Pleasant Rest
Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days.
GENESIS 35:29
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Pleasant Rest
The Holy Spirit does not say: "He disappeared after he ceased living" but "he was gathered." He was not scattered, tossed this way and that, or afflicted as he was in a wretched and disastrous life but freed from all evils and gathered to his people like the other fathers who sleep in peace and whom God gathers into His bosom, where they enjoy pleasant rest. This is the force of these words which are used quite significantly. There is a people of the dead, among whom are Adam, Seth, Abraham, Deborah, etc. These people have been gathered into the bosom and arms of God. There they enjoy pleasant rest and they will be resurrected in their time. By this figure, then, Holy Scripture shows that the fathers died not as the heathen die, but that they have been gathered together and are preserved under the hands of God. In Isaiah 57:2, for example, we read: "Let peace come; may he rest in his bed who has walked in his uprightness." And the hour will come in which they will appear again and come forth from their graves more beautiful than the sun and the stars, namely, those who walked uprightly. . .. Such passages should therefore be carefully noted together with the words which the Holy Spirit employs. God does not cast off or scatter the saints but gathers them, and in such a way that not even one of their bones or hairs perishes.
GENESIS 35:29
+
Pleasant Rest
The Holy Spirit does not say: "He disappeared after he ceased living" but "he was gathered." He was not scattered, tossed this way and that, or afflicted as he was in a wretched and disastrous life but freed from all evils and gathered to his people like the other fathers who sleep in peace and whom God gathers into His bosom, where they enjoy pleasant rest. This is the force of these words which are used quite significantly. There is a people of the dead, among whom are Adam, Seth, Abraham, Deborah, etc. These people have been gathered into the bosom and arms of God. There they enjoy pleasant rest and they will be resurrected in their time. By this figure, then, Holy Scripture shows that the fathers died not as the heathen die, but that they have been gathered together and are preserved under the hands of God. In Isaiah 57:2, for example, we read: "Let peace come; may he rest in his bed who has walked in his uprightness." And the hour will come in which they will appear again and come forth from their graves more beautiful than the sun and the stars, namely, those who walked uprightly. . .. Such passages should therefore be carefully noted together with the words which the Holy Spirit employs. God does not cast off or scatter the saints but gathers them, and in such a way that not even one of their bones or hairs perishes.
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