This is really the nation promised to Abraham by God, when [God] told him that he would make Abraham a father of many nations, not saying in particular that he would be father of the Arabs, of the Egyptians or the Idumaeans. . . . And we shall inherit the Holy Land together with Abraham, receiving our inheritance for all eternity, because by our similar faith we have become children of Abraham. . . . Thus, God promised Abraham a religious and righteous nation of similar faith and a delight to the Father.

But by the effect of God’s providence it happened that the recognition of this good being was distributed equally to the nations. So, they who had never heard talk of [God] and had never been instructed by the prophets recognized him, whereas those who were abandoned to thinking about everyday things did not know him. Here is the prophecy accomplished among you who are here, longing to hear the doctrine of faith in him and of knowing the nature, circumstances and effects of his coming. For that is what was predicted by the prophets, that he had to be sought by those who had never heard a word about him. And that is why, seeing the prophetic words precisely realized among you, you are right to believe in him alone and have reason to wait for him and to inform yourself about him. In this way you do not wait for him only, but still, by faith you receive the inheritance of his kingdom as [Christ] said himself; each one becomes the servant of the one to whom he has submitted himself.^[1]

Who then, one might say to the Jews, is he that was made manifest? For if it is the prophet, let them say just when he was hid, afterward to appear again. And what manner of prophet is this, who was not only openly made manifest from obscurity but also stretched out his hands on the cross? None surely of the righteous, save the Word of God only, who, incorporeal by nature, appeared for our sakes in the body and suffered for all.

But what is said in Hebrew, namely, that they will seek me who previously did not inquire about me, means that those who once had no knowledge of God later sought the Lord and came to know him by means of revelation. Indeed, the Lord revealed himself to Paul at a time when he was persecuting the church of believers. He also said to Peter the apostle: Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in heaven.^[1] And Moses was seeking the same thing when he said to God, If I have found favor with you, show yourself to me openly, that I may behold you.^[2] Anticipating the opprobrium of Christ amid the greater riches of the treasures of Egypt, Moses longed for the just rewards of things to come and contemplated the invisible God with his soul, as though he could see him.

[I was ready to be sought by those who did not seek me.] These words should be understood as about the Savior, who, sent by the Father’s love and coming with his own compassionate love, was revealed to all people. He became savior of those who had not made him welcome nor had invited him.

It is the nations who did not have a prophet sent to them who recognize their maker and benefactor, whereas those who received all sorts of care gained no profit but continued in their sinful habits. The phrase all day long I have held out my hands refers to the care for them that he gave for all that time, but the saving suffering of the cross in which he stretched out his hands is also alluded to here.

If, dearly beloved, we comprehend faithfully and wisely the beginning of our creation, we shall find that humankind was made in God’s image, to the end that he might imitate the Creator and that our race attains its highest natural dignity, by the form of the divine goodness being reflected in us, as in a mirror. And assuredly to this form the Savior’s grace is daily restoring us, so long as that which in the first Adam fell, is raised up again in the second. And the cause of our restoration is nothing else but the mercy of God, whom we would not have loved unless he had first loved us and dispelled the darkness of our ignorance by the light of his truth.

But what is read in the Septuagint, namely, to demons that are not, and is not included in the Hebrew text, must be taken to mean that no demons exist, either in the literal or in the spiritual sense; this because they have already fallen away from God, who truly is. Neither do sects of heretics that retain no truth exist, but they are transitory and die like shadows. For this reason did Esther say to the Lord, Do not surrender your heritage to those who are not.^[1] The holy one also prays in the Psalter: Know me not, that I may find relief before I depart to exist no longer.^[2] For whoever did not obtain the forgiveness of sinners while living in this body, leaving life in such a condition, also perished from God and therefore ceased existing, even though continuing in punishment. . . .

