Beam Me Up | Part 2

What is our vanishing point from the flesh to the unseen and then back from the unseen to the seen realm? I want to share a scripture from Song of Solomon 5:6 NIV, where the bride and the groom are in the same room in a place of intimacy. The bride says, “I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.”

We know that Christ is with us now. He's omnipresent. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient; He knows everything. Yet that vanishing point of His presence remains, even though, spiritually and mentally, we know He's with us. Our thoughts and words keep saying, "Someday when the Lord returns," as if He went off somewhere. So, we must work all of that out by asking, "Well, where did He go?"

Let’s turn to Matthew 28 to read his account of the resurrection morning. After the Sabbath, 2 women went to the tomb, and an earthquake occurred, with an angel of the Lord appearing from an unseen realm to be seen by the women and the guards. The event was so overwhelming that the guards shook and fell as if dead, while the women were numb seeing an angel sitting on the stone that had been moved from the tomb entrance.

The angel tells the women not to be afraid, for them to look at where Jesus had lain, and then in verse seven in the NIV, “Go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

We have an angel encounter appearing to women and to soldiers. The women left, excited to share the news that Jesus had risen and would meet the disciples in Galilee, as He had told them at the Passover meal (Matthew 26:32). The soldiers went to the city and reported to the chief priests what had happened. The chief priests paid off the soldiers to tell a lie that the body of Jesus had been stolen (verses 11-13 NIV).  

What I want to emphasize here is the awareness that He is not in the tomb: the angel tells the women, "See the place He was, and then go tell the disciples that He has risen and is going ahead of them to Galilee. There you will see him." They wouldn’t see Him at the tomb or in Jerusalem, but on a three-day journey to Galilee.

Both the women and the guards had an encounter with an angel. Both went to Jerusalem to share the event. The women listened to the angel and told the disciples in Jerusalem what the angel had said. The guards also shared their experience in Jerusalem, but allowed religion to interpret the event rather than the angel. The chief priests were concerned that people would think something miraculous had occurred and that Jesus was alive again. To maintain control over the event, the chief priests paid the soldiers off and told everyone that the body had been stolen by the disciples. 

While that was going on in Jerusalem, the eleven disciples took off for Galilee. Matthew 28:16-20 NIV, "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

This is the main event foundation of Christianity. In Matthew, we read two different reports from the eyewitnesses: the stone rolled away, the tomb was empty, and the appearance of an angel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all share parts of what really happened during this time: the resurrection morning, the 40-day journey afterward, and Jesus's appearance on earth. We must also consider that each of them is reporting/writing their version at different times in history to different groups of people. The four of them are not sitting together in a room, reporting to the other disciples. They are writing their version of the event almost twenty years later. 

Well, the same thing would go for each of us. We each have our version, and as we pull them together, what key elements might one version be missing? If you didn't know that it was included, you would have changed the whole story to make it sound like something else. Need an illustration of where I’m going with this? Google ‘faces of Jesus,’ and see how many come up. Adobe Stock can give you over eighty thousand, yet we have no original picture showing the face of Jesus.’

In Mark 16, we read about the same encounter with the angel and the women, and the same message for the disciples. However, Mark adds that the women were so afraid that they left without saying anything to anyone. Then, in verse 9, Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene, who reports that all the disciples are weeping and afraid. In verse 12, it appears slightly different.

We should question the inclusion of verses nine to twenty in this chapter because the early manuscripts don't have that. They end chapter 16 with verse 8 NIV, "Trembling and bewildered. The women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid." 

If we read Mark 16:9-20 in the KJV, we find a whole conversation Jesus has with His disciples that is not included in the NIV or in the earliest transcripts we have. Where did these verses come from, and what kind of impact did they have on forming the church in history? Did Jesus have this conversation as the resurrected Christ?

Let’s assume we can include these verses in our understanding of Jesus appearing to the disciples after the resurrection and having this conversation. Many translations have subtitled these verses as ‘The Great Commission.’ Beginning in Mark 16:14-20 NKJV, 

“Later, He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

There is much in these verses that is questionable, including whether they were even said by Jesus after the resurrection. What it does do is for us to ask the question, ‘Should these verses be interpreted literally or spiritually?’ If you look up the word demon and the word snake the spiritual aspect is more about our thoughts and words than it is about literally handling snakes or drinking poison. 

Another area to consider in these verses is: “What is the Gospel they were to preach to every creature?” We have created it to mean a message about how to go to heaven. Supposedly, this is Jesus talking. In Matthew 10:6-8 NIV, Jesus gives His disciples a commission to share the good news or gospel, saying, “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

If Jesus had already given His students an assignment like that described in Mark 16:9-20, why did He go to the cross? In fact, the assignment in Matthew is to share the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven has come. What was the gospel message in Mark? Do you see snakes and poison in Matthew as we do in Mark? Matthew shares a humble assignment: take nothing with them. The signs and wonders would follow as they shared that the Kingdom of Heaven is here. In Mark, there is a shift from what Jesus told them in Matthew. It conveys a subtle message that elevates the disciples' egos, portraying them as especially anointed. Wasn’t that one of the temptations Jesus encountered with the enemy of God after He was baptized and spent forty days alone in the wilderness?

