Letters from Adina - #37a

Letter XXXVII (i) He has Risen!   

. "I saw the crucified prophet rise up from the slab on which he was laid, and stand upon his feet, and walk forth alive, with the tread of some mighty conqueror!"

Jerusalem, First Day of the Week.

O Father, my Dear Father,

How shall I make known to you in words, the marvelous, joyous, happy, and most wonderful news which I have to tell!

My heart beats, my hand trembles with delight, while a sense of profound awe filleth all my soul. Jesus is alive! Jesus has RISEN FROM THE DEAD! Jesus has proved Himself to be the Son of God!

Oh, now we know that Jesus is, indeed, the Messias who should come! Oh, that I could have doubted! Alas! that I should have written to you such words of disbelief and of doubt, and have thought Him a deceiver! But I have seen Him, and He has forgiven me!

My last letter to you abruptly closed, as I was interrupted by loud outcries of gladness, and great confusion, of running and shouting, in the courts and corridors below. Upon hearing my name called by Mary, and others, in eager, joy trembling tones, I hastened to go down. I met my cousin Mary, ascending the staircase, almost flying.

Wonder, love, and happiness inexpressible, beamed from her beautiful countenance.

Meeting me, she threw her arms about my neck, and essayed to utter words; but her heart was too full, and bursting into sobs, she wept convulsively upon my bosom, in an ecstasy of joy.

Amazed and troubled, not knowing what had happened, I held her to my heart, and tried to calm her. The voice of Martha now reached my ears from the foot of the stairs, talking eagerly to Rabbi Amos, who answered her with loud outcries of wonder.

“What - O what hath been done? Speak, dear Mary!”, I asked, unable to wait longer in doubt.

She raised her head, and through her tears and smiles, at length whispered -

“He – He – is – risen – oh! He is risen from the tomb!”

“Who?” I cried, half believing, yet doubting. "The Lord! Our Mighty Master – Jesus - the very Son of God, the Blessed! He is alive, Adina!”

“You have seen a vision, or your grief, at His death, Mary, has made you mad,” I answered her.

Upon this she released herself from my arm, and gazing upon me with her large, earnest eyes, said:

“Adina, be not faithless but believing. Jesus is risen from the dead. He is lives! I have seen Him - He has spoken to Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’s sister, and also to me!

Oh, joy, joy! He is the very Son of the Highest, and we have not been deceived; but oh!we have been blind, and deaf, and ignorant, not to have understood that He must die, and rise again the third day! Come - delay not!

I have run into the city to tell thee; and Mary has told Peter and John, whom she met at the door, and who, doubting, as thou hast doubted; have run to see if these things be so.

They will find the sepulchre empty. Haste to go with us!”

While, overwhelmed with wonder, and trembling with joy, I was preparing to accompany her, Martha appeared, her face radiant with heavenly happiness:

“You have heard the tidings of great joy, O Adina?” she cried.  “Can they be true, Martha?” I asked earnestly.

“Yes, for I have seen Him walking, heard His voice, and, touched Him! You also shall see Him, for He hath sent us to tell his disciples.” I wept aloud for joy, and we went forth in haste to behold Him.

At the gateway we met Mary of Bethany, who had been telling the news to Peter and John, and had also made it known to Rabbi Amos and Nicodemus.

They were all talking together in the court, talking sorrowfully upon the crucifixion, when she burst in upon them with the cries I had heard - “He is risen -He is risen!”  

We three now hastened together towards the garden of Joseph, I wishing I had wings on my feet, that I might come to the sepulchre sooner, fearing that the vision of Jesus would be vanished ere I arrived.

As we were going out of the gate, we were met by four or five Roman soldiers, who, with faces full of fear, were running past us into the city.

“What means this flight and terror?” cried the captain of the gate. “You fly as if an enemy were pursuing.”

“Speak, Marius, you seem to have lost your senses!” he said sternly to the youngest of the soldiers, an officer under a centurion.

We paused to hear what he said.

“Verily, captain - we have been terrified beyond measure,” answered the soldier. “My heart beats yet, as if it were an alarum drum. We were a part of the guard left in charge of the sepulchre of this Jewish prophet, who had been crucified three days ago."

"Before dawn this morning, as I was pacing to and fro before the tomb, and while my comrades were reclining taking their rest, and while I was idly gazing at the morning star, there suddenly shone round about us a light, like a descending meteor, accompanied by a rushing, like a legion of winged spirits."

"The men started to their feet in amazement! On looking about us I saw a dazzling form in the mid heavens, with broad wings of gold, sparkling with myriads of stars, every feather a star, and clad in raiment white and gleaming as the summer’s lightning."

"This terrible presence, like that of one of the immortal gods, made us fear exceedingly, beyond any terror we had felt before. But when we saw this mighty being descend straight towards the tomb, and beheld the resplendent majesty of his celestial countenance, which blinded us, our hearts died within us."

"The angel or god alighted amid a blaze of radiance at the door of the sepulchre; and as his foot touched the earth, it trembled, as if with a great earthquake.

The soldiers shook with terror, and fell to the ground, before his presence, as dead men.

I stood, unable to move, frozen to a statue by fear."

"He touched the great stone with one of his fingers, and it rolled outward at his feet, as if a thunderbolt had struck it, and like a Jove taking his throne, he sat upon it!"

“But one thing more,” continued the soldier, “was wanting to fill my cup of terror to the full. And this thing came to pass. I saw the crucified prophet rise up from the slab on which he was laid, and stand upon his feet, and walk forth alive, with the tread of some mighty conqueror!

The celestial being, who had descended from heaven, so terrible in his shining majesty, veiled his face with his wings before his presence, and prostrated himself at his feet; as if in homage to one greater than himself!"

“I saw no more, but fell to the earth, insensible with terror. When, at length, I came to myself, the tomb was filled with dazzling forms of the brightest beauty; the air rang with music such as mortals never before heard; and I fled, pursued by my fears, the rest of the soldiers rising and following me, each man fearing to look back; but being bewildered, we lost our way.”

“This is indeed marvelous,” answered the captain of the gate; “I saw the light, and felt the earthquake; but I thought it was a thunderbolt which had struck the ground near  Calvary. Go, let the Prefect Aemilius, or Pilate himself, know what has happened.”

The soldiers hurried forward into the city; while, more certain now than ever that Jesus was risen, I hastened, with Martha and Mary, towards the garden…

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LADY DONNA PROGRAM

The new Lady Donna Immersion in Spirituality, Academics and Citizenship @ the "I AM" School will study abridged excerpts of the Letters from Adina taken from Reverend Ingraham's original edited version of 'The Prince of the House of David', published by Cassell & Co. Ltd (1903), that reveal remarkable insights into the Living Etheric Record left by Beloved Jesus's Ministry in the Holy Land.