The Estuary of Theology 21 

Challenge of John the Evangelist (4)

The Book of Revelation is a book of training for us to receive “God's plan” through our senses. Therefore, if we understand its contents, the images of the words of the book will come into our senses more easily. Last time, we divided the Book of Revelation into three parts and dealt with the first and second parts. Now, I would like to continue with the third part and discuss its main points so that the goal of this training may become clearer.

 “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Revelation 12:1). As discussed last time, this “heaven” is the “heaven” brought into by the Holy Spirit. The “sun” in the phrase, “a woman clothed with the sun,” indicates the one who is described as “his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:16), and the woman is clothed with his glory. This phrase coincides with the word of the angel to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). In addition, when we recall that Jesus told his mother, “Woman” (cf. John 2:4, 19:26), we will associate this “a woman” with “Mary the mother of Jesus” (cf. Acts 1:14).

 This woman has “the moon”, which shines on the night of this world, under her feet. If we interpret “the moon” as earthly matters, the phrase “with the moon under her feet” suggests that she, who appeared in heaven, is still involved in earthly matters. The “stars” of the “twelve stars” of the crown she wears on her head refer to the angels (cf. Revelation 1:20). They are the angels at the twelve gates about whom it is written, “It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed” (Revelation 21:12). These angels are saving free minds by separating the evil spirits into wheat and weeds (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 16). Therefore, this crown of “twelve stars” is a symbol of the continuation of God's saving work. In fact, Mary the mother of Jesus consented to get into a parent-child relationship with the only Son of God (cf. Luke 1:26-38) and became the mother of the Saviour. Moreover, following the instruction of Jesus on the cross, she accepted to have a parent-child relationship with the “beloved disciple” (cf. John 19:26-27). In this way, the “beloved disciples,” namely the Apostles, take over the full authority of the mother of the Saviour and continue the salvific work with the Holy Eucharist.

 The author of Revelation needed to introduce the image of “Mary the mother of Jesus” clearly in the third part so that the trainee can remember that the salvific work is continuing. This is because a great red dragon appeared in heaven (cf. Revelation 12:3-4). This dragon is always within the trainee close to him/her. In addition, in the early stage, the trainee must go accompanied only by the first “blessedness” (cf. Revelation 1:3). In other words, he/she continues the practice of reading aloud and listening to Revelation so that he/she can learn “God's plan” more practically through their senses. And when the angel flies in midheaven with an eternal gospel and proclaims the time of God's judgment (cf. Revelation 14:6), other six “blessings” will be added.

 On the other hand, this “woman,” about whom it reads, “[S]he was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery” (Revelation 12:2), is the priest who is described as the bride of the Holy Spirit and gives birth to the Holy Eucharist by the Holy Spirit (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 19). When Jesus on the cross bound his mother and the “beloved disciple” in a parent-child bond, he called out to her, “Woman” (cf. John 19:26). John must have had an idea from this incident to hide the priesthood in this word by calling priests “women” after Mary the mother of Jesus. Priests are trying to give birth to the Holy Eucharist while fighting persecution and heresy. Therefore, the “male child,” who is written in the phrase, “[S]he brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne” (Revelation 12:5), is the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist, born of a priest by the Holy Spirit, was to rule all the nations with the priesthood represented by “a rod of iron.” The phrase, “her child was caught up to God and to his throne,” coincides the phrase, “[A] throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne,” (Revelation 4:2). As we saw last time, the one seated on the throne is the Holy Eucharist.

 “[T]he woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Revelation 12:6). The “wilderness” here refers to the human memory of the senses (the five-sense data). The “God’ plan” is placed in the memory of the senses of every creature so that they can live following God, even though they have neither the free mind nor the knowledge of good and evil. When God took the woman from the first created “human,” he closed up the place with flesh and created the man (cf. Genesis 2:21). In this way, all men have the memory of the flesh with which God closed up. This is the “place prepared by God” in the “wilderness.” God later sanctified this flesh by commanding Abraham, “Every male among you shall be circumcised” (Genesis 17:10). Moreover, God gave a male member of this tribe the priesthood after they had escaped from Egypt being led by Moses. Jesus also chose the Apostles from male members of this tribe, and the Apostles became the first to receive the priesthood of the New Covenant. And the risen Jesus sent them into all the world. The priesthood is placed in the memory of the senses (the five-sense data) of all males as the ”God's plan,” but none of them can know its mystery until it is drawn out by the Holy Spirit.

