Читать книгу Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John - Uchenna Mezue - Страница 11

1¹. The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near

The Revelation briefly and impressively introduces itself. It is an exposition of coming events granted by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ. Coming from God, it is directed to human spirits that are striving to serve God by following His Will and is a revelation of things still to come, in a time that is no longer far. There is a sense of inevitability conveyed by the word must that excludes the possibility that this is just a prophecy.

It is a revelation of the end time activity of the Light. As such, it is not directed exclusively to Christians, but to all servants of the Light; that is to say that the revelation is not limited by sectarian boundaries. It is too limiting to interpret ‘his servants’ to mean just Christians. God’s servants may be found anywhere.

It is in context that it is the Love of God, Jesus that sends the revelation. John himself received the revelation not directly through Jesus Christ, but through an unnamed angel. This is of importance since it re-emphasizes the truth that the Lord Jesus has returned to the Father and we will see him no more. The fact that John actually received the message through the mediation of an angel has often been overlooked. This angel is actually critical to the earthly unfolding of the events and the work as will become apparent as the Revelation unfolds.

John insists that he is testifying to everything he saw, including the activity of this angel. It is probable that this is the angel later described as the angel with the fire (Rev. 8:3-6), who brought the wrath of God on the earth. This star or fire is the sign of the Son of Man, which we have been admonished to watch out for (Matt 24:30).

As already indicated, there is a sense of inevitability conveyed by the word ‘must soon take place’ that excludes the possibility that this is just a prophecy. As is well known, prophecies can change if the people to whom it is directed change, as happened in the case of Jonah and the people of Nineveh. That the events revealed must soon take place suggests that this is not a prediction of what is likely to take place, as is the case with most prophecies, but is actually a revelation of what will, indeed must, take place as suggested by the very first word in the original text (apocalypsis) from which the book derives its name.

The authorship of The Revelation has been a source of some debate. It has been postulated that the author is the same as John the Apostle, which is why the book is accepted as canon. I will not join the debate here as many excellent theses already exist on the subject. However, as already discussed in the introductory section, the John who testifies is not necessarily the same person who writes the words down.

John tells us that he bears witness to what he actually saw concerning the activity of the Word of God and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. This distinction is important to emphasize that the revelation is not limited to the work of Jesus, the Son of God. The extent of John’s work is also indicated suggesting that John is a witness of Light happenings, a forerunner of the word of God and also of Jesus Christ. The role of John is to bear witness to all activity of the Divine Word in Subsequent Creation. This is the clearest indication of the John, the servant of God who received The Revelation.

John the Baptist is the forerunner of all Light activity on earth and it must therefore be him that received the revelation. As indicated earlier in this study, there must then be another, mediumistic individual on the earth plane to whom John imparts the visions for documentation. This may be the sense of the first section of verse three - Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, i.e. he who transmits the visions, indicating an intermediary between John and those for whom the revelation is meant.

Much blessing is promised for the correct use of the revelation as much suffering is attached to its misuse. While the opening sentences urge us to apply ourselves to an understanding of the work, the closing sentences in chapter 22 warn against any distortion. The blessings are attached both to the one who reads out and those who hear with understanding and who seriously take it to heart. It is important to note that it specifically says the one who reads, not the one who interprets or those who read. As indicated above, the one who reads may be a reference to the human spirit who actually received and transmitted the revelation received by John. Clearly, we are not meant to interpret the work for each other.

If we must share it with others, it is meant simply to be read out aloud to them and allow them to hear and determine for themselves. This indeed should be our approach to all revelations that reach us from God, especially the Message of Christ and that of the Spirit of Truth. It is entirely wrong and presumptuous to dissect and argue over the Word, since as is well known spiritual Truth can hardly be understood intellectually. Unfortunately, however this is a common trend and so John warns against it from the beginning, especially in view of the fact that the time for the events is very near.

It is important to realize that as The Revelation emphasizes, humanity, even at the time the book was written, has very little time in which to decide their fate in Creation. The concept of time here is in the absolute as well as in a relative sense. In the context of the total existence of man on earth which science places at over a million years, the remaining period in the sense of collective human experiencing is small. We should also remember that time is related to our experiences and that for each individual it is his/her personal experience that defines time.

Finally, in view of this being a revelation from God we must take into account that with God time has no substance, since in Him the beginning and the end are one. In this absolute sense therefore, time stands still, and substantiate beings of Creation only take out of time for their particular experiences (Abd-ru-shin). Other Called Ones in the scriptures have emphasized this fact by stating figuratively that in the spiritual, a thousand years is like one day. Therefore, we must each take the events around us with all seriousness, with a realization that this is probably the last opportunity we will have to correct our mistakes and re-order our lives in a God-willed direction.

It is also important to understand in this context that the Revelation cannot be limited to a small epoch in the history of Christianity as has been attempted in the past. It finds relevance and remains very important for each human spirit that must experience the Will of God in Creation no matter at what epoch. There is no doubt that we are now in the Biblical end-time; a period that is marked by an intensification of the activity of the Light on earth and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. The landmark boundary was the rejection of the incarnated Son of God, Jesus, by humanity.

His incarnation represented a special Grace of Love intended to lift us up from the darkness, and help Creation prepare for the end times. By rejecting Him however, mankind sealed their fate. This is why Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, which as indicated in The Revelation, represents the earth, our world.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' (Matt 23:37).

In rejecting Christ, mankind lost a great opportunity and the Light will no more tread on earth until He who comes in the name of the Lord at the end, as the Son of Man. Christ’s disciples clearly saw the time of the Lord as the beginning of the end-time (1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 4:7, 1Corint 10:11) and the Lord himself indicated its imminence. If we recognize the accumulating intensification of Light activity gripping our world today, starting with the bringing of the Word of Truth in the Grail Message, we must all see the Revelation as pertaining to our time.

Having rejected the Son of God, Jesus and being too blind to recognize the Spirit of Truth when He came, we must now experience the Justice of the Will of God. What began with the coming of Jesus now intensifies, as promised, with the coming of the Spirit of Truth. This Judgment in purification is now with us and we must strive with utmost earnestness to free ourselves from Matter. Like the wise virgins, we must fill our spirits (our lamps) with the gift of spiritual enlightenment in pure volition (the oil) for by the time the sign of the Son of Man finally appears in the sky, it will have become too late for the foolish spirits that had no oil in their lamps.

This parable of the ten virgins is clearly descriptive of the fate of striving human spirits in the judgment. Ten describes a completion and virgins indicate pure striving. These are therefore, those who were found worthy of the millennium, i.e. worthy to meet the Son of Man. However, not all were able to make use of the grace of the millennium, the enlightening word brought by the Spirit of Truth. Indeed, half failed; they lapsed in their striving and could not overcome. They were spiritually indolent.