THE PARALLAX VIEW
I
s there intelligent life on other planets? This is a question which arouses much debate and speculation. Because there are billions of stars and planets scattered like dust across the vast plain of infinity, surely the laws of probability suggest that there has to be another world out there with some type of life on it. What sort of life could it be? Are there aliens or weird-looking extraterrestrials out there watching us and waiting for the opportunity to invade our planet and wipe out us humans? Or are we the unwitting guinea pigs of some sort of cosmic experiment carried out by a higher intelligence which is studying us in much the same way as we would watch a goldfish in a bowl?
The answer to the first question is yes, there is indeed intelligent life out there. But it is not of the alien or ET type. There is a sort of parallel universe in existence which is spoken of in Scripture, and I shall attempt to sketch a description of it in this chapter. Many people think of God and heaven in an obscure, ethereal, intangible way. They have no concept of who or what Yaweh is or where He is located. But if we examine the available information carefully, our perspective on this becomes much clearer.
Shortly before his suffering and death, the Messiah endeavoured to comfort his disciples by reassuring them that they would be reunited in the future. At this point in time, his apostles and disciples knew precious little, and understood less, of what he spoke. It was only later on, after the events they experienced at Pentecost, that they put the pieces of the jigsaw together and figured out what was going on. In John 14, the Messiah tells them that he is going to his Father:
In my Father's house are many rooms: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and
take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.
John 14:2,3
The Messiah clearly states that he is going to his Father's house, where, he says, he will be preparing a place for them, i.e. his apostles and disciples and all who trust in him and follow him. He assures them that this house has many rooms in it to facilitate all the guests who will be arriving there one day. For he says that not only is he going to this house, but that he will return in a future time and take them with him:
“That where I am, there may you be also.
” (King James Version)
If we take these verses at face value, they clearly state that the Messiah was returning to his Father's house, there to prepare a place for his people, for whom he would in due course return to Earth. This fits in with the “Rapture” of
I Thessalonians 4:15-18,
which describes the “catching away” of the believers to be with the Messiah while the events of the Apocalypse are being played out.
So where did the Messiah go? And where is he now? We know that in his new resurrected spiritual body he could accomplish feats which transcended the physical boundaries of flesh and blood. For instance, he could suddenly appear in the midst of his apostles when they were in a locked room. He walked on the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples for eight miles and they did not know him until he sat and broke bread with them. Then, when they knew who he was, he vanished out of their sight. In another passage, in John 21, he appeared on the shore while Peter and some of the other disciples were fishing. After toiling all night, they had caught nothing. But Jesus called to them to let their nets out again and so great was the weight of the fish they caught that they were unable to pull the nets back into the boat.
When they reached the shore, the Messiah already had some fish cooking (he must have had his rod with him), and he asked for a few more fish from their catch. Then he prepared the food and they ate breakfast together. When Doubting Thomas heard that some of the others had met the Messiah, he said that he would not believe until he had put his fingers into the wounds in his hands and his side. Jesus subsequently came to Thomas and invited him to touch him, saying:
“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see; a ghost (
pneuma: spirit
) does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
(Luke 24:39)
So although the Messiah was the same man after the resurrection as he was before, his body had taken on a new spiritual dimension, enabling him to do greater things. We also have been promised such a body in the future. The point is, Jesus was a man. He ate, he drank and he had flesh and bones. And he departed from the Earth physically, through the heavens, to be with his Father.
Abraham, in Old Testament times, also looked forward to a place where he would abide in the future:
For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:10
All the prophets and men of God mentioned in the Scriptures told of their hope of a better life in the future. The verse quoted above from Hebrews speaks of a future city with foundations whose designer or architect is Yaweh himself.
Similarly, there is a passage in II Corinthians which tells of a heavenly abode:
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
II Corinthians 5:1
The term “building” here is
oikodome
in the Greek, which means an edifice. So both these verses describe a city with foundations and a house in heaven which was not built by human hands, meaning that it was built by God. But where is heaven and where are these edifices located? Technically speaking, anywhere above the Earth is heaven. Also, the expanse which we refer to as space, which houses all the celestial bodies, is heaven. When the Messiah ascended from the Mount of Olives, it is said that he was taken up into heaven:
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Book of Acts 1:10,11
This is corroborated in the Book of Hebrews, where it is stated that he has gone through the “heavens” (plural).
Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Hebrews 4:14
As was the case with the original “sons of God” who traversed space to fall to Earth in the early days of Jared, Enoch and Noah, the Messiah made a return journey to the celestial city and house of his Father. How could he do this with a body which was composed of both flesh and bone, as he demonstrated to the doubting Thomas? We cannot be expected to be able to comprehend this, since it has not been fully explained to us. But spirit beings are outside the ordinary physical constraints of flesh and blood. And while the first fallen spirit beings left their original abode and came into physical manifestation on this Earth, as told in Genesis 6, the Messiah surpassed their feat by returning to this heavenly city.
We mentioned earlier that the Scriptures seem to indicate the location of this city containing the House of Yaweh. The first hint is given in the account of the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah 14, where he [Lucifer] is quoted as saying:
“I will exalt my throne above the stars of Yaweh . . . in the sides of the North”
(
Isaiah 14:13
). We are provided with further information as to the dwelling place of Yaweh and His Son in Psalm 75:6:
For promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South
.
Therefore it comes from the
North
, the celestial approach to Yaweh's house or mansion, the place to which Satan aspires.
72
So it is safe to assume that the direction in which the Messiah departed when he left this wordly sphere was northward. The North Star is the only star in the sky which remains constant and unmoving. So the next time you look up at the starry sky, cast your eyes northward and know that it will be from this direction that the Messiah will once again traverse space and time to initiate the Rapture.
Right now, as you read this, the Messiah is residing in this heavenly mansion, seated at the right hand of the Most High, Yaweh. Earlier in this book, we recounted how Yaweh made man in His own image. The Messiah at one time said that anyone who had seen him had seen his Father. So if you can envisage the Messiah seated at the right hand of the throne of Yaweh, then perhaps you can imagine the fatherly figure, too. John describes what he saw of this heavenly abode in chapter 4 of the Apocalypse:
. . . there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it . . .
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four Elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
Book of Revelation 4:2,4
Who the 24 Elders are we do not know, so we will not speculate. These Elders are mentioned several times in the Apocalypse. Besides this grouping of Elders and the Messiah and Yaweh, we are told that an innumerable complement of angels, messengers or spirit-men inhabit and minister in this place called “heaven.” This is the picture which is painted for us regarding the City of God and the house where the Messiah has gone to prepare a place for us. It has to be a vast place, for not only does it house these millions of spirit beings and their Lords, it also has to be big enough to take in all those who will be gathered together at the Rapture. This will be a lot of people considering all the millions who have put their trust and faith in the Messiah down through the last 2,000 years.
At present, there are estimated to be about 70 million Christians in the United States alone, and their numbers are all the time increasing in China, Africa, South America and other parts of the world. So there will be quite an amount of people vanishing off this Earth
“in the twinkling of an eye”
(I Corinthians 15:52
) when the Messiah returns briefly to take those who believe in him to this place he is preparing for us. We will be there for only a relatively short period of time. The Great Tribulation is set to last for seven years, beginning when the Antichrist signs a peace deal with Israel, and ending with the Battle of Armageddon. There may be an interval between the Rapture and the start of the seven years of Tribulation. We do not know. But, at the end of the seven years, we will be returning with the Messiah to this Earth for the beginning of the millennial reign. During this 1,000 years, Israel will be apportioned the Promised Land, which will be divided up between the 12 tribes. At the end of the 1,000 years, there will be another, final rebellion, when Satan is released for a brief sojourn. After this rebellion is quashed, the Earth will be totally destroyed by fire. This is recorded in II Peter:
By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men . . .
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar.
The elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
I Peter 3:7,10
After this purging by fire, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Satan and all those who believe not, and whose names are not written in the Book of Life, will be cast into the “lake of fire” and will experience the “second death.” After all this cleansing has occurred, a new regime will be established. All the sin and death and sickness will be things of the past in this new heaven and new earth. Then the holy city, the New Jerusalem, will descend to the new earth:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
This is the future hope of all those who believe in Yaweh and in the Messiah. All of history is but a preface to this future Paradise Regained. This is when Yaweh finally comes to the New Earth to be with and dwell among his children. It is said:
“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them.”
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away.