Resurrection Season ~ Day 32
For the Year of Our LORD, 4.23.2008
Carried by the Angels…
And it came to pass, that the beggar died,
and was carried by the angels
into Abraham’s bosom:
the rich man also died,
and was buried;
The words of The LORD,
recorded in Luke 16:22
The old Christian writings found in the Ante Nicene Fathers (occurring before the Nicene Council in 325 A.D.) add an interesting picture to the Luke 16:22 verse. In Luke, Our LORD tells us that the poor beggar Lazarus died and “was carried by the angels to Abraham’s Bosom.” This was the comfortable place established in the heart of the earth for those righteous ones who entered into the Patriarchal Covenants or the Covenant of Moses and… as in this same account in Luke … stayed in the covenant by righteous living before GOD.
In “Abraham’s Bosom” were also the Patriarchs and Prophets of ancient time before Moses, and other righteous ones, like Abel and Noah. This place of waiting was established long before the coming of Our LORD and before His+ Resurrection.
The writing in focus for this discussion is found in The New Testament Apocrypha, this particular writing is in Volume VIII of the Ante_Nicene Fathers by Hendrickson Publishers. Volume VIII, contains the writings of the Third and Fourth Centuries. [Note: We know and do follow the admonishment from The LORD JESUS to “call no man father.” We are simply relating the title or sub-titles of the volumes we are using.]
We are focusing on the part called the Revelation (or Apocalypse) of Paul, AnteNicene Vol. VIII, page 358 (introduction) and page 576 (text), second printing, June 1995, reprint edition of the American Edition of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, originally published, 1886… should anyone want to research this for himself!
Here is introductory information by the scholars for The Apocalypse of Paul. It was ascribed by Tischendorf to the year 380, although it is included in the Ante Nicene writings. This would of course be a copy of a much earlier original. There appears to be versions of it in Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic. One of the Syriac versions, from an Urumiyeh manuscript was translated into English by an American missionary in 1864. This translation, or the greater portion of it, is printed by Tischendorf along with his edition of the text. There is a parallel account in Volume 9, Ante-Nicene Fathers, called The Vision of Paul. This is from a Latin manuscript. That translation was done by another man and that translation has some very interesting details, also. Perhaps we will include that account on another blogspot.
REVELATION OF PAUL
REVELATION of the holy Apostle Paul: the things which were revealed to him when he went up even to the third heaven, and was caught up into
paradise, and heard unspeakable words.
There dwelt a certain nobleman in the city of Tarsus, in the house of St. Paul the apostle, in the government of Theodosius the worshipful king, and of the most illustrious Gratianus; and there was revealed to him an angel of the Lord, saying: Upturn the foundation of this house, and lift up what thou shalt find.
But he thought that he had had a dream. And the angel having persisted even to a third vision, the nobleman was compelled to upturn the foundation; and having dug, he found a marble box containing this revelation; and having taken it, he showed it to the ruler of the city. And the ruler, seeing it sealed up with lead, sent it to the King Theodosius, thinking that it was something else. And the king having received it, and transcribed it, sent the original writing to Jerusalem. And there was written
in it thus: —
[Here we have abridged the long account to get to the part of interest to us regarding the angels which accompany the soul/spirit of a person, upon death.]
And I [Paul] wept, and said to the angel: I wished to see the departures of the righteous and of the sinners, in what manner they go out of the world. And the angel says to me: Paul, look down, and see what thou hast asked.
And I looked, and saw one of the sons of men falling near death. And the angel says to me: This is a righteous man, and, behold, all his works stand beside him in the hour of his necessity.
And there were beside him good angels, and along with them also evil angels. And the evil angels indeed found no place in him, but the good took possession of the soul of the righteous man, and said to it: Take note of the body whence thou art coming out; for it is necessary for thee again to return to it in the day of the resurrection, that thou mayst receive what God hath promised to the righteous.
And the good angels who had received the soul of the righteous man, saluted it, as being well known to them. And it went with them; and the Spirit came forth to meet them, saying: Come, soul, enter into the place of the resurrection, which God hath prepared for His righteous ones.
And the angel said to me: Look down to the earth, and behold the soul of the impious, (unrighteous or unrepentant sinner), how it goes forth from its tabernacle (body), which has provoked God to anger, saying, Let us eat and drink; for who is it that has gone down to Hades, and come up and announced that there is judgment and retribution?
And take heed, and see all his works which he has done standing before him.
And the evil angels came and the good.
The good [angels] therefore found no place of rest in it, but the evil [angels] took possession of it, saying: O wretched soul, pay heed to thy flesh; take note of that whence thou art coming forth, for thou must return into thy flesh in the day of the resurrection, that thou mayst receive the recompense of thy sins.
And when it had gone forth from its tabernacle,(body) the angel who had lived along with it ran up to it, saying to it: O wretched soul, whither goest thou?
I am he who each day wrote down thy sins. Thou hast destroyed the time of repentance; be exceedingly ashamed. And when it came, all the angels saw it, and cried out with one voice, saying: Woe to thee, wretched soul! what excuse hast thou come to give to God? And the angel of that soul said: Weep for it, all of you, along with me…
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Whatever one might think of this ancient Christian writing, it still does impress upon our hearts that “Today is the day of Salvation; now is the acceptable time.”
Once a person is IN the Covenant of Salvation, it is imperative that he sows to the Spirit and not unto the flesh, as the Apostles teach us in Scripture. He must lay hold onto Eternal Life by doing those things which our LORD JESUS CHRIST has taught and commanded us, and, His+ Apostles, after HIM+.
Then, having done all, we too shall have the escort of the Holy angels into Paradise. We too shall have nothing in us to be claimed by the evil angels at the time of our translation into His+ Presence. And, we too will “enter into the joy of Our LORD.”
+ + +
In the Name of The FATHER, Who created thee,
and of The SON+, Who+ redeemed thee,
and of The HOLY SPIRIT, Who sanctifies thee,
Amen
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