His face shone as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Dazzling as his form appeared, his features were perfectly familiar, but etherealized and glorified, Moses and Elijah stood by him, one on his right hand and the other on his left. I recognized them at once; for every Jew has seen the statues and pictures of those national worthies.
Notwithstanding all that John the Baptist and my father had said, my obtuse understanding had not yet grasped the idea, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah—the Supreme Being.
“Has Jesus of Nazareth died also,” I inquired, “and been raised like myself from the natural into the spiritual world?”
“Oh no!” said John, smiling sweetly at my bewilderment. “He exists in both worlds, in all worlds, at the same time.”
“You speak enigmas,” said I; “interpret them.”
“Whom do you suppose this Jesus to be?” inquired John, earnestly.
“Some great prophet of God sent to perform miracles in Judea, and to preach a new gospel of peace and love.”
“Jesus, the anointed One, is God himself,” said John, with deep solemnity.
I answered nothing, for my mind was blank with astonishment. I gazed at the shining form with solemn awe. I now observed that Jesus was speaking or preaching to the multitude around him. I did not, however, hear a word he said.
“These are good spirits,” said John, in explanation, “whom the Lord has liberated from the bondage of the evil spirits who infest this intermediate state. He is teaching them the spiritual truths adapted to their new condition, which correspond to the truths he is simultaneously teaching his disciples on earth.