From Splendor to Shadow

The Resurrection From the Dead

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. SS 374.3

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

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. SS 374.4

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.

“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. SS 375.1

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.

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

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. SS 375.2

What Life Will Be Like in the New Earth SS 375.3

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. SS 375.4

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. SS 376.1

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. SS 376.2

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. SS 376.3

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.” SS 376.4

“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.” SS 377.1

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 66:23; 51:3; 62:5, RSV. SS 377.2