And he will
destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the vail that is spread over all nations [taking away ignorance,
etc,]. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe
away all tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he
take away from off the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it."--Isaiah
25:6-8.
[597]St. John on the Isle of Patmos had a vision of the great Messianic
kingdom and described it in symbolic phrase. The word "heaven"
symbolically means the invisible ruling power; while the "earth" means
organized society. The old heaven has been wicked, because Satan, the
wicked one, has been ruling. The old earth has been wicked, because the
organizations of men have been under the dominion of Satan. St. John,
observing the Messianic kingdom and the blessings that would follow,
wrote: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea". Thus he shows
the new heaven (the Messianic kingdom) and the new earth (society
organized on a righteous basis in the earth). _Sea_ is symbolic of
restless humanity, thus picturing the fact that there will be no more
strikes, lock-outs, revolutions, or anarchy. Continuing, he describes
the kingdom as a holy city, the new Jerusalem, in this beautiful phrase:
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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