by Dan Edmund
Chapter 21 - Revelation And The Light Upon Us
Finally, the great day of the Divine Light had arrived. By late afternoon, almost everybody from our village and surrounding area were gathered at the central oval just outside our village. However, Harry and I stood and watched from the heights of Mount Anastasis. I again whooped with delight as soon as I saw the Divine Light coming down amidst the usual blaze of sunset colors. By contrast, Harry's reaction was far more subdued, yet I was sure in his own reserved way, he was as excited as I, only for different reasons - I longed for news of Jenny's resurrection; he sought enlightenment.
We immediately scurried down. However, by the time we reached the village, the Light had already descended, shining as always with unspeakable brilliance and beauty, as high as the eye could see. Shortly thereafter, our community made their way into the brilliance of the Light. Harry stood close by me, and I heard his heavy breath and watched his trembling hands. I placed a consoling arm around him, and for once, he did not flinch. "It's okay, Harry, it's okay!" I reassured him as we too then vanished into the Light.
As before, all bodily sensations ceased as I felt myself being once more immersed into that boundless power of love. I was no longer conscious of Harry beside me, nor of anything else except of the Divine. However, moments later, I regained my bodily senses and realized that I still had my arm around Harry, who like everybody else, was staring trance-like towards Carlos, hovering on the platform of light in front of us.
"Greetings one and all!" our spiritual mentor declared with outstretched arms. "Welcome back into the Divine Light of God. Tonight is the night we have all been waiting for, the night of the start of the Great Resurrection!" He paused, and had we not been in a trance, we surely would have shouted for joy. Yet, we did not, indeed, we could not; we could only listen in sheer rhapsodic delight. "Come, dear brethren, let us all first sing the hymn of 'The Resurrection is at Hand!'" Then, with his magnificent baritone voice, he began to sing: "Although sleeping in a cold and dismal grave...." With the exception of Harry, we all then joined in the hymn: "All will come to life again, our loved ones and those we did not even know, all of them in...." The words simply flowed out from us, full of hope that now the great time had finally come.
Suddenly, the Light within had darkened, and another light appeared above. We all stared up as this light formed itself into a two-dimensional image, an image most of us had seen in our religious books of our previous life. However, it quickly transformed itself into a three-dimensional vision, a vision straight out of the Book of Revelation. Like a door that opened into heaven, we heard a great voice boom: "Come!" Then we saw a man that 'came to be in spirit.' He looked old and venerable, with silver hair and a long beard. And what was more, he looked familiar. He was the angel that I had first seen on Anastasis. At last I knew who he was. He was the beloved disciple of Christ, the one we knew as the Apostle John, who later was said to have penned the famous Book of Revelation. However, just as I became cognizant of this, another even greater miracle happened. Suddenly, like that apostle, we were all seemingly 'in the spirit,' and we beheld those very same visions he had seen two thousand years ago. Now our whole consciousness changed, expanding in ways we all thought was utterly impossible. We now saw a magnificent throne, and there sitting on this throne was the greatest scene of all: the very image of God! Around Him were also twenty-four other spiritual beings, all wearing golden crowns and likewise sitting on thrones.
This was all too incredible. I'm sure we would have died had we not been resting in God's own protective cocoon of the Light. However, still more was to be beheld. Around this heavenly scene were lamps of burning fire, and a tremendous glassy sea. Then bizarre creatures were beheld, spirit beings with wings, yet faces of wild beasts, all proclaiming the words: "'Holy! Holy! Holy! is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'" Other words were yet spoken, and we saw crowns placed before God's throne. A scroll then appeared from God's right hand, yet nobody seemed worthy to open it. There was weeping and then a spirit declared: "'Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof.'" There then appeared a lamb as if it had been slaughtered. In a flash, the lamb then turned into a brilliant image of a man, the man we all knew as Jesus Christ.
The vision then vanished and another one appeared, a vision in which the whole vast white infinitude of the Light opened to display seemingly the entire expanse of heaven itself. Now an immense golden city of light, with huge walls, palaces and buildings of every kind was descending towards us. We all instantly recognized it as New Jerusalem coming down from the sky.
We all stared in awe as it came down ever closer towards us, exactly as the Divine Light had done on so many occasions before. Only this sight was even grander, more majestic still.
However, unlike the Light, this vision of New Jerusalem never quite reached us so that we could be within the confines of this sublime, celestial city.
Nonetheless, we were still blessed by its radiant light that engulfed us all, and reached to the very core of our being. However, I was bitterly disappointed. I desperately wanted to enter into this city of light, but failed. By now we were all in a total trance, a trance far deeper than we had ever encountered before. None of us were aware of anybody else, nor of anything else except for the vision that was above. We all saw the pearly gates, the massive walls of sparkling jewels of sapphires, emeralds and amethysts, exactly as detailed in the Book of Revelation.
Then this vision also vanished, leaving only the immensity of the Divine Light all around. Our trance was broken, although Carlos and Harry remained in theirs just a little while longer. However, nobody had said a word; we were still too enraptured to have tried. Even when the Light slowly lifted up above us, we still did not move nor talk. We just watched with reverential awe as the Light rose ever higher, back into the seemingly endless starry sky. Only when it finally disappeared, did we finally stir. Then, a sudden jubilant cry emanated from the front, followed by others, until finally, all of us were crying out with sheer ecstatic joy - all that is except for one solitary man.