[Eph 2:2 NLT] 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil–the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
[Eph 3:10 NLT] 10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
[Eph 6:12 NLT] 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
[Col 1:16 NLT] 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see–such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
[1Ti 1:17 NLT] 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
Time of the End
[Dan 12:1-13 KJV] 1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6 And [one] said to the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, How long [shall it be to] the end of these wonders? 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what [shall be] the end of these [things]? 9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 11 And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed [is] he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 13 But go thou thy way till the end [be]: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
Of Prophets and Portals
An account of the tardemah, from the main character, O’Brian‘s point of view. This would be his explanation of the Mid-World as the second heaven: A metaphysical realm between the physical and the purely spiritual realm of the third heaven.
Tardemah.
That was the original word used when the first man was put to sleep, while The One crafted his mate from his inward part.
It was the same word used for what happened to a man named Abram when The One instructed him to cut a covenant in blood that would birth a nation that would ultimately impact the entire world. But to affect that promise, Abram would face horrors and great difficulties ahead before that covenant promise was fulfilled.
So it was, with some degree of a comingling of awe and trembling, when such a tardemah came over me.
Being a man of faith, I could not help but remember the verses in Joel 2:28, and appearing again in Acts 2:17, in reference to “your young men seeing visions” and “your old men dreaming dreams”. I guess that puts me in the latter category of old men, though twenty-one years ago, the first similar experience might have been describe in part as a vision. I guess I’m on a two-fer.
I am just stating that these kinds of vision-like tardemahs, are not as uncommon as one may assume. But like waking up, there is often a sense that something occurred, but no clear memory of it lingers.
But I’m rambling here.
My tardemah began with what I had thought was only a dream, never realizing that I was actually removed out of time, and bodily extended into a place that I have come to know and call simply ‘The Mid-World’. A term that is befitting, when one realizes what that mysterious place is, and what it represents.
We think we know the world simply by what we experience of it. But in truth, we know so little, using that narrow view and singular perspective alone. Reality is so much bigger than what we presently perceive. And The One hints of that grand perspective and broader view throughout His sacred Word. The Word, is in fact a codex revealing a larger reality, beyond the limits of our imagination.
There are parts of our reality that have yet to be revealed, for we live in such a narrow slice of existence that we cannot hope to view the other linked realms but through a glass darkly.
We have no concept of what it might truly mean to enter a time outside of time. To walk into another plane of existence that blends elements of this world and combines them with the possibilities of the next.
I can only explain it to my own mind this way. What if the references to “the heart” in the codex was actually an inner country within each of us. Not just a physical place, but a metaphysical place, combining aspect of the realm we were intended for, and the present one we now inhabit in what we think of as “the waking world”.
This may seem strange, but within each of us there is a battlefield, and tensions are mounting in that inner country that threaten the whole of our existence.
But, perhaps, I am saying too much… or too little. It is hard to decide which.
To simplify it, let me just tell you about the dream. The dream of my own tardemah. But first, there is one verse, from the codex that has helped me make sense of this whole experience, so I reference it here:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” [Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV]
“Eternity in our hearts.” What an impactful statement and so pregnant with startling implications, one has difficulty getting our minds around.
But ask yourself, if you believe in The One, can another entity live and dwell in that place that we have only conceived of in an esoteric metaphorical sense? What if our sense of place was not limited to the measurable depth and distances we use to perceive and experience our physical world? If time is not an impenetrable limit, for there is a reality outside of time we will experience beyond this physical realm, why should the other dimensional measures be viewed as impenetrable limits?
But I am getting ahead of myself. All I can conclude is that my particular dream is real. That’s all I can conceive of at this point. I am not talking about an “out-of-body experience” but of an “intra-body experience”.
A way of being in two separate places, and in two separate times at once. That is what I am getting at.
I know it is not easy to imagine, but what The One does and has prepared is beyond our present understanding.
