2023/05/22

92. In the Spirit, part 3

People, for various motives, voluntarily place themselves in the "spot" where there is an internet environment. They then connect to the internet using terminal devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones and concentrate on operating these devices to obtain information. The experience of the author of Revelation is similar. He was in a "spot" on the island called Patmos, voluntarily "on the Lord's day," with the motivation, "on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus," as he described he "was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet" (Revelation 1:9-10). The expression, "I was in the Spirit," indicates that he connected with the Holy Spirit to collaborate with him and focused on "a loud voice like a trumpet." He then received information. 

The common denominator of those at the above "spots" is that they have the literacy to obtain information. The author of Revelation, who is said to be John the Apostle, certainly had it. That is because Jesus, at the last supper, had decided that the Apostles would work in concert with the Holy Spirit, saying, "But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:26-27). This literacy of the Apostles, who retained the worldview of Jesus Christ by being constantly with Jesus and who experienced Pentecost, must eventually become that of all Christians. That is because all Christians will also bear witness to Jesus from the moment they come to the Christian faith. So, just as anyone with some training can access the internet, every Christian must, with the same degree of training, be able to access information to collaborate with the Holy Spirit. 

For Christians, the equivalent "spot" of the internet environment for voluntarily connecting with divine informationlessness is the "spot" that, like John, appears on the Lord's day. It is the "spot" where the Mass is celebrated constantly, and the Eucharist is enshrined. For people to connect to the internet, they need terminal devices. So, Jesus prepared the Eucharist also for the need for Christians to be linked with the Holy Spirit at this "spot." People connect with the internet to extract information, but when we are connected with divine informationlessness, the Holy Spirit draws information from us. There, we will see and hear what was drawn from our own memories, just as the author of Revelation did. 

The Book of Revelation was drawn by the Holy Spirit from its author's memory filled with the worldview of Jesus Christ. The following final words of John the Evangelist support the fact that the author of Revelation kept it: "But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25). 

Maria K. M.

 2023/05/15

91. In the Spirit, Part 2

On 31 August 2012, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, former Archbishop of Milan, died. In an interview shortly before his death, he said, "The Church has been left behind for 200 years" (Corriere della Sera, Italian newspaper). These words are similar to what I wrote in this blog: "The Church remains amidst chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of Revelation" (cf. blog №89). The prophecies the author of Revelation saw, heard and wrote in the spirit have become fulfilled in the Church. 

The unimaginable destructive power of the wars in the 20th century and the terrible sights of the people who survived in the wreckage and many other brutal and tragic experiences, including, of course, Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been shared in words and images with people all over the world. The impact of these tragedies has forced people to admit that hell and purgatory they had been taught to "believe in" were, in fact, the reality of this world. As a result, they found themselves not having any reason to "believe in" these things that are real. At the same time, their interest in the Church teaching have faded away. Furthermore, during and after the Second Vatican Council, which is said to have been a historic transformation of the Catholic Church, the Church, which has been comparing itself to the bride of Christ, was embroiled in various sexual abuse cases by the clergy and their cover-ups. The paedophilia scandal was particularly shocking. In these phenomena, we see the face of the Church with no makeup that had been "left behind for 200 years." But inside, some believers try to stay in the Church and somehow confront this reality. 

In the scene in the synagogue in Capernaum in the Gospel of John, many of the disciples stumbled over Jesus' words and drew away, no longer accompanying him. At this point, Jesus asked the twelve Apostles, "Do you also wish to go away?"(John 6:67). In reply, Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68-69). These words show that they recognised the "spot" they were in. It was a real "spot" where Jesus was with them and gave them revelations. 

The author of Revelation also recognised the "spot" he was in. But it was the surreal "spot," obtained by being in the spirit and which provides the information of prophecy (cf. blog № 90). We now live in an unprecedentedly particular era, brought about by the informational revolution that has accelerated since the end of the 20th century. We recognise we are in a "spot" where we acquire information via the Internet. We could say that this "spot" is also surreal. In this commonality, we see one ray of hope for us as Christians who remain within the Church and live in the information society. It is the hope that we, like John, who "bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw" (Revelation 1:2), will become able to recognise the "spot" where we see and hear in the spirit, that is, the "spot" in which we collaborate with the Holy Spirit.

