Marilyn Robinson has written a novel titled Gilead, a beautiful novel of hers that you readily

recommend, Pastor John.

And at one place in the novel, this is what she writes, quote,

In eternity, this world will be Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the

epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets, because I don't imagine any

reality putting this one in the shade entirely, and I think Piety forbids me to try, end

quote.

What do you think, Pastor John?

Will this life be a ballad of eternity?

Obviously, there will be no tears and no regrets in heaven, but are there any biblical

clues on the place of history in eternity?

I would love to know what she means by Piety forbids me to try.

I know what I mean when I say yes to your question, because I agree with her.

At least insofar as I understand her, I agree with her.

When Troy, as mentioned, I'm not everybody might get that.

Troy was the city that the Greek states were attacking to try to capture, and it was a

10-year conquest, and Homer wrote the Iliad about it, and the Iliad, I think, focuses pretty

much on the last several weeks of that conquest, and Troy is captured, and so the bravery is

heralded for generations to come, and the Odyssey is about the coming home of Odysseus,

and so it's a great historical exploit that is told and written in poems for generations

to come, and she's saying in the age to come, after Christ returns, and the kingdom is

established, and the new heavens and the new earth are in place, the last thousands of

...