Transition

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
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THE BIBLE

 

PSALMS

 

139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

 

GENESIS

 

5:23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24  And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

 

II KINGS

 

2:1  And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

4  So they came to Jericho.

6  And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

8  And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.

11  And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

12  ¶And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more:

 

JOHN

 

8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2  And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

12 … saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

14   … I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

23 … Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

 

LUKE

 

23:50 … behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:

52  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

53  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

55  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

2  And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

3  And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

9  And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

11  And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

13  And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

14  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

15  And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

30  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

31  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

32  And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

33  And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34  Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

36  ¶And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

37  But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38  And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?

39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,…

 

ACTS

 

1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2  Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

3  To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

 

REVELATION

 

21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

 

II CORINTHIANS

 

4:18 … we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

5:1  … we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

ROMANS

6:23 … the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

LUKE

 

17:23  … behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

 

SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
BY MARY BAKER EDDY

 

SH 76:6-12

When being is understood, Life will be recognized as neither material nor finite, but as infinite, — as God, universal good; and the belief that life, or mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in evil, will be destroyed. Then it will be understood that Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never raised from matter.

 

SH 468:28-1

Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite.

 

SH 353:16-19

All the real is eternal. Perfection underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly real. All things will continue to disappear, until perfection appears and reality is reached.

 

SH 590:1

Kingdom of Heaven. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme.

 

SH 291:13-14 (to mind)

Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind …

 

SH 572:19-25

In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: —

 

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional stage in human experience called death, but he already saw a new heaven and a new earth.

 

SH 573:3-12, 19-27 St. John’s

The Revelator was on our plane of existence, while yet beholding what the eye cannot see, — that which is invisible to the uninspired thought. This testimony of Holy Writ sustains the fact in Science, that the heavens and earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness which God bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the unillumined human mind, the vision is material. This shows unmistakably that what the human mind terms matter and spirit indicates states and stages of consciousness.

… St. John’s corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain.

 

SH 74:29

In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown. The so-called dead and living cannot commune together, for they are in separate states of existence, or consciousness.

 

SH 75:25-1

There is one possible moment, when those living on the earth and those called dead, can commune together, and that is the moment previous to the transition,
— the moment when the link between their opposite beliefs is being sundered. In the vestibule through which we pass from one dream to another dream, or when we awake from earth’s sleep to the grand verities of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those who have gone before.

 

SH 76:13, 21

When advanced to spiritual being and the understanding of God, man can no longer commune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more than a tree can return to its seed. Neither will man seem to be corporeal, but he will be an individual consciousness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter.

The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain, —
constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. This state of existence is scientific and intact, — a perfection discernible only by those who have the final understanding of Christ in divine Science. Death can never hasten this state of existence, for death must be overcome, not submitted to, before immortality appears.

 

SH 214:5

If Enoch’s perception had been confined to the evidence before his material senses, he could never have “walked with God,” nor been guided into the demonstration of life eternal.

 

SH 34:18-26

Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught. His resurrection was also their resurrection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities. They needed this quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above their apprehension.

 

SH 46:26

In his final demonstration, called the ascension, which closed the earthly record of Jesus, he rose above the physical knowledge of his disciples, and the material senses saw him no more.

 

SH 573:32-2 remember

… remember Jesus’ words, “The kingdom of God is within you.” This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.

 

SH 243:26-27

Life has no partnership with death.

 

SH 246:27-28

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof.

 

SH 76:20 man

… man is immortal and lives by divine authority.

 

PUBLICATIONS QUOTATION

“Understanding Life and Death”

By Nathan A. Talbot

Christian Science Sentinel

May 22, 1978

 

Many people are fascinated with death. But they should, instead, be developing an appreciation of life.

 

God is Life itself. And Life maintains the intelligent continuity of perfection. Man is Life’s representative. Man does not begin in birth. He does not end in death. He is the permanent expression, the spiritual idea, of divine Life.

 

The event called death, in and of itself, does not make us more spiritual; it does not free us from matter. It is not the end of a person. It is a transition for him—but not an end.

 

Mrs. Eddy explains: “Man is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity, by passing through the belief called death. After the momentary belief of dying passes from mortal mind, this mind is still in a conscious state of existence; and the individual has but passed through a moment of extreme mortal fear, to awaken with thoughts, and being, as material as before. Science and Health clearly states that spiritualization of thought is not attained by the death of the body, but by a conscious union with God.” 1

 

It is wasted time to be intrigued with various phases of material-mindedness—even the transition called death. That transition is simply one aspect of the many beliefs of mortal mind. If we have not gained a full understanding here that God is Life and man is His reflection, then we must continue beyond the transition gaining spiritual-mindedness until we outgrow all belief that man is mortal or material.

 

Each day we should be growing spiritually. Each day we should be increasing our spiritual-mindedness. Fascination over the change called death will not teach us anything about Life.

 

Man neither dies into nor out of matter. He is never separated from Spirit’s perfection. He is a pure, living, spiritual idea of Mind.

 

1 Miscellaneous Writings, p. 42