Wrath, therefore, which is desire for retribution, is not the same in God as it is in people, for its material cause lies in our sins, not in God’s will. We are the ones who store up wrath for ourselves on the day of wrath and the day of the revelation of the just judgment of God,^[3] so that the thorns and thistles and briars, which we have produced from the seed of God,^[4] like the wood, hay and stubble with which we built on Paul’s foundation, should be consumed by flames of wisdom.^[5] And we read about this perpetual fire in the song of Moses: A fire is kindled in my fury, and it will burn to the depths of hell and will devour the earth and its produce. It will set the foundations of the mountains ablaze, and my arrows will destroy them.^[6] The meaning of this testimony is that the fire and vengeance of God will burn continually against sinners and that he will pursue them to hell.

So insofar as they say, Do not touch me, because I am pure, they are like this Pharisee who had invited the Lord and who thought [the Lord] did not know the woman, just because he had not stopped her touching his feet. But in another respect the Pharisee is better, in that while he thought Christ was only a man, he did not believe that sins could be forgiven by a man. So the Jews appear to have a better understanding than the heretics. What did the Jews say? Who is this who even forgives sins?^[1] Does a mere man have the audacity to claim this for himself? What . . . does the heretic say? I forgive, I cleanse, I sanctify.^[2]

Here is the power that avenges. It is said that he, hearing these things, is minded to comfort us in our ignorance. For since the memory is maintained for us from writings of actions in the past that encourage us to remember and almost bring to life in our minds those actions of long ago, this is what he teaches. Now all these things are known to God and before they happened. They were already in his mind.

For we are not obliged to accept as parents those whose iniquities and sins now return to us, but only those from whose seed our bodies were born. Elsewhere, Moses, who had said that the sins of the parents shall return to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God,^[1] interpreted the verse that we are considering: It is not on account of the sins of their parents that the children will die, but each one will die for his own sin,^[2] with Ezekiel confirming the same interpretation, saying that one should never repeat the proverb, the parents ate sour grapes and the teeth of their children suffered, but that only the teeth of those who do the eating are affected, meaning that the sinful soul itself dies; it is not punished for sins that it did not commit.^[3] From this we understand that when every individual departs this life, he or she must accept the parents who were assigned to them, either for good or otherwise.

But Abraham was saved by the integrity of faith from the fire of the Chaldeans.^[1] Jeremiah agrees with this, speaking in the person of the Lord: Like a hot spring in the desert, I found Israel with a deadly sword.^[2] For . . . he said, All the world lay wounded by the deadly swords of idolatry. I found Israel in Abraham to have the heat of faith, like a medic after a war who senses that some among the bodies of the dead have a vital pulse and provides care for the wounded to restore their health. But what was written, ōs thermon, that is, like a hot spring, the Latin translator rendered like a wolf, deceived as he was by ambiguous words that cause errors also among the Greeks. Nevertheless, it should be noted that in Hebrew thoda, which means grace, is written in place of heat. Indeed, Israel shall be saved by the grace of God, not by its own works.

If anyone finds one ripe grape in a bunch, he spares the whole bunch on its account, in order to present to God the firstfruits. In the same way, since I promised to Abraham to bless all the nations in his seed, I maintained the seed of all Israel when they sinned, and I did not overlook their slavery in Egypt. For this reason, I freed them from their Babylonian captivity. . . . The valley of Achor is an allusion to the contrition that is among the churches. For Achar or Achor, having stolen and broken the law of the ban, was thrown into a ravine, and through this tragic example they were filled with much contrition.^[1]

Once again the richness of the loving nature of God is shown clearly in this simile. For just as mature wine is found on the vine for whose sake the whole is saved, spared and is not cut off by anyone, so too [God says], If I find anyone serving me, I will spare them all, just as I swore to Abraham. When I was threatening judgment of Sodom, I showed my compassion even to five people.^[1] He says this to establish his goodness.

Those who have attained the summit of perfection have as their harbor not life, or the resurrection or any of these admirable things but the desired One himself, for whose sake they counted misfortune a delight, and weary toil the sweetest repose, and time spent in the desert more desirable than city life, and poverty fairer than wealth and irksome slavery sweeter than any position of authority. This is the reward awaited by the doers of virtue. It is an inheritance for those who serve God, as the prophet Isaiah exclaims.

