2021/11/08

12. The Book of Prophecy 

The Book of Revelation has the worldview of Jesus Christ just because the entire book is devoted to the prophecy of the formation of the New Testament. The letters to the seven churches that the author, filled with the Spirit, wrote down hearing a loud voice like a trumpet on the Lord's day,¹ all have the words, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." They are encouraging the churches to turn their attention to the formation of the New Testament. The things of which the first voice again said, "Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this,"² testify to this fact. It was self-evident to the author that the four creatures³ in the midst of the throne and around it represented the four Gospels. He writes that full of eyes were both in front and behind them, so we can guess there were more than a few people who had already seen these books. Next, the four Gospels, Acts, and Paul's epistles are introduced in prophetic terms through the scroll with seven seals.⁴ The seal which was last opened signifies the Book of Revelation. After that, when the angel⁵ holding a scroll open in his hand cried out, seven thunders sounded. The voice from heaven commanding, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said,"⁶ suggests that these thunders are the seven Catholic Epistles, which at that time were not yet known if they were to be included in the New Testament. The text states three times that the "scroll that was opened" with the seven seals opened was a "small scroll."⁷ It refers to the New Testament, which is "small" compared to the Hebrew Bible. The author took it and ate it all.

Reference 1. Revelation 1:10, 2. Revelation 4:1, 3. Revelation 4:6, 4. Revelation 5:1, 5. Revelation 10:1, 6. Revelation 10:4, 7. Revelation 10:2, 10:9, 10:10.

Maria K. M.

2021/11/01

11. The Body and Blood of Christ

The word Christ, described as "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ"¹ and as "the authority of his Christ have come"² in the Book of Revelation, indicates the Body and Blood of Christ. When, at the Mass, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ with the work of the Holy Spirit and God becomes present in it, and when the priest's hands raise it, God can continue to make the mystery of the Incarnation and the mystery of the Cross present events. The Eucharist inherited the prophecy about Jesus: "God is with us (Emmanuel)."³ The words of Jesus, "For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins,"⁴ can be understood by the Eucharist. The Eucharist is "the bread of life"⁵ of which Jesus talked. The Eucharist, when being eaten by the faithful, dies over and over again, which is God's fashion to give all that Jesus accomplished once for all to each faithful just as Jesus himself healed people putting his hands on each of them.⁶ The following words of Jesus are living in the Eucharist: "For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."⁷ Our garments are washed with the blood of the Lamb, the new covenant, at every Mass and become whiter.⁸ The image of the Eucharist like this corresponds with the worldview of Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation. So, in the Book of Revelation, the above two phrases, which represent the Body and Blood of Christ, are each located intentionally before and after the description of the two portents that appeared in heaven.⁹

Reference 1. Revelation 11:15, 2. Revelation 12:10, 3. Matthew 1:23, 4. John 8:24, 5. John 6:35, 6. Luke 4:40, 7. Mark 10:45, 8. Revelation 7:9-17, 9. Revelation 12:1-3

Maria K. M.

 2021/10/25

10. God's Messiah

In the Book of Revelation, we can find the words expressing the work of the Holy Spirit in almost every chapter. It is because it aims that the event of the descent of the Holy Spirit may be imprinted on the unconscious memory of the trainee who reads and listens to Revelation and that the work of the Holy Spirit may be continuously infused in it. As it is written that on the day the Holy Spirit descended, "suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting"¹, the Holy Spirit brought an exceptional space, the house of God, to the people gathered there in the name of Jesus. The house of God, which appeared concretely in the senses of each disciple and at the same time in the midst of them, is called, as Jesus admonished, the house of prayer for all people.2 The prophecy of Isaiah 56 that Jesus quoted here was then fulfilled. The house of God is a place where God and people come together, and God too has the throne just like "they were sitting." The words, "And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them,"³ are a reference to the Holy Spirit connecting with the brains of each individual so that he might take what is of Jesus' and declare it to the disciples⁴. So, when the trainee recites and hears the words like "[B]efore the throne burn seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God"⁵ and "[A] Lamb ... with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth,"⁶ the events of the day of Pentecost suggested in them will be implanted in his/her sensory memory. The worldview of Jesus Christ blossoms when we experience the events of Pentecost, just like it happened to the disciples of that time.

Reference: 1. Acts 2:2, 2. Matthew 21:13/Mark 11:17/Luke 19:46, 3. Acts 2:3, 4. John 16:15, 5. Revelation 4:5, 6. Revelation 5:6

Maria K. M.

