By Water & Blood

On the promises

Concerning promises.

The munificent One has promised to give nothing perishable or temporary, but eternal enjoyment of goods. For the kingdom of our God and Savior will not be, according to Cerinthus and those like him, an earthly one, circumscribed by a stated time. Let those people imagine the cycle of a thousand years, and the luxury that decays, and the other pleasures, and besides these the sacrifices and the Jewish festivals; for we await the life that does not grow old.

For “these,” says the Lord, “will rise into eternal life, and these into eternal punishment and shame.” And again: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” And he commanded the divine apostles, when they preach, to say: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” And elsewhere he said to them: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.” And again: “There are many dwellings with my Father; if it were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.” And again: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” And indeed, conversing with the Father, he spoke thus: “Father, those whom you have given me, I wish that where I am, they also may be with me, so that they may behold my glory which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Having learned these things, the divine Apostle said: “We shall be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” And again: “The word is faithful: for if we died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him.” And writing to the Romans he said: “If by the trespass of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift and of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.” And again: “For the momentary lightness of our affliction works for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, as we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.”

And the crown of the goods is that the promised life is free from sin. For when the bodies rise incorruptible and the souls receive immutability, sin will thereafter have not even one place. And when sin has been put out of the way, and the devil with the demons has been handed over to Gehenna, the toils of the contests will also cease, and the fear of defeat, and the anxiety about victory. A life without grief and delightful will be given to the worthy, and they will enjoy intelligible and divine light—or rather they themselves will become light-bearing. For then, says the Lord, “the righteous will shine forth as the sun.”