Luke 4:9-12 KJV, “And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus, answering, said unto him, It is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

 

Literally handling snakes and drinking poison to prove the power of God’s presence would be tempting God to show up and keep one from dying. Jesus spoke against this. Spiritually, the subtleness of taking scripture out of context from the heart of the Father and listening to the same voice of the snake in the garden of Eden when he asked Eve in Genesis 3:1 NIV, “Did God say?”

Let’s take all of this information, and ask ourselves, “What are we going to do with it, and when do we get to the place of the vanishing point in our lives, from our spirit and our soul trickling into our body that with our body, we are now the radiant glory of Christ in us being seen in the world?”

In Luke 24:10 NIV, we have his version of resurrection morning. Here, the writer tells the names of the women who went to the tomb. “It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.” 

We have the women who met the angels, who testified to the resurrection and told them to tell the disciples. They did as they were instructed, but their testimony was not believed. Mark’s version of that in Chapter 16 was that only Mary Magdalene told the disciples. The other women were afraid and said nothing. None of the disciples believed Mary or the women; however, Peter did respond by going to the tomb and finding it empty, with the linen strips where Jesus had lain.

The next scene shows Jesus appearing to two disciples on the road to Emmaus as they try to leave Jerusalem. They talk with Him, not knowing who He was, and then invite Him to stay for the evening meal. The Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus appeared to them in another form. The road to Emmaus shows evidence of a communion meal in which Jesus is present, re-illustrating the last supper, when He said He would not eat this again with them until the manifestation of the kingdom of God. So now, on the road to Emmaus, He is breaking the bread, and He's eating. The kingdom of God is there in the realm of this communion with Jesus as the resurrected Christ and the two disciples. Jesus vanishes into an unseen realm as their hearts are burning with His presence. They quickly returned to Jerusalem and told the disciples, but the disciples did not believe them either.

Scrolling down to verse 30 in Luke 24, Jesus suddenly appears to the disciples as they are reclining at the table. This is another moment that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It's right there in the room where the eleven disciples were gathered. Mark 16:14 acknowledges this same moment. In Luke 24:36, while the disciples were talking about everything that had happened, Jesus suddenly appeared, and they thought they were seeing a ghost.

Jesus simply says, "Peace be with you" (Luke 24:36 KJV). 

Peace, that's a new situation! This is the first time we're really hearing peace be with you, but He is our peace, so He is with us. There's a sign for you that if you have the presence of peace, even though you're not literally seeing Jesus like in the movies, His peace is with you, saying to your spirit, "God is with you right now." When the peace surpasses the understanding, God is with you. Jesus is right there. The Holy Spirit is right there. This is a vanishing point because you just shifted realms.

The disciples were struggling with this truth. They heard His voice and touched His hands and feet, yet they were still troubled in their hearts (Luke 24:37-40). It was when Jesus asked them for food, and they saw Him eat, that He reminded them of what He had told them at the last supper. Jesus said, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you…” (Luke 24:44 NIV). At that moment, He opened their understanding to the scriptures, and the fulfillment of what was written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, which testified to the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

They went from a realm of anxiety, frustration, logic, fear, and reasoning that didn't make sense to them to the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding because of the presence of Christ Jesus in our midst.

His Peace is present with us today, which means Jesus is with us now. Others in the same room may be anxious and fearful, but your presence, with the peace of Christ within you, can radiate, bringing transformation to their lives. This would be a vanishing point of Christ appearing from the unseen to the seen realm as PEACE.

Another vanishing point happens when people around you are so overwhelmed with fear that they ignore your presence. You may be right there, but they look past you and don’t hear your voice. They can’t see you because your life is concealed in Christ and shielded by the glory of God. As a result, they no longer hear you. 

These signs indicate that when God's peace is with us, and we sense His presence, our bodies are being transformed even as we're still on earth, in the room, amid the world. This transformation occurs through the renewing of our minds. It's the start of something real, something you don't have to strive for; you simply need to accept His peace. Just pause, and there it is.

When Jesus spoke, “Peace be unto you,” they were all frightened. They thought they saw a ghost. He says again, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your heart? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I, myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." And then when he showed them that, they still struggled to even believe it” (Luke 24:37-41 NIV). So, Jesus asks for food, reminding them of their last Passover meal together, when He would eat it with them when the Kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus is asking if He can have communion with them. He’s also telling them that the Kingdom of God is here and now. This is powerful if you just stop and say, "Wait a second."

Jesus is eating in the Kingdom of God while sitting with the disciples in the physical realm. The disciples think that Jesus is a ghost. They are part of the presence of resurrection life, yet they live under an old mindset that says, "How is this possible?" Don't we often say that with God, nothing is impossible? The bigger question is, how big is your all that you would allow God to have all your all?