Jesus as a Mirror

Jesus became a human because it was necessary in order for Him to be incarnated into a mirror like we are. All of God's intelligent creatures are only capable of reflecting life and light, not originating it. So for the Son of God who is the originator of light and life to demonstrate how His created beings are to live in proper relationship to their true Source, He had to take on the essence of the nature of humans in order to have the credibility with us that is needed to change our minds about God.

After sin entered this world we had no way of knowing how to live in proper relationship to our only Source of life except the rules and guidelines given over the years. But rules cannot transform us, partly because they only address half the brain – the half that is far less effective over the roots of our natural behavior. We need much more than simply descriptions of what righteousness is supposed to look like, we need a real live example of what all of this business God talks about actually looks like. For the most important and powerful part of our brain, our right hemisphere, can only learn primarily by imitation, not by instruction.

So Jesus had to become a mirror like we are in order to give us an example of how to live successfully as a mirror in proper alignment with the real Source of life and light. But He went beyond that and also demonstrated the consequences of what happens when a mirror with dirt on it encounters the fiery presence of God's passion. All of the suffering and agony that finally killed the human life of the Son of Man was due to His taking onto Himself all of the guilt and condemnation, the pain and sins of every person who has ever existed. It was like piling all the mud and filth of the whole world onto the surface of His mirror and then allowing it to be exposed to a lethal dose of the laser light of God's purity and holiness.

But there was one very significant difference between Jesus' human nature and the rest of us. The sin that Jesus took upon Himself was all on the surface of His mirror creating the distortion and dissonance that killed Him as He encountered God's presence. But the sin and filth that is in our lives is within the glass and is deeply embedded in the reflective part of our psyche. Jesus did not have our propensities to evil like we experience them, but He did understand the results encountered from having those tendencies vicariously.

But in taking on our condemnation and experiencing those natural consequences so that we would understand the danger of sin more clearly, He also earned the right and authority to replace our faulty systems and reflectors with new systems designed to once again reflect the glory of God properly. He is able and eager to also engage us in a lifelong process of thoroughly cleaning and polishing our mirrors so that we will more and more perfectly reflect His face and disposition if we will allow Him permission.

Our mirrors have imperfections both on the surface and in the substrates. We have deep roots of bitterness and lies buried in our reflective layers that distort the light and creates ugliness. We also have habits, addictions and false notions that smear the surface of our mirrors that likewise distort and confuse the reflections that we emanate. We also have problems with focusing on the things of darkness and turning away from light that might expose our weakness and imperfections.

But God is in the repair and cleaning business for all who give Him permission to do so. He even works behind the scenes with those who do not yet know Him properly or who are filled with many lies about Him that keep them afraid and at a great distance from Him. There are many I believe, who cannot tolerate engaging with the God that they have heard about through the misrepresentation of those who raised them or who claim to represent Him currently in their lives. But that is not the real God who passionately loves them, it is a fictional deity that has been created by the enemy who stops at nothing to slander and distort His true image in our hearts.

So when a person claims that they want nothing to do with God or Jesus or reject the Holy Spirit as they have perceived Him through the distortions of others, He knows that they are not really talking about Him but about the caricature of Him imposed on them by their surroundings and by religious impostors. So He works quietly in the background and in their conscience sometimes for many years to untangle their many lies about Him until the day when they are ready to let down their defenses and give Him more open permission to actively engage in their restoration and repair. This is the experience I believe happened to Saul of Tarsus.

If I want to know how to live in freedom, joy and peace as a good mirror like I was created to live, then the best way to do this is to immerse myself in an emotional and deeply spiritual journey into a heart-oriented study of the example in the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated throughout His whole life what it looks like to live as a mirror with a constant focus on the face of God while interacting with sinful humanity like we may do. He laid aside His inherent natural tendencies to always living perfectly and choose every moment to live only as a mirror in order that we might have an example to follow. It was not so much the consequent perfection of His outward actions that was our example as many have supposed, but it was the orientation of His spirit/heart mirror that was the most important aspect of His example that we need to emulate.

