(06/01/2018) A Fulfillment of Proclamation

Today, reply is on burial for the dead as the fulfillment of divine proclamation, rather than comfort in bereavement, family duty, or using novelty to express affection and memorial.  The substance of mankind is both from dust and from heaven.  Many of the human errors regarding the condition and state of the dead also are recorded in the holy writings (e.g., in the Golden Arrow below, Job describes a widely held error, that there is a realm of the dead where the living may rest and sleep.  By contrast, the Holy City, New Jerusalem, is to be a realm of those raised and returned from the dead who all will have eternal life.  Even so, the Bible does not teach that we will die, go to our graves, and there live happily ever after.)  While some insist that their dead be interred in settings that have been sanctified through prayer (i.e., church yards; holy ground)—and account it a form of excommunication to be denied burial as a benefit, privilege, and righteous reward for having been loyal members within a church congregation—resurrection of the dead in completion of divine judgment even will include divinity acknowledging and restoring bodies that were destroyed or lost through burning, dismemberment, and explosions.  Beyond resurrection and ones personhood existing in the divine presence, there is little indication within the holy writings that how the physical body is disposed of determines closure, completeness, contentment, or fulfillment for ones spirit.  In the vision granted to John, souls under the altar behave as petitions and prayers for judgment, justice, and righteousness, to wit, the redemption of the body.    The  fighter in the “Yahoo! Answers” Religion and Spirituality forum who uses the ID “?” (Level 1 with 30 points, a member since April 11, 2018) posted the following:


Do you want to be cremated or buried ?


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?  Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?  For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept:  then had I been at rest,  With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;  Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:  Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.  There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.  There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.  The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.  Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;  Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;  Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?  (Job 3:  11-22, King James Version, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Completing Divine Unfinished Business (04/17/2017); Life Is GOD’s Intent (11/15/2016); The Purpose of Resurrection (07/05/2016); The Body of Moses (05/11/2014); GOD Permits Evil? (05/12/2014); Our Present Comfort? (06/28/2013); Come As You Are? (06/29/2013); Scripture at Funerals? (04/30/2013); Why Jesus Authored No Books (05/01/2013)


“?”, here are some points mature Christian believers have found helpful for maintaining godly focus on issues of death, mourning, and remembrance:

1.  The word of GOD to Adam (“to dust thou shalt return”)  was speaking about the material form (we say, the body; the flesh) that may exist without life essence (we say, breath, spirit, word) imparted from the makeup of GOD.  A physical complete body may exist, yet, be without spirit content to qualify as “a living soul.”  It is written:  Ecclesiastes 12:  7, King James Version (KJV):  7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was:  and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

2.  Abraham traveled throughout Canaan as a nomad, and did not seek to obtain property by conquest, by continuous occupation, or purchase.  Abraham was offered a piece of land as a gift, and a show of respect, however, the Patriarch insisted there be an open transaction for the public record in the gate (i.e., downtown; the business district; the town square).  It is written:  Genesis 23:  19-20, KJV:  19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre:  the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.  20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

3.  Blood from murder and warfare defile the earth.  Thus, burial comes into view as more than simply an act of sanitation to remove decomposing flesh.  Burial comes into view as an expression of dynasty, family, inheritance and marital love that uses the frameworks of time and space to provide measurable dimensions and unchanging parameters for remembrance.  It is written:   Genesis 49:  28-33, KJV:  28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel:  and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.  29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people:  bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,  30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.  31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.  32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.  33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

4.  The examples from Abraham (who is called the Friend of GOD) and Jacob (also called Israel) are seen responding to the oneness without sameness that mankind is to display as a product and fruit of the earth as well as the initial commission that mankind replenish the earth.  Christians do not preserve dead bodies to await the return of their spirit.  No dead body is of itself holy or sacred (thus, the taking up of Joseph’s body at the Exodus was not an act of idolatry and worshiping his remains); and there is no belief in an “immortal soul,” or reincarnation where spirit content is recycled.  It is written:  1st Chronicles 10:  10-14, KJV:  10 And they put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon.  11 And when all Jabeshgilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,  12 They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.  13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;  14 And enquired not of the LORD:  therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

There is far more that should be said, correctly examined, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, regarding the activity, condition, and state of the dead, the holy writings plainly declare the dead neither have awareness or physical feeling; they do not praise GOD; and they neither labor nor rest.  Even so, spirits from the living are being maintained through sacred operations.  Many offer heartfelt prayers that the response of GOD to souls of the saints will continue compassion, mercy, and peace.  It is written:  5.  Revelation 6:  8-10, KJV:  8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:  and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.  9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:  10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O LORD, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

(07/05/2016) The Purpose of Resurrection

Today, points are shared to clarify the divine intent and operations of resurrection for the dead.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ after dying upon the cross and burial further served to authenticate his identity as an appearance and incarnation of divinity.  Resurrection is therefore acknowledged as an aspect of revelation wherein divinity is unveiled for the benefit of sentient creatures (those having ability to apprehend the content of existence by operations of their own awareness and self-will).  Resurrection also may be understood as a creation event like that wherein the breath of life (matter from the makeup of Deity, divine spirit, word) was imparted into a carnal form made from the earth (Adam).  In resurrection, as in Creation, a living soul comes into existence only as there is joining of a physical body to diverse aspects of divine Spirit.  In resurrection for the dead, the specific pattern of inseparable spirit content from the makeup of GOD that once existed as the character, nature and substance of a single person upon the earth is deposited within a reconstruction of their former body.  Even though many resurrected ones will be facing the wrath of GOD as those labeled the unjust and the wicked, they will be shielded and spared during their judgment by the love, mercy, restraint and righteousness of GOD.  One of the several fighters at “Yahoo! Answers” using the ID “Anonymous” (no profile information shared) posted the following:

Christians, is it true that those who have died will be resurrected to get a second chance to be saved?

Update: I am not a Jehovah’s Witness, so what will happen to me when I die?

THE GOLDEN ARROW:  But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:  And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.  And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.  (Acts 24:  14-16, King James Version, KJV)

THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  The Bridge To Heaven (01/27/2016); The Return to Dust? (06/14/2015); His Resurrection Still Relevant? (10/05/2014); The Testing of Job? (10/06/2014); A Guarantee of Heaven? (03/22/2014); The Bible is Unchanging? (03/23/2014); Genuine Repentance? (03/24/2014)

“Anonymous”, many mature Christian believers rely upon the holy writings for instruction on the divine process and purpose of resurrection from the dead.  Among such believers, the authority of the Scriptures is held to be “more correct” than that of the peculiar doctrine and practice specific to various denominations.  Here are some points from my understanding that you may find helpful:

1.  Because it is required both to complete the ongoing transformation of mankind to exist as an eternal companion of divinity, and further establish the lawfulness and righteousness of divine judgment for the wicked, resurrection is different from “raising the dead,” re-animation, or reviving the dead, where a person may stop breathing or have no heart beat for a short period.  This includes restoring persons maintained in long periods of unconsciousness such as comas and cryogenic states (i.e., frozen) as well as recovering persons from psychotropic drugs and continuous use of certain sedatives.  The mortal must put on immortality and incorruption.  Persons raised from the dead, such as Lazarus in Scripture, are alive again as only a temporary condition; and may go to their grave to be resurrected.  By contrast, persons in resurrection already have completed judgment, or are resurrected to immediately appear in judgment before divinity.

2.  The Scriptures proclaim two sacred events described as resurrection.  The first, spoken of as “the resurrection of the just, or justified ones,” will be at the appearing of Jesus Christ (many say, the Advent, the Rapture, the Second Coming).  All who are under the atoning, redeeming and saving blood of Jesus as having had faith, those who are thereby his disciples and followers, and those who are joint-heirs with the Son will be removed from the earth as “ripe” for harvest.   This includes the ones who are alive as well as those that must be recomposed from their grave after thousands of years, or other places of repose such as the sea, and areas where they have been scattered to by the wind in cremation.

3.  The second resurrection, spoken of as “the resurrection of the unjust” and “of the wicked,” will follow the one thousand year period wherein those from the first resurrection have lived with Christ in heaven.  The millennium is a time of further sacred works that include distributing allotments and populating the New Jerusalem, preparing for unbelievers and the wicked to appear alive in their own judgment tribunal, and preparing to be restored to the new earth that is to be the eternal dwelling place, not heaven.

You are encouraged to continue your studies of the Bible.  There is far more that could be said, must be carefully examined, and spiritually understood.  (For example, the second death that is the final destruction for created beings and living creatures condemned in sacred judgment will have begun before the second resurrection.  Satan, the false prophet, and others will have already been cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.)  Even so, I am sure this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC