The goal, or prize, of Christians is not just to see Jesus but be glorified. To be glorified requires that anyone see Jesus. The Greeks said to Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21). It was the Greeks speaking, and they would indeed see Jesus in “Paradise.” Just as man has two presences — body and spirit — so does Paradise. There is a spiritual Paradise and and one on Earth, or better said, in earth.
“Earth” is a place in earth. Earth (with a little “e”)
is matter. Earth (capitalized) is a place within matter. “In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1) has two meanings. Firstly, He generated
space with things unseen and then things seen, or invisible matter and visible
matter. Earth is visible substance(s) and heaven invisible substance(s). Within
the heaven(s), God generated the Earth whose presence is called “the world.” When
the word “world” is used it is a generalization of this world, or this
life, and next world and the next life. Hence, “world” (generalized) is wherever
there is a presence of life. It consists of two realms — the place
Heaven and the place Earth. Those two exist in different realms.
The goal of Christians would be to see Jesus in the
invisible realm of heaven were He would be visible. Jesus is visible to those
dead in Christ right now. They would see Jesus. That is surely what Paul meant
when He wrote, “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or
by death. For to me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain” (Phil 1:20-21).
“Life” is not here on this world. “What?” you exclaim. Death
is here; not that this world is Hell, but it is death. “Life” on Earth is a
slow death of animated substances yielding to inanimation. The flesh was designed
to be in the Image of God. Not that God had flesh, but He would put on
glorified Flesh.
Glorification is without corruption, both in flesh and spirit.
Adam was generated incorruptible as was the “Second Adam” — Jesus. However,
Satan did corrupt Adam with temptation, but he failed to corrupt Jesus.
There is a second part of glorification. God is glorified by
angels and righteous men. His Presence is honor and glory. To see Jesus is glorification
because He is the Face of God. The Greeks saw God when they saw Jesus, and the
glorification process commenced. They would not get to see Jesus glorified on
Earth at the Transfiguration but would have to wait until Jesus was translated
to another world — in the heaven.
“Life” on Earth or even in earth is slow. The moment
one is born of flesh, the flesh soon begins to die. About the time a child learns
right from wrong and does wrong, that child’s cells begin to die. As cells of
mammalians age, they cease dividing. “Death” commences when multiplication
slows. Cancer, for instance, is when normal cells mutate and cease dividing in
a healthy manner. They divided destructively.
Cells die slowly. Within a few years of birth, cells begin
to divide more slowly. By the time of twenty, children quit growing, and
thereafter growth becomes stagnated. Adulthood is on the path to death. The
point is that the world is not a place of life; it is a place of death! What is
to gain in physical death? The flesh quits dying, but the soul lives on because
it is immortal!
What does the human soul look like? Since, mankind is the
image of God, then the human soul is in the bodily shape of the person, as “it”
is for Jesus: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a
dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved
Son; in thee I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:22). The Soul of Jesus just fit the Body
of Jesus. As such, when Jesus gave up the Ghost, [i]
His Ghost, theretofore fitting His Body, would resemble Jesus.
Likewise, perhaps for mankind, the soul fits the Body but looks
like Jesus after He was glorified. However, baptism of the Holy Ghost is just a
start as it was for Jesus at His baptism. Jesus was not glorified until He had
died, was resurrected, and in the Presence of His Father: Jesus told Mary Magdalene,
“Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). Jesus had
not been fully “glorified” because He had not yet been in the Presence of His
Father.
Glorifying God is coming to Him to honor, and in a state of
cleanliness. Jesus was spiritually clean, but desired to keep His new Flesh physically
clean.
Since the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, [ii]
in this world, all that needs to be done is to keep the “spirit” clean. That is
not yielding to temptation by the body taking the soul to evil places where it
can be contaminated.
Temptation leads to sin and sin to death: “When lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death” (Jas 1:15). Reception of the Holy Ghost provides a “hedge” of safety around
the believer. It is the barrier between temptation and lust. The Holy Ghost of
Jesus steps between His kind and mankind to ward off lust. As the Temple
of the Holy Ghost, the soul of Christians look like them, but are imbued with
the Spirit peculiar to Jesus — the Spirit of God that experienced death for our
sakes.
Death is gain because then Christians will see Jesus
and no longer be safe but saved. That is our gain! Flesh can only
sin, for sin is “to be” in authority instead of God. Souls are saved
from that self-estimation. But all of mankind have souls. There are two “gates”
for the souls to be filled. One gate is wide open, and demons can enter in.