The holy Scripture often calls the church the holy mountain whose lesser part came from Israel. For if Israel had received the faith that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, they would have formed the greater part of the church’s composition, and the multitude of the nations would have been added to them. But because they did not believe, they became the lesser of the two. The nations became greater, while Israel became quite small. For the remnant will be saved. Therefore they inherit a small portion in the holy mountain, that is, the church.

If a person, because he is too tenacious of life or too weak in the face of suffering, or because of the apparently convincing arguments of such as seek to induce us to accept the evil choice, has denied the one and only God and his Christ and borne testimony to demons^[1] or goddesses of fortune, then this person must realize that in doing this he is setting, as it were, a table for the demon and offering libations to Fortune, forsaking the Lord and forgetting his holy mount. He will incur the reproaches written in Isaiah.

We have frequently spoken of the Lord’s holy mountain, which the people of Israel are here said to forget, as either the Lord and Savior, who is the mountain of mountains and the saint of all saints,^[1] or as Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem, city of the living God.^[2] . . . According to the tropological sense, it must be said that all who desert the church and forget the holy mountain of God and deliver themselves to the spirits of error and to the teachings of demons^[3] thereby prepare a table for Fortune, believing that everything is governed either by the vagaries of fortune or by the course of the stars but nothing by God. Paul rebukes these people, saying, You cannot share in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons.^[4]

I am not unaware of how much diversity of interpretation there exists among people. Yet, I do not speak here of the mystery of the Trinity, whose proper confession is apophatic, but of other ecclesiastical doctrines concerning the resurrection, certainly, as well as concerning the state of souls and human flesh, concerning how prophecies about the future ought to be received and by what principle the Apocalypse of John should be understood, which, if interpreted literally, would involve Judaizing. . . . But, in saying that it should be interpreted spiritually, this because the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, nor will there be marriage in the resurrection,^[1] among other reasons, I do not, thereby, remove the truth of the human body, which I profess to be raised incorruptible and immortal,^[2] changing its glory, not its substance. Our interpretation, therefore, must begin on the right path, to avoid departing to the right or to the left,^[3] so that we will not follow the errors of either the Judaizers or the heretics. . . .

In all these things, whatever has been predicted only, not promised, pertains to the persons of the wicked. Nor should that which because of the merit of wickedness, severity threatens to be inflicted, be said to have been promised by the generosity of goodness. If there are things that pertain to the persons of those who serve God, these have been both predicted and promised.

This is also the point of the words of our Savior where he says, And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.^[1] He predicted and promised the reward that the just would enjoy, but he did not promise but predicted the torments with which the unjust would be punished. Not so he predestined the saints to receive justice, because the merciful and just Lord could freely deliver from depravity whomever he wished. But he was never the doer of the depravity, because no one was ever depraved except insofar as he went away from God. Nor did God predestine anyone to go away, even though by divine knowledge he foreknew that he would go away.

But even if we are clearly something new, and this truly recent name of Christians has only recently been known among all the nations, our life and manner of conduct in accordance with the very teachings of our religion have not been recently fashioned by us, but, as it were, from the first creation of humanity have been established by the natural concepts of the God-favored people of old. . . . And by deeds more manifest than words is Abraham’s manner of religion shown to be practiced at present among Christians alone.

With the ungrudging generosity of his godhead, Christ has granted to all of us to bear his name. For whereas as human sovereigns have some special title of sovereignty that they keep exclusively from use by other people, Jesus Christ, being Son of God, has deigned to bestow on us the title of Christians. . . . But some will say, The name of ‘Christians’ is new and was not previously in use: and new-fashioned phrases are often objected to on the score of strangeness. The prophet made this point safe beforehand, saying, But on my servants shall a new name be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth.

These things are predicted to warn those not fearing the Lord and who do not turn to him, whereas those who serve me will not only weave another kind of outcome, but just as with the patriarchs, they will receive a name and on account of their deeds new names. When the Jews were unrepentant, this name was given to the Gentiles, a name that will stand forever, that is, the name of Christians. They no longer glorify idols, singing hymns to them as if to gods. Now they sing to God, their creator. They worship him and enjoy his blessings.

