a sweet song: Hallelujah! for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready (Rev. 19:6-7). We also see and hear here how pleasantly and joyfully people triumph over their defeated enemies, from whom they have suffered many misfortunes and disasters. And there God’s chosen ones will forever triumph over their enemies, death and hell, sing a song of victory and exclaim in the joy of the spirit, then the word written will come true: death is swallowed up in victory. Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:54–55, 57)! There is nothing more pleasant for people here than to have harmony, peace and love among themselves. This truth is indisputable for everyone, not only for Christians, but also for pagans; everyone desires and seeks it. There will be perfect peace, harmony and love between God’s chosen ones, because everyone will love each other perfectly, and everyone will want what the Heavenly Father alone wants, and will not want what He does not want. Then the will of the Heavenly Father will be completely fulfilled. Everyone knows how a person rejoices now, having found honest, constant and respectable friends, and there will be friendship between God’s chosen ones and the holy Angels. Then there will be one Church, one flock of Angels and people, and with one mouth and one heart they will praise and glorify the Most Holy Trinity, God and their Creator. Oh, dear and longed-for friendship, in which Angels are with people, and people, like Angels, will unite with Angels! For there will be a shameless, unhypocritical, true and holy friendship. Also, how pleasant and kind it is for people to live here in safety, in silence, not to be afraid of any fear, to be free from all the slander of the enemy. There will be complete safety and silence; all fear will have no place there, because all enmity and malice have been removed from there. Enemies and slanderers 17 will be imprisoned in their place, and a great chasm will be established between them and these (Luke 16:26). How here everyone is comforted by glory and honor who loves her, everyone knows, although he knows that she fades like a flower, or disappears like a shadow, or departs like a dream, and there will be true, constant, eternal, magnificent glory and honor, then the sons of God will be revealed and their glory will appear. Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). Then the saints of God, who were here like the only begotten Son of God in suffering, will be likened in glory. For we suffer with Him, says the apostle, so that we may be glorified with Him. For I think that the sufferings of this present time are not worth anything in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation awaits with hope the revelation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:17-19). How great a blessing does man consider wisdom to be. Blessed is the man who has gained wisdom, and the man who has gained understanding (Proverbs 3:13). There, all the wisdom of God's treasure will be revealed to the blessed, they will clearly know God with His divine properties, and in God they will see the sacraments that are now hidden, for the mind will be enlightened by divine light. Just as now the air is illuminated by the sun, bright and clearly shining, and is pure, clear and bright, so then the souls of God’s chosen ones will be illuminated by the light of the eternal and never-setting sun - God, and they themselves will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). Then the prophetic word will be completely fulfilled: in Your light (Lord!) we will see light (Ps. 35:10). People here consider it great for the king to always stand before him and look at his face; they are pleased by everyone, and especially when the king is pious, righteous, merciful and wise. For those who stand before the king also partake of the royal glory. There, God's chosen ones will appear before Christ, the Heavenly King, and see Him in divine glory, and forever and ever will be with Him, as the Savior Himself prayed to His Heavenly Father: Father! whom You have given Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me (John 17:24). Oh, how the holy people of God will then rejoice when they stand before the King of glory, and the glory themselves will be partakers of Him, since they suffer with Him in order to be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). The One in Whom they now do not doubt and are not ashamed to believe and confess as their God, although He was born of the Virgin, and as a man lived, suffered and died on earth, will no longer be seen by faith, but face to face in His divine glory. And although here for His sake now there is reproach. They endure dishonor, persecution and suffering, there for His sake and with Him, as members of the body with the head, and as the least brothers and sons of God with the Only Begotten Son, they will be glorified, exalted, magnified and crowned!.. If, even without seeing, they love Him, and even without seeing Him, but believing in Him, they rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8), then when His glory appears, how much more will they rejoice and triumph (1 Peter 4:13). How insatiably people desire to see God, people whose hearts have been wounded by His love, who with the prophet sing to Him: as a deer eagerly strives for springs of water, so my soul strives for You, O God. My soul longed to appear to the mighty, living God (Ps. 41:2-3). Then people will quench their hunger and cool their thirst with the insatiable vision of the most amiable Deity. Now we see, says the