«Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man tec things which God has prepared for those who love Hint» (l Corinthians 2:9).
MARCO POLO (1254-1324) was a Venetian merchant and explorer, who along with his father and uncle were among the first Westerners to travel to China. Upon his return to Venice, he was arrested and taken to Genoa. It was there, in prison, that he dictated the memoirs of his fabulous journey.
The book became popular under the title A Book of the Wonders of the World. Marco Polo’s friends thought he had gone crazy because of the incredible things he told. He said he had traveled to a clean and shiny city (referring to silver and gold), that he had seen black stones burning (he was talking about coal), that he had seen fabrics that were not consumed in a fire (he was referring to asbestos). In addition, he told about nuts the size of a man’s head: coconuts. Many mocked his stories. Years later, when Marco Polo was dying, a religious man by his bedside urged him to retract his lies. «No, in no way,» he said. «It is all true. What’s more, I didn’t even tell the half of it.»
Similarly, Paul mentions that there are things, all of them true, that the unconverted do not want to understand. The wisdom and power of God are unimaginable to the sinful heart. The apostle quotes Isaiah 64:4:
«Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.»
Physical eyes are insufficient to perceive spiritual truths, and they cannot be understood only by the intellect. Spiritual eyes are needed. To transform a sinner into a saved person, a guilty man into a forgiven one, a justified person into a sanctified one, is something far beyond the imaginable.
In the future, God will continue to do much more, until He definitively grants us deliverance from this world, so that we may be partakers of the wonders of the eternal kingdom of God. There, pain will not exist. No cancer, no heart attacks, no arthritis, no fevers, no fear, nor any kind of pandemic. Every consequence of sin will disappear forever.
Our relentless quest for that source of eternal youth will at last end. We will enjoy perfect bodies and unlimited energy to explore the wonders of God’s universe; refreshed by the river of life and fed by the tree of life.
Abundant, exuberant, and eternal life, far beyond our imagination, awaits us.
