Читать книгу Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John - Uchenna Mezue - Страница 12

1⁴. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John starts by sending greetings to the seven churches in the province of Asia, thereby defining his target audience. It is usually assumed that The Revelation is directed to churches located in the various towns in the western part of what we call Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey) – To Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. If this was so, the relevance of the Revelation will cease with the destruction of those churches. Yet, it is being increasingly appreciated that The Revelation is very relevant in this epoch.

There is little doubt that all these cities existed in Asia Minor and that perhaps they contained flourishing churches at that time. There is also little doubt that writing from Patmos, which is only a little distance (~ 12 miles) from Ephesus, John may wish to use these churches to represent the church communities. It is however more probable, as discussed in the introduction that these named churches are symbolic of world communities. This will explain why they represent all striving Creation before the throne of the Almighty as golden lampstands (v. 20).

The form of the greeting here is important to us as a church, i.e. a body of people who uphold and strive to establish the Will of the Eternal One. For us, the two most urgent necessities in the currently prevailing circumstances are grace and peace. Grace because in the circumstances in which we live, difficult circumstances, as John was later to elaborate, we could not stand on our own. Everything including family, our daily routines, jobs and even acquisition of daily bread is heavily under the influence of God-less forces. So much so that only a direct help from God can still sustain us, and even this help, we do not on our own merit deserve. Peace because in the strife-torn-world, laboring under the throes of the purification and the tribulations that mark the end-time, inner peace is the greatest gift we can receive or share.

This grace and peace is to come from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come and from the seven spirits before His throne and from Jesus Christ. This pattern is also used in verse 8. The first part has hitherto been thought to represent the Almighty in Eternity – past, present and future and the seven spirits before His throne understood to represent the Holy Spirit. On this assumption, some authors alternatively translate the seven spirits before his throne as the seven fold spirit, i.e. the Holy Spirit of God (seven-fold indicating a reflection of the perfection of the work of the Creative Will). However the order of the words – is, was, to come (rather than was, is, to come) – suggests the alternative that the expression may represent event sequence. In this sense, the grace and peace may be seen as mediated through the Father who Is, the Son (Jesus) who had come to us and gone back to the Father and the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Truth) who is still to come at the time of this greeting. If we accept this, then it becomes difficult to understand why John talks separately about the seven spirits before His throne and Jesus Christ since all are One in the Father, the only God.

A deeper study shows that the greetings as outlined by John comes from only two personalities, the Father being mentioned separately at the end (vs. 6). These personalities are He who is, was and is to come (and the seven spirits before His throne) and from Jesus Christ. These two are one with the Father who works in Creation through them, i.e. they are the manifestation of God in His Creation. Since the revelation is concerned with activity in Creation, it is not surprising that the presence of God is represented in the two. Jesus Christ is the Love of God and Immanuel the Creative Will, enthroned as the Holy Spirit who brought Creation into existence and sustains it.

The key is to recognize that ‘seven spirits before his throne’ does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but is a reference to His work in Creation. Once we understand this, it becomes clear that the greeting actually identifies two personalities – Him who is, who was and who is to come and Jesus Christ the embodiment of the pure Love of God for His Creation. He who Is, like Jesus Christ is a part of the Almighty to merit this appellation. He is then further described from the point of view of his mission in the World of Matter as ‘He who was (had come to earth) and who is to come’.

This might fit our understanding of Jesus since he had come and there are prophecies (misrepresented) of a second coming. Yet, Jesus Christ is specifically mentioned and so cannot be ‘He’. We are left with the only correct conclusion that the greetings come from the Holy Spirit on His throne at the summit of Creation and from Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Creation is the work of the Holy Spirit of God as indicated in Genesis 1:1-2 and is eternally linked to, and is sustained by Him. He is enthroned at the summit of Creation. This is confirmed by mentioning the seven spirits before His throne indicating the seven in Creation. Because He is the part of God eternally connected with Creation and the origin and path of Man; He is also called the Son of Man.

We must see in this description by John, the fact that the Creative Will (i.e. the Son of Man) and the Love (i.e. the Son of God) are the major influences in the revelation. They represent the activity of God in Creation.

