2023/06/26

97. The Fourth "blessedness" and the Keys of Peter

The Kingdom of God has come through the Passion of Jesus. We, the Church, with the Holy Spirit, are the ones who are to fulfil the Passover in the Kingdom of God so that Jesus may eat the Passover meal again (cf. blog № 96). The "marriage of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:7) was the day the New Testament, the bride of the Lamb, would be established. It was the very "righteous deeds of the saints" (Revelation 19:8) that the author had been waiting for. So, after writing down the fourth "blessedness" and the "true words of God," the author tried to prostrate himself at the angel's feet and worship him. The angel stopped him from doing so and told him that the prophecies would continue, saying, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). 

At the beginning of those prophecies, a "white horse" appeared from heaven, making it clear that the "true words of God" that brings the solution to the "blessedness" of "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9) is Peter's words, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16) (cf. blog № 95). These words, of which Jesus said, "For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17), therefore have a particular efficacy. 

By this efficacy, Jesus continued his words: "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). By placing Peter's words, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," at the foundation of his church, Jesus guaranteed that the powers of death would be sealed. He also announced that the efficacy of these words would be valid simultaneously on earth and heaven both when binding and loosing, saying, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). 

The particular expression "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" refers to the fact that the testimony of Jesus in the New Testament, becoming the prophecies of the New Covenant, will be realised in individual Christians who collaborate with the Holy Spirit, just as the Old Covenant prophecies were fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Hence, the efficacy of Peter's words, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God", which are linked to the "blessedness" of "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb," belongs to all Christians. 

From this point on, Revelation describes the process by which "the testimony of Jesus" in the Gospels is fulfilled in the manner of "the spirit of prophecy." The trainee of Revelation, who reads aloud it, hears the voice and remembers it, comes to relive the simulation of God's reality, so to speak, that the author John experienced and to share it with him (cf. Revelation 19:14-20:5). As their senses are accustomed to the fashion of "the spirit of prophecy," they eventually become able to see everyday events overlapping with the divine reality.

Maria K. M.

 2023/06/19

96. Accompaniment of the Fourth "Blessedness"

The Gospel of Luke wrote that at the last supper, Jesus said, "I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22:15). It then tells us that Jesus made two announcements about the Kingdom of God. These are: "I tell you I shall not eat it [the passover] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God" (Luke 22:16) and "I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (Luke 22:18). 

Meanwhile, turning to the scene of the crucifixion in the Gospel of John, by the side of Jesus on the cross were his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene and the "beloved disciple." Jesus then tied his mother and the "beloved disciple" in a parent-child bond (cf. John 19:25-27). Following this scene, John's Gospel says: "After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), 'I thirst.'" (John 19:28). Immediately preceding these two scenes is the passage, "This was to fulfil the scripture, 'They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots'" (John 19:24), where Psalm 22:19 is quoted. So here, too, one might look for a passage in the same Psalm which indicates the Scripture is fulfilled concerning the words "I thirst." Then he would find Psalm 22:16. But it is not the case. Jesus said, "I thirst," so that, at that moment when he knew that all things had been finished, he would receive the vinegar, namely "the fruit of the vine," and thereby announce that the kingdom of God had come (cf. John 19:29-30). 

Jesus fulfilled the "new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20) through his blood shed in his Passion. He said: "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:20-21). As these words show, the kingdom of God has already come to those who participate in the new covenant in the blood of Jesus. This fact shows that now we, the Church, are to fulfil the Passover in the kingdom of God so that Jesus may eat it again. So, the fourth "blessedness" of the Book of Revelation accompanies the trainees of Revelation, who share the prophecy about "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9).

Maria K. M.

 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.