Book of the Bee

Historical scan page 162

134 THE BOOK OF THE BEE. shall remain alive, and whom the resurrection shall overtake, of whom Paul has said, ‘We who are left shall not overtake them that sleep1,’ meaning to say that those who are found alive at the time of the resurrection will not sleep the sleep of death ; as the apostle says again, ‘ Behold I tell you a mystery ; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed2.’ As touching the heavens, some say that they will be rent, and that the waters which are above the firmament will descend, for it is not possible for the substance of water to pass through the substance of the firmament. Others say that as water passes through a tree or a piece of pottery, and sweat through the skin, so also will men enter into heaven and not be prevented, and (in like manner too) will the waters descend from above. Others say that the firmament will be rolled up like the curtain of a tent. The second trumpet is that at the sound of which the firmament will be opened, and our Lord will appear from heaven in splendour and great glory. He will come down with the glory of His divinity as far as two- thirds of the distance between the firmament and the earth, whither Paul ascended in the spirit of revelation 3. He will then make an end of the son of perdition, and destroy him body and soul, and He will hurl Satan and the devils into Gehenna. The third trumpet is the last, at which the dead will rise, and the living be changed, as the blessed Paul says, ‘ Swiftly, as in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet when it sounds ; and the dead shall rise without corruption, and we shall be changed 4.’ So swiftly and speedily will the resurrection of all men be wrought, according to the spiritual nature of the new world. For the swiftness of the resurrection will surpass the swiftness of understanding, and the spiritual hosts alone see and know in what manner it will take place, every man being suddenly found standing in his spirituality. Some men therefore have a tradition that the resur¬ rection of the righteous and the just and the believers will precede that of other men, who are remote from the true faith ; but according to the opinion of the truthful and of people generally, the resurrection of the 1 Solomon is quoting i Thes. iv. 15 (Peshitta) : o»fs^oa.=> 'h V 'h I p ? )?©» 1 Cor. xv. 51. y =y v j y'h 1 1 'h y - y v/7» )y y y y 9 2 Cor. xii. 2. 4 1 Cor. xv. 52. 2