Maria K. M.

 2023/05/08

90. In the Spirit, Part 1

In the last issue, I wrote that the Church remains amidst chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of Revelation. Therefore, I would like to discuss this theme with the keyword "in the Spirit," which has drawn my attention. This state, "in the Spirit," which appears four times in Revelation, happens in the "spot" where the author prophesies what he has seen and heard. The numbers in brackets indicate the chapter and verse of Revelation. 

The first spot is on an island called Patmos, where the author prophesies the scroll to the seven churches (1:11-3:24). The second spot is in heaven with an open door, where he prophesies about the following several prophecies. (1) the appearance of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the New Testament (4:1-11:19); (2) the appearance of the "divine knowledge" of the priesthood and the Eucharist and the "human knowledge" that tries to block its memory and the battle between them (12:1-13:18); (3) the appearance of the companions of the Lamb, or the Church (14:1-5); (4) the battle in which Babylon the Great is led to its fall, torn into three parts, by the spread of the Gospel (14:6-16:21). The third spot is in the wilderness, to see and prophesy the judgement against the great harlot, sitting on the waters, accompanied by an angel (17:1-18:24). Fourth spot is on the high mountain, again accompanied by an angel, to see and prophesy about the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, namely the New Testament (21:9-27). 

Chapters 17-18, which we are discussing, are in the third spot. The "great harlot who is seated upon many waters" (17:1), which the angel said he would show, was a woman seated on a scarlet beast when the author saw her in the Spirit. Characteristically, it reads, "on her forehead was written a name of mystery: 'Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations'" (17:5), and the name of "Babylon the great" (14:8), written in the second spot as "fallen," is inherited to this spot. 

The author writes: "And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly" (17:6). The expression, "the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," hints at the city of Jerusalem. And a description relating to King David, who established Jerusalem as the capital, is suggestively placed in Revelation (3:7, 5:5, 22:16). Jesus here refers to himself as "the root and the offspring of David" because he has achieved what Solomon, David's son, failed to realise, that of calling God his Father. 

On the other hand, the people of the Old Covenant, who had failed to form a parent-child bond with God, likened God to a bridegroom and the people to a bride, imagining the marriage bond as a bond with God. The Church, while calling God its heavenly Father, inherited this image. And, skilfully using a sophisticated vocabulary and logic, the Church has let it bloated to the extent of significantly influencing theology as nuptial mysticism. The woman marked on her forehead with the name of mystery, "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations," was the Church. So, the author was astonished to find that the Church had become something quite different from the image of "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (12:1). The prophecies in Chapter 18 that follow are reminiscent of the Age of Exploration, which took place between the 15th and 17th centuries. The Church is forced to make a decisive shift and is in dire straits.

Maria K. M.

 2023/05/01

89. The New Testament within the New Testament, Part 3

Revelation 13 describes a world in which those who gather authority, power and wealth conquer by taking in information beneficial to them and taking advantage of differences in people's character and abilities, especially gender differences. From their illusory and fictional world comes endless suffering, including social inequality, all sorts of discrimination and even human trafficking. The information and knowledge that originate from the relationships among people and create these situations are likened to the dragon and the two beasts. John the Baptist was killed as a very victim of these situations (cf. Mark 6:17-28). 

Founded amidst such a social environment, the Church was in constant danger. That was because the Church had a totally new identity of the people who are described as "born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13) and who called God their heavenly Father. And that is, the Church had accepted Jesus' exhortation: "There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it" (Matthew 19:12). Nowadays, some Bible translations replace the word "eunuch" in this phrase with "one who does not marry," "one who has become a bachelor," etc., but this is not the case. Indeed, Jesus used the firm word "eunuch." That is because only he knew the kingdom of heaven (cf. John 3:13), and "eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" referred to Jesus himself. Hence, the Church, the body of Christ, is present as "He who is able to receive this." The following words of Jesus suggest the Church: "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection" (Luke 20:34-36). 