 The great red dragon that appears here can be identified as the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) that arose in the Garden of Eden for the first time (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 11) because it is written, “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). And it became the “great red dragon” among those who did not believe in the Resurrection because the resurrection of Jesus had been concealed (cf. Matthew 28:11-15). This “red” signifies the new covenant established by the blood shed by Jesus, and this name of the dragon implies that the dragon will target priests (“woman”), who are responsible for reproducing this establishment of the new covenant at the Eucharistic celebration, and the community into which priests are born.

 The fact that this great red dragon was thrown down to the earth, together with his angels (cf. Revelation 12:7-9), is the fulfilment of Jesus' foretelling: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The disciples are kept in the name of the Father in the “Lord's Prayer,” which Jesus left behind. At the last table, Jesus, filled with a rush of emotions, prayed to his Father in heaven: “And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:11-12).

 Then, “[T]he dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea” (Revelation 12:17). The sand of the sea signifies “the nations which are at the four corners of the earth” and which were deceived by the dragon (cf. Revelation 20:8).

 The dragon is the information of the “serpent” that arises accidentally when more than two people gather. Therefore, it moves in such a way that people get involved in the incidents that occurred in various ways. However, the dragon (“serpent”) is just information, and it does not work on people and the world concretely. It is always the people, who take the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) as their own knowledge and make it into their words and actions, that work on them. People who take the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) as their own knowledge become Satan (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 12, 13). Therefore, John described these who have become Satan as “beasts.” Then, he, by showing the coincident in words between the word “rising out of the sea” (Revelation 13:1) and the word “rose out of the earth” (Revelation 13:11), suggested that the characteristics of these beasts are related to the narrative of Genesis.

 “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads” (Revelation 13:1). The image described here coincides with the description in Genesis: “God created the great sea monsters” (Genesis 1:21). This beast is exactly a monster because it is written, “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth” (Revelation 13:2). This beast is modelled on the first woman in Genesis, who ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) had emerged there. She, to escape the contradiction of having eaten the forbidden fruit, unintentionally created the fiction: “The serpent beguiled me” (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 14). The description, “ten diadems upon its horns,” shows that this beast has a contradiction. For diadems are not to be worn on horns but on heads as the great red dragon is described as wearing “seven diadems upon his heads” (Revelation 12:3), and so is it described elsewhere in the book as well.

 The first woman covered up the contradiction that she had had for the first time with the fiction that she came up with using her knowledge of good and evil. On the other hand, God pronounced to the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information), which the woman compared to a serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The “enmity” that God put was put in the knowledge of good and evil that man had acquired by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This “enmity” is directed against the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information), which the knowledge of good and evil has taken in as its knowledge. This is because one’s knowledge of good and evil is connected to his/her free mind, and whatever he/she says and does depends on the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) which he/she has taken in as his/her knowledge. Jesus, as our Saviour, came to the earth becoming this “enmity” itself which God had put. For this reason, the assassin was sent to him from the moment of his birth (cf. Mt 2:13-18). He lived out his life as the “enmity” that God had put until his death on the cross and clearly showed the world that there is the “enmity” that God had put in man's knowledge of good and evil (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 14).

 The second beast is described as “Then I saw another beast which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11). The expression “rose out of the earth” refers to the fact that the “human” was taken out of dust from the ground in Genesis. Then we will understand that the phrase “it had two horns like a lamb” is the description of the first male who inherited most of the body of the “human” and became the likeness of the “human” but has become Satanized and become a beast. This was the man who, when the fact that he had eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden to eat became known to God, “spoke like a dragon” to God; this man was Adam (cf. Genesis 3:9-12). This man justified what he had done by saying, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12), making his action an extension of the woman's action. And he attributed its cause to God. This man has become Satan, by which he ignored God and stood against God showing off human authority (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 12).

 Revelation describes how the second beast formed the “serpent's head” (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 13) with the first beast and gained enormous power cooperating with it like Adam in Genesis as it is written in Revelation: “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder” (Revelation 13:3). This means that the “serpent's head” (cf. Genesis 3:15), which had been bruised when the “my church,” of which Jesus had said, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), had been born bathing with the blood and water shed from his side and had been established by his disciples who had realized his teaching thanks to Pentecost, has been healed. This means, on the one hand, that the heel of the Christians was bruised. So, John described the world of Revelation to challenge the relationship between the serpent and the man and the woman, the characters at the beginning of Genesis, so that the training by Jesus can be continued.

