You might know someone like Linda Goble, Vice President of AFII. And you might know what she is going through right now. When kidney failure causes toxic buildup severe enough to cause unconsciousness, the body cannot sustain itself. The patient is raised — lifted from where they collapsed — and brought into the Intensive Care Unit, where an entire architecture of life-support is deployed around them. They contribute nothing. They receive everything.
Paul, chained in Rome, studied the Roman soldier standing guard beside him. The Holy Spirit used that armor to illuminate the believer's spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. Now look at Linda in the ICU dialysis bed. Every monitor, every tube, every drip — the Holy Spirit can use this to illuminate what Colossians 3 and Ephesians 2 actually mean when they say we have been raised, and our life is hidden with Moshiach in Hashem.
What the ICU Deploys — Simultaneously
Airway & Breathing
- Mechanical ventilator — breathes for you if you are unconscious
- Endotracheal tube — inserted into the trachea to connect you to the ventilator
- Supplemental oxygen — to maintain blood oxygen saturation
Kidney Replacement
- CRRT (Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy) — the gentlest form of dialysis, run 24/7, slowly filtering toxins — urea, creatinine, uremic poisons — from the blood; preferred in unstable patients
- Intermittent hemodialysis — faster, used when the patient is more stable
Circulation & Blood Pressure
- Vasopressors (norepinephrine, dopamine, vasopressin) — IV drips to maintain blood pressure when the heart weakens
- Central venous line — a large IV in the neck or chest for medications and monitoring
- Arterial line — constant real-time blood pressure monitoring, usually in the wrist
Neurological / Sedation
- Sedation and pain control — propofol, fentanyl, or midazolam to keep the patient comfortable and prevent fighting the ventilator
- Seizure monitoring and treatment — uremic toxins can trigger seizures; benzodiazepines or levetiracetam used if needed
Nutrition & Fluids
- IV fluids — carefully balanced (not too much, since kidneys cannot excrete excess)
- Nasogastric tube feeding — nutrition delivered directly to the stomach
Continuous Monitoring
- EKG — high potassium from kidney failure causes dangerous heart arrhythmias
- Pulse oximetry & capnography — oxygen saturation and CO₂ monitoring
- Frequent blood draws — tracking electrolytes, toxin levels, and organ function
Now — as Paul looked at the soldier, let us look at Linda's bed. Every device around her is a parable. Every tube is a text. The Holy Spirit who inspired Ephesians 6 through Roman armor is the same Spirit who can read the ICU as Scripture, because all things hold together in him (Colossians 1:17).
"Your life is hidden with Moshiach in God."
Colossians 3:3 — The Core Architecture✦ The Heavenly ICU — Device by Device
Each instrument beside the dialysis bed corresponds to a dimension of life in Moshiach
The patient collapses — poisoned by kidney toxins, unconscious, unable to sustain any function independently. She is raised up and brought into the unit. She contributes nothing to her own admission.
God, rich in mercy, made us alive together with Moshiach — raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Him. The admission is past tense. Done.
Ephesians 2:4–6 · Colossians 3:1The patient cannot breathe for herself. The ventilator breathes for her. Every breath is provided. She does not generate her own respiration.
The same Ruach who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you and gives life to your mortal body. Even our prayers are ventilator-assisted — the Ruach intercedes with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:11, 26 · John 20:22The toxins that poisoned her — urea, creatinine, uremic waste — are continuously filtered from her blood. The machine never sleeps. The cleansing in the ICU Dialysis Unit never stops.
The blood of Yeshua cleanses us from all sin — present tense, ongoing, never stopping. He ever lives to make intercession for us. The dialysis in the ICU Dialysis Unit never stops because the Intercessor never sleeps.
1 Yochanan 1:7 · Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 7:25 · (Hebrews) 9:14She cannot eat. Nutrition is delivered directly. The nourishment flows in because it is graciously provided and freely she receives.
I am the vine — apart from me you can do nothing. He who feeds on me will live because of me. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding from the mouth of Hashem.
Yochanan 15:1–5 · Yochanan 6:53–57 · Mattityahu 4:4 (Orthodox Jewish Bible)Norepinephrine and dopamine maintain blood pressure when the heart cannot sustain life independently. The pressure keeping her alive is externally supplied, drop by drop.
I can do all things through Moshiach who strengthens me. In him all things hold together. I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Divine norepinephrine — drop by drop.
Philippians 4:13 · Colossians 1:17 · Isaiah 41:10A large IV placed in the neck or chest — direct access to the central circulation. Everything flows through this line. It goes both ways: medications in, blood monitored.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The central line goes both directions. I have been pierced on the tree with Moshiach — it is no longer I who live but Moshiach who lives in me.
Yochanan 14:20 · Yochanan 17:21–23 · Galatians 2:20High potassium can stop the heart without warning. The EKG watches every beat, every rhythm, every deviation. The nurses never leave the monitor. The patient is kept under constant diagnostic watch.
The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword — discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Search me, O God, and know my heart. The nursing care never lapses.
Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 4:12 · Psalm 139:23–24 · 1 Yochanan 5:18The patient is kept at rest — free from pain, free from panic, free from fighting the equipment designed to save her. The sedation calming is far above her own capacity to remain calm.
The shalom of Hashem which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. My shalom I give to you — not as the world gives. Shalom shalom — the doubled dose — to him whose mind is stayed on Him.
Philippians 4:6–7 · Yochanan 14:27 · Isaiah 26:3✦ The Discharge Plan — Written Before Admission
Foreknown → Predestined → Called → Justified → Glorified.
The attending physician wrote the discharge plan before the patient was ever admitted. The prognosis is not in doubt. The golden chain does not break.He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Moshiach Ben Dovid.
The attending physician does not abandon his patients.When Moshiach who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The ICU was always temporary. Glory is the destination ward. The discharge is into the Glory Ward — and then: no more tears, no more death, no more kidney failure, no more toxins. The last enemy neutralized. ICU no longer needed.He will wipe away every tear; death shall be no more.
The final discharge. The equipment comes off. The patient walks out — into Glory with her Savior in Glory, the Great Physician.This is what Philippians 1:21 means at the cellular level: "For to me to live is Moshiach." Paul was not making a poetic statement about preference. He was describing his actual physiology. Moshiach is the ventilator, the spotless blood dialysis, the vasopressors, the central line, the nutrition, the monitoring, the sedation. There is no independent life-support. There is only that which Rebbe Melech Moshiach provides — and it is running, right now, for every believer raised up into the Colossians 3:1-4 ICU.
The patient contributes nothing to her own life support. That is not a liability. That is the Grace of Hashem wherein we toxin-laden sinners have been saved (Ephesians 2:8).
A Prayer for Linda & All Who Are in the ICU
Father, you are the Almighty who raises the dead.
You raised Your Son the Zun fun Der Oybershter — and in him you have raised us.
Be the ventilator for those who cannot breathe.
Be the dialysis for those poisoned by what this world does to the body.
Be the shalom that surpasses understanding
for every family keeping watch in the waiting room.
And remind us — all of us on life support —
that our life is hidden with Moshiach in Hashem,
and that when he appears, we will appear with him in glory.
B'shem Yeshua HaMoshiach. Amein.