Responsive Reading: Isaiah 35 : 1-7, 10

1.     The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2.     It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

3.     Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

4.     Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

5.     Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6.     Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7.     And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.

10.     And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

1. Mark 1 : 1, 14 (Jesus), 15

1     The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

14     Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

15     And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

2. Luke 17 : 11-21

11     And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12     And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13     And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14     And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15     And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16     And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17     And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18     There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19     And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

20     And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21     Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

3. Matthew 12 : 22-28

22     Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

23     And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?

24     But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

25     And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

26     And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

27     And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

28     But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

4. Matthew 13 : 1-3 (to 2nd ,), 31 (The), 32, 45, 46

1     The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.

2     And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3     And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,

31     The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

32     Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

45     Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46     Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

5. Revelation 1 : 1

1     The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

6. Revelation 21 : 1-4, 10, 11, 23-27

1     And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2     And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3     And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4     And 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.

10     And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11     Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

23     And 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.

24     And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

25     And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26     And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

27     And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

7. Revelation 22 : 21

21     The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

1. 335 : 27-31

Reality is spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal. Nothing unspiritual can be real, harmonious, or eternal. Sin, sickness, and mortality are the suppositional antipodes of Spirit, and must be contradictions of reality.

2. 590 : 1-3

Kingdom of Heaven. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.

3. 560 : 10-15

Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science interprets the Principle of heavenly harmony. The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.

4. 592 : 18-20

New Jerusalem. Divine Science; the spiritual facts and harmony of the universe; the kingdom of heaven, or reign of harmony.

5. 572 : 19-22

In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: —

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

6. 573 : 19 (St. John’s)-16

St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.

The Revelator also takes in another view, adapted to console the weary pilgrim, journeying "uphill all the way."

He writes, in Revelation xxi. 9: —

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

This ministry of Truth, this message from divine Love, carried John away in spirit. It exalted him till he became conscious of the spiritual facts of being and the "New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven," — the spiritual outpouring of bliss and glory, which he describes as the city which "lieth foursquare."

7. 575 : 7-7 next page

This sacred city, described in the Apocalypse (xxi. 16) as one that "lieth foursquare" and cometh "down from God, out of heaven," represents the light and glory of divine Science. The builder and maker of this New Jerusalem is God, as we read in the book of Hebrews; and it is "a city which hath foundations." The description is metaphoric. Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols. Did not Jesus illustrate the truths he taught by the mustard-seed and the prodigal? Taken in its allegorical sense, the description of the city as foursquare has a profound meaning. The four sides of our city are the Word, Christ, Christianity, and divine Science; "and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there." This city is wholly spiritual, as its four sides indicate.

As the Psalmist saith, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." It is indeed a city of the Spirit, fair, royal, and square. Northward, its gates open to the North Star, the Word, the polar magnet of Revelation; eastward, to the star seen by the Wisemen of the Orient, who followed it to the manger of Jesus; southward, to the genial tropics, with the Southern Cross in the skies, — the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society into solemn union; westward, to the grand realization of the Golden Shore of Love and the Peaceful Sea of Harmony.

This heavenly city, lighted by the Sun of Righteousness, — this New Jerusalem, this infinite All, which to us seems hidden in the mist of remoteness, — reached St. John's vision while yet he tabernacled with mortals.

8. 576 : 18-25

What further indication need we of the real man's incorporeality than this, that John saw heaven and earth with "no temple [body] therein"? This kingdom of God "is within you," — is within reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God.

9. 577 : 12-27

This spiritual, holy habitation has no boundary nor limit, but its four cardinal points are: first, the Word of Life, Truth, and Love; second, the Christ, the spiritual idea of God; third, Christianity, which is the outcome of the divine Principle of the Christ-idea in Christian history; fourth, Christian Science, which to-day and forever interprets this great example and the great Exemplar. This city of our God has no need of sun or satellite, for Love is the light of it, and divine Mind is its own interpreter. All who are saved must walk in this light. Mighty potentates and dynasties will lay down their honors within the heavenly city. Its gates open towards light and glory both within and without, for all is good, and nothing can enter that city, which "defileth, ... or maketh a lie."

10. 339 : 20 (As)-25

As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite gives place to the infinite, sickness to health, sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in earth, as it is in heaven."

11. 16 : 30-31

Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.