It is easy to understand the reference to ‘who is’, as we all appreciate that God Is. We also know from many revealed teachings that the Son of Man will come at the end to bring judgment and thus the reference to ‘who is to come’ is also clear – the Son of Man. Since Jesus is mentioned differently, He cannot be this Son of Man who is to come. If the Son of Man who is to come is not Jesus, who as Son of God was on earth at that time and who has returned to the Father and will be seen no more, and the phrase who is, was and is to come referable to the Holy Spirit, then the Son of Man must be another name for the Holy Spirit in Creation.

Jesus prophesied the coming of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, who will bring the Truth and judgment in John 16 and in other sections described Him as the Son of Man. He, Jesus did not come as the Judge as He also stated, because Judgment is reserved for the Son of Man. The names Son of Man, the Holy Spirit and also the Spirit of Truth all represent the activity of the Creative Will or Justice of God in His Creation just as the Son of God, the Savior represents the Love of God in His Creation. Thus, the Son of Man Is and we also know that He is to come at the end as the Judge.

What is not generally known is that as part of preparation for His work in Subsequent Creation, the Son of Man had once before incarnated (Abd-ru-shin). In addition, the wound referred to, i.e. the piercing, may indicate the failure of humanity in subsequent Creation, a happening that has been described from the Light as an open wound that cannot heal except with the Truth. Once these facts are recognized, one immediately identifies the personality of the Son of Man as the same with the Holy Spirit who with Christ is One with the Father.

Other students of The Revelation have interpreted the seven spirits to represent angels. This is particularly thought to represent the angels with the Trumpets who are described as standing before God (Rev. 8.2). However, this is unlikely because angels are never described as spirits, having nothing to do with spiritual Creation, which is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. In addition, it is unlikely that John will associate angels in plurality with the Trinity and certainly not before the Son of God, Jesus. I believe that John intended to let us know that the events of the Revelation are from God, but is worked out by His special Envoys, His Sons that are His manifestation in the Creations. These are the Holy Spirit (the Creative Will) and the Love (Jesus the Savior). John thus makes a special point from the very beginning, of associating and uniting the Trinity. Thus, we must recognize here, from the very beginning that the revelation looks forward to the coming of the Son of Man.

In verses 5 and 6, John elaborates more on the mission of Jesus, the Love of God, and the possibility for a more abundant life that his sacrificial mission has permitted us in the kingdom of his Father and our Father, His God and our God to whom all glory is referred. I believe this emphasis is essential to make the connection between the completed work of the Savior and the coming mission of the Son of Man. Jesus is described as the faithful witness – the only one that could truly and faithfully tell us about God, who brought us at great personal cost, the Truth of God. This role of faithful witness can only be applied to two personalities, the Son of God and the Son of Man, for as we have been told, no one knows the Father except the Son. It is therefore with the coming of the Son of God that we could recognize our Creator also as our Father.

The Lord Jesus is also described as the firstborn from the dead. This has a deeper meaning than Christ’s resurrection on the third day after His crucifixion. Prior to Christ, the gate to Paradise was completely closed to human spirits and only his work of redemption made it possible for us to find the way back home to Paradise. In His mission, He personally walked through the path to salvation and resurrection out of Matter for us. He showed us the path we must follow to resurrect out of Matter. He is both the gatekeeper and the gate (John 10), the owner of the sheep and the shepherd. The key to Paradise, which He figuratively gave Peter, is to recognize Him as the Son of God and all to whom this life-given-recognition can be mediated would have found the way (Abd-ru-shin). He is thus the Way, the Truth and the Light that lead to God. This does not, however, mean that only Christians reach this recognition. As the gatekeeper and the shepherd, only he can recognize his flock.

Christ thus once more opened the possibility of entry into Paradise, which we lost with the fall, and human spirits can now also resurrect from Matter. He is the resurrection and the life and only through him do we develop the potential to now resurrect from Matter. He has thus in freeing us made us to be faithful servants (priests) in the kingdom of His God and Father. To enable us to achieve this in the climate of opposition by the darkness and by deeply fallen human beings, He accepted to shed His precious blood on the cross.