Another handrail that I use to steady myself when mentally walking down these conceptual pathways is what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers in his day, referencing Isaiah 64:4 and Psalms 31:19.
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT]
Heaven is not merely a state of bliss, or a pleasant state of mind. I have come to understand that it has layers. Three that I know of. The physical heaven holding the sky and the starry expanse, but also a place where The One creases the planes of our existence and folds them together into a metaphysical landscape without going beyond to the highest realm of the third heaven, where He dwells in unapproachable light, and no human eye can see Him and survive the encounter.
It is a mercy that we fall under a deep sleep, so that we are not driven to madness over experiencing two realities eclipsing each other in entering the second heaven’s metaphysical plane. But the journey does affect the mind and causes some degree of stress and disorientation after the return.
The Apostle Paul noted this confusion in 2 Corinthians 12:2, saying:
“I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a man was caught up to the third heaven.” [2 Corinthians 12:2 NASB20]
I suspect, but cannot be sure, that it might be a combination of both in and out experiences, but as he said, God only knows.
Again, the Apostle Paul references this third Heaven in his letter to young Timothy.
“…who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom [be] honor and everlasting power. Amen.” [1 Timothy 6:16 NKJV]
What I am referring to is the inner place, that requires The One to open a portal of passage by placing the summoned person into a tardemah, to affect the transition.
The One is not limited by His created constructs of time or space, so He can summon those He chooses to arrive at a central point, without restriction on where and when those travelers come from.
So that is where I met them. My fellow travelers. On a beach in that Mid-World. That is where I first met the man named Jeremiah who was called to lead us into the interior of that place on what we would discover was a shared quest. A quest to find and carry virtue stones that belonged to an ancient crown.
For in that Mid-World, there is an immutable pillar of stone with living words written upon it in golden letter of light. Words that I recognized as the same ones that are in our Surface World codex. These words resonate in both worlds and reveal the grand story of The One who came into our world to unchain us and restore the relationship between Himself and us. So that we could experience humanity as intended.
There are two human Surface Worlders still living there, that have not experienced their human death, for that must surely come. It may interest you to know that I have had the privilege of meeting both of them, and they are as remarkable as you might expect, but very humble men.
The third heaven access would instantly obliterate a human entering that realm, except for one thing. Being in Christ. For by so being in the covering of Christ’s sacrificial blood, the summoned traveler is protected by an enshrouded robe of the righteousness purchased on their behalf. That is why records of the third heaven transits only occurred after the earthbound mission of the cross was complete. The third heaven is that blissful, eternal Kingdom of Heaven, which Mid-Worlders refer to as Excavatia. A hidden realm of existence, waiting to be revealed. A realm that dark forces within the Mid-World do not want found. restored or opened. They fear the prophecy. Doing so will bridge all three worlds and align them for an eternity. That destiny will happen, for it was promised. The King will return to inhabit His Kingdom. But we have been given a task in the meantime, to occupy the land. To, in harmony with His leading, to pull down strongholds and declare that the victory has been won. We are His heralds. We are His harbingers.
That coming Kingdom will return, descending from the third heaven, passing through and gathering the second heaven and finally settle and be established permanently upon the physical earth of the first heaven, gathering in the starry hosts with it. That Kingdom will be of radiant light with no need for a sun to light the day.
The Groom will collect His Bride.
[Job 28:5-15 NKJV] – 5 [As for] the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire; 6 Its stones [are] the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust. 7 [That] path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it. 8 The proud lions have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it. 9 He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots. 10 He cuts out channels in the rocks, And his eye sees every precious thing. 11 He dams up the streams from trickling; [What is] hidden he brings forth to light. 12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where [is] the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, ‘[It is] not in me’; And the sea says, ‘[It is] not with me.’ 15 It cannot be purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed [for] its price.
[Rev 21:2 KJV] – 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.
[Heb 11:13-16 NLT] – 13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
[Rev 21:23 KJV] – 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof.
[Rev 22:5 KJV] – 5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
