2022/08/29

54. The Fourth and Fifth Angels (Revelation 15-16) 

The fourth key passage in John 10 is the following verse: "Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?'"(John 10:32). At this time, the Jews deeply envied Jesus, who called God his Father. The reason was that, although God had told David long ago about Solomon, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son" (2 Samuel 7:14), these words did not come true because Solomon's heart had turned away from God (cf. this blog №43). The feelings of envy are amplified and fiercely scorch people with its fire. This situation coincides with the following passage from Revelation: "The fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; men were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory" (Revelation 16:8-9). The Holy Spirit continues to persuade people even now with Jesus' words: "If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (John 10:37-38). For us to know and realize the reality of God, we need corroboration by our memory of the five senses that experienced Jesus doing the Father's work. The training of Revelation, in which the trainee "reads aloud the words of the prophecy" (Revelation 1:3), is essential for the faithful because it infuses the worldview of Jesus Christ into the trainee's realm of the unconscious. If the trainee, in the course of the training, finds himself being scorched by the fire of envy, he should gladly praise God's name, repent, and give glory to God. That is because the word plagues in Revelation means divine illumination, and he has experienced the works of God, who has power over those plagues. In this way, the trainee will be awakened and clothed with a garment of divine illumination. The fifth key passage is the one that reads, "Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands" (John 10:39). The reality that "God with us" (Matthew 1:23) is leaving our sight causes a great sense of loss in our memories unconsciously. This situation is consistent with the following verse in Revelation: "The fifth angel poured his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was in darkness; men gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores, and did not repent of their deeds" (Revelation 16:10-11). The beast’s kingdom signifies the fictional world into which people flee with illusion, ignoring the enmity placed by God that makes them aware of the contradictions within them. In it, the darkness is signalling the absence of God. The trainees of Revelation, while the worldview of Jesus Christ is infused into their realm of unconsciousness, can connect with the divine no-information by partaking in the formation of the Holy Spirit (cf. this blog № 39). The divine no-information that connects with one' s realm of consciousness is a ray of light shining into the darkness that signals God's absence, the light of Christ who takes the yoke of people together and brings true peace to them.

Maria K. M.