 The commonalities between the training of Jesus and the training of Revelation can be found, especially in the scene as follows. All the Synoptic Gospels write the scene where Jesus sent the Apostles to mission before the scene of the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus sent them for training. Revelation, which is directed to the Mass, is on this line. Jesus sent the Apostles giving them his authority. This authority gave them a unique view of the world. Though there is no description here what impressions they had had when they returned, the Gospel of Luke wrote them in the scene in which Jesus sent other 72 disciples: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17). These words suggest that they witnessed the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) obeying “God's plan” and became aware of what each of these two is. Jesus gave them his authority precisely because he wanted them to get the worldview which leads them to this experience and awareness. The Book of Revelation has the effect of giving this experience and awareness to those who read aloud and listen to it.

 The information of the “serpent” (the accidental information), when it is noticed by people and distinguished from “God's plan,” becomes as good as absent from their knowledge of good and evil as Jesus proved in the scene of the “temptation in the wilderness” (cf. Matthew 4:1-10, Luke 4:1-13). On the other hand, the dragon and his angels will lose their place in “the heaven”, the reality of God, as it is written, “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him” (Matthew 4:11). They were thrown down to the earth (cf. Revelation 12:9). There are many people living on “the earth” who are innocent about the “God’s plan” and about the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information). Jesus did his best to give these people his testimony (cf. John 5:19-47). In “the heaven” remain the spirit of Jesus, angels and “those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:17). They freely challenge this “the earth” from “the heaven,” the space brought about by the Holy Spirit. The battle between them and the dragon together with his angels is, so to speak, a battle between different worldviews in different dimensions, and they will never intersect. This fact is the key point that the trainees who watch this battle must keep in mind.

 The clash between these two different worldviews in different dimensions that Revelation describes places those who train themselves there at the position where John is standing and makes them view this battle. As we view the battle, we sometimes see our own real life overlapping with it. Countless things that occur in our life, such as our thoughts, words and actions and interactions with others, overlap in our memory, and its structure seems sometimes complex and sometimes simple for us. Sometimes we think we have grasped it, but sometimes it is elusive. It seems as if we see the battle in Revelation which is waged before our eyes. At this moment, we have an experience of seeing the Word penetrates our memory of senses (the five-sense data). The double-edged sword is wielded onto our memory of senses (the five-sense data), and we see the fragment of memory that has been slashed. When our knowledge of good and evil gets connected to this fragment of memory, we will realize that there is data that we did not take out, other than the data that we took out and made our knowledge when our knowledge of good and evil got connected to our memory of senses last time. I had failed to take in the complete data as knowledge. This is the “bruised heel.” Even in the unrest and anxiety of having made a judgment based on incomplete data, if the trainee courageously confronts him/herself and corrects the judgment of his knowledge of good and evil based on the current memory of data and the memory that he/she realized this time, he/she will receive a deep peace at the same time.

 After Paul the Apostle fell to the ground and heard the voice of the spirit of Jesus, “for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank" (Acts 9:9). This was because his knowledge of good and evil was correcting his memory and judgement taking out new data, which he had never dared to notice before, from his memory of the senses (the five-sense data) slashed with the double-edged sword, the Word of God. On the other hand, Ananias distinguished the “God’s plan” conveyed by the spirit of Jesus from the information of the ”serpent” (the accidental information) and went out. He, who was familiar with the voice of Jesus, did not hesitate despite the bad news about Paul, even if it had been from his trusted fellows. Finally, these two met. Hearing the words of Ananias, “immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized, and took food and was strengthened” (Acts 9:18-19).

 Here the second “blessedness” accompanies the trainee. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Revelation 14:13).

 The reason why we can see in Revelation the clash between “God's plan” and the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information), that is, the clash between so to speak two different worldviews in different dimensions, is because Jesus conquered all evil and sins. Jesus told his disciples all about what "God's plan" was, as he said to them, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). So, the trainees can tell which they are now taking into their knowledge, the “God’s plan” or the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information). They will be able to discern and receive “God's plan” from this clash of worldviews. Then, they will receive “God’s plan,” which they have received and believed through their knowledge from the beginning of baptism, also through their senses and will reach the full understanding of it. They will become awake and recognize that they keep eternal life. This is the goal of the training of the Book of Revelation.

 Here the third “blessedness” accompanies the trainee. “Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed!” (Revelation 16:15).

 Jesus compared himself to a “bridegroom” so that he can put the Christians and the Church, their community, at his side from the beginning calling them his mother, brothers and sisters, and friends. As it is written, “[T]he marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure" -- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (Revelation19:7-8), “the marriage of the Lamb” is the day when the collaboration of the Holy Spirit and the priest is publicly displayed. In the Mass, the Holy Eucharist is born. As the Gospel describes in the scene of Jesus' birth, the people who met the Lamb first that night were Mary, Joseph and the poor shepherds. These people were clearly at Jesus' side. God invites the Christians and the Church, their community, to this scene again.

