I have seen many accounts from scripture about the substance of the “firmament,” all the way from a dome over a flat earth to the celestial dome itself. Now let us examine scripture for clues:
The beginning of anything must be
the beginning of all things because all things must have come from the first
Thing. Before things, there must have been nothing, and then there was something…
or was there?
How could nothing even
exist? Anything you can image in the beginning was still a Thing.
What is nothingness? It is called
“space” and within space no things would have existed. There would not even be
time in space because time is a measure of things. In fact, time measures the decay,
or lifespan, of things; and without decay, time would not have existed.
Humans think of time to explain
the phenomenon of motion. If everything was static, then why even measure it?
Eternity is not the passage of
time, but things for ever just changing states.
A “state” is the condition of a
system at any given moment in time.
All things that exist now would
have existed in the beginning but in a different state. With that said,
you and I have always existed but in a different state. We will always exist in
some state or the other.
The final state of everyone
that ever existed is either a state of bliss or a state of torments,
with some form of barrier to prevent any further changes in states. The only
two states that are available are as an eternally alive being or a being always
dying, but never quite dead.
Death is the last never-ending
state of mankind. Can you imagine yourself craving death but never able to
consummate it? That idea presents the final two states of mankind: (1) Paradise
or (2) Hell with a “firmament” between the two with no normal passage between
the two states of existence.
Jesus wrote of that final states of being of two individuals: righteous Lazarus and unrighteous “Scrooge;” let’s call the selfish rich man:
It came to pass, that
the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich
man also died and was buried, and in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and sees Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented, and beside all this, 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 16:22-26)
Torments was mentioned first in The
Book of Matthew, but the idea of torments always existed. The Book of
Job is believed one of the oldest books of the Bible and therein it is
written: “How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?”
(Job 19:2)
Job was telling Bidad, his
accuser, to cease his tormenting. The vexation, or torments, of Bildad are
enumerated in Job chapter eighteen. Job was wondering when the torments
would end. If nothing else, “torments,” as chapter eighteen reveals, are both
endless thoughts and real actions. Torments are vexations (Yaga in the
Hebrew) — to suffer.
Bildad was tormenting him, and it
seemed to be endless to Job.
Imagine the last time you could
not escape the irritating words of a person; well vexation goes on forever if your
end state is Hell! But vexation is both real and imaginary. Bildad was beginning
to get into the mind of Job because Job was revealed as imperfect.
Now back to “Scrooge” and Lazarus,
both by then in their death states forever. Lazarus was resting in the bosom of
Abraham because he had the faith of Abraham and was a member of the Abrahamic
Covenant as the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lazarus as a true Hebrew
knew that his last state would not depend on Abraham’s faith but the promised
Messiah — Jesus.
In a manner, as the name Abraham
means “shield,” Lazarus would be safe until Jesus redeemed him. His state, at
the moment of death, would be preserved until his last state of existence. The
best guess is that Lazarus was among those who were resurrected with Jesus:
The graves were opened; and many
bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Mat 27:52-53)
Lazarus had been resting in the
arms of Abraham until his body came to him; not the tormented body from the adversarial
rich man, “Scrooge,” but the incorruptible body raised by Jesus to its final
state (1 Cor 15:42).
The end of Scrooge was torments.
He would never die but would be forever dying! Imagine suffering on the
deathbed forever without end. That is the final state of wicked man: the
torments of both the mind and body. The things of Satan would always haunt him,
and Scrooge would be forever vexed, and at the same time, his corrupt body
would never rest while in the bosom of Satan, as the son of the Wicked One
(John 8:44).
Between Lazarus and Scrooge was a “great gulf fixed” as it is written: “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). That barrier is literally “megas chasma sterizo,” meaning something that is extremely powerful — a chasm — and which is set fast. I submit that the “great gulf fixed” is the same as the “firmament” in the beginning:
God said, “Let there be a firmament in the
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” And God
made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the
firmament ‘Heaven’. (Gen 1:6-8)
Since that is true, then “Paradise”
in the bosom of Abraham is not in heaven but across the heaven.
That gives more meaning to the word “Hebrew,” meaning “one from beyond.” Generally,
theologians suggest beyond the Euphrates, or waters in general, and the
latter is most applicative. Abraham seemed to have crossed not only the Euphrates
and the Jordan, but also crossed “heaven” from one state of existence to
another. Not only that, He came across the Messiah who covenanted with him.
