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Introduction

In Guyon’s commentary on Revelation we see the magnificent grace of Jesus Christ in action. Guyon creates rich and interwoven meanings of an entirely new understanding of the spiritual foundations of the universe. In the suffering of the apocalypse, the faithful know the fire of God revealing the meaning and purpose of human the history. Guyon builds on the scripture that says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 20:7 and 1 Pet 1:16). The faithful are called into living holiness, but this path includes suffering, war, and tribulation as the believer seeks the strong revelation of God. As she says, the plagues must come first to purify and prepare us. When we remain in living holiness, the faithful person rests in God’s goodness, while God recreates the living image of God within the interior life of the believer. This necessarily requires an annihilation of the sins of Adam and a disengagement of idols from our lives. This life of living holiness prepares us for the greatest of all blessings: union with Jesus Christ.

As Guyon knew from her own unjust incarcerations, the fight for this living holiness comes with intense attacks from evil. During the apocalypse, the abyss of evil sends out the beast, the dragon, the false prophet and others who lead humanity astray to fight against the truth of Jesus Christ. With the second coming of Jesus Christ, the source of evil is ultimately destroyed and the universe itself remade as a new heaven and earth. After these wars between good and evil, Guyon say there is victory for the persecuted church.

Guyon writes that Jesus Christ’s messages tell the church to express the faith with integrity. However, churches frequently have interior corruption that causes them to join with the world to persecute the faithful and bring untold suffering. John of Patmos testifies that there will be a century in the future when Jesus Christ comes to rule his kingdom and the universe. Those who have suffered for their faith will have a judgement given for them and they will reign with Jesus Christ.

The suffering of the believer though results in eternal fruit. Guyon says that God allows evil to attack people, but that the evil itself will destroy evil within the victim. She says that God “uses evil to fight evil.” For example, a person will know the pain of the scorpion bites but as this is endured with faith, the person’s heart becomes less filled with propriety and becomes more dependent on God (Rev 9:3–4). Guyon says that the point of the evil is to annihilate the faithful, yet as the believer prays during the persecution, the person’s soul becomes filled with the living Word of God. In brief, God uses the evil of persecution in combat against the evil within the faithful person, causing an increased sanctification. With a completed annihilation, the interior and mystical death brings the death of self-centeredness, and propriety. The soul then knows the joy of a restored state of innocence where nothing resists God. Annihilation and mystical death lead to a state of fulfilling consummation and union with God. Souls of this degree experience the mystical incarnation, when Jesus Christ wants them to bear his own state. In calling out to Jesus Christ, these souls are already consummated and removed from the world that is unworthy of these people. Guyon writes, “We must keep what we have for this time.”

Guyon understands Jesus Christ’s actions as full of meaning with layer upon layer of meaning and purpose that comes from God’s will. The Lord has multiple purposes in each action. Guyon shows the great harmony and unity of these purposes when we live in and act on the will of God. As we experience and live the states of being of Jesus Christ, we grow naturally into union with him. This transformation of the interior life becomes a good fruit out of human suffering.

Guyon’s commentary on Revelation shows the complexity and beauty of her symbolic interpretation. She combines many of the symbols to show the meaning Jesus Christ gives us in three specific arenas: the consummation of historical events, the role of the church, and the growth of the individual soul.

One of Guyon’s distinctive interpretations shows the meaning in these arenas for the four-winged creatures who each call out a different colored horse. Guyon compares the character of the four living creatures with the four horsemen of the apocalypse and interprets these as a unified message describing both the historical events of the apocalypse and the consecutive states of the growing soul. The living creature of a lion calls forth the first white horse of easy victories. The living creature of an ox calls forth the second red horse of being hurt and proclaiming truth. The living creature of a human being calls forth the third black horse as the living judgment of the living God. Fourth, the living creature of an eagle calls forth the fourth pale horse of death, which brings consummation.

According to Guyon, in history we are moving toward or are in the final stage of the eagle. Guyon believed that in the seventeenth century, she was living in the third stage and history was moving toward the time of interior spiritual animation called the eagle. Could we be in the fourth stage now when we will be animated by the Spirit like the Eagle?

In Guyon’s second distinctive interpretation, she states that the woman giving birth to the son in the sky is the church giving birth to those of interior prayer, as well as a reflection on Mary giving birth to Jesus. The dragon wishes to destroy this interior life of prayer and yet God intervenes to stop this ultimate destruction of faith.

In Guyon’s third distinctive interpretation, the seven seals show truthful historic events through which the world must pass. They also show seven states through which the individual soul must pass to find perfection and fullness of truth.

Every symbolic event has multiple interpretations. In her basic structure, she says every symbol has a meaning for the soul, the church, and the universe. All of these symbols can be interpreted for the faithful and nonfaithful, for the spiritually mature and the immature. Guyon contrasts these distinctions between those living in the simplicity and truth of the New Jerusalem or living in the multiplicity and lies of Babylon.

Guyon believes that the goal of Revelation is to show Jesus Christ’s ultimate victory for human beings and the persecuted church. She states that the time of apocalypse spans from the beginning of the church until the end of time. Her understanding of the many centuries needed to fulfill the apocalypse does provide a dignity and meaning to the history of human suffering. The intense suffering that many have suffered for generations will have an answer in the judgment given by God in the apocalypse. In Guyon’s perspective, the events of the apocalypse are indeed already happening, but we do not know when the final consummation will happen. During our lives, God sends rays of understanding that interpret the suffering circumstances described in the apocalypse to prepare us for the universal joy of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Guyon’s profound thinking about the apocalypse, the marriage of the Lamb, and the second coming needs a longer exposition in future publications. This book is already underway and should be published soon.

Jeanne Guyon’s Apocalyptic Universe

Her Biblical Commentary on Revelation with Reflections on the Interior Life

Copyright © 2019 Nancy Carol James. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Pickwick Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-6282-9

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-6283-6

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-6284-3

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Guyon, Jeanne, author. | James, Nancy Carol, translator. | Roberts, William Bradley, foreword.

Title: Jeanne Guyon’s apocalyptic universe : her biblical commentary on Revelation with reflections on the interior life / by Jeanne Guyon ; translated by Nancy Carol James.

Description: Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-5326-6282-9 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-5326-6283-6 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-5326-6284-3 (ebook)

Classification: bx4705.g8 a25 2019 (print) | bx4705.g8 (ebook)

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 04/05/19

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