16. The Last Resurrection

David yanked at his mother Zeporah’s skirt. “Mama, mama look!”

Ben, Asa, and Mary joined Zeporah in following the path of David’s little finger to the sky. Lo and behold there was the sign of the cross emblazoned in the heavens. A cresting wave of eyes all faced the skies; thousands of receptors receiving the message that finally this was the awesome day of the Lord. From His bright white cumulous cloud the Son of Man swooped through the stratosphere with power and great glory just as He said He would. Suddenly, the great sound of a trumpet saturated the air above Golgotha. Troops of angels were dispatched to gather the elect from the four corners of the universe.

Around the earth and seas, transparent people, I suppose they were souls, were emerging and ascending above the earth. They were all cheerful and chattering away acting as natural as can be. This catastrophic situation did not seem to faze them as much as it did some of the solid pilgrims.

“Asa, have you gotten taller or are we ascending?” Ben was giddy with joy over escaping the venomous planet earth.

“Ben, it looks like gravity disappeared, poof! Look at us floating up!” It was true; the congregation of Israel, which once crossed the baptizing river Jordan to enter Jericho, was now crossing misty skies to reach the New Jerusalem.

There was not a one now who was blind to the angels that had come for them. Group after group were swept into the lifeboat clouds until Crucifixion Mountain stood bare.

Ben and Asa were together as usual. “Asa, you know I’ve thought about this moment almost every day of my life, but I never thought it would be like this. I thought I would be afraid when this happened, but I’m not Asa. This seems as natural as can be. Do you suppose that to make it easier on us God purposely made sure that earthly humans would be accustomed to air transportation when He returned?”

“Of course. He spent millennia planning this event. I’m sure He has it down to a T; we have nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, will you hold my hand?”

Ben and Asa joined hands with the woman folk too, Zeporah and Mary. This kind of excitement called for an even distribution of sizzle through many bodies. Asa was quite honored to be in Mary’s lifeboat-cloud. In fact he had no idea how they came to rate this. As if she read Asa’s mind, Mary looked at him with her sea blue eyes and said, “Many who are first will be last and the last first. Behold the Lord God makes all things new. We may as well get used to this now. Were you at that wedding at Cana?”

“Which one, there were plenty of weddings at Cana?” replied Asa.

“The one where my Son Jesus turned water into wine; it was famous.

Remember when I was looking for Him and I asked a friend to get Him for me? He actually said, ‘Who is my mother?’ Can you believe that?! Then He said , ‘Whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.’ Well, let me tell you, He meant it! I have been busy all these years on the path, but I am ready for a new world order just like everyone else.”

As they were talking Zeporah could feel her body changing. When she looked over at a nearby lifeboat-cloud that had been filled with transparent people, she observed that they weren’t transparent any longer. They were solid just like she was, but she was changed as well. She felt solid, but so very light. She could feel muscles in her body, and no fat. Zeporah hadn’t felt this good since she was fifteen. It suddenly occurred to her that it would have been impossible for her to see the people in the other cloud before this moment. Even her eyesight was transformed. After that realization the Johnny Nash song popped into her head, 'I can see clearly now the clouds have gone...'. The tune played over and over again in her mind. It was a little annoying. Zeporah certainly did not want the clouds to be gone, not until they landed at least.

To Ben it felt as if a thousand years passed since they had left Golgotha and ten thousand since the Exodus from Egypt. Ben was so very grateful that God sent His Son Jesus to make this trip possible. He felt very sad for all of the people he knew who refused to believe in Jesus; His missions to show humans what God was like and how to be like Him, and how He freed humankind from the grip of sin and death when He died on the Cross. Well, this trip proved to Ben once and for all that Jesus certainly destroyed death.

“Ben, look! Isn’t that a new planet ahead! It looks so much like earth. We’re getting closer. Do I see water? Oh this is going to be COOL! What is that long line?” Asa sounded like a teenager, new and inquisitive.

Mary was the first to answer this time, “My friends remember when Jesus said that the gate is narrow and that few will be able to squeeze through. Well, that just may be because the gate is the judgment seat, only one person passes through at a time. And they have to squeeze through because they have to defend themselves at their trials. Fortunately, some of us go through a different judgment-free entrance. See you on the other side boys.”

Mary jumped off the cloud that had by then landed on the new earth and was immediately whisked away by two large angels.

“What was that she said about the new world order?” Ben mumbled. “Come on, let’s get in line.”

“Who cares, I’m just so glad to be here! Imagine this Ben, NO MORE DEATH! Or jerks, or hypocrites! Oh I am really going to like this place. I think I’ll call my mansion, ‘Pascha Rising’. Wow what a long line, how do we find the end?”

The Congregation of Israel: Jews, Gentiles, Orientals, Asians, Negroes and everyone else who had been walking on that arduous path to the Promise Land lived happily ever after, at least a few of them did.