His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?”
He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.”
The dead wander aimlessly through one reality to another, from one existence to another, and do not see where they are going or reality as it is. The dead do not see as the living see, hear as the living hear, nor feel and sense as the living feel and sense. They can neither speak and be heard nor act for themselves in the world. They are no longer in their body and cannot enter it, although they might attempt to do so, and may linger about their corpse with this vain hope. What is the state, then, of the children of Darkness who are dead to the Spirit? Indeed, they wander aimlessly through life and do not see or know where they are going, nor can they perceive reality as it is. They live in ignorance of the Sacred Unity that God is and ignorant of their Spirit-connectedness. Born of the world under the dominion of the cosmic forces of ignorance, they are blind, deaf, and dumb in Spirit. They do not know the Spirit and Truth that they might speak it, and they are compelled by cosmic forces, not able to act freely for themselves in the world. Likewise, their Neshamah, their spiritual nature, cannot enter into their body and life. Ever seeking to enter and illuminate them, their Neshamah is always near, yet, in truth, far from them. They are, as it were, without their soul and dead.
Look and see the plight of the ignorant and ordinary person. Not reborn of the Holy Spirit and awake in the Anointed One, they are as though dead and aimlessly wandering as earth-bound spirits. They live and die and are reborn of the world, only to live and die again, entering empty and leaving empty, for all that they value and seek is as dust and ashes, empty and impermanent by nature. They grope about in the darkness of ignorance, seeking to fulfill their inmost heart’s desire. Ignorant of that holy desire for the Beloved, they seek after strange gods and sell themselves into bondage.
When will these living dead enter into repose and the world to come? When they die to the world and are reborn of the Holy Spirit, recognizing the indwelling Christ and receiving their soul of Light. Then they shall be alive, awake to the eternal Light and Light of the Lord’s promise.
If I do not know that I am dead, how shall I seek the resurrection and find it? If I do not see the sorrow and suffering of this world and the wickedness of the way of the world, how will I seek to practice righteousness and attain salvation? Will I know the necessity of faith and gnosis of the Anointed One if I cannot see the nature of this reality or the spiritual forces within and behind it?
First you must realize that you are a slave and recognize what freedom is, in order to seek and find it. You cannot be free unless you first realize that you are in bondage and recognize the path to enlightenment and liberation. In truth, it is that which binds you that will set you free. You must look and see this, and seeing, you must practice the Truth and Light revealed in your experience.
From the above, we understand that rebirth in the Holy Spirit and awakening the indwelling Christ is the resurrection. Until we are reborn in the Christ-Spirit, we are dead to the Lord, our God, and surely, unless we experience something of the resurrection in this life, we will not experience the resurrection on the Day of Reckoning—the day of our death. Having lived unconsciously, we shall surely die unconscious; having lived in sin we shall surely die in sin, and our soul shall find no peace or rest.
Praise be to the Lord our God in our Lord and Savior, Yeshua Messiah; for through Lord Yeshua, Divine Grace has come into the world and we have resurrection to eternal life through the power of the Holy Spirit which he imparted and the keys of the mysteries he revealed. In the blood of Christ, we are alive this day and we shall continue in Life and Light in the Day of Reckoning, ascending with him to repose in our heavenly Father-Mother! The resurrection is now, always! The world to come, the world of Supernal Light, has come upon the earth and is within and all around you. You must only become open and sensitive, reborn in the Holy Spirit, to receive it. What the Lord is speaking about is not distant but is the nearest thing, as near as your very breath and the beat of your heart. Ever near is your Neshamah and the kingdom of heaven. When you recognize the Light in you, then you shall enter into the kingdom of Light on that very day. Is this not what happened to Enoch, when walking with the Lord, he arose and was united with the Lord God above as he was below? Yes, indeed, what you manifest below shall be manifest above; what you bring into this life you shall also have in the afterlife. Or have you not heard of how St. Thomas built heavenly palaces for kings of India, so that they might have an abode in the kingdom of heaven? Where shall you dwell longer—in this passing world or in the world to come? For this reason, the wise and righteous ones labor for the world to come and remain undistracted by the world of delusions.
Now there is a secret given here, for not only is the apostle of the Anointed One sent to minister to the living but also to the dead. Indeed, the spirits of the dead, seeking the Word of the Lord and healing and liberation from spiritual forces of wickedness, come to the apostles and prophets of God, just as the living do, and the wise among the dead seek teachings and initiation also. The assembly of the elect gathered about a holy tzaddik is composed of both visible and invisible spirits and the tzaddik ministers to invisible and spiritual beings as well as to incarnate souls. Truly, wherever there is worship of God in Spirit and Truth, the spirits of the saints and sages are present, and the angels of the Lord and all manner of spirits come and go, seeking the blessing of the Lord in holy worship. Likewise, when you study and contemplate holy and secret things, or whenever you pray, meditate, or perform sacred ritual, spirits come to receive from you in the Lord. Or have you not heard that the fallen sought Enoch to pray to the Lord for them, that the Lord might hear the prayers of Enoch and have mercy upon them?
But let it be clearly said that it is ungodly to bind to yourself the spirits of the dead or to seek their service for your own interests. To do so is to make links with unwholesome spiritual forces and do great harm to your vital soul, and likewise, you bring harm to the dead, further agitating them and drawing them deeper into bondage. You are not to seek the ministry of the spirits of the unenlightened dead. You are to minister unto them, bearing forth the Word and Wisdom of the Lord for their redemption. The Lord, himself, ministered to the spirits of the dead bound in Sheol, and so also shall those anointed in his Holy Name.