Through the Bride's Eyes

Chapter 1

Heaven’s Deep Breath

The rhythm of the march pounded the barren Earth. It was the march of the warring worshipers. A specially chosen tribe from the plains of Africa made up the small army. They danced as one, as if practicing for years. They were the most skilled dancers I had ever seen. They were in seven lines, perfectly proportioned.

The men were on the outside position, faces upward with beautiful joyful expressions. They held drums that were tiptoed on by little mallets in their hands. The women were on the inside of the army, dancing the same way; they had gentleness about them that the men did not possess. There were fewer women than men. Each was dressed in African-like attire with large headdress. They wore a deep shade of red linen material. Around their feet were little feather anklets. I marveled that there was no dust being kicked around. They danced on hard, orange clay, close to a cave.

The Earth seemed to hold her breath around them. I could feel their rhythm as if it were my own heartbeat. Every eye in Heaven beat down on them. They were the elite of the elite, chosen and born especially for this very purpose—to protect the innocent ones during this time.

The Earth had invited this army in; a special invitation to Heaven. They were the first of us since ‘that day’ to feel the weight of the Earth’s pull again. Their return was more than welcome. The Earth was very weary. She was at the end of her life. They were the comfort that she needed to feel on her chest as they danced. They were like fruit from the Tree of Life¹ she once grew. Since ‘that day’, all she could taste were the sour forms of death that man had grown. ²

She breathed a deep sigh as they sang the song of the redeemed in deep, soulful voices:

"We are the Freed Ones!

We are the Freed Ones!"

A small group of the Earth’s forgotten people emerged from a small cave near them, as if the Freed Ones were the rain at the end of a very long drought. The people’s expressions were empty, as if they didn’t ever think that the seven long years³ would ever come to an end. Those are the years that they can never speak of again, unless out of tears for the next generation’s learning. To recall a memory of their recent past would be like identifying a family member at a morgue. The taste was foul in their mouths.

They walked out slowly, in a pack, weak from malnourishment. One of the young women carried a small baby who did not cry or stir. Now deliverance was here, but they didn’t have the strength to rejoice with the Freed Ones. ⁴

The dancing hushed and the women in the inside of the army rushed out in a line. Each was carrying something. One was carrying medicine, another, a basket of corn. They rushed out to comfort the humans who were left after the terrible, final holocaust. The Earth breathed out a long-held sigh as a mother who was dying after giving birth to a healthy child. She was relieved. Earth somehow knew He was coming. She would feel Him again. How she ached for His footsteps upon her. And here was the army who would protect the innocent ones from what was coming. They were a sign of the promise made long ago, like a rainbow painted fresh upon her face.⁵

The Window

I felt the Earth’s deep emotion again when I sat in the great window of Heaven.⁶ The box seats of Heaven stretched out all around. It was one large, curved piece of glass-like substance around us. The substance that enclosed us in Heaven was tinted blue, with no reflection in it. It was the length of Heaven itself. There were three rows of stadium seats that stretched the length of it.

I sat by Him on the front, middle seats and clutched His hand. It was softer than a carpenter’s should be. His fingers wrapped around my little hand, firmly locking us together. I held tight to Him as well. We didn’t look at each other, but stared down to the Earth, dreading the day. We knew His departure was inevitable. All of Heaven was holding her breath.

Each of us sat motionless and silent, watching the scene before us with eyesight greater than any hawk. The pale colored clothing we were wearing enhanced the sad tones of the moment. No one made eye contact with anyone. We had watched this horrible spiral spin down to this point in time. The air felt thick and hard to breath. We all knew this moment was coming. But I especially dreaded it.

I remembered His hands wrapped around mine. I took my eyes off of Earth for the last moment of our togetherness and looked down. I stared at His hands. I marveled at how I couldn’t even tell where mine began and where His ended. We were one for one last moment. One last moment for a long time. I tore myself back to look at the scenes on Earth that were before us. The two of us stood up together in one motion, tightly gripping each other’s hands.

He spoke. I think it was the first time I heard Him speak in seven years. You know, I have told you, you cannot come with Me into the battle. I looked at Him and nodded. He looked down at me, both of us fighting a flood of tears.