As it reads, "a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads" (Revelation 14:1), Revelation 14 begins with the description of the Church. And the "women" in the following account, as we have discussed so far, signifies nuptial mysticism: "It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are chaste" (Revelation 14:4). The "woman" called "Babylon the great" and likened to a city, is described as having "made all nations drink the wine of her impure passion" (Revelation 14:8), which could happen because nuptial mysticism took the image of the institution of marriage that is so universal and absolute a social norm. The "eternal gospel" (Revelation 14:6) carried by the angel is a New Testament prophecy that protects people from nuptial mysticism, and the contents of the "seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God" (Revelation 15:7) are the words that affect the information people possess and their knowledge, leading them to repentance. 

Revelation is a divine reality, while nuptial mysticism is a man-made fiction. The Church remains amidst chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation because it still holds nuptial mysticism (cf. blog № 77, 85).

Maria K. M.

 2023/04/24

88. The New Testament within the New Testament, Part 2

In the previous article, "Part 1," we summarised the context of chapters 1 to 10 of the Book of Revelation. This time, we will cover the following chapters, chapters 11 to 12. The author prophesied again about the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's epistles, which he had already prophesied about, prompted by the voice from heaven (cf. blog № 17). Here, the fact that these books, as books of revelation, were also raised to heaven was testified just as the Book of Revelation, described at the beginning as being "the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1), and the Gospels, depicted as four living creatures "round the throne, on each side of the throne" (Revelation 4:6), were both placed in heaven as books of revelation. As a result, all the books of the New Testament, including the Catholic Epistles, whose existence was prophesied in the Book of Revelation (cf. blog № 87), were raised to heaven, confirming the prophecy of the revelation of Jesus Christ. The fact that in later times, these books were established as the canon of the New Testament according to this prophecy shows that the revelation of Jesus Christ was completed within the New Testament. 

Hence, the contents of the ark, described as "Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple" (Revelation 11:19), are the New Covenant. From this, we can see that the sign that appeared next in heaven in the form of a woman "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation 12:1) signifies the priesthood that arose along with the body of Christ and the blood of the new covenant, which Jesus instituted at the last supper. It originates from the account in the Gospel of John, where the Apostle takes in the mother of Jesus (cf. blog № 18). There, on the other hand, we also read that the woman "cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery" (Revelation 12:2). For on earth, this woman represents the figure of the priesthood that conceived the Word by which bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This figure is projected onto the Apostles and their successors who, amid persecution, perform the event of the last supper "in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19), just as Jesus commanded them. 

Then another sign of a great red dragon appears in heaven. It represents the image that the information arising from the relationships among those who try to remain in the worldview that can be said to be the old covenant, becomes knowledge and reigns. That knowledge originated from the relationship between Adam and Eve and has engulfed the world since then. Its heads with diadems and horns testify to the immensity of that knowledge (cf. blog № 42-45). The old "human knowledge" is about to devour the "divine knowledge" of the Eucharist, which continues the covenant of salvation made by the blood of Christ and makes the presence of God among the people visible. The Apostles gave birth to the Eucharist by the Holy Spirit. The Eucharistic knowledge hidden in the New Testament was raised to the heavenly throne because it was a revelation. On the other hand, the knowledge of the priesthood of the new people, which gives birth to the Eucharist, is hidden in the Apostles' unconscious realm (cf. blog № 21), where it is nurtured and matured. 

The above things cause a battle within the inner recesses of those who know Jesus. The worldview of the old covenant now became identified by the worldview of the new covenant, namely the worldview of Jesus Christ. That is because the "enmity that God placed" (cf. blog № 23) in the memory of the people in Genesis becomes fully effective when people have the worldview of Jesus Christ (cf. blog № 22).

Maria K. M.

 2023/04/17

87. The New Testament within the New Testament, Part 1

The difficulty with the Book of Revelation comes from the fact that itself clearly states that it is both a book of the revelation of Jesus Christ and a book of prophecy (cf. Revelation 1:1), and that at the same time, it is a book of training for the disciples (cf. Revelation 1:3). Additionally, the zeal of God to let the next generations, who did not know Jesus directly, share the sense of the disciples who had shared the world view of Jesus Christ (cf. blog № 76) seems to amplify the difficulty with the book. So, with these things in mind, I would like to devote the subsequent few issues to putting the context of the Book of Revelation, which we have been discussing, into perspective. 

