God
All in All
“And I saw a new heaven and new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, It is done.” Rev. 21.1‑6
The final scene of "The Redemption Play" opens with the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth as a backdrop, but before a word can be spoken Jesus comes on stage and rolls up the entire scene like a giant scroll. All of the things used in the redemption process, everything that has appeared to be eternal, has been nothing but a tool for salvation's purposes. Everything is gone, all the old things used to mark the seasons and the times are passed away, and God is about to make every thing brand new. Time is no more, death is no more, the clay of the earth and the pitiful light of the sun, moon, and stars are extinguished, and suddenly, we see the apostle John standing next to Jesus gazing upward at a new and beautiful city, the abode of God and Man together, descending out of God's heaven. God is its light, the sun has fled away in shame.
We know that eternity holds a lot of surprises for us. The heaven and earth, Jesus told us, will pass away, but his words will last for ever. A very important message of faith sits nestled quietly in 2 Corinthians 4.18, but it is rarely taken to heart by even faithful Man. It gives us a clue about eternity and how we should view this life. "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." That means that everything ‑ our bodies, the mountains, the sea, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars ‑ everything we can see is nothing more than a tool in God's hand, and like any tool it will be put away when the work is done. If we can see it - if it is tangible - it has been declared without reservation by God, to be temporary. The things that are eternal are relationships ‑ and more to the point, the relationships that are bound together by God's true love. Eternity's dimensions and form are not visible yet, because eternity, with its new heaven and new earth, will be a place where God and redeemed Man are one. God created Man to be a dwelling place, a house, his eternal home. There is no way we can fully comprehend what this entails, but the Scriptures promise that this mystical oneness has something to do with our being the very house of God, his very dwelling place for all of eternity.
The Epistles teach us that we are living stones built one upon another for the habitation of God. That is the same picture shown in its final form in Revelation 21 when the angel carries John away to see the bride of Christ and shows him, not a women - but a city! - the New and Heavenly Jerusalem. This is the bride of Christ? Yes it is, and it is the habitation of the Father and the Son and God is its light. The science and physics of the matter we can not understand, but that is not important. That Jesus makes a point of saying that these words are "faithful and true" is what we should take to heart and salt away in our bank of faith.
We are already called the Temple of the Holy Ghost and the Epistles call our relationship with the Holy Ghost in this present age, the "earnest of our inheritance". Someday we will realize our inheritance to its fullest. God himself will inhabit us, his people, in a way only hinted at in this world.
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”1 Cor. 15.24-28