He has already mentioned this name. It is new and not old. For after the appearance of Christ the master, those who believed were called Christians. They bore this in place of all approving words. When one wished to praise, they were accustomed to add after many kind words, He is a true Christian. And when on another occasion exhorting someone, they were accustomed to say, Act as a Christian, do what befits a Christian. So this name is full of eulogy and blessing.

All things have been made new in Christ—worship and life and the making of laws. For we no longer adhere to shadows and ineffective types, but rather we offer adoration and worship, in spirit and truth,^[1] to the God who is above all. We do not take our name like the physical descendants of Israel from one of the first ancestors or fathers, such as Ephraim, or Manasseh, or some other tribe; nor do we follow the path of the scribes and the Pharisees, who value the antiquity of the letter above all else; but we submit to Christ in the newness of the life of the gospel, and having been given his name, like a crown, we are called Christians. This celebrated and blessed name has spread throughout the world. And because we have been blessed by Christ, we, in turn, try to make him rejoice with blessings and ceaseless praises.

For abundance, which is sabaa in Hebrew, others translate oath. But the word has many meanings, which vary in accordance with where the accent is placed, for it can be understood as oath or abundance or sufficiency or plurality or seven, concerning which we already indicated that in the book of Genesis, as well as in the current book, seven women take one man.^[1] Again, for that which the Septuagint translates as true and the Hebrew as amen, Aquila renders pepistōmenōs, that is, faithfully. But this is what it says: Your name will be a curse for the benefit of my chosen who will follow in your place, that they may have you as an example of evil consequences and may detest enduring such things, and, therefore, swear this oath: ‘I will not suffer what the Jewish people suffered.’ Or, perhaps your name will be abundant, in as much as it will be spoken so frequently that the memory or mention of it will become odious to them and engorge them on it, such that they will grow nauseated. . . .

And there will be blessing, insofar as whoever is called by that name will be blessed by the Lord and will receive a sign of true circumcision: amen, which the Lord often uses to indicate approval in the Gospel: Amen, amen, I say to you.^[2] But neither this new name nor another name is anything unless derived from the name of Christ, so that the people of God would never be called Jacob, Judas, Israel, Ephraim or Joseph, but Christian. For whoever swears in the land does so not by idols or by false gods but by God, as is confirmed by the amen at the end of the sentence. Furthermore, the Septuagint translates true God in place of amen, so that the true God may be blessed and that those who swear in the land would swear by the true God. But we do not follow the error of the Arians in referring this true God to the person of God the Father alone, of whom it is written, that they may know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.^[3] But we refer also to the Son, who is himself the true God, as John the Evangelist testifies: The Son of God came to give us understanding, that we would know the true one and exist in his true Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.^[4]

The new heavens and new earth are cause for rejoicing and for confessing the true God, because eternal amnesia follows on the former tribulations; this means that those who live therein will never be mindful of idols and previous errors but will pass from darkness into light for the enjoyment of eternal beatitude. For they will forget the former evils, not by having their memories destroyed but by receiving an inheritance of goods, in accordance with what is written: On the day of good rewards, there will be no memory of evils,^[1] and again: an affliction of one hour destroys the memory of pleasures.^[2] Thus, to the extent that the former desires were born in tribulation, members of the new creation will never enjoy them in the wayward manner of the Epicureans.

Isaiah also, declaring prophetically that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, undoubtedly suggests a similar view. For this renewal of heaven and earth, and this transformation of the form of the present world and this changing of the heavens will undoubtedly be prepared for those who are walking along and are tending to that goal of happiness to which, it is said, even enemies themselves are to be subjected and in which God is said to be all in all.^[1] And if anyone imagines that at the end, material, that is, bodily nature will be entirely destroyed, he cannot in any respect meet my view, how beings so numerous and powerful are able to live and to exist without bodies, since it is an attribute of the divine nature alone. . . . Another, perhaps, may say that in the end every bodily substance will be so pure and refined as to be like the ether and of a celestial purity and clearness. How things will be, however, is known with certainty to God alone and to those who are his friends through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Those who interpret the new heaven and earth to be a change for the better, rather than the destruction of the elements,^[1] cite this passage: You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure; they will grow old like a garment, and you will roll them up like cloth, and they will be changed.^[2] In this psalm is demonstrated clearly a perdition and destruction that is not an annihilation but a transformation for the better. Neither does what is written elsewhere indicate that there will be a complete destruction of what was there at the beginning, but rather a transformation: The moon will shine like the sun, and the sun’s light will be strengthened sevenfold.^[3] And that this may be better understood, let us use an example from our own human condition: when an infant grows into a boy, and a boy into an adolescent, and an adolescent into a man and a man into an old man, the same person continues to exist throughout his succession of ages. For he remains the same man as he was, even though it can be said that he has changed a little and that the previous ages have passed away. Understanding this truth, the apostle Paul said, for the form of this world is perishing.^[4] Notice that he said form, not substance.

