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64. The Legacies of
the Apostles.
Because the apostles
could not be with all their congregations or friends at the same time,
they also wrote letters to them from time to time when they were absent.
In these letters, they encouraged their friends in beautiful sayings to
steadfast faith in Christ and in his return and exhorted them to trust
in God in many afflictions and to a godly mind and life.
The holy apostles gave the following beautiful sayings to the youth as a
memento.
The apostle Paul says: "Children, be obedient to your parents, for this
is pleasing to the Lord. Love is not wrong! Hate what is evil! Adhere to
what is good. Love does no harm to your neighbour. Abstain from
unspiritual idle chatter! For it contributes much to an ungodly nature.
Evil gossip corrupts good morals. Let your speech always be sweet.
Admonish the naughty. Put away lies and speak the truth. Be not sluggish
in what you ought to do. When I was a child, I spoke as a child and was
wise as a child and had childish thoughts. But when I became a man, I
put away childish things.
The apostle Peter says: "Young men, be subject to your elders and hold
fast to humility. Do not repay evil with evil, nor evil word with evil
word. After him who called you and made you holy, be holy in all your
conduct.
John the apostle says: "My little children, do not sin! -
The apostles completed their earthly careers one after the other. John
outlived them all. He was the last whom the Lord took to himself, even
though he saw his glory once more on earth, as an earthly eye is able to
see it. John was sitting alone on an island called Patmos in the rolling
sea, thinking in his mind of the Lord's day, that is, the Lord's future,
when he heard a loud voice behind him. He looked after the voice. Then
he saw seven golden candlesticks, and between the candlesticks walked a
figure like the son of man, clothed with a long robe and girded about
the chest with a golden girdle, shining like the sun. He walked among
the candlesticks and said to the disciple, "Do not be afraid! I am the
First and the Last and the Living One. I was dead, and behold, I am
alive forevermore and have the keys of death and hell. Write what you
see and what is there and what is to happen hereafter."
John wrote to seven churches. He wrote to the church in Smyrna:
'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
John heard the songs of praise that all the heavens sing to the dead and
the living. He saw in mysterious speeches and images, in terrifying and
endearing pictures, what was to come. Many pious people and many cheeky
people want to interpret the images. But they cannot. No prophecy that
takes place in images is understood before it is fulfilled, least of all
its time. No one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in
heaven, but only the Father. Let there not be among you an interpreter
of signs! The images are signs.
Although John sees a future after the end of all tribulations which is
so beautiful that a pious mind may reasonably look forward to it.
John saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth have passed away. God's tabernacle will be with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and he will be their
God. - God will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death will be
no more when the first has passed away. There will be no night there,
and they will have no need of the light of the sun. For the Lord God
will enlighten them. -
Thus saith he that was dead, and he that liveth; Behold, I come quickly,
and my reward is with me, to give every man according to his work.
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