2021/10/18

9. The Name of Jesus Christ

In the Book of Revelation, the name of Jesus Christ, the founder of the Mass, is placed in pivotal parts. We can also find many expressions in the book that make us associate with Jesus Christ, such as "who is and who was and who is to come." They flow like a torrent into the senses of the trainee who recites the text, helping him form the worldview of Jesus Christ and purifying his memory of the five senses. This happens so that he may direct himself to the Mass, where he will have his memory of knowledge purified by the Word and have a concrete experience of true union with God. Many of the names of Jesus Christ are in the same context as the "beatitude," which we discussed last time, but some of them are placed independently. These are in the context of the dragon that "stood on the sand by the sea"¹ and of the woman whose name is "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations."² Both of them conjure up images of the accidental information later coming into the world as concrete acts of individual people. However, the accidental information initially arises in the memory of the brain of individuals in the relationship among multiple people. Therefore, the Revelation, by inserting the words "bear testimony to Jesus" and "the witnesses to Jesus" in these texts, makes the trainees who encounter the name of Jesus here prepared to courageously distinguish between themselves and the accidental information so that they may act as disciples who, like Ananias³, share the worldview of Jesus Christ.

Reference: 1. Revelation 12:17, 2. Revelation 17:6, 3. this blog № 6

Maria K. M.

 2021/10/11

8. Seven Beatitudes   

Seven beatitudes (from ① to ⑦)1 in the Book of Revelation support the course of the book and show the destination of the worldview of Jesus Christ that gives us living a lot of fruits. We can categorize these beatitudes into two groups: A and B. Group A is about the beatitudes of those who train through the Revelation2. It includes ①: he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; ②: the dead who die in the Lord henceforth³; ③: he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed, and ⑥: he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Group B is about the beatitudes of those who attend the Mass. It includes ④: those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb; ⑤: he who shares in the first resurrection, namely those who shall be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him a thousand years, and ⑦: those who wash their robes (with the Holy Eucharist). Next, let's list these beatitudes for each of the groups in the order they appear: ①A-②A-③A-④B-⑤B-⑥A-⑦B. This course shows us that the Revelation guides the trainees to the Mass (①A-②A-③A-④B-⑤B). The destination of the beatitudes is the Mass. The angel who announced the last two beatitudes again urged us to practice the training of the Book of Revelation (⑥A) and commanded, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:10). It is because the last beatitude expresses a special mission of Christians who attend the Mass (⑦B).

Reference: 1. Book of Revelation ①1:3, ②14:13, ③16:15, ④19:9, ⑤20:6, ⑥22:7, ⑦22:14, 2. This blog №2, 3. The Estuary of Theology issue 24 "The White Robe."

Maria K. M.

 2021/10/04

7. Prologue

Why do the words of the Book of Revelation reflect the worldview of Jesus Christ? I would like to examine this question step by step. First of all, the first words of the text, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ,"¹ suggest the following meaning. The name "Jesus" represents the first part of salvation, realized by the fact that God was born as human and lived among people. The name "Christ" shows the second part of salvation, which Jesus accomplished through his passion and death on the cross.² The Revelation is the book of testimony that these two parts of salvation represented by each name were superimposed on each other to save all people. Then follows the sentence, "(which) God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John." This statement draws our attention to the fact that the final recipient of the information given by God is a person. He continued, "[John] bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw,"³ to tell us that John, as a man, did not write the book of Revelation based on his understanding of what the angel had told him. Therefore, he wrote that he bore witness to all that he had seen. Then he added, "Blessed are those who recite these words of prophecy, and those who hear them and keep what is written in them, for the time is at hand,"⁴ for there is "what must soon take place." I suppose it means that those who recite the words of this prophecy and keep in their memory what they have heard will soon share what John bore witness.

Reference: 1. Revelation 1:1, 2. Revelation 21:6, 22:13, 3. Revelation 1:2, 4. Revelation 1:3

Maria K. M.

 2021/09/27

6. The Disciples of Jesus

I have thought about Ananias of Damascus,¹ who was involved in the conversion of St. Paul, many times because the conversation with the Lord Ananias had in the vision and the subsequent actions he took were a clear indication of a disciple Lord Jesus trained. Ananias was familiar with the voice of the Lord and spoke his thoughts openly to the Lord, trusting in his own attitude towards the Word of God. So, when Jesus commanded him to visit Paul, he answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name" (Acts of the Apostles 9:13). This relationship between the Lord Jesus and his disciple becomes the basis on which the disciple is constantly awake to the enmity God has placed in him,² and fully recognize the accidental information. Ananias did not hesitate to side with the Word, even when the stories he heard had come from trusted friends, and the negative information about Paul was solid. The words of Jesus, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40), was fulfilled in the disciples who walked with him. They became familiar with the voice of the Lord, shared his worldview with Jesus Christ and trusted in their own attitude towards the Word of God. The training to acquire this attitude was entrusted to the Book of Revelation for the disciples in later generations.

Reference: 1. Acts of the Apostles (9:1-20), 2. This blog (No. 5)

Maria K. M.