As Earth Churns…25b. The Heavenly Palace

The angels quickly parted leaving a path for Jesus to make his way up to the man and his journalist. He paused for a moment. Rafael broke the silence.

“Hi, Jesus. Are you here to meet Enoch?”

“That’s precisely it, Rafael. Hello, Enoch,” the Son of God continued. “Welcome to heaven. Is everything to your satisfaction?”

“Uh, yes, quite, um…”

“Just call me Jesus,” the Son casually stated.

“Okay. Uh, thanks, Jesus,” stuttered Enoch. “This is an amazing place!”

Rafael intervened, “Enoch, what have you seen that’s amazing?”

“Well there is that river running right through the middle of everything,” Enoch began.

“The River of Life,” Jesus added.

“So that’s what you call it?” Enoch queried. “It surely is beautiful. And then there are those two incredible trees, one on each side of the river. I’ve heard there is a different fruit on those trees every month.”

“That’s right,” Jesus assured him. “We created them with different tastes, colors, and textures that change. The angel Gabriel and I tried to put as much variety into all aspects of Earth as possible. You may not know this, but the tree on the far side of the River of Life used to be on Earth in the Garden of Eden back when Adam and Eve were the inhabitants.”

“I know all about their life in the garden and the first sin. My father Jared told me all about it many times,” Enoch interjected. “They were kicked out and an angel with a sword was posted to guard that piece of land.”

Rafael joined in, “A fiery sword!”

Enoch said, “That’s right; I remember the stories.”

Jesus regained the narrative, “That Tree of Life was transplanted here so that no one would sneak into the garden and eat of it and live forever.”

“Amazing!” exclaimed Enoch. “I do have a question, Jesus.”

“Go ahead; you can ask anything, Enoch,” Jesus assured him. “You’re in heaven now and there are no more secrets.”

“I only lived 365 years. Most of the people of my generation are living to be over 900 years,” Enoch hesitated for a moment; then he pressed on. “Why was I brought here so early in my life?”

“You can thank Rafael mostly for that,” Jesus stated.

“How’s that?” asked Enoch.

Jesus continued, “Even though the Father already knew you were walking closely with Him, it was Rafael who printed the details of your life in an article for the Heavenly Herald. That caught my attention. I had a conversation with my Father, and He agreed you were one in a million – the kind of human that would bless and be blessed by being brought to heaven before completing a full life on earth. Rafael, how was it you worded it in your article? Something like ‘this human reminds us that there is a difference between…”

Rafael interrupts, “Walking with God and merely living.”

“Great line,” compliments Jesus.

“Thanks,” Rafael said. “Sometimes the words just fall into place.”

“So you see, Enoch, you were brought here partly as a reward for your special spiritual closeness with the Father and partly to be a blessing to all the heavenly beings,” Jesus affirmed. “All of us up here including the angels have had various levels of knowledge of life on Earth among you humans. The Father felt the personal interaction with mankind would be enjoyed by those preparing the rooms for others like you in the future.”

Just then Zerub trotted up and waited to be recognized. Jesus quickly acknowledged him, “Hello, Zerub, do you have a message for us?”

“I do,” proclaimed Zerub. “The Father has given his permission for the celebration to begin and Allen says the angelic choir is ready to welcome the celebrity to the festival.”

“Splendid!” exclaimed Rafael.

“Enoch, this way if you please,” Jesus took the obviously overwhelmed human’s arm and gently directed him into the palace.

[to be continued]

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