Abram crossed over as God breathed life — the “letter” hey added to his
name to make “Abraham.” Abram encountered God in the tower that Nimrod built to
reach the heavens. Perhaps the barrier to the Tower of Babel between it and God’s
Throne, was Christ Jesus as the only way to cross the firmament.
The Book of Jasher speaks
of Abraham’s endurance of the fires of Ur in Shinar in Nimrod’s kiln wherein
only Abram survived and was made incorruptible.
As the seed of Abraham, and with
the faith of Abraham, Lazarus passed over from here to Abraham’s bosom. He easily
passed across the “great gulf fixed” (heaven) into Paradise where Abraham ruled
as a proxy until Jesus took his place.
Lazarus would have passed over the great chasm — heaven, or the “firmament.” Hence, heaven is not a place to go but an obstacle to pass over. Going to heaven is not the goal but God “in a moment… in the twinkling of the eye” (1 Cor 15:52) shall snatch you away — rapture — across the firmament to rest in Paradise with no turning back, and no way to for the lost to cross over when it is too late:
So, He (God) drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Gen 3:24)
Scrooge encountered the firmament
and soon discovered his final state. He was stuck in one “water,” or state,
and between him and another “water,” or state, was an unseen barrier (cherubim)
that prevented him from crossing. The cherubims were surely not angels, but a dynamic
field (El Saday) of separation (a firmament.)
Once the soul dies in one realm,
it cannot exist in another realm except in its original sorry state of
existence.
Neither is Paradise nor Hell on planet
Earth but a state of existence in other realms with no way to cross except by
entry by the blood shed by Jesus — “The way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus judges both the living and
the damned, so heaven must be crossed by Him.
For a short time, only the soul
of Lazarus would have been in the Kingdom of Abraham, but when Jesus ascended
across the portal through the firmament, the body of Lazarus would have crossed
the barrier on the coattails of Jesus.
Jesus is the door, vessel, or
portal to cross heaven’s firmament to Paradise. “I AM the door” said Jesus, “by
Me if any man enter-in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture.” (John 10:9). That “Door” in the Greek is “thyra” and means the
portal, or entrance, across the firmament to enter paradise along the Way to The
Tree of Life.
Where is the “firmament”? It is
the hedge of Job (Job 1:10) that surrounds righteous people. Job, albeit
in the world, would have walked with Christ Jesus in salvation; Yeshua
in the Hebrew transliteration.
“In Christ” is with a firmament
between yourselves and the world. So long as you remain in the protective waters
of Jesus — His Spirit — then you shall be guaranteed safe-passage at the rapture.
Only by the blood of Jesus — in Him — can the firmament be crossed from this
realm to the realm of God.
With that background, the “firmament”
is not a dome, or even one great barrier; it seems to be a barrier called “heaven”
that can only be crossed by the Power of God thrusting man from one realm to
another. When Adam and Eve were cast out, they would have been thrust from
Paradise cross heaven into the material estate of God which for a time God
allows Satan to reign.
To get out of the vexation, or
beguilement, of Satan, the only escape is entry through the “Door” of Jesus
that crosses back from one state of waters unto a dynamic state lasting forever
as David foresaw: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me
beside the still waters” (Psalm 23:2). It is Jesus Christ who leads across
turbulent to still waters; from one perilous state forever across the firmament
back to the still waters of the Garden Paradise.
Yeshua is heaven (Hebrew
for salvation); He is the “Firm Thing” that the cherubims with the swords of
fire represent (Gen 3:24).
Paul wrote, “It is an awful
thing to fall into the hands of the ever-living God” (Heb 10:31). The
living God — Jesus — is “The Awful Thing” that must be crossed to heaven. It is
Him that is “The Firm Thing” as the very “House of God.”
The “Firmament” that divided the
waters from the waters in the beginning, seems to be Jesus who John wrote was
there in the beginning, creating (John 1:1-14).
The firmament seems not to be a
dome, nor even a chasm, but the Presence of Jesus to cross-over from one realm
to another. His sacrificial death overcame the world so that all who trust Him should
not perish (John 3:16).
How far does trust go? Not just
for a moment for the twinkling of the eye, but all the Way to the
crossing over of the Firmament.
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