"When thou passest through the waters,
I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee."
-Isaiah 43:2-When the morning was up,
they had him to the top of the house,
and bid him look south.
So he did, and behold, at a great distance,
he saw a most pleasant mountainous country,
beautified with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts,
flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delectable to behold.
"He shall dwell on high;
his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks;
his bread shall be given him ; his waters shall be sure.
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty:
they shall behold a land that reacheth afar."
-Isaiah 33:16-17-Then he asked the name of the country. They said it was Immanuel's land;
and it is as common, said they, as this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims.
And when thou comest there, from thence thou mayest see to the gate of the Celestial City, as the shepherds that live there will make appear. Now I saw in my dream, that by this time the pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah, whose air was very sweet and pleasant, the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves
there for a season.
"Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;
neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate:
but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah;
for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee;
and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem;
they shall never hold their peace day nor night:
ye that are Jehovah's remembrancers, take ye no rest,
and give Him no rest, till He establish,
and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength,
surely I will no more give thy grain to be food for thine enemies;
and foreigners shall not drink thy new wine, for which thou hast labored:
but they that have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah;
and they that have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of My sanctuary."
"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people;
cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up an ensign for the peoples.
Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth,
say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh;
behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before him.
And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah:
and thou shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken."
-Isaiah 62:4-12-
Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds,
and saw everyday the flowers appear in the earth,
and heard the voice of the turtle in the land.
In this country the sun shineth night and day:
wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair; neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle.
"My beloved spake, and said unto me, rise up,
my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land . . ."
-Song of Solomon 2:10-12-
Here they were within sight of the city they were going to;
also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof;
for in this land the shining ones commonly walked,
because it was upon the borders of heaven.
In this land also the contract between the Bride andthe Bridegroom was renewed;
yea, here, "as the bridegroom rejoicethover the bride, so doth God rejoice over them."
Here they had no want of corn and wine; for in this place they met with
abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimage.
-Pilgrim's Progress-
"You must there receive the comfort of all your toil,
and have joy for all your sorrow;
you must reap what you have sown,
even the fruit of all your prayers, and tears,
and sufferings for the King by the way."
-Galatians 6:7-8-
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive,
that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive,
that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
-1 Thessalonians 4:14-17-
"I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was Ancient of Days did sit:
His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool;
His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him:
thousands of thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened."
-Daniel 7:9-10-
"Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?
and if the world is judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
how much more, things that pertain to this life?"
-1 Corinthians. 6:2-3-
Pippin - "I didn't think it would end this way."
Gandalf - "End? No, the journey doesn't end here.
Death is just another path . . . One that we all must take.
The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back,
and all turns to silver glass . . . And then you see it."
Pippin - "What? Gandalf? . . . See what?"
Gandalf - "White shores . . . and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."
Pippin - "Well, that isn't so bad."
Gandalf - "No . . . No it isn't."
-LOTR, Return of the King-
