События во втором столетии второго тысячелетия

Jared, the son of Malalel, lived 162 years and begat Enoch. After his birth, he remained in childbearing for eight hundred years and gave birth to many sons and daughters. Seth the righteous, son of Adam, father of Enos, having lived nine hundred and twelve years of his entire life, died peacefully. His death followed - according to Russian Bibles in 1042 from the beginning of the world, and according to chronographs in 1142. It is narrated about Seth (by Bucelinus) that during the days of his life he wrote twenty-nine books about various things relating to the world above and below, and some prophecies and teachings about pious worship of God and a godly life. And after Adam he was the teacher of the universe and the ruler of his tribe. From the beginning, the righteous forefathers cared a lot about pleasing God and not only taught themselves about this, but also instructed their children, teaching them not only in words, but also in writing, so that subsequent generations could be taught in them in a life pleasing to God. For nothing can be more useful or selfish, nothing more honest and glorious, nothing can be sweeter and more joyful than pleasing God and truly serving Him with all the soul. A rational creature, man, by nature strives not to be poor, but to have something, and seeks self-interest in all possible ways; he desires not to be dishonored, but to be revered, and seeks honor; desires to remain not in sorrow and need, but to rejoice in pleasures, and takes care of this. But where can he truly find all this, if not in God alone, the Creator of all things? But how can he accept this from Him if he does not serve Him with all zeal? For “the worker is worthy of his reward” (Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Tim. 5:18), and no reward is given to the one who does not work. Do you, man, seek to have everything you need for life? Please God by working for Him and trusting in His Divine Providence, and you will have not only temporary contentment, but you will also receive eternal wealth from the righteous Giver. Our Lord Christ at His Last Supper asked His disciples, saying: “When you sent without a vagina and without a feast, food in great deprivation? They decided: “It’s nothing” (Luke 22:35). This is how those who worked for the Lord, although they did not carry anything with them, nevertheless, according to the Providence of God, had everything they needed so much that they did not lack anything! Which of the rich people of this world can say this: I have not lacked anything, I do not need anything! Isn’t it the other way around, the more rich someone gets, the more he needs, as if he is impoverished, and strives to have more and more, not being content with what he has? The Psalmist said well: “The rich are poor and hungry” (Ps. 33:11). This is not what the saints of God do, who work diligently for Him: they do not seek much, being content with little, and do not feel the need for anything: “For those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good” (Ps. 33:11). Each of them says: “The Lord shepherds me, and will deprive me of nothing” (Ps. 23:1). In Scripture we read that God fed the people brought out of Egypt, the ungrateful, the obstinate and the murmurers, for forty years in the desert, gave them wonderful water to drink and gave them everything they needed in abundance. And now God will not nourish His true servants, who are trying to please Him, in the same way and give them everything they need in sufficient measure? The Lord is faithful in all His words, who said in the Gospel: “Do not worry, as those who want to be rich in this world worry about the futility of their salvation; What good will it do them if they gain the whole world but lose their souls? Do not worry too much, but seek first the Kingdom of God, please God, and everything you need will be given to you: for your heavenly Father knows that you require all these things” (Matthew 6:31–33, 16:26; Luke 12:29–31). The honest mouth of the Lord has spoken these things, and who can doubt the truth of this? Don’t we read in many places in the lives of saints how God’s Providence fed His saints wandering in the deserts? In addition to all this, the rich Kingdom of Heaven is also prepared for them: “Blessed,” it is said, “are the poor in spirit, for of them is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:3), where they will be satisfied forever from the abundance of His house, as He promised, saying: “I command you, as My Father commanded Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom” (Luke 22:29-30). And what is more rich and selfish than this? What richest treasures can satisfy human desires like those that are prepared in heaven for those who please and work for God? If you, man, want to receive high honor, please God by working for him, and you will be very honest. Listen to the Lord, who says in the Holy Gospel: “If anyone serves Me... My Father will honor him” (John 12:26). How will he honor? He will call and make such a friend His friend, for His saints who work for God are revered and glorified as friends of God. Doesn’t the Scripture call Abraham a friend of God, when the Apostle James says: “Abraham believed in God, and it was imputed to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God” (James 2:23)? But let us listen to how our Lord also calls the holy apostles: “You,” He says, “are naturally my friends; If, among earthly honors, the man whom the king exalts and calls his friend is very honorable, then much more in the heavenly eternal glory great and great is the honor of those who become friends of the King of Heaven. Pharaoh exalted Joseph, and Artaxerxes Mordecai, and they were honest and glorious, but already honored, and honored, and given veneration, all of them have long ago “become like a shadow, like a dream” (Ps. 143: 4), and even the place on earth where they are is unknown. The same honor with which God will honor and glorify His friends in heaven will not pass away to endless centuries. For God, who wants to honor and glorify, is eternal, and those who receive honor and glorification from Him will be immortal, and their heavenly glory will be endless. Whose tongue will be able to confess this eternal honor of the friends of God, or whose human mind will comprehend it? The Holy Apostle Paul, caught up there and hearing unspeakable verbs, says: “It is not for a man to speak” (2 Cor. 12:4). Why? Because the human mind cannot comprehend what the Apostle saw and heard, even if he told it. Is it only from earthly examples that someone can partially comprehend the heavenly, thinking about the following: there is no greater honor on earth than royal honor, and in heaven, every servant and saint of the Lord, as a friend of God, is given royal honor, as God Himself says: “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matthew 25:34). They will be given the royal throne, as promised by the Heavenly King, who said: “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on the throne (Apoc. 3:21). A royal crown will also be given, according to the apostolic word: “Take away the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will reward me on that day, not only to me, but also to all those who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). And every friend of God will be glorified as a king in the Kingdom of Heaven, and what is even more honorable for God’s saints? It is well said: “God’s work is to reign” (2 Tim. 2:12). If you, man, want to enjoy any blessings and rejoice without sorrow, please God by working for Him, and He will give you sweetness and true joy. Any pleasure and joy found in this world is not true, but false, since it is temporary and turns into an opposite state. The sweetness of sin turns into sorrow, only partially delights and perishes, and after this nothing else remains for a person but sorrow; and this is partly because temporary sweetness perished, and partly because it deprived it of eternal sweetness, having sought bitter torment. In the same way, the joy of this world turns into sadness and lamentation: it will only make you happy for a short time, and then it will pass away. Sweetness and joy in God are true, unchangeable and eternal, since God is true, unchangeable and eternal. Those who try to please Him in this temporary life are honored with this Divine sweetness and joy, who desire to delight their hearts with nothing other than His Divine love, and who rejoice in nothing other than their Savior God. No sorrow of this world can upset such people, since they have in their hearts the sweetness of Divine love; they also cannot be saddened by any disasters of this life, for within themselves they have spiritual joy in their Savior God. Such was Paul, who said: “I rejoice in my sufferings” (Col. 1:24); and again: “I will gladly boast in my weaknesses” (2 Cor. 12:9). In what weaknesses? - in annoyances, in troubles, in exiles and oppressions. The one who is beaten rejoices, the one grieved by troubles delights and wishes well in what for others is terrible and sorrowful; and in that he rejoices, in which others cry and weep. What was it in him that created pleasure and joy during disasters? And the fact that he loved God completely, and “nothing can separate him from the love of God, not persecution, not trouble, not the sword” (Rom. 8:35-39). We will pay attention to how God delights His saints with spiritual sweets even during this life, and how much more He will delight them in the future life! The ancient forefathers also desired this, trying to please God in every possible way, and teaching their children to please God. You might be interested in: