HEREAFTER by Karen A Roth

HEREAFTER by Karen A Roth

“And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” ~MT 28:2-4

    The sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross “strikes its power upwards as well as downwards …‘unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ and opened a new and wonderful door into the unsounded and unfathomed abyss of divine love…” Angels heralded Jesus birth, ministered to Him after a forty day fast, after His prayer at the Mount of Olives, and now on the third day after the crucifixion an angel sat at the burial tomb.

    Peter understood that God revealed His will through angels ministering what they didn’t understand—”things which angels desire to look into.” It’s strange to us because we assume angels already know everything because they exist in the spiritual realm.

    Angels didn’t marvel at the Resurrection of Jesus but at the mystery of His death because dying is impossible in the heavenly realm. Dying comes naturally to everyone on earth. The disciples gazed into an empty tomb and wondered about His miraculous Resurrection. They had witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, but this is different. Jesus is dead—how does He speak life back into His dead body?

= HE IS RISEN!

“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. ~MK 16:6-8

   “He is risen” is just one word in Greek. It means: to awaken, rouse, rise up or stand. The women received startling news that Jesus is risen and respond with blank bewilderment and terror.

   A Bible commentator described it as: “They were ‘amazed,’ swept out of themselves in an ecstasy of bewilderment in which hope had no place. Terror, surprise, curiosity, wonder, blank incapacity to know what all this meant, made chaos in them.”

    How does anyone put their thoughts around something so astonishing? It’s so incredulous they don’t know what to think—they’re speechless. Dumbfounded, they rush back to the safety of others hoping to make some sense of what happened.

= VANISHING

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.  ~LUKE 24:30-31

    On the road to Emmaus Jesus spoke to two disciples about what had transpired in the crucifixion. They finally recognized Jesus by His manner of how He broke bread. But at the very moment of their understanding or awakening—the Risen Christ vanished.

    The two disciples said to each other, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

    So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together.” They discussed seeing Jesus, the empty tomb, the angels, Peter’s testimony of talking to the Risen Christ… Sharing their personal testimonies of ‘awakening’ brought exhilaration—but nothing prepared them for the extraordinary occurrence that happened next.

= EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE

    “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.” ~LUKE 24:36

   While the disciples and the men from Emmaus talk in an upper room about all they had each witnessed that day, Jesus mysteriously manifested in person. Suddenly and miraculously He appeared in their midst. Alarmed, they think He must be an apparition or ghost since He hadn’t entered through the locked and bolted door.

    In a twinkling of an eye, Jesus could be visible or invisible, known or unknown, whatever He pleased and whenever He chose. Who does that? It happened so quick. They’re terrified.

    There’s been a spiritual shift that allows them to see inter-dimensionally. Jesus always had the ability to move between the earthly and spiritual dimension, and now they see it too. He’s awakened their spiritual senses. Paul called it gifting—the ability to behold God or access a memory of truth from another dimension. In a moment or twinkling we pass back and forth—into the spiritual dimension to see/learn/understand and suddenly back again to manifest the spiritual in our earthly realm.

= ECSTASY

     Sharing their moment of ‘awakening’ brought ecstasy, the total joy of something more, that’s above and beyond the natural. Ecstasy: EK – ‘out of,’ and STASIS – ‘a standing.’ Ecstasy is our reaction to an outstanding or extraordinary occurrence, so much so that our mind is thrown into a state of surprise or fear, or both. The scripture often refers to it as a trance or an ‘out of mind’ experience.  

    For example: At another time in the future Peter will be fasting and in prayer … he’ll see a visionor trance (literally ‘ecstasy’) of a sheet coming down from heaven. One Bible translates it as “an ecstasy came upon him,” another “fallen into a trance” or had an “ecstasy of the mind.” Ecstasy is interpreted as: “a state of mind when the attention is absorbed in a particular train of thought, so that the external senses are partially or entirely suspended.” The soul becomes absent from the body and able to perceive heavenly mysteries or visions with wonder or astonishment.  

    Instead of translating the Greek word ecstasy—Bible scholars ‘transliterated’ it into English like the words: baptism, martyr, etc. They didn’t want to lose the fuller meaning by limiting it to a one–word interpretation and introduced ‘ecstasy’ to our vocabulary.  

= HEREAFTER

“Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man.” ~JOHN 1:51

    Ladder implies reaching another dimension of higher awareness. Like the angels, we were created as interdimensional beings and continually access the door of heaven. The ‘awakening’ means we’re once again aware of the spiritual realm and sense the Divine—the Presence beyond the scope of our human existence. By awakening our spiritual senses we’re able to communicate/understand the heavenly realm “on earth as it is in heaven” and HEREAFTER we see heaven busily working all things out together for our highest and greatest good.

    Experiencing higher dimensions may generate in a state of ecstasy/vision/trance—we’re stunned/dumbfounded like the first disciples upon seeing angels. Like the guards who witnessed the supernatural occurrence with trembling fear—we fall unconscious and appear dead/slain in the spirit.

    God still awakens this same sort of stunned, staggered reaction from our soul by accomplishing things through us that only He can do. In moments like these, we’re stretched beyond our own natural abilities and we experience the HEARAFTER power of God at work in our everyday life.

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Karen Roth is the wife of Dr. Roger Roth Sr., and a ministry son of Dr. Mark Hanby. They are the set ministry of a local church in Northeastern Wisconsin, and oversee the Bloodline Network Newsletter. They consider it an honor to work with Dr. Hanby for many years, helping to oversee the ministry of Papa Mark’s extended family—”The Father’s Heart.”

          Any questions or comments please contact them at rogerandkaren@live.com