What did HE say? (continued)
Bread of Life (Part 11)
We left off in the last post saying that the result of the death of the physical body is the raising up of the spiritual body. This can be seen a reality to those grounded in form and, who, seeing everything that is not physical as spiritual, as the soul leaving the physical form. We will see also as we progress here that this is not the extent of the meaning of Paul’s saying that “corruptible must put on incorruption” for the whole of the physical presence including the surviving personality must be considered as corruptible. In this is not to be found the depth of what the Master is saying regarding our subject of “I will raise him up“; in all of His words to these people on this day as well as His words in most other places in the gospels, Jesus is speaking of those who have entered into the consciousness of the Kingdom of heaven to some degree. While it is not for us to measure any one’s degree of spiritual consciousness, we do have the relative guidelines that the Master gives to us and which we have been discussing over these several series of essays.
In this segment of His teaching He is using words that say:
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those that the Father has given to Him
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those that believe on Him
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those that come to Him because the Father has drawn them to Him or given them to Him
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those that eat His Flesh and Drink His blood
In none of this should be seen an either / or scenario; and in none of this should this list (however incomplete) be seen as a menu of choices. All of these entries are included in each other and in the all of being a disciple and a follower of the Master and a doer of His word. To these followers and doers is the reward of the grand idea of being His and of His raising us up in the end.
Now there may be levels of heavenly experience to each of us based on the degree with which we can become His disciples and do His words and these are found in our understanding of life after death. What I say of this subject is not gospel but is a reasoned understanding based on what I have learned and what has resonated in my heart based on my place in the scheme of things. We all have access to infinite understanding which can be accessed by our degree of spiritual life in much the same way as our heavenly experience will be at the end of this lifetime. We discussed in a previous post the idea of the personality leaving the body at death and it, the remaining aspects of incarnated life as the mental and emotional natures of man, becoming the sheath or body of the Spirit that gives us life. In this form we are still who we are today sans the physical body.
We discussed too, in rather broad terms, how that the nature of the life we are leaving plays its role in the place that we find our consciousness. The base and the gross person who cares only for worldly things will find existence is the same after death as it was here but will be tormented by the inability to perform for lack of a physical body; lustful cravings and desires continue without the wherewithal to satisfy them. This much like the story that the Master tells about the beggar Lazarus and the rich man who both died. The rich man found himself in a place where he was tormented by the flame, which we can say here is the flame of desire. In His words the story goes on: “and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 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 thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art 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 16:23-25).
Following on this is the nature of the life of one who cared somewhat for the things of God as did, in this story, the beggar Lazarus. He finds comfort and not torment because he leaves this life without the base lusts and greed and therefore without any thing to torment him. We must remember that there is no ‘exactly this or exactly that’ in this but rather an infinite range based on one’s nature in this life; ranging from the base and gross to the most holy of persons who are focused on the Kingdom and the Presence in this life. It is these, those focused on Him, that get the great reward of His continued Presence after death and this is being raised up. Here is the true meaning, and the result of, of His saying that: “no man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24) and why, in Jesus words, we need to make a choice. His words are always do or be which is the finality of striving. Here is also the truth in the Parable of the Sower, of the types of persons or ground into which the seed is sown. We outright reject and refuse to hear, we hear and shrug it off, we hear and other things take our attention, or we hear and we understand. The nature of the afterlife for any one person is based on these things.
As we discussed earlier, there is existence place of the afterlife for some time. In the normal sense of the church where there is no belief in reincarnation, one will exist here until the end of the age or of the world or whatever may come as interpreted by any denomination. Much of this belief is fed by reliance on a few scriptures and by mans attempts to understand and interpret the Book of Revelation. For many the belief is just that if one believes in God and the Son that he is saved from hell. Similarly, we can see this in much the same way; the well meaning people, being somewhat focused on God, will exist without torment. Where we might add that the more one focuses on God and the greater he is a doer of His word, the ‘higher’ one may go in freedom from the cares established in Earth life, the churches will add that we will get greater heavenly rewards which some see as bigger mansions and greater responsibility over more cities citing a story and a statement from the gospels.
Maintaining however the doctrine of reincarnation we would say that there is existence in this heavenly or hellish place for some time (in this realm time is not a sufficient term but we use it for now) because with the death of the physical body the demise of the mental and the emotional begins as well. Many factors may effect this transition and we should remember that we are Spirit when considering all of these things. Remember also that we decided in a previous post to view the ideas of Spirit and Soul and the same so as to avoid unnecessary confusion. So then, being Spirit, we in some way absorb from our personality nature, that personality that we functioned through here on Earth, those things that can be considered the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. When this is accomplished we can be yet more free from the constraints of life in form and personality. What we add to our Spirit selves is added then to our truer personality and it is this Spirit being that we are that may seek to be incarnate again.
Now this is just a capsule view of the ideas involved in reincarnation and life after death and is by no means the final word. We will build more on this and the true constitution of man as the subject matter allows. So how does this all relate to our current subject of Jesus’ words “I will raise him up“? Some of this answer has already been put forth but let us put it all together. Speaking to those who truly follow the Him and who truly do as He says, the Master is promising “I will raise him up at the last day“. This is not to those with half hearted attempts to follow and do His word but to those that actually do. Because we are in this state of following and doing here on Earth, because we are caring for the things of God and dwell in His Presence, we are automatically free from the torments of the afterlife based on the lusts and desires of this life. We can say then that this is not the issue; our spiritually oriented life on Earth has already accomplished this part. We go then to the next part which is an extended life in our personality nature without a physical body. The duration of this life can be seen in some ways as dependent again on the nature of the life in physical incarnation; the closer to God we had been the less time will be needed to dispel whatever leftover attachment we may have to our former life. Again we see some sort of automation at work in that the less our attachment in life the less the attachment in the afterlife.
Notice that our presentation here is saying that the more we attend to the things of the Spirit while here on Earth, the easier and perhaps the shorter will be our time reaching to that height we have established for our Spirit selves combining this last life with the accumulated Good of all lives; this is the reality of heaven. The converse of this is found in Jesus words. If we are followers and doers; if we are in His Presence and in His Kingdom while we are here on Earth; if we are among the few that find the strait gate and the narrow path and we can put ourselves in that place of glory; if we can do this all then we have already traversed the great gulf fixed and the ‘time’ necessary to bring the fruits of this life to the added fullness of our spiritual selves. Thus can we say that He, the Master, the Christ Within completes His promise to us of “I will raise him up at the last day” and we are then perhaps forever free to remain in the Kingdom of God.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:36-37)
This Quote of the Day is a message from the Master that should be considered of supreme importance. In this is the love and the respect and the giving and the understanding that we need to show to all our friends and neighbours. In this saying can be seen the ultimate achievement of following and doing the words of the Master. Most all of His teachings are here in this saying and in our relationship with others is found our proof of doing the Will of the Father. MERCY AND FORGIVENESS. Ponder on this.
