21. Об обетованиях

The Greatly Gifted One promised to grant not anything perishable or temporary, but eternal enjoyment of blessings, because the Kingdom of God and our Savior will not be earthly and determined by a fixed time, as Cerinthus and others like him taught. They imagined a thousand-year period, perishable amusements and various types of voluptuousness, and, moreover, sacrifices and Jewish festivals. And we expect a life that does not grow old. For the Lord says: “These will rise to eternal life, but these to eternal reproach and shame” (Dan. 12:2); and again: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34); and: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for of them is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3); and: “it is blessed to drive away righteousness for the sake of them: for these are the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:10). And he commanded the divine Apostles, when preaching, to say: “come near... the Kingdom of God” (Luke 10:9). And in another place he said to them: “even if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everything to myself” (John 12:32). And again: My Father has many mansions: “Whatever I tell you, I will go and prepare a place for you. AND... Again I will come and take you to Myself: that where I am, you also will be” (John 14:2-3). And again: “If you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you will have eternal life” (John 6:54). And talking with the Father, he said this: “Father, you have given them to me, I want them, that even where I am, they also may be with me: that they may see my glory, which you have given to me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Having learned this, the divine Apostle said: “We will be caught up in the clouds at the meeting of the Lord... and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17); and again: “This is a true saying: if we die with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11, 12). In the Epistle to the Romans he said: “If through one sin we receive the kingdom’s death, and if we accept the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, Jesus Christ alone will reign in life” (Rom. 5:17); and again: “For even now our light sorrow is multiplied into prosperity”, an eternal “burden of glory will make us, not looking at the things that are visible to us, but the things unseen: the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are invisible are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18). And the greatest blessing is that the promised life is free from sin, because when bodies are resurrected incorruptible and souls assume immutability, sin will no longer have any place. When sin is washed away and the devil and his demons are handed over to Gehenna, then the labors of exploits, the fear of being defeated, the concern for victory will cease, and the worthy will be granted a carefree and blessed life, they will enjoy the spiritual and divine light, or better yet, they themselves will become luminous. For then, says the Lord, “the righteous will shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43). You might be interested in: