 CHAPTERS 33 THROUGH 36 OF IRONAISTS AGAINST TERRICIES BOOK V This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. DRAWN FROM THE PROMISES MADE BY CHRIST WHEN HE DECLARED THAT HE WOULD DRINK OF THE FRUIT OF THE VINE WITH HIS DISCIPLES IN HIS FATHER'S KINGDOM, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME HE PROMISED TO REWARD THEM UNHUNDRED FOLD AND TO MAKE THEM PARTAKE OF BANKWITS. A BLESSING, PRONOUNCED BY JAKOB, HAD POINED OUT THIS ALREADY AS POPIUS AND THE ELLDERS HAVE INTERPRETED IT. 1. For this reason, when about to undergo his sufferings, that he might declare to Abraham and those with him the glad tidings of the inheritance being thrown open, Christ, after he had given thanks while holding the cup, and had drunk of it, and given it to the disciples, said to them, Drink ye all of it. This is my blood of the new covenant, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of this vine until that day when I will drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Thus then he will himself renew the inheritance of the earth, and will reorganize the mystery of the glory of his sons, as David says, he who hath renewed the face of the earth. He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with his disciples, thus indicating both these points, the inheritance of the earth in which the new fruit of the vine is drunk, and the resurrection of his disciples, and the flesh, for the new flesh, which rises again, is the same which also received the new cup. And he cannot, by any means, be understood as drinking of the fruit of the vine when settled down with his disciples above in a super celestial place. Nor again are they who drink it devoid of flesh, for to drink of that which flows from the vine pertains to flesh and not spirit. 2. And for this reason the Lord declared, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, do not call thy friends nor thy neighbors nor thy kinsfolk, lest they ask thee in return and so repay thee. But call the lame, the blind, and the poor, and thou shall be blessed, since they cannot recompense thee. But a recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just. And again he says, whosoever shall have left lands or houses or parents or brethren or children because of me, he shall receive in this world a hundred fold, and in that to come he shall inherit eternal life. 3. For what are the hundred fold rewards in this world, the entertainments given to the poor, and the suppers for which a return is made? These are to take place in the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day, which has been sanctified, and which God rested from all the works which he created, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous, which they shall not be engaged in any earthly occupation, but shall have a table at hand prepared for them by God, supplying them with all sorts of dishes. 3. The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same meaning, when he says, Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed, but the field is the world. And therefore he added, God give to thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth plenty of corn and wine, and let the nations serve thee, and kings bow down to thee, and be thou, Lord, over thy brother, and thy father's sons shall bow down to thee. Cursed shall be he who shall curse thee, and blessed shall be he who shall bless thee. If anyone then does not accept these things, as referring to the appointed kingdom, he must fall into much contradiction and contrariety, as is the case with the Jews, who are involved in absolute perplexity, for not only did the nations in this life serve this Jacob, but even after he had received the blessing, he himself, going forth from his home, served his uncle Laban the Syrian for twenty years, and not only was he not made Lord of his brother, but he did himself bow down before his brother Esau, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father, and offered many gifts to him. Moreover, in what way did he inherit much corn and wine here, he immigrated to Egypt because of the famine which possessed the land and which he was dwelling, and became subject to Pharaoh, who was then ruling over Egypt? The predicted blessing therefore belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom, when the righteous shall bear rule upon their rising from the dead, when also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food, from the dew of heaven and from the fertility of the earth, as the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, related that they had heard from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to these times and say, The days will come in which vines shall grow, each having 10,000 branches, and each branch 10,000 twigs, and each true twig 10,000 shoots, and each one of the shoots 10,000 clusters, and every one of the clusters 10,000 grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five and twenty metrites of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, I'm a better cluster, take me, bless the Lord through me. In like manner the Lord declared that a grain of wheat would produce 10,000 years, and that every year should have 10,000 grains, and every grain would yield 10 pounds, quinkae bilibres, of clear, pure, fine flower, and that all other fruit-bearing trees and seeds and grass would produce in similar proportions, sagundum con grulintium ease con sequentum, and that all animals feeding only on the productions of the earth should in those days become peaceful and harmonious among each other, and be in perfect subjection to man. Four, and these things are borne witness to in writing by Popias the hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp in his fourth book, for there were five books compiled, suntanagmana, by him, and he says in addition, now these things are credible to believers, and he says that when the traitor Judas did not give credit to them and put the question, how then can things about to bring forth so abundantly be wrought by the Lord, the Lord declared, they who shall come to these times shall see. When prophesying of these times, therefore, Esaias says, the wolf also shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall take his rest with the kid, the calf also and the bull and the lion shall eat together, and a little boy shall eat them. The ox and the bear shall feed together, and their young one shall agree together, and the lion shall eat straw as well as the ox. And the infant boy shall thrust his hand into the asp's den, into the nest also of the adder's brood, and they shall do no harm, nor have power to hurt anything in my holy mountain. And again he says in recapitulation, wolves and lamb shall then browse together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the serpent earth as if it were bread, and they shall neither hurt nor annoy anything in my holy mountain set the Lord. I'm quite aware that some persons endeavor to refer these words to the case of savage men, both of different nations and various habits, who come to believe, and when they have believed, act in harmony with the righteous. But although this is true now with regard to some men coming from various nations to the harmony of the faith, nevertheless, in the resurrection of the just, the words shall also apply to those animals mentioned. For God is rich in all things, and it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food originally given by God, for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam, that is, the productions of the earth. But some other occasion, and not the present, is to be sought, for showing that the lion shall then feed on straw, and this indicates the large size and rich quality of the fruits. For, if that animal, the lion, feeds upon straw at that period, of what a quality must the wheat itself be, whose straw shall serve as suitable food for lions. Chapter 34 He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel, also by the parable of the servants watching to whom the Lord promised that he would minister. 1. Then too Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says, The dead shall rise again, those too who are in the tomb shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew from thee is health to them. 2. And this again Ezekiel also says, Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will bring you forth out of your graves, when I will draw my people from the sepulchres, and I will put breath in you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And again the same speaks thus, these things set the Lord. I will gather Israel from all nations whether they have been driven, and I shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the sons of the nations, and they shall dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob, and they shall dwell in it in peace, and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell in hope, when I shall cause judgment to fall among all who have dishonored them, among those who encircle them round about, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers. Now I have shown a short time ago that the church is the sea of Abraham, and for this reason that we may know that he who in the New Testament raises up from the stones children under Abraham, is he who will gather according to the Old Testament those that shall be saved from all the nations. Jeremiah says, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall know more say, the Lord liveth, who led the children of Israel from the north, and from every region whether they had been driven. He will restore them to their own land which he gave to their fathers. 2. That the whole creation shall, according to God's will, obtain a vast increase, that it may bring forth and sustain fruits such as we have mentioned. Isaiah declares, And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill, water running everywhere in that day, when many shall perish, when walls shall fall, and the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, seven times that of the day, when he shall heal the angry shopping's people, and do away with the pain of his stroke. Now the pain of the stroke means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is death, which stroke the Lord will heal when he raises us from the death, and restores the inheritance of the fathers. As Isaiah again says, And thou shalt be confident in the Lord, and he will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob the Father. This is what the Lord declared. Happy are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Barely I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the evening watch and find them so, blessed are they, because he shall make them sit down and minister to them, or at this be in the second, or it be in the third, lest are they. Again John also says the very same in the Apocalypse. Blessed anaheoli is he who has part in the first resurrection. Then, too, Isaiah has declared the time when these events shall occur. He says, And I said, Lord, how long? Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses be without men, and the earth be left a desert. And after these things the Lord shall remove us men far away, longae nos fas yet deus omines. And those who shall remain shall multiply upon the earth. Then Daniel also says this very thing. And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of those under the heaven is given to the saints of the Most High God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and all dominion shall serve and obey him. And lest the promised name should be understood as referring to this time, it was declared to the prophets, and come thou and stand in thy lot at the consummation of the days. Three. Now that the promises were not announced to the prophets and the fathers alone, but to the churches united to these from the nations, whom also the spirit terms the islands, both because they are established in the midst of turbulence, suffer the storm of blasphemies, exist as a harbor of safety to those in peril, and are the refuge of those who love the height of heaven, and strive to avoid bithas, that is, the depth of error. Jeremiah thus declares, Hear the word of the Lord ye nations, and declare it to the isles of our awe. Say ye that the Lord will scatter Israel, he will gather him and keep him as one feeding his flock of sheep. The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and rescued him from the hand of one stronger than he, and they shall come and rejoice in Mount Zion, and shall come to what is good and into a land of wheat and wine and fruits of animals and of sheep, and their souls shall be as a tree-bearing fruit, and they shall hunger no more. At that time also shall the virgins rejoice in the company of the young men. The old men too shall be glad, and I will turn their sorrow into joy, and I will make them exult, and will magnify them, and satiate the souls of the priests, the sons of Levi, and my people shall be satiated with my goodness. Now in the preceding book I have shown that all the disciples of the Lord are Levites and Priests, they who used in the temple to profane the Sabbath, but are blameless. Promises of such a nature therefore do indicate in the clearest manner the feasting of that creation in the kingdom of the righteous, which God promises that he will himself serve. 4. Then again, speaking of Jerusalem, and of him reigning there, Isaiah declares, Thus set the Lord happy as he who hath seed in Zion, and servants in Jerusalem, Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment. And with regard to the foundation on which it shall be rebuilt, he says, Behold, I will lay in order for thee a carbuncle stone, and sapphire for thy foundations, and I will lay thy ramparts with jasper, and thy gates with crystal, and thy wall with choice stones, and all thy children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children, and in righteousness shall thou be built up. And yet again does he say the same thing. Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy, for the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Also there shall not be there any immature one, nor an old man who does not fulfill his time, for the youth shall be of a hundred years, and the sinner shall die a hundred years old, yet shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them themselves, and shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them themselves, and shall drink wine. And they shall not build, and others inhabit, neither shall they prepare the vineyard, and others eat. For as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of the people in thee, for the works of their hands shall endure. Chapter 35 He contends that these testimonies, already alleged, cannot be understood allegorically of celestial blessings, but that they shall have their fulfillment after the coming of Antichrist and the resurrection in the terrestrial Jerusalem. To the former prophecies he subjoins others, drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John. 1. If, however, any shall endeavor to allegorize prophecies of this kind, they shall not be found consistent with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the very expressions in question. For example, when the cities of the Gentiles shall be desolate, so that they be not inhabited, and the houses so that there shall be no men in them, and the land shall be left desolate. For behold, says Isaiah, the day of the Lord cometh past remedy, full of fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out of it. And again he says, let him be taken away, that he behold not the glory of God. And when these things are done, he says, God will remove men far away, and those that are left shall multiply in the earth, and they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them themselves, and plant vineyards, and eat of them themselves. For all these, and other words, were unquestionably spoken in reference to the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of Antichrist, and the destruction of all nations under his rule. In the times of which resurrection the righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the Lord. And through him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings, and with respect to those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh awaiting him from heaven, and who have suffered tribulation as well as escaped the hands of the wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says, and those that are left shall multiply upon the earth. And Jeremiah the prophet has pointed out that as many believers as God has prepared for this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both be under the rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that his kingdom shall be in it, saying, look around Jerusalem toward the east, and behold the joy which comes to be from God himself. Behold thy sons shall come whom thou hast sent forth. They shall come in a band from the east, even unto the west, by the word of that holy one, rejoicing in that splendor which is from thy God. O Jerusalem, put off thy robe of mourning and of affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendor from thy God. Gird thyself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding from thy God. Place the mighter of eternal glory upon thine head, for God will show thy glory to the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall forever be called by God himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that worships God. Arise Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east, and behold thy sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the word of that holy one, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For the footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by the enemy. God shall bring them into thee, being born with glory as the throne of a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled so that the surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that Israel, the glory of God, may walk in safety. The woods too shall make shady places, and every sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command of God. For God shall go from before, with joy in the light of his splendor, with the pity and righteousness which proceeds from him too. Now all these things, being such as they are, cannot be understood in reference to super celestial matters. For God, it is said, will show to the whole earth that is under heaven thy glory. But in the times of the kingdom the earth has been called again by Christ to its pristine condition, and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the Jerusalem above, of which the prophet Isaiah says, Behold, I have depicted thy walls upon my hands, and thou art always in my sight. And the apostle too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, that the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. He does not say this with any thought of an erratic eon, or of any other power which departed from the plerama, or of prunicus, but of the Jerusalem which has been delineated on God's hands. And in the apocalypse John saw this new Jerusalem descending upon the new earth. For after the times of the kingdom he says, I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens, and there was no more place for them. And he sets forth two, the things connected with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning the dead, great and small. The seed, he says, gave up the dead which it had in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead that they contained, and the books were opened. Moreover, he says, the book of life was opened, and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works, and death and hell were sent into the lake of fire, the second death. Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord styled eternal fire. And if anyone, it is said, was not found written in the book of life, he was sent into the lake of fire. And after this, he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away. Also there was no more seed. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard, it is said, a great voice from the throne saith, 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 as their God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away. Isaiah also declares the very same, for there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and there shall be no remembrance of the former, neither shall the heart think about them, but they shall find in it joy and exultation. Now this is what has been said by the Apostle, for the fashion of this world passeth away. To the same purpose did the Lord also declare, heaven and earth shall pass away. When these things therefore pass away above the earth, John the Lord's disciple says that the new Jerusalem above shall then descend as a bride adorned for her husband, and that this is the tabernacle of God in which God will dwell with men. Of this Jerusalem, the former one is an image, that Jerusalem of the former earth, in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation. And of this tabernacle, Moses received the pattern in the mouth, and nothing is capable of being allegorized, but all things are steadfast and true and substantial, having been made by God for righteous man's enjoyment. For as it is God truly who raises up man, so also does man truly rise from the dead, and not allegorically, as I have shown repeatedly. And as he rises actually, so also shall he be actually disciplined beforehand for incorruption, and shall go forwards and flourish in the times of the kingdom, in order that he may be capable of receiving the glory of the Father. Then when all things are made new, he shall truly dwell in the city of God. For it is said, He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new, and the Lord says, Write all this for these words are faithful and true. And he said to me, they are done, and this is the truth of the matter. Chapter 36. Men shall be actually raised, the world shall not be annihilated, but there shall be various mansions for the saints, according to the rank allotted to each individual. All things shall be subject to God the Father, and so shall he be all in all. One, for since there are real men, so must there also be a real establishment, plan tatianum, that they vanish not away among nonexistent things, but progress among those which have an actual existence. For neither is the substance nor the essence of the creation annihilated, for faithful and true is he who has established it. But the fashion of the world passes away, that is, those things among which transgression has occurred, since man has grown old in them. And therefore this present fashion has been formed temporarily, God for knowing all things, as I have pointed out in the preceding book, and have also shown, as far as was possible, the cause of the creation of this world of temporal things. But when this present fashion of things passes away, and man has been renewed, and flourishes in an incorruptible state, so as to preclude the possibility of becoming old, then there shall be the new heaven and the new earth, in which the new man shall remain continually, always holding fresh converse with God. And since, or that these things shall ever continue without end, Isaiah declares, for as the new heavens and the new earth, which I do make continue in my sight, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And as the presenters say, then those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there. Others shall enjoy the dislikes of paradise, and others shall possess the splendor of the city. For everywhere the Savior shall be seen according as they who see him shall be worthy. Two, they say moreover, that there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce a hundredfold, and that of those who produce sixtyfold, and that of those who produce thirtyfold. For the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second will dwell in paradise, the last will inhabit the city. And that was on this account the Lord declared, and my father's house are many mansions. For all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling place, even as his word says, that a share is allotted to all by the Father, according as each person is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline having been invited to the wedding. The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, affirm that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature, also that they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father, and that in due time the Son will yield up his work to the Father, even as it is said by the apostle. For he must reign till he put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For in the times of the kingdom, the righteous man who is upon the earth shall then forget to die. But when he says all things shall be subdued unto him, it is manifest that he is accepted who did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 3. John therefore did distinctly foresee the first resurrection of the just, and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth, and what the prophets have prophesied concerning it harmonize with this vision. For the Lord also taught these things, when he promised, that he would have the mixed cup new with his disciples in the kingdom. The apostle too has confessed that the creation shall be free from the bondage of corruption, so as to pass into the liberty of the sons of God. And in all these things, and by them all, the same God the Father is manifested, who fashioned man, and gave promise of the inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who brought it, the creature forth from bondage, at the resurrection of the just, and fulfills the promises for the kingdom of his son, subsequently bestowing in a paternal manner those things which neither the eye has seen nor the ear has heard, nor has thought concerning them arisen within the heart of man, for there is the one Son who accomplished his Father's will, and one human race also in which the mysteries of God are wrought, which the angels desire to look into, and they are not able to search out the wisdom of God by means of which his handiwork confirmed and incorporated with his Son is brought to perfection, that his offspring, the first begotten word, should descend to the creature, facturum, that is to what had been molded, plasma, and that it should be contained by him, and on the other hand the creature should contain the word and ascend to him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God. End of book 5, chapters 33 through 36. End of Irenaeus against Heresies, translated by Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambeau, recording by Bill Mosley, Krellsburg, Texas.