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The
Nature of Eternity
CHAPTER 30
Yeshua is asked by the father
of Martha to speak at the funeral of Yochanan and he speaks at
great length about the nature of Eternity and what can be
expected when one passes from mortal life.
1 As the
sun rose the next morning the spirit of Yeshua returned to his
body; and the lion remained nestled against his side as he
opened his eyes and arose, saying in his mind and heart as well
as his words, “Thank you faithful friend, may you live long, and
always be cautious of men who would hurt you.”
2 The
lion looked up into his eyes for a moment unblinking, then
turned and quickly disappeared in silence into the underbrush.
3
Absorbed in his thoughts Yeshua descended back to his house and
family. As he neared his home he began to whistle, which was a
very uncommon thing for a man to do.
4
Hearing his approaching whistle Miriam stepped out to greet him
with a smile on her face saying, “Yeshua, my love, it is good to
hear you whistle, for I know then that you are happy inside. Do
you have good news for us of Yochanan?”
5 Yeshua
came and embraced her and held her tightly for a moment in
silence, and then the children came out to greet him and he
opened his arms to them.
6
Turning to Miriam he answered, “With contempt for a light
greater than he could know, Herod thought to behead Yochanan in
ignominy, but was left in fear of the power of Elohim when the
jailers told him that Yochanan laughed at them and died, robbing
Herod of his victory.
7 But
Miriam swallowed deeply and a tear formed in her eye, and she
asked, “Yochanan is gone then?”
8 Yeshua
smiled again “He has returned from whence he came, having left a
light upon the world that will never be extinguished.”
9 “I am
happy for Yochanan,” Miriam said. “He lives now in light and
glory. But what of my sister and his children? I feel their
pain already. Let us make haste to go to them.”
10 And
it came to pass that Yeshua and Miriam and their children made a
quick journey to
Bethany.
Though Yochanan's family had been near the castle of Herod by
the Salt Sea, they had returned quickly to the house of the
parents of Martha and Miriam in Bethany upon word of Yochanan's
death; and this Yeshua knew.
11 The
body of Yochanan had been given to his disciples by the soldiers
of Herod, and at the direction of his wife Martha they had
treated it with herbs and spices after the manner of the
Egyptians as Yochanan had taught them, and followed after
Martha, bringing the body of Yochanan to the house of her
parents for a funeral and burial.
12 Thus
it was that the body of Yochanan arrived on the same day as
Yeshua and his family and with it came many people, for the word
of his death had spread quickly and he was much beloved of the
common people.
13 Even
many people from Gimron, who seldom left their isolated
community, followed after the body of Yochanan.
14 As
Yeshua and Miriam arrived, Lazarus was waiting at the gate for
them, and all the family came out to greet and comfort one
another with tears and hugs and soft words of love.
15 And
it came to pass on the following day that the body of Yochanan
was wrapped in a simple knotted, white linen shroud, and buried
in a tomb owned by Martha's father in a hillside northwest of
Bethany.
16 Over
one thousand people followed the funeral procession and watched
in silence as Yochanan's body was interred and the tomb was
sealed.
17 Then
the father of Martha spoke to the people assembled at the foot
of the tomb, saying that Yochanan was a good man who walked with
God. And he thanked them for coming to give him their respect.
18 As he
sat down, he asked Yeshua to speak also to the people. And
Yeshua rose up, and standing in front of the tomb, he said unto
them, “It is good to grieve, to cry, and to acknowledge the
empty place in your life when one you love is no longer there to
hold you, and make you laugh, and comfort you just by their
physical presence.
19 But
in your grief, know this with certainty: as surely as the sun
rises in the sky, so too rise the souls of all who have died to
their reward in an eternity that never ends.
20 Those
you love, wait for you still, and the virtuous need not fear
separation, for mortality is but a heartbeat, and in eternity
they shall not be parted.
21 As in
Adam, all die the physical death; and their soul essence rises
to God. Even so, by the love of Elohim shall all live again in
the spirit.