Apostle Paul, a God-loving soul, as if through a glass darkly, but then face to face (1 Cor. 13:12). Now, being settled in the body, we are removed from the Lord - for we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6-7). Then we will see Him face to face. Now we see His creation and from the creation of the Creator we know, but we do not see the Creator, but then we will see the Creator himself face to face. Now we take advantage of His benefits, we are satisfied and comforted, but we do not see the Benefactor, but then we will see the Benefactor himself. Now we hear His holy word, announced by His prophets and apostles, but we do not see Him who spoke, but then we will see Him Himself. Now His gifts, like streams from a source, generously pour out on us, but we do not see the Giver, and then we will see Him from Himself, as an ever-flowing source, we will draw abundantly, unceasingly, without satiety and without end. Now we feel Him who visits us and pushes us into the doors of our hearts, punishing and comforting Him, like the Father, saddening and delighting Him, but we do not see Himself, and then His most holy face itself, like the Father’s children, we will see, and our heart will rejoice, and no one will take our joy away from us (John 16:22). Now in prayer, singing, doxology and praise we stand before Him and pray to Him, we call on Him, we worship Him, we sing to Him and we praise Him, but we do not see Himself, Whom we pray, worship and sing, for we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7), and then we will see Himself face to face, and we will see forever and worship, we will sing and praise without difficulty, and see without satiety, and we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Then we will come and appear to the face of God (Ps. 41:3). Then we will be satisfied when His glory appears to us (Ps. 16:15). Then the spoken word will be fulfilled: as his mother comforts someone, so will I comfort you; and you will see this, and your heart will rejoice (Isa. 66:13-14). Then God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). People here please the one who has a healthy, light, prosperous, beautiful and adorned body with other natural gifts, and then among God’s elect there will be bodies that are incorruptible, healthy, prosperous, beautiful, glorious, light, spiritual, bright and immortal. For it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; sown in humiliation, raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength; the spiritual body is sown, the spiritual body is raised (1 Cor. 15:42-44). Oh, beautiful and longed-for spring, which will sprout such flowers in the new land! For we, according to His promise, look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). Then there will be no old, no infirm, no lepers, no paralytic, no blind, no lame, no sad, no despondent, but everyone will be in prosperous and perfect health, and will be forever. To the bliss of God’s elect will be added that they will be as sure of their unceasing and eternal bliss as they will be that God, with whom they will be and whom they will see, is eternal and endless and His kingdom will have no end, and they themselves will not want to lose what they have received. Judge for yourself what joy, joy and exclamation will be in their hearts when they are in such bliss, what language to speak, and mind to imagine, and heart to understand, and the eye to see, and the ear to hear here - and they will be in that bliss forever and ever. God's chosen ones will be comforted by heavenly bliss, but they will also be comforted by the fact that they will have what they have without end. They will see God endlessly, endlessly they will be in glory, endlessly they will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father, endlessly they will be in unspeakable and unceasing joy and joy. If you see the shadow, you also see the truth; learn the truth from the shadow. Shadow is temporary, but truth is eternal bliss. Leave the shadow and hold on to the truth, so that you will realize the truth. Remember the word of the Savior: many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16). We are called by the grace of God to eternal life, and let us try not only to be among those who are called, but also among those who are chosen. Think about this diligently and often, and the world with its charms and lusts will disgust you. We were created by our Creator for eternal life, and were called to it by the Word of God, renewed by holy baptism, and Christ, the Son of God, came into the world for this reason, to call us there and bring us there - and therefore only eternal life is necessarily needed. Therefore, let your first effort and concern be to receive eternal life. Without it, everything is nothing, even if you have the whole world in your power. Every sin and addiction to the vanity of this world prevents us from receiving it. Beware of all this, lest you lose eternal life. You take care of temporary life, although you will certainly leave it, and do everything so as not to lose it, how much more incomparably should you take care of eternal life and make every effort to not lose it! For everything temporary is nothing compared to the eternal. Seek eternal life as your only true good, and avoid with all diligence everything that closes the door to it. The philanthropic God wants your salvation, so may your desire for this be done. Then you will certainly be saved. Desire and seek salvation as a hungry man seeks food and a thirsty man seeks drink, and you will receive what you desire.