I cannot leave man to their own devices any longer, He said, almost apologizing for having to leave me.

I heard a loud clap and jumped. I felt the brush of horse tails as horses and riders galloped quickly all around me. The army of Heaven had been released. I shook at their presence. The ones who were chosen since the beginning to ride with Him had been unleashed at their gates. I could hear the horses coming all around us like thunder. I looked into His eyes, fighting the steady flow of tears that was desperate to come. There were no more seconds left to hold on. We let go of each other. I hardly caught a glimpse of Him as He sped on His white horse. He looked like a long, white cloud, He was going so fast. He was riding to the front of the line.

I could hear a huge sound like a veil was ripped in Heaven as we let go of each other. It was agony. I bowed with the pain. I yelled out in horror. Before I could catch my breath, I felt myself being ripped again and again and again. Every tribe and nation came out of me to form a vast people that would never be able to be counted. We looked at each other in silence as if each bone and each hand had been separated from one whole Body. The Bride was not one for one more moment in time. And the Groom did not look back.⁷

When the last hoof of the last horse was heard, our view of Earth went black. There was no more a window in Heaven. We stood there for a moment, knowing what was coming. We had been prepared and trained for this like school children in a fire drill. Now that the fire was actually here, we almost hesitated as to what to do.

The City of God

I steadily walked through the crowd as everyone watched. My white gown petted the ground of Heaven one last time as I made my way to the sea. It was not a long walk. The soft ground of Heaven in this particular area near the shore was a dark seaweed color. It was a shocking contrast to the gold roads that were in other areas of the vast place. I relished in the lightness I felt there and knew it would be some time before I felt its light yoke⁸ around me again. The entire atmosphere of Heaven darkened with the Groom’s disappearance. None of us had the strength to shine very long without His presence.

I stood at the banks and looked out to the dark waters. There was no end to the depth of this sea—at least not one of us could find it. It went deep immediately with no grade and was a dark, turquoise color. However, it seemed almost a navy color at that moment. The waves were violent. I held my breath so that I would not cry. This was home. We may have only resided here a short seven years, but all of our lives, we had called this unseen place home. Of course, we knew it wasn’t this place, that was changing even before our eyes, that was home, but rather, within Whom we had made our home.

I remembered the first time I saw Him in His physical form. It had been here. It was hard to believe that a physical body could exist in such a spiritual place, but we had all managed to do so, just like He had.⁹ I remembered the look on His face. I remembered thinking that if everyone on Earth could see that expression, every war would cease forever—even every war that was raging deep inside of them. I sighed and smiled, refocused again by my love for Him.

I took out a small tool I had that looked a little like a magnifying lens. It acted like a surveying tool. I looked straight into it from the tip of the shore to find our goal. There it was—the City.¹⁰ It looked like it was completely carved out of one pearl. I held back tears as I measured the exact place we would need to start from to form an exact line to the City’s bank. This seemed to be very important so that we wouldn’t waste any time. There were so many of us in this exodus. There would be no time in the plan for rerouting.

I nodded and a fleet of small, green boats appeared on the shore. We got into the beautiful boats, still silent, knowing the gravity of what was happening on Earth. I stood towards the bow of the boat, leading the large group to the promised shore. The boats went fast, propelled by the masses of angels swimming in the water below us like dolphins. They were joyful, yet silent, but the rest of us were having a very hard time with the separation from the Lover. Even on Earth, I had never remembered feeling such sick pain. We were love sick from His departure.

I was the first one to disembark, since this was my job. I was called to lead the Body of people into the gates. I walked up to the gate of the City of Our God. It was slightly ajar and I could hear the inhabitants rustling around inside the City, some of which I knew dearly. They were chosen to stay in the City to prepare it for the hour to come. That hour was upon us.

I placed my finger on a small circle on the gate where a key hole would normally be. The gate was a solid opal, smooth and slightly tinted with pink and blue. There was a small inscription on the gate which was written in the language of Heaven. It translated, My Beloved passes through here. He put that there. Just for me. Just for that moment. I felt like I was entering our garden.