That is the broad way. The other Way is narrow and is protected by angels from
evil spirits from entering the soul. [iii]
Only the Ghost of Jesus can enter into those who are His. Angels of God protect
the souls of the dead from sin entering unto them. Hence, there are souls imbued
with the knowledge of good and evil and souls imbued with only the Knowledge of
Good. That is the Way to the Tree of Life which is in heavenly Paradise at the
present.
The point to this commentary is that there are two places
for all things — an Earth in earth (the elements) and a Heaven within the
heaven (the supra-natural). Like the earth has only one Earth but many
worlds, heaven has one Heaven but many heavens. Our world is called “Earth” and
it is one of many worlds among the other worlds.
Christians desire to go to Heaven. Some believe that is merely
the unseen world somewhere out there! Paul knew a man who went to the Third
Heaven. That is a specific place. That implies that there are a number
of heavens; at least three. Some sacred literature speaks only of three heavens,
but Enoch wrote of ten heavens. There are ten places to exist.
The First Heaven is said to be the atmosphere of the Earth
itself, but that is a place of where “storehouses” dump winds, rains, and
snowstorms. The First Heaven, according to Enoch, would be a place of
tribulation, and indeed this world is just that.
The Third Heaven, according to Enoch, is one place with two areas:
Paradise is in one side and Hades in another. They are both in the Third Realm
in the supra-realm. Scripture alludes to that: Jesus warned about a
questioning rich man, “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that
they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us,
that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:26).
Jesus was speaking of Himself as God and Lazarus in one place
and the rich man and Satan in another place. They both were in another
realm but there was a great divide that could not be crossed. That validates that
Hell and Heaven are both in the Third Heaven, and that Hell is on one path and
Heaven another. However, “Abraham’s Bosom” where Lazarus was, is what we call “Heaven.”
Some believe Paradise and Heaven are different places. It
seems that “Paradise” is in the Third Heaven, but more specifically where
Abraham is and where Jesus referred to Himself as there. Where is Jesus? In
heaven, on the right side of God in Heaven! [iv]
“Heaven” in the Greek is Ouranos — where God is; and
a specific but unspecified place outside this world. Enoch says it is in
the Third Heaven, but that does not specify which side of the great gulf. “Abraham’s
Bosom” identifies which side of the Third Heaven. It is where Jesus is and since
He IS God, it is where God sits.
We can look elsewhere for the specifics. The Testament of Abraham specifies where Abraham is:
The undefiled Voice of God said, “Take, then, my friend Abraham into Paradise, where there are tents of of my righteous ones and the mansions of my holy ones, Isaac and Jacob, are in his bosom, where there is no toil, no grief, no mourning, but peace and exultation and endless life.” (T of A 20:14-15)
Why is that not canon? It remained undiscovered until after
Christ, but some believe it was written in the second century before
Christ. The “Voice” of God is The Word “Jesus.” It is written as if before
Christ wherein the Messiah is called “The Word.” Regardless, if not the very
Word of God, it would be early Christian commentary about Paradise and Abraham’s
bosom.
The conclusion is that “Abraham’s Bosom” means “Paradise,”
but is that “Heaven?” Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto
myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). That describes
the “Paradise” of “Abraham’s Bosom” where Like wrote that Jesus would be there with
Lazarus.
The man that Paul knew, was caught up into the Third Heaven —
the Third Ouranos. In that place, he knew a person “in Christ” — in the
bosom of Jesus. Why bosom of Jesus? That is where “Living Waters” flow from. [v]
The man was in the Bosom of Jesus. Where was Lazarus before Jesus died? He was
in Abraham’s bosom. Where did Jesus go when He arose? Heaven.
That is the case for Paradise as a specific place in
the heaven which is called, “Heaven” and that Abraham was in Paradise in the
heavens; specifically, the Third Heaven. That would place the rich man in Hell
in the bosom of Satan.
Why reference “bosoms” at all? In sacred Literature, in “The
Last Testament of Jacob,” as Abraham died, Jacob was consoled in the bosom
of Abraham. In “The Testament of Abraham,” Abraham referred to Isaac and Jacob
in his bosom where he was about to go.
Where shall Christians go that the Abrahamic Covenant has been fulfilled? In Jesus’s Bosom in the Paradise of Heaven in the heavens.
(picture credit: Orthodox Chritianity; "The Rich Man and Lazarus; The Bosom of Abraham")
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