City of Joy

Goodness will fill the earth like sunshine in mid-July. Illness will disappear as vitality thrums through all creation. Wars will cease. Peace will be perfectly normal. Love, prosperity, health, holiness, happiness, harmony, righteousness—all this will be ordinary in the City of Joy, the future world described by the ancient prophets. The prophets were not blind to the trouble that haunted their world and still roils ours. They did not make light of the pain suffered by those touched by evil and calamity. They spoke of dark things and hard times and grief almost beyond bearing. Then, having assured us they were realists, they spoke of the future God had shown them in vision, a future so bright and shining and glorious, that even now, in mere prospect, it gladdens us. Even now, when we see it clearly, we rejoice. In our worship we rehearse the ancient, shining visions and taste, even now, the sweetness of life in the City of Joy.