Crossing Over
This vision had the most profound meaning to me of any vision I’ve had. It was the final seal for me that heaven not only exists, but it is indeed populated with our ancestors. There was a suprise though in one major area – it showed me who else is already there.
But about the resurrection of the dead‑‑have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. Matthew 22:31‑33 (NIV)
Thursday, November 25, 1999, Thanksgiving Day. It was the day after my Father died. I was trying to take a nap, but not successfully. I kept telling Dad, and God as well, how much I loved them. Also Mother.
I had a brief vision, followed by an understanding that seemed to come from God about the “hereafter”. But first the vision:
I saw Dad lying back on the chair that I found him in, he had his mouth partially open and immediately a wispy breath emerged but grew into the figure of a white angel carrying what I knew was his spirit, who was also wispy and white. The angel had Dad around his waist from behind and both were facing forward as they sped skyward. Although Dad was still in the chair in a closed house when I found him, they were now speeding away into the open blue sky.
They were both looking to heaven and speeding away so rapidly that the entire vision took only a second to complete.
The angel’s wings were initially folded back sharply to form a long trail that came from Dad’s mouth, and as they came out, they were immediately the same size as the figure of Dad – it happened so fast that when I first realized what I was looking at, they were full size, and Dad’s head was about even with the Angel’s, and both were looking straight up as they sped away.
Then I had an understanding or word of comfort that seemed to be a truth that only God could have given me.
The words I heard said,
“Take comfort! The Spirit and Heaven, like God, are timeless and have no beginning and no end. Your father has not gone to the present Heaven, but to the future Heaven! You and your descendants, as well as your ancestors, are all there to greet him!”
Those are the only words that I heard, but the understanding goes deeper. I can’t find the words to describe the terminology of Heaven in the context of time. The best that I can hope to do is to say that when we die, we don’t go to the present Heaven, meaning one that exists right now, even though one exists right now – Heaven is in a different time dimension than we can perceive! Heaven wasn’t one age when Moses died and an older one when Dad died. Heaven is both ageless and timeless. So is the spirit, even yours and mine. God has known us from the beginning of time.
In a sense, there is no such thing as a “present Heaven,” unless you say “the ever-present Heaven”, because Heaven, like God, is timeless. When we die, our spirits are timeless, in the same sense that God is timeless, but of course, our spirits have limitations that He does not have. We don’t become gods.
We actually cross over into a timeless world, not a present heaven where a person dies and arrives in Heaven that day and many years later one of their great great grandchildren dies and he or she arrives at that later time. Instead, we arrive all at once, best described by my feeble mind as the future one. I say that because from what I was told, not only are our ancestors present, but our descendants too! In my thinking, I can only perceive that as the future Heaven, though I know that is not good terminology.
I don’t know how it works, but what I understand is that when we arrive in Heaven, we are greeted by loved ones who have preceded us and loved ones who die later, and soon, all descendants. All of us arrive at the great awakening as soon as we cross over, with no apparent lapse of time, but when we first arrive, it is in that future time as we would perceive it on earth. I would guess that this happens in the end times as described by Revelations.
So we meet our parents, grandparents and our children and grand children, nieces, and nephews generations far into this “natural” world’s future and far into the past as well.
I would guess that we don’t necessarily see or meet them all at once, but being timeless, we may meet a future descendant or perhaps an ancestor and visit with them, and even travel back or forward with them and observe their life at the times they wish us to see, and show our own lives as well. Our spirits are timeless so we can move back and forth through time at will.
I am speculating at this point, so feel free to discount this part, but as I see it, it is in those travels, when we, as spirits, could conceivably visit our own “natural” lives, which may be (as we perceive time in this natural world) some time in our distant past or some time in our future. In any event, those who find comfort in thinking their departed loved one is nearby or watching over them can take heart in knowing that they may well be doing exactly that in God’s timeless Heaven.
Do you suppose it is possible that, on those occasions, we sometimes, perhaps only with God’s permission, give ourselves a word of knowledge or wisdom that we may recognize as coming from God or we might attribute to a premonition or to deja vu?
In any event, the really neat thing about Heaven, the part that I get a firm grasp on, is this: When we die we are instantly with loving ancestors, loving descendants, and with a loving God. Everything that we have worried about has already happened and these happy spirits that we meet in Heaven when we arrive are unconcerned about long past events.
I can’t see why there would be any reason to visit or observe those we left behind, since we are together in Heaven, but perhaps sometimes we may choose to do so. Dad, although he preceded me in death, is already with me in Heaven. He has no reason to look over me in the life he left behind. He already knows the outcome.
If we were to choose to go back and look at some significant event that is part of my or his life, we might have an option to give a word of knowledge that comes in our own voice, in our own head, so it may or may not be recognizable as coming from our Spirit. Have you ever, if you are like me, occasionally had things come to you “out of the blue” a sudden thought, and it suddenly makes a difference in your life?
In any event, I have come to realize that all those trials and tribulations, all those successes and failures have little meaning except as to how we look in the eyes of God. Pain and sorrow, despair and death, all fade away when we show our lives to our loved ones in the light of God’s plan, and see how it all fits in. I imagine that we couldn’t be happier, or freer to worship and praise God with that knowledge and freedom.
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. {22} For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. {23} But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. {24} Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 1 Corinthians 15:21‑24 (NIV)
This vision, like the many that preceded it, are all true and accurately described using notes from my journal at the time. However, it is well to note that these visions have never faded. Not at all like dreams which fade even before you finish getting up. Once God gives you a vision, you have it forever. You can call it up at anytime. I’ve not always recalled the exact words I saw or heard, but the visual parts are fixed like a movie playing in my mind. The words are accurate because they came from my journal, usually written within moments of the end of a vision.
They have been generally in the order received, but I’ve gotten out of order here to put my Dad’s death next to Mother’s. Now I have to figure out how to put these in order again and can’t. They are at least all accurately dated.
Because it is related to the end times and/or ascending to heaven, I will tell you about The Children next.
Ordinary People - Extraordinary Visions 