22 And
unto the virtuous and righteous, it is given not only to live
again in the spirit, but for your immortal soul to become one
with a glorified new body, made whole and perfect by Elohim, for
your life eternal.
23 Your
future began with your past, for your existence is an eternal
walk that never ends.
24
Before you were born of woman, your spirit was created by
Elohim, and before it was born upon the Earth, the spirit of all
things lived in a spiritual realm called Koropean.
25 And
to the Koropean, the realm of spirit, all things of spirit born
into a physical existence shall someday return; even the birds
in the air, the fish in the sea, and every blade of grass
beneath your feet.
26 So
vast it is, so infinite in expanse, that the earthly mind of man
cannot even begin to comprehend the magnitude and diversity of
the Koropean.
27
Verily, there is nothing that lives, or that has lived, or that
will ever live upon the earth whose spirit was not first created
by the Elohim and existed in the Koropean, nor anything that has
ever lived that shall not return to that realm.
28 But
everything that has a spirit does not also have a soul; for only
the children of men and women, whose spirits were all birthed in a sacred
union of love, by your Father and Mother in heaven, have been
given a soul; and more precious than all the treasure of Earth
it is.
29 For a
soul, created in the celestial union of love, is given an ember
of divinity that ever calls the soul to greater light; that it
might return to the blessed kingdom from which it came, expanded
in stature from its humble beginnings.
30 When
the soul comes to Earth and it is born of woman into a body of
flesh and bones, it dwells in the body of a man or a woman and
is thrust into a physical world of darkness and light.
31
Mortality is the crucible, the refiners fire, and the soul
within the body ever beckons to the light, even while the man or
woman in the body is ever seduced to darkness by the temptations
of the world.
32
Therefore man has been given the years of his life to feel the
warmth of his soul calling him out of darkness and back to the
light that is his home.
33
Throughout the days of his mortal life, the warmth of the ember
of divinity ever burns quietly within the heart of man; that he
may always know good from evil and right from wrong; that on the
day of judgment he may be judged by his own choices and not be
able to say, I did not know.
34
Therefore, take heed, for you know not which breath upon the
Earth shall be your last; whether your life will end when you
are young or when you are old.
35 I say
unto you, do not ignore the warm and gentle calling of the
divine ember of light burning in your bosom. It is calling you
from your mundane life to the glory that you can be.
36
Think not to say, Today I will eat, drink and be merry, for I
still have my old age to become virtuous, for though you may be
young, these may be the last days of your old age.
37 When
your physical body is laid in the grave, your soul held within
your spirit rises immediately to the first judgment, at the
place of transition called the Koropean.
38 For a
moment, whatever you believed the afterlife to be, will seem to
be as it is; but then at the direction of Elohim,will come the
angels of heaven, and the illusion will vanish like a mirage on
the desert, and the reality of eternity will become apparent.
39 The
angels of Elohim shall look at the life you have lived in
mortality, and the virtue you had or had not.
40 Every
iota shall not be judged; not the rivulets, but only the rivers.
41 Then
you shall be inexorably drawn to the place of your resonance
within the Koropean; the virtuous to a place of warmth and
light, and the unvirtuous to a place of bitter cold and
darkness. The greater the virtue, the brighter the light. The
lesser the virtue, the deeper the darkness.
42 And
it matters not whether you are of Judah or Samaria or Rome,
whether you are a man or a woman, whether you were rich or poor,
whether you lived free or as a slave.
43 Each
shall be judged, not by what they believed or who they were, but
by what they did.
44 Did
you live a life of virtue? Did you uphold the Great Commandment
and the Commandments of Sinai as the ember of God within you
ever beckoned and guided you to do?
45 Your
spirit shall again have a form of substance and your soul will
dwell within it.
46 Those
in the light will be among their friends and family who also had
virtue, and they shall have joy together, and delight in new
knowledge and opportunity.
47 Those
that are in darkness shall be among others in the darkness, but
none that they know, or love, or miss.
48 And
misery and loneliness shall be their lot; and their only hope
will not be for new knowledge and opportunity, but simply to
regain that which was lost by their foolishness.