The very greatest temptation of Jesus while living on earth as a mirror was to allow His own natural tendencies to support or supplement Him in His life interacting with others. And His natural divine tendencies are to always do what is kind and perfect and loving and graceful. But we make a huge mistake when we believe or teach that Jesus' life was good because He was God in human form. That is precisely where His greatest temptation actually lay. He never once accessed His divinity in order to supplement His needs as a human mirror, and He did that precisely because He needed to show us how to live in total dependence on an outside source for our identity and power.

But in doing this He placed Himself in a situation far more severe than any human will ever face. For to have infinite power and natural desire to be good constantly right at your fingertips so to speak, and never access it for your advantage is the greatest temptation one could ever face. Satan knew that and did everything he could think of to amplify and exploit that vulnerability in Jesus' life.

On the other hand, we humans who have nothing but natural tendencies toward selfishness, the very opposite of Jesus' divine natural tendencies, somehow feel that we can use our own strength and abilities at times to produce what we think is a good life or to make good decisions. We have all manner of variations on this with many versions claiming we just need a little more assistance from God to accomplish it. But the message of the Bible and the example of Jesus shows us that we must come to a point of total abstinence from all dependence on our own natural tendencies whether they appear to be good or otherwise. We must follow the example of Jesus in learning to live in constant and intimate vital communion with the only Source of life and light if we are to live in righteousness as mirrors. We must live a life led by the Spirit of God if we are to be true children of God.

Jesus made it very clear that only God is righteous. Since that is a fact, then for us to be righteous while existing only as mirrors, we have to align ourselves properly with the Source of righteousness so that we can reflect that righteousness and light effectively. And when that same light exposes the filth and distortions on our own mirrors, instead of turning away from the light we need to accept His provisions for cleaning our mirrors and healing us from all the embedded flaws and cracks and brokenness so that we will reflect His light and face more accurately.

This is not an optional idea for us, it is a matter of life and death, of survival itself. For there is coming a day when the laser light of God's glory is going to be unveiled and will permeate every place of the whole universe. All who have allowed God to bring healing and wholeness to their hearts and minds and have been realigned with His perfect character and law will become an integral part of the new creation He is planning. All who are prepared will become reflectors of that powerfully dangerous but glorious light that will fill the whole world and even the universe with the dazzling light and color and love and our Creator.

But those who resent or reject His offer of repair and realignment will, upon exposure to that same laser light, find that the intensity of passionate love is far too much for their little damaged hearts to handle and all the dirt and filth and imperfections they clung to in their mirrors will become painful liabilities that resist the light. When intense, overwhelming light meets distortions and flaws in the glass or mirror, those imperfections create resistance which becomes fatal to the very existence of the mirror itself.

So we all have an individual choice to make right now. We can ask God and continue to ask Him to clean us and grow us in maturity and reveal to us what needs to be removed from our hearts and minds, or we can resist His offers of sanctification and end up self-destructing in the day when we should be glowing with the passion from the heart of God.

I want to cooperate with this process while I have been given time in this day of grace. Jesus has postponed the natural consequences of my sin by taking them on Himself at Calvary. But that does not exempt me from ignoring His provision and ending up suffering the consequences myself in that final day of revealing (judgment). I want my spirit to be perfectly aligned with the sweet spirit of Jesus and my life to become the fragrance of love that fills the courts of heaven and earth. I give my permission for God to continue His work of grace in me so that I can participate and enjoy and walk in the fire when everyone is exposed to what is currently veiled deep in the heart of God.

More on Living as a Butterfly

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. (Romans 13:10-11)

Not long ago I wrote a piece about wanting to become a Butterfly. Not literally, you understand, but in many other respects. God has embedded within the many things of nature powerful lessons that can illustrate spiritual truths for us that can be revealed to us by the Spirit who was involved in the original Creation of both nature and our own minds and hearts. Very often things in nature can better unveil deep emotional and spiritual truths and facts much easier than the difficult exercise of translating them into the symbols we call words and language.

