September 7

"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat."—Revelation 7:16.

EVERY thing in nature has its commencement, its progress, and its end. The flower that charms with its beauty, and diffuses its fragrance around, buds, blooms, withers, droops, and dies. The trees of the forest, on whose wide-spreading branches the birds of the air lodge and find shelter, ascend from the ground, establish their roots in the earth, decay, wither, and die. The planets that shine so beautifully in their orbits, and bespangle the firmament with their brightness, go on at the command of the great Creator, but shall one day fall from heaven. The sun, that has for near six thousand years imparted its enlightening and genial influence to our world, shall grow dim with age, and be turned into darkness. The world itself shall come to an end, its fabric shall burst at the sound of the archangel's trumpet. How beautiful was its youth in paradise! how wonderful its maturity at the death of Christ! how bright its evening in the millennial glories of the Redeemer! how tremendous its dissolution when heaven and earth shall pass away! But there is a world of peace, where the principles of corruption and decay are unknown, and of this our text speaks. Contemplate here

A GLORIOUS CHANGE. Heaven is sometimes described negatively, or by what it is not, and at other times positively, or by what it is. The description before us is negative.

Freedom from want. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more." What a wonderful change shall be produced on the body at the resurrection! And this must necessarily be the case, or it could not be capacitated for the enjoyment of heaven. Mark the attributes by which the corporeal part of our nature is distinguished, and the change by which it shall be characterized. "He shall change our vile bodies." The plain and simple meaning of the expression of the text is, that the glorified spirits above shall have all their desires granted, and know no want.

Release from pain. "Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." Doddridge renders this. "Nor shall the scorching rays of the sun fall upon them, nor any other inconvenient and disagreeable heat." There shall be nothing in that world of happiness to deteriorate from the saints' enjoyment. There shall be nothing to hurt or vex the mind, nothing to mar or disturb the peace. Let the inquiry often dwell upon my thoughts, "Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord?"