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. These words point to the church, referring to the heavenly and spiritual gifts that have been granted to it. Indeed, if the Lord took care of the Israelites for the earthly things promised to them, how much more will he provide for the church, thanks to the joy that peoples have experienced in their conversion to it. Therefore, he also calls new heavens and new earth the new and spiritual life granted to the church by the advent of Christ.

Instead of the former affliction, the prophet says, they shall find in her joy and exultation. To what does in her refer? Without a doubt it can be said that it refers to the church of Christ. It must be noted that some commentators refer this passage not to the period of our earthly life but to the one that is to come after this present age. For the prophet says that the just will find joy and gladness and will enjoy endless delight, that is, spiritual delight, when this creation had been transformed and renewed. For one of the holy apostles said: The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. But according to his promise we wait for new heaven and a new earth.^[1] Choose, therefore, whichever of these interpretations appeals to you, the former or the latter. For one should not reject what brings benefit to us.

Neither would it be congruous that in the city of Jerusalem and among the people of God, who will receive an eternal creation of exaltation and joy, there be heard any longer the voice of weeping and wailing, now that pain, sorrow and moaning have departed, for incompatible realities are surely unable to exist together. . . . In such a city, there is no difference in ages, as between the infant and the elderly, the young and the old man who does not fulfill his days. Instead, like children of the resurrection, all attain to the perfect person, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,^[1] such that none will either lack or exceed the life span, nor will it be the case that some persons retain their strength while others fail with age and cease to be what they were. Everyone, moreover, will reach one hundred years of age, as did Abraham, who received the promise that he would have his son Isaac at one hundred.^[2] It is not necessary to recount the many praises of this particular number, lest our argument run too long. This alone will we say, that ten decades are squared and square forms possess strength.

Long age will be given generously to them with nobody who died an untimely death . . . for he who has reached one hundred years will be just as the one who has died prematurely as a youth. But the sinner will be prone to judgment for his whole life and crosses into the lot of the cursed.

The young means the people from among the Gentiles . . . and all will be mature, having grown into the measure of the fullness of Christ.^[1]

It is usual for the prophets thus to mingle metaphorical and literal expressions. Yet, anyone with serious purpose and a little useful and salutary effort can discern the prophet’s spiritual sense; it is only a lazy and worldly person or one who is ignorant or uneducated who will rest content with the literal and superficial sense and refuse to penetrate the deeper meaning.

The heaven became new and the earth new for those who once erred and divinized these things. For they recognize the Creator of these things and learn that the things are not gods but the creations of God. They are new for those who see things completely differently. Now that their error has ceased, creation appears clearly as creation and Creator as Creator. ^[1] A PROPHECY CONCERNING THE TIME OF THE MACCABEES. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: For the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. Some authors understand these words as referring to the time after the return from exile. For a hundred years their prosperity lasted, and then the Macedonian kings rose against them. This is clearly explained in the book of the Maccabees. ^[1]

If, however, as in the Septuagint, we read the days of the tree of life, which makes more sense than the Hebrew text, we should understand that it refers to the tree of life that was located in paradise, from which place Adam was expelled so that he would be unable to extend his hand to the tree and thus live.^[1] Paradise was then put under the custody of the cherubim, that is, abundance of knowledge, and a flaming sword was established to guard the way to the tree of life, lest sinful Adam, not yet recognizing his sin, eat of the tree and die the ultimate death in a desperate state of impenitence. Solomon offered an especially lucid interpretation of this tree of life when, speaking from the wisdom of God, he said, The tree of life is for all who approach it and rely on it as upon the sure foundation who is the Lord.^[2] Neither is there any doubt whom the Word of God signifies, who is Life and Wisdom himself, as he said: I am the Life.^[3] . . .