The focus now shifts to the second coming. The tense of verse seven shows that this event although imminent is still to come. He will be coming into Creation, not in the clouds but with the clouds, as the Son of Man to bring Justice (all peoples of the earth will mourn because of him). This point is important because it obviates a ‘rapturing to be caught up with him in the clouds’. The symbolism of the clouds is uncertain, but may imply the host that accompanied Him into Creation or the difficulties of the accompanying purification. All eyes will see him including those who pierced him. This indicates clearly that he will be coming in the physical (incarnating on earth in a physical body).

It seems logical to assume that verse 7 is a direct continuation of verse 6 and that the one coming is Jesus. This is particularly so because it talks about those who pierced Him. However, verse 8 shows that He who is coming is the one ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come’. If we recall that Jesus said that we will see Him no longer, but that He will send another who will come with His authority and power, then we must conclude that this refers to the Son of Man. It is only in this sense that we can reconcile the statement that Jesus had returned to the Father and we can see Him no more with the statement that ‘in a little while you will no longer see me and after a little while you will see me’ implying another incarnation of the Light who is of the same essence as Jesus, i.e. Divine Unsubstantiate.

With regard to the statement about those who pierced Him, which is often assumed to refer to the nailing and the spear thrust while Jesus hung on the cross, we need to recognize that the term pierced may be more encompassing. It is a fact that a previous incarnation of the Light as the Creative Will had occurred at the time of Moses through whom the Ten Commandments were mediated and that His earth life at the time was terminated by His being pierced by a knife (Past Millennia). Thus, the reference to ‘even those who pierced him’ may not be to the murder of Jesus on the cross and the spear thrust, but to another incarnation of the Light as the Creative Will. In addition, ‘those who pierced Him’ may also refer to the intense suffering and persecution humanity subject Envoys of the Light to, and so will indicate all who rejected not only Jesus, but all Envoys from the Light.

Verse 7 also underscores another important point that is often neglected. Even if we assume that this is a reference to Jesus, ‘Every eye will see him even those who pierced him’ may indicate that some of those who were on earth at the time the Son of God (if we assume the verse refers to Jesus) or the Son of Man (if we accept His previous incarnation) walked the earth will also come back to earth, i.e. re-incarnate at this time. On the other hand, we may see in this the fact that the World of Matter encompasses the visible and invisible planes, the Gross and Ethereal spheres and hence, human spirits in gross physical cloaks and those regarded as dead who continue to exist in ethereal and finer spheres. No matter where the human spirit exists at the time of judgment, they must confront the Judge, the Creative Will of God.

The revelation concerning the second coming looks ahead to the time of the judgment and foresees mourning, and indeed the purification that follows His advent brings much suffering and mourning, especially, for the majority who still refuse to acknowledge Him and live according to His words.

The Son of Man comes in the authority of His Father as the beginning and the end. The phrase Alpha and Omega means the beginning and the end and applies to the activity of the Almighty in Creation, since before Creation came into existence, there was no beginning and no end. This is because Creation as the work of God has a beginning, which lies in the Holy Spirit of God and an end, which will also necessarily lie in the Holy Spirit. God Himself does not have a beginning or an end. Since Creation is the work of the Holy Spirit, this phrase describes Him and not the Son of God, Jesus. The wound He bears has been misinterpreted as the wound inflicted on Christ on the cross and so the passage has been seen as referring to Jesus.

If we accept that the passage refers to the Holy Spirit, then wound as indicated earlier may refer to a previous Light incarnation (see above) or allegorically to the failure of humanity, those who pierced him indicating the whole of fallen humanity. This latter, I believe, is the more correct interpretation. The Failure of humanity in subsequent Creation is seen and has been described from the Light as an open wound that cannot be healed except with the Truth (Abd-ru-shin).

It is important to bear in mind that there is only One God who we experience as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We must understand the concept of the Trinity as One if we are to understand The Revelation. This is a book about the activity of ‘He who is and who was and who is to come’. This early in The Revelation, this description is appropriate. However, if today in our present epoch, we accept or assume that the Son of Man has come into Creation as prophesied by Christ and repeatedly indicated in the later parts of the revelation, then the last part of verse 8 could surely be rephrased as “who is, and who was and who has come.”