2023/06/12

95. The White Horse

In the worldview of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God is always present as a reality. Therefore, seven "blessedness" accompany the trainee of Revelation so that he can share its prophecies with John, its author. The first "blessedness" (cf. Revelation 1:3) accompanied the trainee of Revelation so that he could recognize the prophetic words about the themes such as seven church issues, the formation of the New Testament, the priesthood, the birth of the Eucharist, and the dragon and serpent, the devil and Satan and their angels, the beasts, the false prophet and the demonic spirits. The second "blessedness" (cf. Revelation 14:13) accompanied the trainee so that he could share the prophecy about the first church community, which had the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father of the Lamb on its forehead. The third "blessedness" (cf. Revelation 16:15) accompanies the trainee so that he can share the prophecy that the Church would then divert from the path of the first church community, commune with the beast and become the great harlot. 

With the above in mind, let us examine the fourth "blessedness" of chapter 19 (Revelation 19:9), which we have discussed several times in this blog, from the perspective of the Book of Revelation. It reads: "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9). Here, it also says: "These are true words of God", and the description that follows testifies, as the previous "blessedness" did, that these words will complement the fourth "blessedness" and accompany the trainee. 

"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). 

The description above elicits the following statement from our memory, which refers to the Gospel of Matthew (cf. blog № 13). "And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer" (Revelation 6:2). The expression, "clad in a robe dipped in blood," is consistent with the words, "put a scarlet robe upon him" (Matthew 27:28), which only the Gospel of Matthew mentioned in the scene of Jesus' Passion, and is also suggestive of the Gospel of Matthew. 

So, looking for passages in Matthew's Gospel that relate to "blessedness," are called "Faithful" and "True", and refer to the one who is "the Lamb", we come to the passage where Peter says of Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). "You" signifies "the Lamb," "the Christ" refers to "Faithful" and "the Son of the living God" to "True." Furthermore, Jesus responded to these words of Peter by calling them "blessed": "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). That testifies these words of Peter are "true words of God." 

Based on these grounds above, the fourth "blessedness" can be paraphrased as follows. "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Maria K. M.

[Notice] The statement, "the 'city' represents the formation by the Holy Spirit, the 'gates' the Mass" in № 93 was an error for "the 'city' represents the Mass, the 'gates' the formation by the Holy Spirit," which we have already corrected.

 2023/06/05

94. "I Am the Alpha and the Omega," part 2

The phrase "I am the Alpha and the Omega" appears three times in the Book of Revelation. The first appearance is in the passage, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8). Immediately preceding this passage are the words, "every one who pierced him" (Revelation 1:7). Since these words match the words quoted in the Gospel of John: "They shall look on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37), the first passage above is seen to be connected to the scene of Jesus' passion and death on the cross in the same Gospel. 

With this understanding in mind, let us look at the passage of the second appearance. It says: "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 21:6), after which it continues: "To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son" (Revelation 21:6-7). In these passages, as in the case of the first appearance, we also find words that link to the scene of Jesus on the cross in the Gospel of John. The phrase, "It is done!" corresponds to "It is finished" (John 19:30), "the thirsty" to "I thirst" (John 19:28), and "I will be his God and he shall be my son" to "[H]e said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!'" (John 19:26-27). Here, however, we notice that the flow of the text of Revelation goes backwards in time, contrary to the Gospel of John. A reversal of time occurs in the second appearance. 

This reversal extends to the third appearance: "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:12-13). That is evident from the statement that follows, "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). The "blessedness" of "those who wash their robes" is linked to the scene of the night before Jesus' Passion and Death, i.e., before his last meal, when he washed the feet of his disciples. 

The "reversal of time" was built into the process in which the words "I am the Alpha and the Omega" are repeated and reinforced as indicated above in boldface. When the trainee of Revelation, who hears this process in his own voice, comes to the end of the book and hear the statement of blessing, "[T]he grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all" (Revelation 22:21), he will gain the power to return to the word, "The revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1) at the beginning of the book. This power is the force that keeps the believer repeatedly practising the training of Revelation and works as the engine of the believer entering into the daily routine of collaborating with the Holy Spirit, linking the blessing received at the concluding rites of the Mass to the next Mass.

Maria K. M.

 2023/05/29

93. "I am the Alpha and the Omega."

"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), wrote John the Evangelist. However, even if the world cannot contain them, they can be divided and put in the brains of individual believers as a collaborative experience with the Holy Spirit (cf. blog № 40). When they are gathered together, Jesus will be in the midst of them (cf. Matthew 18:20). This is the third Incarnation. For this purpose, God provided three "places" for believers, allowing them to be nurtured and to make "what Jesus did" a reality for the individual believer. 

Today, two thousand years later, the information society has arrived, and the time has come for many to perceive the work of the Holy Spirit. These people, trained by living in the personalised internet age, can take advantage of their thinking cycle in these three "places." By being accustomed to being connected to the internet and retrieving information, it is expected that, in contrast, they would be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit, who comes into contact with them through divine informationlessness. That is where the inevitability of using Revelation as a training book arises. 

Jesus said, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (John 6:45). This quote alludes to Revelation. Revelation cultivates a sense of Christ in the believer and makes those who continue the daily training retain the habit of "comes to me." That is the "blessedness" of "he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy" and "those who hear, and who keep what is written therein" (Revelation 1:3). The "Lord's Prayer" given by Jesus, responding to his requests, has continually taught that God is the Father in heaven and has protected believers in his name (cf. John 17:6-11). When we come to each of the three "places" mentioned above, the "place" of the formation by the Holy Spirit, the "place" where the Mass is celebrated and the "place" of the training of Revelation, the most important thing is that we take an attitude of being present there with all of our senses and with our whole body. These are divine "places" in which no contradictions arise because they are related to each other in superposition and strongly correlated. Therein lies the power of purifying human sensory memories and correcting knowledge. 

The Book of Revelation describes them in terms of the city, its gates and walls, which the angel measured with a measuring rod of gold (cf. Revelation 21:15-17). As discussed in blog № 60, the "city" represents the Mass, the "gates" the formation by the Holy Spirit, and the "walls" the training of Revelation. Here, the "man's measure" (Revelation 21:17) represents the function of the brain. The daily routine of collaborating with the Holy Spirit is essential for this function. The engine for this is found in Revelation. Hence, Jesus says: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13).

Maria K. M.

 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.