And does it not seem to you that their works daily grow old who press ahead into the future while forgetting the past? For this reason, both the Old and the New Testaments say that it is not the old that perishes but that on which nothing new succeeds.

As in the days of the tree of life, so shall be the days of my people. Now, anyone who has ever opened the Scriptures knows where God planted the tree of life. It was from the fruit of this tree that God excluded Adam and Eve. . . .

Of course, it might be argued that those days of the tree of life mentioned by Isaiah are the days that are now being spent by Christ’s church, since the tree of life is simply a prophetic figure for Christ, for that Wisdom of God that Solomon had in mind when he said that Wisdom is a tree of life to them that laid hold on it.^[1]

For us the saving cross is the tree of life. For it received like fruit the life-giving body by which those who stretch out their hands and pick the fruit will live life eternally.

When God sees in us some beginnings of a good will, he at once enlightens it and strengthens it and urges it on toward salvation, increasing that which he himself implanted or which he sees to have arisen from our own efforts. In his goodness, not only does he inspire us with holy desires, but actually creates occasions for life and opportunities for good results, and shows to those in error the way of salvation.

Through all of these events is demonstrated the change of evil beings into good, who will be innocent once their old violence has been laid aside. This does not happen outside the holy mountain of the Lord, but on it, that is, in the church and within the profession of the mountain of him by whom the king of Tyre was wounded. He who was cast down from the mountain without hands grew into a great mountain and filled the world.^[1] Let us inquire of the Jews about this passage, along with all Christians who still feed on the chaff of the Scriptures, which, once separated from the grain by the Lord’s winnowing fork, will be given over to wind and fire. Let us ask them: what blessedness should be attributed in the thousand-year reign to Mount Zion, Jerusalem, the city of the presiding Messiah?^[2] What blessedness to the most holy temple, where the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the cow, serpents and people will eat and dwell together? Are these the only creatures that are to be judged harmless to those who will dwell on the holy mountain of the Lord? Are we to understand from this, therefore, that everything outside of the mountain is to be killed and that all the earth will be denuded of wolves, lions, bears, panthers, serpents, with other animals, and of the immense forest and the desert of Egyptian solitude, which is fertile with poisonous animals? Are we to understand that the holy city is not only for the ultimate happiness of man, but also will be a home for beasts and serpents, such that, according to the prophecy above, the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard with the goat, and the bull and the lion and the cow and the bear will rest together, and a small child will rule them and an infant recently weaned will put his hand in the den of the asp.^[3]

The earth will freely give its produce, and all evil will be removed, just as Isaiah said . . . for God has refashioned such a world in his kingdom just as it had been made in the beginning before the first-made human being ruined it, who after he had disobeyed the word of God all things were spoiled and ruined and cursed by God’s word: the earth will be cursed in your works.^[1] The former shape of this world will become the kingdom of the saints and the liberation of the creatures.

This is a prediction Isaiah made previously after having announced the growth from the stem of Jesse.^[1] Now, we see the fulfillment of this prophecy as rulers and ruled, kings and servants, wise and foolish will share a common table—that is, the teaching of the Spirit. For he calls those who live in moderation lambs, whereas those with high ambitions are wolves. The lion is the one exalted to royal status, cattle are those worthy of the priesthood, and straw is the food of cattle. The lion will no longer be a carnivore but shall share the food of the cattle.

And the serpent shall eat dust as bread. This is the food that the righteous Judge has assigned to it from the beginning: On your breast and belly you shall go, and you shall eat earth all the days of your life.^[1] And so Isaiah calls the common enemy of humanity a serpent. He has subjected him to the ancient curse. This is similarly indicated in the passage that follows: They shall not injure or destroy on my holy mountains, says the Lord. All strength had been removed from him, not only from the fact that he crept on the ground but also that the saints had trampled him under foot and the wood of the cross crushed him.