"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts...."Lk 2:13.
Did the heavens suddenly "roll back as a scroll," as John the Revelator predicts will one day happen again, or do his words like those of others from his era, reveal the limitations of their ancient understanding?
These were brilliant men and women, who were surely inspired based upon the transcendence of their writings, now for centuries inspiring others to lean into that same Spirit. Where that has been the case, apart from overly religious piety and the often accompanied bigotry, others gain access to a moral righteousness and supernatural empowerment.
Their first hand accounts with the Messiah, the God of the Galaxies, their willingness to be tortured, martyred if need be that others might hear the Good News is certainly to be considered as evidence of their deep convictions. However, surely unpacking their thoughts within a much more limited knowledge base than we.
This is to take nothing away from the thought that the eyes of the shepherds were in fact made aware of Beings likely always among us, just in a different dimension. This seems akin to Peter, James and John's moment with Moses and Elijah on the Mt. of Transfiguration.
Was what they witnessed as a radiant glow from Jesus's clothing and face that day, energy he controlled? Were other moments where this same One walked on water in storms He likely created, called fish into Peter's nets, multiplied the flesh of fish already prepared, overcame a brutal crucifixion, ressurected his own body and eventually completely disassembled himself, all simply serving to create a desire among humans across the centuries to pursue similar realities throughout their life, though expressed differently as our knowledge base grows? Run on sentences are also my thing!
Who would not want such a life as these men and women experienced, though it seems a contrarian force also exists to rob us of that reality.
Still yet by way of science, at least to this geek, a progressive revelation seems unfolding, which continues to make it evermore easy to comprehend a dimension that exists beyond the tangible and outside our five human senses.
I have been intrigued of late with a series of events across these ancient scriptures that when linked together provide a more singular message than a display of random miracles.
The radiance witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration seems evidence of energy released from within the very fiber of Christ's being. The message perhaps "in this world but not of this world", he then exhibiting an empowerment beyond humanity's grasp at that time.
This ability to function beyond the normal boundaries of physics was surely a message hard to grasp in their pre-Einsteinian era. However, with today's base of knowledge where quarks and other subatomic particles are almost everyday conversation, grasping what the disciples saw and even before the Christ, what the Shepherds experienced is somewhat easier to grasp, at least for this science geek!
Again, the cloud like appearance described by those witnessing Christ's disappearance at the Ascension was a completion of what his previous prelude on the Mt. of Transfiguration was all about. In fact, the appearance of Moses and Elijah bring credibility to this thought of a moment when two dimensions actually intersected.
This Third Heaven "Sky God" who dwelt among us, as understood some 2000 years ago, more than likely dwells among us still, simply in another energy form, often referenced as The Presence or as every human has hopefully experienced, the treasure we call Love.
The Christ was simply the Spirit of God resident in the child of Mary. As he grew in wisdom and in stature his role was simply to bring us to an awareness beyond the material. Whether His earlier dividing the Red Sea for Moses, opening the Heavens for the Shepherds or unpacking ideation for today's entrepreneurs, a progressive revelation is ever unfolding, limited only by a religious dogma contained in ancient words that can unfortunately be used even to justify our unwillingness to change.
To suppose that the Logos of God is unchanging, as when the doctrine of immutability is taken to the extreme, would rightfully assume that the methodology of God be also unchanging, would it not?
Yet parting waterways, visitations from angelic hosts, fish multiplied, humans transfigured is seldom demonstrated by and among the most sincere clergy of our day! We then, when challenged revert to the doctrine of cessation when unable to pull off the works of Christ, though we are called the Sons of God by the same holy writ!
My takeaway is that our discomfort with change limits our journey with this God of the Galaxies, who is willing that none should perish, but that all know eternal life, both now and after we slip from these clay temples!
This is not New Age, we are are just slow learners!
Imagine growing up with that approach as opposed to a fundamentalist misunderstanding that God is angry, we are failures, and getting off this earth so as to finally inherit streets of gold is our reason for existence!
I'll take my chances with transparency here, as my guess is going forward into this next 500 years, much more is yet to be revealed.