Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Man That Vanished


Early one morning, a man decides to go out for a walk near his home, and to pray.

Walking is not a frequent activity for this guy, but on this particular morning, instead of just viewing some YouTube videos on the internet, he thought he could use some exercise and pray at the same time.

He figured that he would kill two birds with one stone; as the saying goes.

His morning coffee was tasting extra good that day, so he poured himself an extra cup before he went out on his hike and prayer.

A hike and prayer, communicating with God while burning calories; a double portion of well-being.

The sun had not come up when he first started, but the weather was mild so he did not need a jacket.

He was feeling really good as he walked briskly, singing praises to the Lord, and he wondered why he does not make this a daily routine.

His journey took him near the creek that was not far from his residence, the sound of the flowing water gave his prayer time a special type of ambience, and as the sun began to rise his decision to walk and pray was the right call.

The morning sky was beautiful, the sun rising up over top of the trees, the wind was calm, and he seemed to be reaching into a richer sense of the awareness of God’s presence than what was normal for him.

He felt like he could keep walking for miles, and he imagined himself bursting through into the spiritual realm where the angels and demons do battle.

As he walked through the ankle high grass, parallel to the fast running creek, he felt the dew working its way through his hiking boots into his socks.

In his boots, he could not only feel his feet beginning to get sopping wet, but he could also hear the slushing noise wet feet make inside of footwear. 

‘Nonetheless,’ he thought, ‘I am going to keep walking, and press even further into the presence of the Lord.’

His eyes are big and wide, looking upwards into the sky, his heart is ebullient, as the Holy Spirit helps him to seek God.

He notices an eagle flying about, gliding through the sky as if this magnificent bird has taken possession of it.

This impressive creature begins to distract the man as he makes some circles above.

The man’s thoughts begin to go back and forth, from his fellowship with God to the eagle flying overhead; back and forth his mind wanders.

‘What is going on,’ he wonders, ‘is this bird watching me?’

He now, has lost his prayer time as his focal point, to focusing solely on the activity of the eagle.

The man’s pace begins to slow, and comes close to a stop, when he sees the eagle making a nose-dive to something on the ground just ahead.

The eagle then shoots upward, and the man could see what looked like a small animal make a quick leap.

He figures that it is a rabbit, as the animal picks up speed like a high-speed dragster in a drag racing competition.

He clues in quickly what is happening now, as his mind starts to think of ways to stop what he thinks is the assassination of a little bunny rabbit.

The man starts to run toward the area where the supposed assassination attempt was made, and sees the eagle coming in for a second try.

‘Oh God,’ he yells, ‘I cannot let this happen!’

The eagle is diving again, with his long talons grazing the back of the rabbit’s furry coat, when the man falls on his face onto a muddy spot of ground.

As he is down, with his face in the mud, he sees a big stick a couple of inches in front of him, laying perfectly balanced on an old fishing pail that someone had carelessly left there; or so was his immediate thought.

He picks himself up, from this embarrassing position, and grabs the big stick on the way.

Meanwhile, the eagle is stumbling forward, walking toward a pile of tree branches that someone had obviously cut off of some nearby trees, and piled them there for future removal.

The man runs as hard as he can toward the eagle, swinging the big stick back and forth yelling, ‘Get away from him you vulture!’

The eagle, being afraid, jets back up into the sky, and the man grabs the little rabbit out from under the pile of branches and begins to comfort him.

Holding him in his arms like a mother would caress a newborn baby the man hears something loud like a trumpet blowing, and a voice having authority shouting, ‘Come up here, and see all things from here on out.’

From this point on, he is puzzled, as he immediately vanished into a different world.

His body is not the same, and he senses it, as he has just been clothed with new flesh.

‘Where is the rabbit,’ he thinks, ‘where am I?’

He looks at his hands, and sees that they are his hands but they look and feel different.

He touches his face and the top of his head, then pats down his torso and legs, and he realizes that his body is no longer human flesh.

For some reason he understands that his body is now a glorious spiritual structure, he has been transformed into a heavenly being.

He is immortal, and is now dressed in a garment made of pure white.

He cannot get that trumpet blast out of his head, and especially the voice of the one that gave the loud command to, ‘come up.’

He did not see it before, but now he realizes that he is not alone, as he can see a multitude of people that look like him.

They all have heavenly bodies, and are all clothed in white just like he is.

Everyone, like him, look perplexed, but nobody says a word out loud.

The man feels different inside, it is like he has an explosive energy deep within but he knows he can contain it; he has control of this power.

He has a powerful sense of peace that fills his mind, he is not nervous, he is not afraid, because he has God’s presence all over him.

In his mind, he hears someone instructing him, and the voice he hears is that same commanding voice that called him up while he held the rabbit in his arms.

The man realizes that he and everyone else has been caught up to Heaven, as the Scriptures declare—The rapture of the Church has taken place.

He, and everyone around him, were instructed to look at the One sitting on the beautiful throne, and encircling the throne was what looked like a rainbow made of precious emerald.

Everyone was amazed, as the One on the throne was as bright as gemstones, looking like jasper and carnelian.

Going outward from this throne were beams of bright lightning, and what could be described as loud thunder.

What the man saw would be impossible, if he and the others were not supernaturally clothed in these new heavenly bodies.

The throne was situated, and all around it, was a sea of crystal glass, which reflected the powerful glory of him that sits on the throne.

Seven powerful lamps were sitting before the throne all ablaze, which represent the presence of the Holy Spirit, the One that ministered to the Body of Christ when they were still on the earth, before they were raptured.

What may be a little hard to understand, is that, even though the presence of the Holy Spirit appeared before the throne, he was also still down on the earth protecting Israel from the one that was trying to destroy her, and convincing others to repent, and turn to God.

The One, who sits on this glorious and powerful throne has company, as there are four living creatures, covered with eyes, that live around the throne too.

They are angelic in their appearance having six wings each, different types of faces though, and they continually praise and worship the One on the throne—they never stop.

Around this glorious throne are twenty-four other thrones, with twenty-four elders each possessing a throne, clothed with the same heavenly body as the man that saved the rabbit on the earth.

They too, are dressed in white garments, and each have crowns made of gold on top of their heads.  

The man, stands with all the others like him, gazing with amazement at what they are witnessing, and with everything that he beholds his heart still prompted him to think of the little rabbit that he saved from the eagle, and if the little bunny made it home safe.


Picture: CC0 Creative Commons