This issue of letting go of resistance is very often on my mind since it has been brought to my attention over the past few months in my study of Romans 13. One reason I wrote the piece about the Butterfly was directly related to this very thing. Butterflies are almost the perfect demonstration of living a glorious life and beauty and freedom while exercising an amazingly low amount of resistance to the environment in which they fly. And yet they can travel thousands of miles across land and sea to arrive at very precise destinations which they have never even been to before.

It also occurred to me this morning that a very great percentage of a Butterfly's noticeable makeup is constituted of the beautifully decorated wings designed to utilize the sunlight to dispense loveliness and beauty wherever they go. Their bodies sink into near insignificance to our attention in comparison to the beauty of their wings. This is in contrast to most other insects that have no such large displays of extravagant beauty. It really appears that the main purpose of Butterflies may be to dispense beauty primarily – and maybe in more ways than we thought.

As I reread the above text this morning it came to me that the very process that creates the beautiful Butterfly – metamorphosis – is strikingly parallel to what I read here in this verse as well as in 12:2. And it is also very closely linked with the verses before it which talk about not resisting and being filled with genuine love. What verse eleven seems to be saying is that it is time for me to be born again and emerge from the cocoon of metamorphosis into a totally new creation that doesn't even resemble the body (my internal perception of my identity) and surroundings (the emotional and spiritual atmosphere in which I function) that I have been so familiar with all of my life. And if this parallel is true – and I believe it is – then salvation itself must be something descriptive of beauty and joy and freedom and intimate interaction with the breezes of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talked about in John three.

I suppose that there may be instances where Butterflies may cause damage somewhere, but I am not aware of them. But given the pervasive nature of the effects of sin in this world that is certainly possible. But in most respects I believe that Butterflies live to dispense beauty and inspire gratitude and praise on the part of all who are capable and willing to engage in and be blessed by this exercise.

Along the same line of thinking, verse ten says that Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. This is clearly an indication that the law, far from being done away with or ignored in the life of a true, converted, born-again Christian – the law will be the internal structure now implanted in the heart that has become so much a part of the natural thinking and reactions of a person that that person's life will reflect the light of God's love in unique and startling, even dazzling ways that will enrich the lives of all who are blessed by their influence.

Just as a Butterfly is not generally known for any damage they cause or even being a nuisance, the life of the true, transformed Christian full of real love will never do any wrong to others. And never doing any wrong to others is another way of saying they are perfectly in agreement and alignment with the Law of God. They will not be found dissing the law or complaining about talk of the law or feeling threatened by the law. But like David expressed so many times in the Psalms and particularly Psalm 119, they will love God's laws and guidelines and descriptions of the principles which govern all of His interactions with others.

I was again reminded this morning as I meditated on these thoughts of the passage that I received as something of a prophecy of my future a few years ago. And the spirit of the Lord will come on you with power, and you will be acting like a prophet with them, and will be changed into another man. And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you. (1 Samuel 10:6-7 BBE) You will be changed into another man. That sounds an awful lot like what happens to a caterpillar when it is changed into a beautiful Butterfly.

And the last part of that passage also reminds me of the close interactions that Butterflies have with the wind and the words of Jesus to Nicodemus. "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) Doesn't that sound strikingly similar to the flight of a Butterfly?

But as most people know that have ever learned much about the process of metamorphosis necessary to transform caterpillars into butterflies, the creature itself cannot bring about this amazing transformation. It simply cooperates with the impulses that God implanted into it and then rests quietly and safely inside the cocoon while the power of God mysteriously does its work of total transformation until the day it is ready to emerge in glorious and surprising beauty to live a completely different life.

When you are still living in a cocoon it is very hard to see what is going on in your own transformation process. I feel like I have been in the form of a caterpillar or in a cocoon for most of my life, but all I can do is rest and trust in the transformational work of the Spirit in my life until the day it becomes more obvious that I can learn to really fly. And when that happens I am also certain that the beauty of God's light and love will be so much more clear than it ever has been in my life that it may well be breath-taking – especially to me. But that beauty will not occur because of anything I have accomplished but because God has created yet another new creature, a wonderful experiment of grace to be a glorious reflector of part of His own beauty to attract others to Him with the loveliness that originates in His own heart.

