"Rest Which Remains For The People Of GOD."

No longer will there be any curse!
(Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880)

"No longer will there be 
any curse!" Revelation 22:3

Our beautiful world, filled with

the wonderful works of GOD, 

bears evident traces that it is 

not what it was created at first.

It bears everywhere,

the marks of a great change--

which change is accounted for

in the Bible by the fall of Adam.

GOD made everything very good--

but man sinned, and the curse 

came upon himself and

the whole creation!

Though still beautiful, yet how much

is its beauty marred and defaced!

Now, thorns and thistles spring up--

where once were only lovely

flowers and sweet fruits.

The wild beasts of the forest,

though still beautiful in outward form--

now possess violent and ferocious

dispositions; and the beasts of burden 

groan under the tyranny of man.

Man himself is subject to labor 

and toil, to sorrow and sickness 

and death.  Even his most innocent 

enjoyments are marred by sin!

But thanks be to GOD, the promise

of deliverance from the curse sounds

in our ears in this blessed Scripture,

"No longer will there be any curse!"

Where, then, is this land of blessing

and perfection? It is that Paradise 

which CHRIST has gone to prepare

for HIS people; that "Rest which

remains for the people of GOD."

Here on earth, even our very blessings 

are mixed with signs of the curse. But 

there shall be no more curse in our 

Heavenly home:

  no more toil and labor,

  no more weariness and faintness,

  no more hunger or thirst,

  no more bitter cold or burning heat,

  no more disappointment,

  no more sorrow,

  no more pain,

  no more sickness,

  no more death!

In Heaven, there shall be no more 

curse, but all will be the perfection 

of bliss. Who can conceive 

the happiness of such a state? 

For this, the whole creation groans 

and travails in pain, eagerly waiting 

for its consummation.

Let us, then, who have such 

exceedingly great and precious 

promises, when sighing under 

the effects of the curse 

in any of its forms--

gladly turn our thoughts to meditate 

on Heaven's glorious realities! 

And when admiring the beautiful 

works of GOD, which still exist 

to show us what they once were--

let us also turn our thoughts 

to the greater beauty and 

glory of our Paradise above!

     ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

GraceGems has published Timothy Shay Arthur's instructive short story,
"Procrastination".