Chapter 35. The Testimonies Are Not to Be Understood Spiritually of the Heavenly Blessings, but of the Kingdom of the Mi
Chapter 35
1. Now, if certain ones would attempt to understand these things in an allegorical sense, they could not be found consistent in all things. They would be refuted by the statements that say, Until cities lie waste without inhabitants, and houses without men, and the land be utterly desolate. Isaiah says, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, and full of wrath and fierce anger to make the earth a desolation; and to destroy its sinners from it. And again he says, Let him be taken that he may not see the glory of the Lord. And when these things will have happened, he says, God shall remove men far away, and they who were left on the earth shall be multiplied. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Surely, such things are without doubt said of the resurrection of the just, which will take place after the coming of the Antichrist, and after the destruction of all the nations who will be under his dominion. At that [resurrection] the just will reign on the earth, they will gain growth because of the appearance of the Lord, and through him they will become accustomed to receiving the glory of God the Father; and in the “kingdom” they will have companionship with the holy angels and will have communion and union with the spiritual beings. Those, too, whom the Lord will find on the earth in the flesh awaiting him from heaven, and who have suffered affliction and have escaped the hands of the evil One, are the ones of whom the Prophet says, They who were left on the earth shall be multiplied. And all from among the Gentiles whom God prepared for this: to multiply those who were left on the earth, for belonging to the reign of the saints, and for serving in Jerusalem.
The Prophet Jeremiah pointed out still more clearly about Jerusalem and the “kingdom” in it. He said: Look about you, O Jerusalem, to the east: and behold the joy that comes to you from God himself. Behold your children whom you had sent away are coming, they come gathered together from east to west, rejoicing in the glory of God at the word of the Holy One. Take off, O Jerusalem, the garment of your mourning and affliction; and put on the beauty of the glory of your God for ever. Wrap yourself in the double mantle of justice; and put on your head the crown of everlasting glory. For God will show your glory to every [creature] under heaven. For your name, given by God himself for ever, shall be “Peace of justice” and “Glory of divine worship.” Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on the heights, and look about to the east, and behold your children gathered together from the rising of the sun to its setting, by the Word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God remembers them. For they left you on foot, led by the enemies, but the Lord will bring them to you borne aloft in glory as (on) the throne of the kingdom. For God has decreed to level every high mountain and the everlasting hills, and to fill up the valleys to make the earth a plain, so that Israel may walk safe in the glory of God. The woods, moreover, and every fragrant tree have by an order of God cast a shadow over Israel. For God will joyfully go before Israel by the light of his glory, with mercy and justice that come from him.
2. All these things cannot be understood as supercelestial matters. He says: For God will show your glory to every creature under heaven. These things must be understood of the times of the kingdom, when the earth has been renewed by Christ and Jerusalem has been rebuilt according to the pattern of the Jerusalem on high, of which the Prophet Isaiah says, Behold, I have graven your walls upon my hands, and you are always in my sight. The Apostle writing to the Galatians spoke in a similar strain. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is the mother of us all. He did not say this of an imagined Aeon that had strayed, nor of any power that rebelled against the Fullness and Prunikos, but of the Jerusalem that was organized in God’s hands.
John, in the Apocalypse, saw it coming down upon the new earth. For, after the times of the “kingdom,” he says: I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And he explains the details of the general resurrection and judgment; he said he saw the dead, great and small. And the sea gave up the dead in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead in them; and the scrolls were opened. And the book of life, too, was opened; and the dead were judged by what was written on the scrolls, by what they had done. Hades and Death were thrown into the lake of fire. This is known as Gehenna, which Christ called eternal fire. If anyone, he says, was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
After that he continued: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard, he said, a great voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling of God with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God will be with them as their God; and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” But Isaiah said the same thing: For behold, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered, or come to mind. But they shall find gladness and rejoicing in her. And that is precisely what the Apostle said: For the form of this world is passing away. The Lord said something similar, Heaven and earth will pass away.
When, therefore, these things have passed away, John, the Lord’s disciple, said that the Jerusalem from on high will come down on the new earth, as a bride adorned for her spouse, and that this is God’s dwelling, in which God dwells together with men. The image of this Jerusalem is that Jerusalem on the former earth, in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for imperishability, and are made ready for salvation. Moses received the pattern of this tabernacle on the mountain.
Nothing of these things can be taken in an allegorical sense, but all are reliable and true, and represent reality, and were made by God for the enjoyment of the righteous people. For, just as he is truly God who raises men up, so man rises from the dead, really and not allegorically, as we have shown by so many arguments. And as he really rises, so also is he really disciplined beforehand for imperishability and will grow and flourish in the times of the “kingdom,” that he might become capable of receiving the Father’s glory. Then, when all things have been renewed, he will in all reality dwell in the city of God. For he said: And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And the Lord said, “Write <all>, because these words are trustworthy and true, and he said to me, ‘It is done.’”