49
Though beset by the pain of their own mistakes, they still have
a promise. In the lonely place of cold and darkness where they
dwell in misery, far and away they will see a distant lamp
shining from the realm of warmth and happiness, illuminating
the path they can still walk to come back into the light, with
faith and repentance, and sorrow and confession and restitution
and good works.
50 For
each moment, whether one is in the darkness or in the light,
every spirit will continue to make choices that can show virtue
or vice. As they act upon their choices they will move either
into a greater light or into a deeper darkness.
51 Then
at an hour you know not, nor expect, will come a final judgment
upon your soul.
52
Verily, all men and women who have ever lived shall stand
someday before the Elohim to be judged, not only of their life
in mortality, but also their life before mortality, and after
it.
53 And
all the angels of heaven shall stand as witnesses on the day of
your final judgment.
54 So
shall every person whose life was ever touched for good or evil,
by those being judged, also stand as witnesses to see the life
before them, with nothing hidden.
55 Nor
shall anything that was done, not be seen, for at the final
judgment, every iota shall be judged. Of your thoughts and of
your actions, both good and bad, nothing shall be hidden.
56 With
every good and virtuous deed you ever thought or did, light will
flow to and be added to the essence of your soul.
57 And
with every evil or loathsome thing you ever thought or did,
darkness will flow to and be added to the essence of your soul.
58 You
will be weighed in the balance, and those who lived selfishly,
without virtue and kindness and gratitude and stewardship, shall
be found wanting.
59 The
virtuous will be pulled by their own light into warmth and
greater light; and they shall be given a new and perfected
immortal body and live near the presence of Elohim in the
Celestine realm. They shall be given great blessings and new
stewardships worthy of their light.
60 But
those lacking virtue, shall be pulled by their own darkness into
a bitter cold and deeper darkness, where there shall be weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and an endless torment upon
the soul for the warmth and light that could have been.
61 But
remember, even this is not the end, but only the beginning. The
love and forgiveness of the Father and Mother is boundless, and
even those in outer darkness can reach again the light and savor
the warmth and the love of paradise among their family and
friends, and gain new knowledge and be given a greater
stewardship.
62 Even
in outer darkness they will have the choice to do good or do
evil, and when the good weighs more than the evil, they will
draw light to their soul.
63 After
millennia, if they continue to seek the light and do good, their
balance shall be with the light; and they will inherit the just
reward they deserve after overcoming the suffering and
punishments they inflicted upon themselves.
64
Knowing this: that for lack of virtue in mortality your soul
could be in torment for millennia, may each of you choose the
light each day.
65 There
is still another path in the afterlife, one bestowed upon few,
and that is to return again to mortality. This was the path
that had been given to Yochanan by Elohim.
66 For
Yochanan is a choice soul who has faithfully served Elohim from
before the creation of the world. Your ancestors knew him as
Elijah the Prophet and so great was his vision and power to sway
the hearts of men, that after he had died in the flesh and had
risen to his glory, he was asked by Elohim to come again into
the flesh, that the world might hear his voice once more; that
he might prepare the world for the greater light to come.
67
Thus was the scripture fulfilled saying, Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, who shall prepare the way before you.
68
Therefore, when you remember Yochanan, his laugh, his honesty
and frankness, his simple words of power, and his example of a
life of virtue and righteousness, remember that you had a
prophet of the most high walking among you.
69 You
had a man who had been born twice of woman walking among you.
70 My
hope for each of you is that you will remember this glorious son
of God, and live your life as he showed by his how to live:
full of spirit and love, and unwavering virtue and faith.
71 And
for those of his family, know that he waits for you even now,
and that mortality is but a heartbeat of eternity. I admonish
you to live in virtue, doing good upon the earth, fulfilling
your stewardships and surely you will be together again and for
all eternity to come.”
72 Then
Yeshua slapped his hands together and proclaimed, “Now, let us
rejoice! Play glad music, prepare a feast, talk with one
another and remember Yochanan. Celebrate and thank this
wonderful man of God who served you all of his days!
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