I pushed open the gate and stood while the people came through. I was their guide because I knew this place well. When the last boat disembarked, the sea disappeared to reveal the green hills and woods that once surrounded the City. The scene around us was shadowy and dark. This, as well, was an odd thing for our eyes to grow used to again.

Each of them took their place in their assigned dwelling. Everyone except me. My calling was to stand by the gate and wait for the Lover. This would not be a timid thing to do. The gate was shut after everyone was in their place just as the ark’s door was shut. I stood, staring through the gate. There was only darkness outside at that point. It looked strangely beautiful against the stunning, white bars of the gate. I braced myself as best I could on the crystal-looking streets.

A sudden jolt almost knocked me off of my feet as the inhabitants cried out a very small cry. The City was being ripped from her roots and moved. We felt a smooth sensation accompany the jarring one as we soared through the atmospheres. We went straight up first and then spun slowly. We then found ourselves in the earthly realm, surrounded by stars on all sides.¹¹

The State of the Earth

I looked out the gate in horror. I could see the beautiful blue and green planet I had lived on. It had seemed so long ago since ‘that day’—the day we left. The Earth seemed to have a yellow haze around it with thick, brown clouds. It looked so sick. It seemed to be surrounded with sulfur.¹² The City was soaring through space, waiting for the landing.

As I stared out, we felt another huge jolt that accompanied a large clap louder than any thunder. I stared in grief as tears fell and fell from my eyes. I knew He was down there and I knew what just took place. Armageddon. All He had to do was speak and the entire inhabitants of the evil land below us could be annihilated. I was glad that I was not there with Him during the most horrible of times one could imagine. I turned my head away quickly so that I would not have to see the horror in front of me.

The next sound was even more horrible than the last. A huge gate from below and to the side of us was unhinged and thrown open, like a window in the space between Heaven and Earth. I heard a shriek louder than any I will ever hear again. I wanted it to stop! It was finally silenced by the slamming and the bolting of the door.¹³

I watched as pieces broke off of the Earth. I was glad that the Freed Ones were taking care of the innocent ones on the pieces of the yellow Earth. The pieces were like dead islands floating away. I imagined how frightened they must be. There was a protection on them for this time frame, but I am sure that they were extremely uneasy because of the great amounts of turmoil that their lives had been in the last seven years of tribulation.¹⁴ The Freed Ones were the first breath of something Heavenly that most of them had ever felt. It is a difficult thing to get use to—love.

We started to move down towards the pieces as they shifted. We hovered directly over it so that I couldn’t see the reforming of the Earth any longer. It was like He was doing a secret work of creation on her, like a child in her mother’s womb. I felt the pull of going down, down, down as if my cheeks were going to lift off of my face. We finally sank onto the Earth’s round frame and settled very softly on her.

We noticed the light first. Everything was still very silent as the Earth had been before the first animals were created. Behind me and all around me in the City, decorations appeared. There were garlands of white ribbons and white flowers all through the streets and overhead. It was like some invisible person was preparing for a party.¹⁵

We could hear the faint heartbeat of the army singing, We are the Freed Ones. The song felt alive here, as if we had only listened to a recording in Heaven. Here was our live concert. All was silence except for this. We held our breaths and didn’t move.

Then, the City’s inhabitants finally joined their song, their high voices worshiping. Each of the voices had a different part to sing as if they were instruments in an orchestra. They sang a love song. But not me. I stood in silence as I waited upon His arrival. No one came out. We just waited. I didn’t move from my first position all those many hours.

Suddenly, the gate opened outward with a wind of light. He rushed towards me through some very thick fog in front of the City. As soon as I could see Him, I ran towards Him. He looked more like a wild animal running towards me than a man, so swift was His movements. I held onto Him tightly. With joy like I had never felt before, He held me up, embracing my legs. I laughed. When I did, the dwelling places in the City, which had before looked very primitive and small all around us, jutted upwards and grew into beautiful, white mansions. We looked around for a few minutes as the people started collecting themselves inside. I could start seeing a few looking out their windows in amazement at their tall landscape.

Before everyone comes out, He whispered intimately to me, I want to show you something... He led me excitedly out the gate where there appeared to be a small forest of dark, red trees. I knew the breed of tree from my last visit to the City.¹⁶ There I had