Another thought that was brought to my attention this morning was again about this issue of resistance. I have been praying for some time now for God to remove all resistance from my heart, and I still feel that is very much needed. But in my cursory look through the Bible on the subject of resistance I noticed that a few times we are instructed to resist – but only against the devil himself.

I find this a bit curious and have wondered what this really means. I am specifically instructed not to resist an evil person (Matt. 5:39) while at the same time told that I must resist the devil (James 4:7). I have had a number of discussions about this with others and realized today that I need to pray to be full of resistance to Satan and all his suggestions while at the same time totally devoid of resistance to God and even to the evil that comes my way from others. This is all part of the alignment process very necessary to get me prepared to encounter the power and presence of God safely. Most Christians claim to desire to encounter His presence but they very often fail to see the enormous danger inherent in such a request. I will have to meditate and listen for more on this topic as the Spirit unpacks it more thoroughly for me.

Thinking

As I rode home with my boss today after being gone all week on a job, I shared with him about some of my feelings about thinking and how little people seem to be willing to do it. I found it very refreshing this week to meet and work with a person who is also interested in serious things about life and is open-minded and willing to dialog and listen. But this encounter highlighted to me how few people really seem willing or interested in doing this. It appears that most people want someone else to do their thinking for them and be their idol to simply follow without considering things seriously for themselves.

The discussion got into this area when we were talking about listening to the radio on the job. I have often been frustrated and felt emotionally agitated whenever I was forced to listen to rock music or country music or other such fare when I was on a job site. But in the construction field that is almost a given. I realized how peaceful it has been the past few months to work with a crew who does not have to have the radio blaring all the time. It leaves room for me to talk with others and to dialog with God internally all through the day without a constant irritating distraction poisoning the atmosphere.

I relayed to him how on one job I had to listen to the abrasive cacophony of talk radio for a number of weeks and how irritating and depressing that was. It rather cured me of ever wanting to listen to it on my own and I couldn't wait to get away from it every day. As we talked about that subject we agreed that the caustic nature of talk radio hosts, whether they be left wing or right wing, is really aimed at accomplishing the same thing. They are all trying to whip up people's emotions and attract followers to adopt their opinions while training people not to think for themselves. They often make very strong generalizations about people and foster in those who listen to them a spirit of bigotry and prejudice. Personally I find this very disgusting and feel that it hardens people's hearts from being able to listen to God effectively.

But exercises and techniques like this are all too common today, and have been for many centuries. People seem to desire someone else to assert strong opinions and sway the public to follow their suggestions. And there is never any shortage of people eager to fill that role for the public. But where are those who are willing to turn away from the enticing words and caustic attitudes of those who teach with itching ears eager to draw an ever larger following? Why are there so few who have interest and desire to seek more truth for themselves and maintain an open mind instead of taking pride in their prejudices and fears?

I am beginning to think that thinking itself is in danger of extinction to some extent. It is becoming easier and easier to have your mind and emotions exercised by entertainment media, talk shows, preachers, politicians and a whole host of other idols offered up for the masses to worship on a daily basis. But just circulating thoughts and feelings and ideas through the mind and stimulating the emotions does not necessarily constitute real thinking. It is really more like riding on a bicycle for exercise but having a motor turn the pedals for you and do most of the work. It may look just like exercise but your muscles will not be benefited very much in the long run.

I have a desire to meet and become friends with more people who are hungry and honest of heart and desire to share a pursuit of real truth without fear of where it may take them. I am not talking about those who pretend to pursue truth but have an ax to grind and refuse to take God into account. I am not saying that God is not working in their life. I just find it hard to connect very much with those who refuse to be honest enough to see the real picture of reality as presented by the Author of reality.

