HAVE you an atlas? Yes, and so have I; but the "City Bright" is not marked in my atlas, nor in yours, for there is no "City Bright" on earth.
The town where I live is a beautiful town by the sea, but it is not the "City Bright" that the old man read about.
In the town where I live some boys and girls were out for a walk the other day; one boy was crying and making a noise because his big brother had given him a stinging blow across the face, and the other children were laughing and jeering at him. But in the "City Bright" the boys and girls do not behave like that, and there are no tears there, Rev. 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4).
In the town where I live a little boy fell from the pavement one day not long ago, just in front of a bus. He was run over and taken to the hospital, where he died. Oh how sad his little sister was, and all who loved him, and how much his friend Jacky missed his playfellow. But in the "City Bright" there is no pain, no sorrow, no death, Rev. 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4).
The sun rises and sets every day on the town where I live, and some days are dark and gloomy, because clouds cover the sky; but in the "City Bright" they have no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God lightens it, "and the Lamb is the light thereof," Rev. 21:2323And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23).
Visitors come from far and near to stay in the town where I live, and they bring their children with them to play on the
sands; anyone who likes may come and live here, no one asks questions as to whether they are holy or unholy. But in the "City Bright" it is not like that, for the "City Bright" has another name. In God's book, the Bible, it is not called the "City Bright" at all, it is called THE HOLY CITY, and we are told that nothing unholy, nothing that defiles, nothing that could take away from the brightness of that city, can ever enter in.
Is your name written there?
E. E. S.