Читать книгу Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John - Uchenna Mezue - Страница 13

1⁹ I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

After the introduction and greetings, John begins his narrative with admonitions to the Churches or World Communities. This is the target audience of The Revelation, the world communities of human spirits who in their wandering have brought disharmony and disorder. The Revelation, therefore, calls on these world communities, of which there are seven, including our own Universe, to recognize their position and the impending Judgment. The symbolism of seven not surprisingly is frequent in the revelation. Creation, both spiritual and material, is arranged in sevens (Abd-ru-shin).

John first identifies with the lot of striving human spirits, particularly, of the Christians of the time, and clearly identifies the location where he wrote the work as the island of Patmos. It is not clearly stated whether he was here as a prisoner for the word (as often argued) or whether he was in Patmos to deepen his understanding and for spread of the word. The prevailing opinion is that he was imprisoned on Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea at the time. However, as indicated earlier, there is the real probability that although the transcriber was on earth, the original vision was received on Patmos in Spiritual Creation by John and transmitted to a medium, perhaps another John, on earth. This is borne out by the fact that the author tells us in verse 1 that an angel mediated the vision to him while he was in the spirit (v10).

In this regard, it is important to remember that the earthly author of the Revelation is not known for certain and may not be John the disciple as often assumed. The author may consider the message more relevant than himself, and simply passed on the vision as John unfolded it without identifying himself (see introduction).

John tells us that he was in the spirit, which probably indicates that he was not in the physical planes at all, supporting the above view. However, this may also be interpreted to mean that his experiences on that particular Lord’s Day happened outside the physical body. This is not a case of concentration. We are not told that he was deep in thought or that he was meditating, but that he was in another dimension, which nevertheless was identical with him. The important message of the Lord for our time, the Grail Message tells us that indeed John was on the spiritual Island of Patmos and not on the earthly Patmos, which again emphasizes the double significance of the named cities.

In this state, in Patmos, John hears behind him a loud voice like a trumpet. He did not state that the words were addressed to him but the instruction was clear and is apparently for John. It is possible that the words were directed to the whole of Creation as the word trumpet implies a warning, and John is the mediator from the Spiritual to the Material Creation. It is most likely that the voice is that of the Arch Angel mentioned in v1 as mediating the revelation.

The fact that the fate of human spirits in various planes of Matter is the central theme of revelations is introduced early in the Message to the church communities and emphasized by the contents of the book (scroll) with seven seals. The admonition to the seven churches was given interactively as the Son of Man walks amongst the seven lampstands (Rev. 2:1). As the Judge of the Worlds walks amongst the golden lampstands, i.e. through the Worlds of Matter, He admonishes them through their guardian angels. This journeying through the Worlds of Matter implies a personal experiencing of the events in the Worlds of Matter and does not present the picture of a God completely detached from His Creation in a remote heaven from where He dispenses punishment and reward.

The message follows a characteristic pattern underlying the fact that the human spirits in the Worlds of Matter have existed over epochs, have had repeated opportunities to mature which they have used indifferently and that now the Judgment is imminent. The admonition is generally in the form that they must now overcome or face spiritual death at individual levels, i.e. eternal separation from God or a complete destruction of their Worlds (their lampstand will be removed from the presence of the Creator).

The loud voice came from behind John with a command to write a book and send it to the seven churches. This command emphasizes the importance and diverse nature of the communities. John did not merely see a vision or receive a prophecy. Nor was this just an auditory phenomenon, but vivid living pictures that did not arise from him, but beyond him and which he was allowed to see. The voice like a trumpet commands John to write the whole revelation and not just a part of it and send it to the seven churches. Thus, the Revelation is for the whole world community, to the whole of subsequent Creation.

The letter to the church communities is not different from the book but an integral part of The Revelation. He is instructed to write all that he sees on a scroll, not just what he is about to see concerning the churches and send it to the seven churches. From this we can conclude that the whole of The Revelation is a message for the seven churches or communities. In verse 19, John received a similar command to write, given by the One like a Son of Man, and there he was specifically commanded to "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later”.

Thus, The Revelation was for the benefit of the seven churches and John was about to see the spiritual form of the activity and progress or otherwise of these churches and to receive guidance and warning on their behalf. This enlarged view of the churches suggests that they are indeed representative of all Universes where human spirits exist in the whole Material Creation. Although, students of The Revelation have held the view that the churches represent the seven small churches in Asia Minor, this will seem highly unlikely for reasons already mentioned in the introductory section. The churches’ names are likely to be symbolic of communities of human spirits.

As explained in the work, “In the Light of Truth”, these churches represent the seven Universes that make up Material Creation and our earth belongs to one of these Universes, Ephesus. The great structure of Creation as explained in the last Message from the Light, the Grail Message, consists of Spiritual Creation and Material (or Subsequent) Creation. Creation, whether Spiritual or Material, comprise of seven broad sections. In Material Creation (the World of Matter), these are the seven Universes referred to here as the seven churches. We are more familiar with the Galaxies and solar systems of our Universe, Ephesus.

From the Spiritual heights, it is easy to have a comprehensive overview of the whole of Material Creation in its great groupings, but this is not as easy seen from below. We are still struggling to recognize the vastness of our own Universe of which we know next to nothing. Our Universe, Ephesus, has not been fully explored and so the full extent of the sublime work of God even in these Material planes remains far from our comprehension. This of course has not prevented human beings, or at least, some so-called scientists, from challenging the Creator on the basis of the ridiculously petty knowledge they have gleaned from the observation of Nature from our small planet.

Thus, in the message to Ephesus we should look closely for the final form of judgment on our Material environment, on us as individuals and on the end of the paths we are now following. It will be to our eternal advantage if, even from today, we begin to modify and adapt our lives to overcome. However, although, the admonition to the other churches may be directed to different Universes, they are still relevant to us because these Universes and spiritual development on them are at different stages of maturity and progress with their purification. Some are in advance and others behind that of Ephesus and the admonitions to them may therefore apply even more pertinently to us as individuals with varied maturity, than even the generic assessment of Ephesus at the time of its purification.

It is also possible, given the significance of the number seven for our spirituality, that all human spirits striving after God in the various planes of existence fall into seven categories according to the level of their striving and the peculiar circumstances formed by their propensities, weaknesses and strengths and that these churches are intended to represent such a grouping. Therefore, within the activities, strengths and weaknesses of these churches we are each to identify ourselves - our levels and our propensities, and in the admonitions from the Lord seek our further path upwards.

The different communities may also be interpreted to refer to a description of humanity at various levels of recognition of the One God, the God of Abraham, from Ephesus (the earliest recognition) through the coming of the Lord Jesus to the time of the final judgment (Morris, 1987). If we assume this, then the seven churches may refer to striving human spirits of specific maturity or those whose progress is fixed at a specific level of recognition. In this regard, Ephesus may be seen to represent the earliest recognition – Judaism, Smyrna as the level of early Christianity and Pergamum as a fallen church etc.

Nevertheless, the admonitions to each church, however interpreted, remain relevant to us as individuals, irrespective of how and where we stand today and we should see each as applying to us at different times.

As an individual experiences Creation, his or her spiritual maturity rises or falls according to how he or she stands with regards to the Will of God and he or she shifts from one community to another. Thus, these admonitions are vital for human spirits at all epochs of development. This indeed applies to the whole revelation and it is not surprising that all generations who have studied the revelation see it as applying to their time. It is ridiculous to limit the revelation to the times of the early Christians and to interpret everything in relation to Rome.