But I often miss the fellowship of sharing a common pursuit and enjoying the company of others who are on a similar journey of discovery as my own. I want to be able to discuss ideas, insights and revelations that I feel God blesses me with from time to time and to receive similar insights from others who also are listening to the same Spirit that I want to be tuned into. I suppose what I really desire is better synchronization, that commonality of purpose and attitudes that make people feel that they click with one antother to some extent. Once in awhile I sense that with someone, but it is all too rare for my liking.

Am I just very narrow-minded and bigoted myself and refuse to synchronize with others as I insist that the problem is with them? I am sure many people would quickly accuse me of such, and I certainly accept that I have a lot more to learn about open-mindedness. But much that is pawned off as being open-minded is more of a counterfeit than it is true honesty of heart.

I believe that a truly open-minded person will be one who is willing to listen to the convictions of God's Spirit deep in their heart and will find themselves more and more resonating with others who share that willingness. It is really back to one of the main issues that has emerged to capture my attention over the past few years – the need to live from the heart more than just from the head or just the emotions.

I am hoping that some of the people we have met recently and are slowly getting to know better are those kind of honest seekers after truth. I realize that I need to treat everyone with the kind of hopeful love described in 1 Corinthians 13 and not judge them or put them in a box. I have been learning the importance of refraining from false judgment and I have seen good things coming from that. But there still remains that deep, unsatisfied hunger for connecting more closely at the heart level with others who will prove to be deep, genuine friends who are willing to invest their trust and their dreams and problems with me and I with them. It is how the human heart is designed and this desire lies behind much of the interactions that go on between people much more than they realize.

But I will wait patiently on the Lord who is the orchestrator of my destiny and the best arranger of my relationships. I find that to wait is better than to lurch. I have spent most of my life lurching from one attempted friendship to the next and then feeling deeply wounded when people seem to feel threatened and begin to pull away from me. I am learning that my first trust must always be in Jesus and His Spirit to arrange things for me instead of me trying to set up relationships for myself. It is part of the maturity project that God is in charge of and in which I have a great deal farther to go.

But as I learn important truths I also want to learn how to think better, to think properly and with the right perspective, and most of all I need to think and question and challenge and absorb with a right spirit that does not poison my heart from roots of bitterness. I need not be nearly so afraid of being wrong factually as I need to be concerned about being wrong or caustic in my spirit. This is the area where I have the most work to be improved and refined. I need to have my spirit sweetened with the presence of the true Spirit of the one who demonstrated a perfect spirit in His life here on earth. And as my own spirit is healed and sweetened and refined it will be easier to connect with others who are presently repelled by the subconscious negative messages they receive from me.

I can only leave it in God's hands and choose to cooperate with His work and timing in my life.

Truth and Relationships

As we approach the end, Satan will do all he can to deceive us. Just because something is religious doesn't mean it is right or honors God. The Word of God is our best safeguard against Satan's deceptive advice. (The Gospel from Patmos p. 187)

When I read this statement this morning it made a real impression on me. It seems that I run into this kind of thinking so often with people, that the more religious-like something is the more people assume that it must be the right thing. But religion as seen in most of the world today is the counterfeit of true spirituality. And most religious teachings have extremely subtle errors or discrepancies in them that can make them fatally dangerous if a person is not willing to examine them carefully.

But there is also the danger of living in so much fear of being deceived that one can never have peace or live with others peaceably who may think differently than themselves. I have been in that position many times and realize that it is also a danger that I must guard against. It is a mindset that nearly everyone is out to deceive me in some way and I must live in constant suspicion of everything people present to me looking carefully for the trap that is hidden somewhere in the information.

But this kind of thinking generally only produces a life of isolation and strained relationships. It also secretly fosters a spirit of pride that I am wiser and better than most everyone else and tend to measure others by my own set of beliefs instead of checking the spirit first. I have been learning over the past few years that it is far more important to pay close attention to the spirit of a person and ask God to reveal to me through His Spirit if this person is sincere and open, whether or not they beliefs may be accurate. This is a much better indicator to use in determining if it is safe to develop a closer relationship with them than whether or not that agree with my set of beliefs just that way that I do.

