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"--picturing here the
dwelling place of the Lord. The place of meeting between Jehovah and
mankind is through the Christ. The results will be the destruction of
the enemy death, and the full restoration of the obedient ones; and thus
he describes it: "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."--Revelation
21:1-5.
[598]Let the reasonable person ask himself these questions:
[599]Why would God outline such a marvelous plan as this?
[600]Why would he establish a new heaven and a new earth?
[601]Why would he awaken the dead out of their graves unless he intended
to give them an opportunity to be restored to the perfection enjoyed by
Adam before he sinned?
[602]God has invited us to use our reasoning faculties (Isaiah 1:18);
and if we believe these great truths taught in the Bible, we can reach
no other reasonable conclusion than that restitution is the great
objective of God's plan relative to the human race, and that restitution
blessings are near because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, even at the
door.
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