Empyrean

by Borson M. Hugilhoff

     The celestial lights and orbs of the sidereal heavens is a manifestation of purified fire known as empyrean.  Empyrean is taken from the Latin empyreus, which in turn was derived from the Greek empyrus in which we get the terms pyr and pyro.  

     In the poetic imaginative vision of the afterlife by Dante Alighieri, he gives a descriptive narrative of Paradise and the celestial condition of the souls of men as they approach and ascend to the stellar throne of God.

     Dante asserts that, "knowledge is the ultimate perfection of our soul, in which consists our ultimate felicity."  He goes on to describe heaven as "pure light" and that light is "replete with love" and that love "replete with ecstasy, ecstasy that transcendeth every sweetness."
 
     Dante goes on to describe those in Paradise that are the "saintly host...whom Christ in his own blood had made his bride."  This concourse of the redeemed in their gathered mass resemble what Dante describes "in fashion then as of a snow-white rose."  But, individually, "their faces had they all of living flame...and all the rest so white no snow unto that limit doth contain."  Dante then goes on to describe the centre of Paradise that "gleamed brightest...and each side in equal measure did the flame abate.  And at that centre, with their wings expanded, more than a thousand jubilant Angels saw I, each differing in effulgence and in kind."
 
     In Dante's Paradise of the Divine Comedy the redeemed saints of Christ, possess a living light of flame in their countenance and being.  They in turn would surround the throne of God in encircling rings.  The center point would be the throne of God which shone bright like the sun.  This center celestial abode, which shines like the sun, with encircling rings of saints, each in turn possessing the eternal flame of light, creates a design that Dante describes as a "snow-white rose."

   
     When the prophet Joseph Smith described the theophany that he experienced in the sacred grove, he declares, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me." (Joseph Smith History 1:16)  In this experience the prophet is describing empyrean light or fire that is "above the brightness of the sun."  The prophet then bears witness that in this celestial light he saw "two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air."  That "one of them spake unto" him, "calling" him "by name and said, pointing to the other- This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him! (Joseph Smith History 1:17)
 
     Similarly, the Prophet Moses, when he was caught up into an "exceedingly high mountain...saw God face to face."  God would then speak to Moses, as He did with the Prophet Joseph Smith, "I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years."  (Moses 1:3)
 
     Even though Moses was in a transfigured state before God, Moses taught that God instructed him saying: "No man can behold all my works, except he behold all my glory; and no man can behold all my glory, and afterwards remain in the flesh on the earth." (Moses 1:5)
 
     Moses then teaches, that his "own eyes have beheld God" but then quickly clarifies that it was his "spiritual eyes" not his natural eyes that had this experience.  For Moses writes, "my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him."  (Moses 1:11)
 
     This coincides with physical reality.  Man in his mortal condition is made up of flesh and blood.  All things in this world are corruptible and even consumable.  Man in his present condition cannot endure or dwell in celestial glory.  This is why the apostle Paul  teaches that in the resurrection man comes forth from the grave with different types of bodies.  The saints that have abided a celestial law, will be raised with a celestial body.  Their bodies have been "sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption."  (1 Cor. 15:40-44)  This incorruptible condition allows man to dwell within celestial conditions of which the prophets of God in mortality have to be transfigured to experience.
 
     Joseph Smith also taught this very concept, "although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more; but they shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ."  (Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse)  Note that the saints are raised to a condition that the prophet describes as "everlasting burnings." 
 
     Within the Old Testament stories, that are quoted so often, when referring to the prophet Moses, people like to speak of the burning bush when Moses was upon Mt. Sinai.  In doing so we are taught to focus on the bush itself and not the celestial messenger that stood within.  The account reads, "and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush."  (Exodus 3:2)  Notice that the heavenly messenger was as a "flame of fire."  The record then continues that, "the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." 
 
     When we obey God and keep His commandments we receive light, and "he who receives light and continues in God will receive more light." (D&C 50:24)  And that "light grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day."  Light and truth coincide with each other. "For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ."  (D&C 84:45)  "Which truth shineth.  This is the light of Christ.  As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made." (D&C 88:7) 
 
     Here we learn a truth that the prophets of our dispensation have taught.  The Lord also is teaching us in section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants that His celestial glory is the "light of the sun" and that "He is in the sun."  Scientist know the process wherein the sun fuses hydrogen into helium through the convective interplay between the lighter elements trying to escape and gravitational pull bringing them back causing a fusion reaction.  That being said, it is clear that Christ is teaching us that He is "the power thereof by which {the sun} was made."
 
     President Joseph Fielding Smith taught "the great stars that we see, including our sun, are celestial worlds; at least worlds that have passed on to their exaltation or other final resurrected status.  This is in conflict, of course, with the teachings of scientific men, who declare that the sun is losing its energy and gradually cooling off and will eventually be a dead world.  I do not believe the Lord has any such thing in his plan.  The Lord lives in "everlasting burnings" we are informed."  (Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 1, pg. 88-89)
 
     Within this statement the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith refers to the book of Revelation in the New Testament.  In that book the Lord reveals to and shows the apostle John, "A new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." (Revelation 21:1) 
 
     For God Himself to dwell upon this earth it must be changed.  John continues to tell us from this revelation that there will be no need of the light of the sun or the moon, because God Himself will dwell in our midst and is that light.  "And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it:  for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."  (Revelation 21:22-23) 
 
     "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month:  and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  And there shall be no more curse:  but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:  And they shall see his face...and there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:  and they shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 22:1-5)
 
     The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the "sea of glass" that proceeds out before the throne of God, "is the earth, in its sanctified, immortal, and eternal state." (D&C 77:1)
 
     In the Journal of Discourses the prophet Brigham Young taught the following:  "If the people could fully understand this matter, they would perceive that it is perfectly reasonable and has been the law of all worlds.  And this world, so benighted at present, and so lightly esteemed by infidels, as observed by Brother Clements, when it becomes celestialized, it will be like the sun, and be prepared for the habitation of the saints, and be brought back into the presence of the Father and the Son.  It will not then be an opaque body as it now is, but it will be like the stars of the firmament, full of light and glory; it will be a body of light.  John compared it, in its celestialized state, to a sea of glass."  (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, pg. 163)
 
     Those saints that have testimonies of Christ and his gospel will recognize the truth contained within the statements made by ancient and modern prophets and apostles alike concerning this matter.  The Holy Ghost is a testifier of truth.  Light and truth are inseparably connected.  What greater witness is their than the testimony and teaching of Christ Himself who said:  "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I am the life and the light of the world."  (D&C 11:28)
 
     All saints should ponder the words of the apostle Orson Pratt.  Whose words are appropriate concerning this topic and a fitting end to this post.  "Who, in looking upon the earth as it ascends in the scale of the universe, does not desire to keep pace with it?  That when it shall be classed in its turn, among the dazzling orbs of the blue vault of heaven, shining forth in all the splendor of celestial glory, he may find himself proportionally advanced in the scale of intellectual and moral excellence?  Who, but the most abandoned, does not desire to be counted worthy to associate with those higher order of beings who have been redeemed, exalted, and glorified together with the worlds they inhabit, ages before the foundations of our earth were laid?  O man, remember the future destiny and the glory of the earth, and secure thine everlasting inheritance upon the same, that when it shall be glorious, thou  shalt be glorious also."  (Millenial Star, vol. 12, pg. 72)