I have been impressed more and more that God is much more focused on the condition of my spirit than He is on making sure all of my facts and doctrines are correct or not. That is not to say that sloppy facts are acceptable to God. I am just saying that as a matter of priority, God can make much more progress in a life that has a right disposition of openness and sincerity that is filled with misinformation than He can in a person who is sure they have the truth and their job is to indoctrinate others with the “truths” that they have figured out no matter what their methods are.

I think there is strong evidence that there may be many who have “figured out” very many factual truths from the Bible and other inspired sources and may have all the prophecies explained and have their doctrines in line with the Word of God, but who will be lost in the end, not because they overlooked some detail that escaped their careful study but because they failed to allow the entrance of the sweetness, kindness and humility of Jesus to transform their own spirit.

As I was praying early this morning I lifted up my hands to God to release to Him my problems and fears and invoke the authority of Jesus to address the situation of certain individuals for whom I am concerned. As I did so I also began to form words in my mind to receive whatever God had for me. The words took on the form, “I receive you Jesus unto myself...” and suddenly I realized I was quoting from Jesus own words to me. At first I was a little startled and wondered if I was quoting His words and misapplying them. But I sensed the assurance that Jesus intends for me to follow His example and apply His words and sentiments equally in the opposite direction as the way He used them.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:3)

I choose to receive Jesus to myself that where I am, there He will be also just as He desires to receive me to Himself that where He is there I may be also. The focus here is much more on being close together much more than on where we may be. Jesus, I believe, is much more interested in being close to me than in the amount of accurate knowledge that I have acquired. He desires intimacy with my spirit and wants to synchronize my spirit with His Spirit.

...lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. (Matthew 28:20 ASV)

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5 NRSV)

I want today the peace and contentment that come from the presence of Jesus who has promised to always be with me. I will trust Him to continue to educate my mind with the facts and things that I need to know, but this will happen within the context of the transformation of my spirit as He mentors my heart and shows me how to live and relate better to others.

To help facilitate this I choose to focus on the things I have been learning about what God is really like, His character, His desires, His goodness and faithfulness and never-ending love. I focus on these things irregardless of what circumstances around me may insinuate about Him, for the enemy can distort my opinions about God too easily if I allow circumstances to influence what I believe about Him. But as I insist in my own heart that God's declarations about Himself are true no matter what my feelings or other's feelings and opinions try to infer, I find that I receive strength and hope and encouragement.

When I am afraid I put my trust in Him by focusing on His goodness and faithfulness and promises to be with me always. When I weep I can know that He understands the cause of my weeping and sympathizes with me. When I am joyful He is glad with me as well. When I am in doubt He does not condemn me but is willing to be patient with me while I grow and settle into more confidence in Him.

Thank-you Jesus for the way You relate to me and Your desire to finish the work of transformation that You are doing in me. Thank-you for the many blessings I enjoy, birds than have inspired me, like the great show they put on for me yesterday morning. The Barn Swallows were circling joyfully round and round outside the barn eating their breakfast and singing and flying very close to me as I gazed on with delight. I knew You did that to delight me and I appreciated it very much.

Thank-you for the new friends that I have just got acquainted with who are very interested in spiritual things as I am. We had such an enriching and encouraging time of sharing while we worked together yesterday and I want Your will to be done in this relationship. I release all of my plans and ideas to You and just rest in Your plans for me, both for today and in all of my relationships. I trust in You and Your goodness. Bless me and make me a channel of blessing today for Your name's sake.

Funerals and What Comes After

Yesterday I had off work as my boss and I both needed to attend a funeral. It was for one of the men in the Barbershop Chorus that we both belong to who had died unexpectedly and the chorus was singing for his funeral in a nearby town. This man and his wife had been very involved and dedicated to the activities of the chorus for many years and as to be expected it was a very somber occasion.

