What Happens When We Die?

[The following vision is split over the next three lessons.]

One time the Lord gave me a vision of what happens when someone dies for Him. This vision probably took place in the north part of Nigeria, which is heavily Muslim. I don't know if God took me to a real incident or if this was some Heavenly scenario to show me some kingdom principles about what happens when someone lays down their life for the Lord.

I saw the first part of it from the perspective of being a person sitting in the congregation. This particular church was one of those churches where the leadership all sit on the front row, and the congregation sits behind them. I was somewhere in the congregation, very near the front.

A worship service was going on. Suddenly several black-clad Muslims came into the room. They had both machetes (big sword-like knives) and machine guns. One of them shot the machine gun into the air above him and many people screamed and tried to get up and run out of the building. The man near the exit shot the first person to approach the door and his body crumpled to the floor. The intruders demanded that everyone shut up and sit down. Everyone obeyed, except the pastor who remained standing at the front of the room.

One of the black-clad men walked up to him and said, "Are you the leader?" He said, "I am the pastor." The man took his machete and sliced it across the pastor's throat. I won't go into the gory details, but it was gory. The pastors eyes got really wide in disbelief. For a minute, he looked like he might try to say something, his lips moved but no words came out. Then he collapsed.

The wife had already jumped up and screamed "No!" She tried to run to her husband but one of the black-clad men stopped her. The man with the machete announced to the congregation that the same thing that happened to the pastor would happen to anyone who would not renounce their God and embrace Islam. Then he motioned to have the wife brought up to him. He asked her to renounce the name of Jesus. She said, "Never!" In response, he began to hack at her with the machete. She began to scream, but she would not renounce the name of Jesus. She fell on the floor but was not dead yet. He continued to hack at her for another minute or two until she did not move or make any sound.

I watched the whole thing in shock and horror. I was not sure if God had literally transported me there and I was in physical danger or if I was in a vision (and therefore safe from being martyred myself). I was horrified at what I was seeing and did not understand why God would show me this. I also felt frightened and I wondered if I was in physical danger.

In this vision, I was sitting very near the front. I could hear one of the lady leaders quietly praying under her breath, "Lord, I am willing to die for You but I am terrified of the pain. Help me to bear it and to die well for You." I was so moved by her prayer that I temporarily forgot my own fear. I started to agree with her for her prayer, that God would strengthen her, that He would keep her from feeling physical pain, that He would give her courage and peace, and stuff like that. She kept praying that same prayer over and over as they killed the man leader who was sitting next to her. I was busy interceding for her, so I did not really watch all of what they did to him. Then they grabbed her next and dragged her to the front.

The man asked her to renounce Jesus and she refused. I had been looking at her eyes, which were wide with fear, but still determined. All of the sudden her expression changed and it looked like some sort of peace came over her. The man hacked at her with his machete and she made no response. She did not cry out in pain and she did not move, but she did start to bleed. He continued for a few minutes and then backed away. She was deformed from his efforts and bleeding, but she somehow remained standing. She said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Lord, I forgive them. Please forgive them as well." Then she dropped to her knees and looked like she was about to collapse to the floor.

Right then I was taken into the heavenlies. I was no longer in that church building; I was in the midst of a large group of saints and angels standing before His throne. In this vision God's throne was a large raised platform made of gold and precious gems. The platform was composed of what looked like a series of squares that were on top of each other, each square a little smaller than the one below it. Those squares made steps going up to the top of the platform, with the steps on all four sides. There were three thrones (seats) on the platform. I don't know how I knew this, but I knew that those seats were for each member of the Trinity. The Father and Jesus were both in seats, but the Holy Spirit's seat looked empty. I wondered why His seat was empty but I did not dare ask anyone, for this was a very solemn and magnificent setting. Suddenly I just knew the answer (which I am guessing was God answering my unverbalized question: "The Holy Spirit is not on His throne right now because He is currently on the earth in each believer living there.")

The raised square platform was very large and an interesting thing was happening on it. It was as if a three dimensional hologram of the scene in the church was being projected on the platform in front of the three thrones. I saw the lady, still on her knees. She was silent but her lips were moving. It looked like she was saying, "I love you Jesus."

The Lord said, "Bring her home." Immediately two angels were beside her, and one took hold of each of her upper arms. Then she fell face forward on the ground, and the angels still had hold of her, bending over her as she fell to the ground. Suddenly the background of the church and the terrorists all vanished and it was just the lady and the angels on the platform. She was not wearing her Sunday church dress any more, she was now clothed in a white robe. The angels let go of her but stood beside her.

Then I noticed that the other four who had died were also standing on the platform, not far from God's throne, and they were also dressed in white robes: the man who had been shot, the pastor, his wife and the male elder. They all had big smiles on their faces and they all had crowns on their heads. They were radiant, almost too bright to look at. I don't know how I knew it, but I knew that what I was seeing was the glory of the Lord reflecting on them.

All of Heaven's attention was fixed on the lady who was now laying face down on the gold platform before God's throne. I focused my attention on her as well.

"Well done, Daughter. I am pleased with you." The Lord spoke from His throne. His voice was sweet and full of melody, but it was also strong and powerful and sounded like rolling thunder.

She began to move and she raised herself up to a crawling position and crawled over to Jesus' throne. She was crying, but they were not frightened tears and they were not sad tears and she did not appear to be in any more physical pain. She seemed to be weeping in gladness at seeing the Lord. She wrapped her arms around Jesus' legs and put her face against His feet and just cried for a while. Jesus put His hand on her head in a tender gesture. She sighed a sigh of delight. All of heaven seemed to sigh with her in what felt like a corporate sigh. It was as if everyone was experiencing her joy and delight in seeing her Lord face-to-face and physically touching Him for the first time. She began to worship Him and all of Heaven began to worship along with her.

I think she would have been content to stay there forever. Time was very "fuzzy" in this vision. In one sense it felt like we had been there for an extremely long time (hours and hours) and in another sense it felt like no time had passed at all. I was worshipping along with the others around God's throne, but I was not able to enter into it as fully as they were. After a while, I began to ponder the time question. How long had we been doing this?

An angel came up to me and told me, "Time in Heaven is different than time on earth. On earth things progress from one minute to the next and you are trapped within its flow. In Heaven we are able to pull out of the flow of your time and do what seems like years and years worth of things and then pop back into the flow of earthly time as if no time had passed at all." I was surprised he had answered by unspoken question, but I was also grateful. That answer made sense to me. I guessed that each of the other four martyrs standing on the throne's platform had all received a similar welcome when they died. The angel nodded his head as if saying "Yes" to my speculation.

Then I began to feel bad that I had been thinking about this instead of being lost in worship like everyone else is. I guessed that my inability to worship like the others must be displeasing to the Lord. The angel addressed that concern as well.

"You are not able to enter into worship as fully as you one day will because you are still hindered by your human body and carnal nature. This lady is worshipping unencumbered for the first time in her life, and we are all joining in with her and celebrating this with her."

[More to come next week...]