 Here the fourth “blessedness” accompanies the trainee and directs his/her eyes to the Mass. “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’” (Revelation 19:9).

 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God” (Revelation 19:11-13). This is the fulfilment of Jesus' words, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14). He is the one who guides us to the truth and does not speak on his own authority, and the one who is called Faithful and True, that is, the Holy Spirit. The reason why he is “clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God” is because he is the combination of the will of the Holy Spirit and the Word of Jesus which remains on the earth, namely the spirit of Jesus. The phrase, “he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself,” means that as the first and second personas of God are called by their role as “Father” and “Son,” so he has the name of the role of the Holy Spirit by which he will be called when the Passover “is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16).

 The victory of Christ continues today. “From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15). The “sharp sword” is the Word, and the phrase “he will rule them with a rod of iron” means that the Holy Eucharist and the new covenant by Christ’s blood will win back these people. The wine from the wine press that God trod on, which contains the wrath of God the Almighty, is the blood of Christ, which contains the “enmity” that God put. On the cross, Jesus became the “enmity” itself that God had put and won back the free mind of the criminal who was crucified with him to “God's plan” (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 14).

 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him” (Revelation 20:1-3). The expression “for a thousand years” refers to the time during which the Mass continues on the earth. Once the liturgical form is established, the information of the “serpent” (the accidental information) cannot sneak into its predetermined procedure. And the liturgical form is exactly for this purpose. “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed” (Revelation 20:4). They are the “angels at the twelve gates” who judge the evil spirits (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 16, 19).

 “Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:4-5). The phrase “This is the first resurrection” is related to this entire text and shows that the structure of God's salvation is in this text. We will be able to understand this structure clearly by sharing in the two-fold spirituality of the Holy Spirit which is deeply connected with the Mass. We will deal with this topic in the next issue or later.

 The fifth “blessedness” encourages the trainee of the Book of Revelation to share in the two-fold spirituality of the Holy Spirit. The second death is the state of free mind which could not accept the first death and has become an evil spirit (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 16). “Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done” (Revelation 20:11-12). The Holy Eucharist, in which the Triune God is present, is the throne of “The Word of God” (cf. Revelation 19:13). The phrase, “from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them,” means that the author could find no place for earth and sky because the Holy Eucharist has appeared and he himself was in the midst of the earthly Mass, which was connected to the “sky.” It is the “angels at the twelve gates” who judge the dead by what they did, based on what is written in the opened book of life. This is as Jesus said, “He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day” (John 12:48).

 Revelation begins with the first “blessedness” in the passage, “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3), and this blessedness accompanies those who hear it and reaches the sixth “blessedness” in the passage, “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:7). It is important to note that the phrase “Behold, I am coming soon” is repeated three times in this chapter. The first one is the Spirit of Jesus, or “blessedness,” which accompanies those who participate in this training. The second one means that the Spirit of Jesus will be immediately connected with those who share in the two-fold spirituality of the Holy Spirit, which is shown by the phrase, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done” (Revelation 22:12). The last one is the following word of testimony: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon’” (Revelation 22:20).

 The training of the Book of Revelation, which the trainees practice through their senses by reading aloud and listening, is rigidly connected to the New Testament (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 20) and forms Christians in combination with the two-fold spirituality of the Holy Spirit, which the trainees practice through their knowledge of good and evil. So, the angel also said to John, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near" (Revelation 22,10). We must experience the fact that the word of Revelation trains Christians and spread it. By this training, Christians will be able to realize that the meaning of the word, "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy" (Revelation 22,11), is to distinguish between "God's plan" and the information of the "serpent" (the accidental information) more clearly. We must tell the world that the Book of Revelation has the power to train Christians.

 The seventh "blessedness" says, "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates" (Revelation 22:14). This "blessedness" invites the trainee of the Book of Revelation to receive the two-fold spirituality of the Holy Spirit. Doing so is to receive the blessedness of "those who wash their robes" also in knowledge. Those who were granted the right to the tree of life receive the Holy Eucharist. The expression, "that they may enter the city by the gates," means that the knowledge of good and evil of those who sit before the Holy Eucharist can enter the "your room" through the Holy Eucharist. The words of Jesus, "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:6), will be attested to by those who have been rewarded by the Father.

 To be continued. 

27 Dec. 2020

 On the Feast Day of the Holy Family, with John the Evangelist

 in Hiroshima

Maria K