We sang three songs for the service which were very nice arrangements. The first was called Loving God, Loving Each Other which is a song I had not heard before I joined this chorus but which has become one of my favorites. They said that it was the favorite song of the man who had died as well. We then sang Farther Along and then sat down through the rest of the service until we sang The Lord's Prayer at the end. The arrangement for this last song was a very nice one and I was deeply moved by it.

There were not a lot of people at the service. I would say that there were a few more other people as the number of people who showed up for the chorus itself. I saw a side of the chorus that was interesting to me, a sense of deep loyalty and quiet camaraderie that they share as a group. Many of them took off work and drove many miles to sing for this event and that itself says a lot about how they feel about each other. I like this kind of group who care about each other in ways that almost seem rare in many places these days.

After the service we gathered outside and took this picture. It is the first time that I have had my own picture taken with this group as I have missed most of their public concerts so far. But even so I enjoy singing and practicing and associating with them just for the fellowship and getting to know more people in this region.

As I listened to the sermon during the funeral I was encouraged by the many Bible references that were shared. And even though the pastor did not share my knowledge of the sleep that people experience after death, the verses that he used reinforced that truth and reminded me of how much peace this fact can bring to those who are left grieving after a loved one's death. To realize that someone is not whisked away to either heaven or a supposed hell to live on in some other state of consciousness, but is oblivious to everything going on in this world until the resurrection brings a great deal of sense to life for those who grapple with the difficult questions that always arise after someone's passing.

As I have learned more and more about the bigger picture, the context in which all of our events take shape, I realize again how human-centered most religion has made our perspective and how important it is to see things from the true and broader perspective of heaven for them to really make sense. For to think that the resurrection will require people who have already lived in heaven for many years to somehow return and move back into an earthly body so that they can then be resurrected simply makes no sense whatsoever. But the Bible is very clear that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked and then the judgment will take place.

So much of popular religious doctrine seems to imply that there is no specific day of judgment. They may talk about it that way but it seems that it must be a different day for everyone because it is often implied that it takes place just after someone dies. But this simply does not align well at all with the rest of the events that are clearly prophesied in Scripture and the whole thing does not fit well together as taught by most Christian churches.

But when the truth as understood by a correct reading of the Bible is seen it all makes a great deal of sense and brings peace and comfort to those who wonder what has happened to their loved ones. Those who die fall asleep just as Jesus described because the judgment is not finished yet. God does know each person's heart at their point of death and knows if they are safe to save in heaven or not. This allows Him to know who will hear the voice of Jesus when He returns again as promised to this earth the second time to gather all the ones who have responded positively to His plan of redemption. Those who have chosen to depend on themselves or others as their source for hope and life will simply not be able in death to hear the voice of Jesus at this time. But even at the Second Coming of Jesus the Judgment still will not occur in the final way that is yet in the future. This is only a transition event in the grand trial that centers around the Judgment of God Himself that is at the core of the real issue going on in the Great Controversy of the universe.

So I find it very encouraging that nearly everyone who has died is still unconscious in their graves waiting for the time when they will be raised up to complete the process that they have chosen to start while living here on this earth. Yes, there are a few who have already experienced resurrection ahead of time as symbols and representatives of those who at last will join them in heaven. But the vast majority are sleeping until either Jesus comes the second time or when He returns the third time after a thousand years of preparation with the saved in heaven. At that time the final day of judgment – of full revelation – will take place that will completely vindicate God in the hearts and minds of every intelligent being that ever existed in the history of the universe.

The big picture centers around God and His vindication in the judgment far more than it has to to with our going to heaven or to some place called hell. The real issue to be resolved in this great war, this conflict between the diabolical accuser of the brethren and the Creator of the universe is whether God is fair, is just, is right and whether His form of government can really work or whether Satan's inventions of force and fear must be employed to bring about unity through conformity.

So in this broader view of the background, it is comforting to know that we are not being watched, analyzed or second-guessed by our deceased loved ones somewhere or wondering if they are suffering the agonies imposed on them by an angry God (who is really the invention of His worst enemy in our minds). God is keeping all those who have died in safe protection in their graves until the right time and then the end of all sin and suffering will be accomplished.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:51-55 KJV)