The author was again filled with the Spirit and saw the throne in heaven, the One sitting on it, and the elders. There, the first event occurs that implies the Holy Spirit has already descended (cf. Revelation 4:5). Next comes the scroll with the seven seals and the "Lamb" who breaks these seals. The first and second seals referred to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (cf. blog № 13), respectively, while the third and fourth seals to the Gospels of Luke and John (cf. blog № 14). The fifth and sixth seals referred to the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's epistles (cf. blog № 15). The seventh seal is for the Book of Revelation. When the seal was opened, seven trumpets were given to the seven angels, and every time they blew them, a "plague" occurred. These were manifestations of the effects of the seven books of the New Testament (cf. blog № 16). These descriptions indicate seven New Testament books are within the Book of Revelation. In addition, the reference to the seven Catholic Epistles (cf. blog № 12) means that in the Book of Revelation, the whole New Testament was already settled. 

Thus, the Book of Revelation has a style of "Revelation is in the New Testament and the New Testament in Revelation." That was to inject the imagery of God's "works themselves" into the memory of the trainees by projecting Jesus' words from the Gospel of John, "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves" (John 14:11), into the structure of the Book of Revelation. 

The New Testament is a "little scroll" compared to the Hebrew Bible. The angel said to John, "Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth" (Revelation 10:9). These words are also for those blessed ones who receive Revelation as a book of training and try to read aloud and hear it and retain it in their memory (cf. Revelation 1:3). To have recited and heard Revelation so far, which is both a book of revelation of Jesus Christ and a book of prophecy, means that they have eaten the imagery of the New Testament and put it into their sensory memory. It is difficult (bitter) to commit it to your memory but easy (sweet) to hear in your own voice. Hence, this exercise can be continued as little as every day. With repetition, anyone can have the opportunity to put the New Testament imagery into their memory. So, John "took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it" (Revelation 10:10). 

Maria K. M.

 2023/04/10

86. The Lamb and the Bride

The word "bride" was essential to the nuptial mysticism that flourished in twentieth-century theology, which likened Christ to the bridegroom and the Church to the bride. But Jesus, who always spoke to the crowds in parables, never used the word "bride" and must have done so intentionally. That is because the word "bride" referred to the new covenant made in Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, as its meaning became clarified thanks to the word of John the Baptist (cf. blog № 65). In other words, it is the New Testament. 

Just as John the Baptist called Jesus the "Lamb of God" (cf. John 1:29,36), in the Book of Revelation, the Holy Spirit is called the "Lamb" as the Advocate who is sent in Jesus' name and reminds us of his words. So, the "Lamb" is introduced at its beginning as follows: "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (Revelation 5:6). Then, "he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne" (Revelation 5:7), it is written. Since the Father and the Son are seated on the heavenly "throne" (cf. Revelation 3:21), "the right hand of him who was seated on the throne" refers to the Son. The "Lamb" then opens the seals of the seven scrolls, which prophesied the formation of the New Testament (cf. blog № 12-18). And the "Bride" appears towards the end of Revelation. From the context, we can read that the "bride," like the "bride" of the Gospel of John, whose meaning became clarified through the word of John the Baptist, signifies the New Testament that embodies the ministries of the "Lamb." 

The expression, "the 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" (Revelation 19:7-8), shows that the New Testament became ready in heaven for "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9). After that, the end-time battle and the final judgement take place for the marriage supper to be held, then, a new heaven and new earth appear. The author wrote: "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:2). As Jesus had said, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power" (Mark 9:1), the author John saw the Kingdom of God that would emerge with the formation of the New Testament, the space of the marriage supper which both the dead and the living would participate in. Then, with the angel's words, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:9), the author was carried away to the high mountain in the spirit and shown the entire New Testament, the holy city itself. The New Testament is here referred to as "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb" because it became the partner of the Lamb, who was said to be the seven spirits or the spirit of prophecy, so that he may shepherd (cf. Revelation 7:17) those who are said to "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14). 

Finally, the "bride," the New Testament, together with the spirit, the "Lamb," calls for the Second Coming of the Word seated at the right hand of the Father: "Come" (Revelation 22:17). That is because the word of God, which has done what God wanted and fulfilled what God has entrusted to him, returns to God (cf. Isaiah 55:10-11). The Church, who hears this, must also say: "Come."

Maria K. M.