Beyond bread and butter – Part 2

Predictably, there have been more reactions to this column on my assertion that John the Baptist received and gave to mankind the great Revelation generally referred to as the Revelation of John. It is expected that when a serious spiritual pronouncement is made, a great many who concern themselves with issues beyond bread and butter will take more than passing interest in it.

The reactions are that “The book of Revelation is not by John the Baptist but John the Apostle. When you read Revelation, nowhere in the book does it state that John was in exile or was imprisoned. He states that he was there for the Gospel. The tradition of John’s exile was started by Augustine about 200 years after John’s lived.

It appears that Revelation was written between A. D. 43-47.’’

An esteemed pastor wrote: “Bible Answer: The Author and date of the book of Revelation is determined by internal and external information. First we will consider the internal and external data that help us know that the Apostle John wrote the book. Second, internal and external data is provided for the location where the book was written and the date of its writing.

“Date of the Book of Revelation: The Internal Evidence: First, we will address the question, “Who wrote the book of Revelation?” The internal evidence of the book is very important since the Word of God is without error and is the only source of truth. It is important to note that the Scripture is the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and it is the Word of God (Colossians 1: 25). The external evidence can only support what is internal. The external can never override the internal truth. That is the operational principle by which we discover truths about the book of Revelation.

“First, let’s examine what the book of Revelation says about its author. We will start with Revelation 1: 4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who was who is to come. And from the seven Spirits who are before His Throne…Revelation 1; 4 (NASB0.)

“Here we are told that John wrote to the seven churches in Asia. Then in chapters two and three of the book of Revelation, God used him to communicate to seven churches. A person identified as John is the author of the book. Paul, James, Peter, and Jude introduced themselves to their readers as the author of their letters or books at the beginning also.

“I, John, your brother and fellow partakers in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because 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 the sound of a trumpet…Revelation 1:9-10 (NASB).

“Then John once again refers to himself as ‘I’ in verse 10. In fact, he refers to himself as ‘I’ in every chapter of the book of Revelation, except in chapters two and three where he quotes God as saying, ‘I’. In the last chapter, Revelation 22:8, John uses his name once again. That means John referred to himself by name in the first chapters and the last chapter and as ‘I’ in –between. The internal evidence states that John is the author of the entire book of Revelation.”

The response also states that John the beloved of the Lord, John the Apostle received and “wrote to the seven churches in Asia. And that “indeed, Patmos had a long history of being a Roman prison. Even in A.D. 90 many of the inhabitants of Thessalonica were deported to Patmos as prisoners after it was defeated. Knowing that the Romans used the Island of Patmos as a prison strongly supports the conclusion that John was there.”

A great deal of efforts have been expended in the treatise to prove the authorship of the Book of Revelation and reject hints, indeed suggestion of John the Baptist may have had any connection with what was received. How come is the question that rings out? Doubting the possibility, it is believed, it could not have been dubbed the Revelation of John if John the higher being it was that gave the Revelation to mankind. Three more excerpts from the treatise in the response would suffice: “Who is this John? Revelation 1:5 gives us a hint when the author says, ‘To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood… This is a very personal statement and is very similar to the opening verses of 1John. In 1 John 1, the Apostle John speaks about touching the Lord with his hands and seeing Him. It is important to recall that he was the Disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13: 23; 20:2; 21: 7, 20).

Consequently when the author speaks of Jesus as the One who loves us, it is a clue that this is the Apostle John. No other author in the New Testament spoke in this manner of his personal relationship with Jesus as John did! This strongly suggests the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation. The author—The External Evidence the testimony of the early church fathers strongly supports the view that Apostle John is the author of the book of Revelation. For example, Irenaeeus (A.D. 115-202) wrote this in his book Against Heresies.

John also the Lord’s disciple, when beholding the sacerdotal and glorious advent of His Kingdom, says in the Apocalypse: “I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. Here he states that John was a disciple or apostle of Jesus Christ and that he wrote the Apocalypse or the book of Revelation. The verse that he quotes is Revelation 1: 12. Then in numerous other passages in Against Heresies he refers to John and quotes from the book of Revelation. Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-166) wrote in Dialogue With Trypho chapter 81 that the author was John, an Apostle of the Lord. He goes on to say, John, one of the Apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who are in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem…The arguments for rejecting the apostolic authorship stem largely from theological climate of the third century.”

I have created considerable amount of space to the reaction in order to be fair both to the writer as well as to those who called. It is also to create balance before the reader. It is for the reader to see and weigh what is of enduring spiritual benefit to him— the column or the reaction.

I must state that the treatise does not amount to much by way of enlightenment. It is all heat and no light. There is mixing of one John for the other from lack of clarity. First, observation: Revelation 1:4 is incomplete without Verse 5. With the verse the text of the message will read as follows: “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven spirits which are before his throne (1-4). And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. (Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible).

It is important to note that the benediction of John the Baptist was allowed to pass on were for all the universes and it came from “him which is, and which was, and which is to come…And from Jesus Christ.” This can only be referring to two great Figures—Imanuel and Jesus Christ. It is a load of knowledge that is contained in the benediction. What also with the best wishes from the “seven spirits which are before His Throne.”

These are the spiritual pillars that ring the Throne of Imanuel, The Castle of Parsifal at the Summit of Creation! Dake’s version describes The Revelation as the Vision of Christ—The Seven Churches. Then we read in what Christian Standard Bible calls Prologue: Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by His Angel unto His servant John. (Revelation 1:1).

The significance of this passage is the revelation that it was the Almighty Creator who gave to His Son and His Son in turn to His Angel and from His Angel to His servant John the messages to the seven churches which are the universes, namely Ephesus, Smyrna; Pergamum, Thyatira; Sardis: Philadelphia and Laodicea. The prophetic messages coming from the highest spiritual plane cannot be interpreted in earthly concepts as well as time; otherwise they would be dragged down. It is said of the time: “…which must shortly come to pass.” What is described as shortly takes much longer time because of the ponderousness of the earth plane and so according to Psalms (90:4), “…for a thousand earth-years are as one day in the Spiritual.”

According to the enlightenment of these times made available to mankind, “Only one was found worthy to receive the great Revelation of past and future happenings: John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said: ‘Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist’ (Matthew 11:11). “

I did state last week that John the Baptist received the Revelation in the Isle of Patmos on the seventh plane to which his activities extended, the Island inhabited by the Chosen Ones, the Blessed Ones. The Isle of Patmos is also the Mountain of Holy Proclamations, the Isle of Promises. The Isle of Patmos though in the highest Spiritual Realm above the Paradise of human spirits is at the boundary of the Primordial Spiritual. It has a replica at the uppermost boundary of the Realm of the Spiritual, the plane of our own species that did not have to come to the material, to develop. They were already perfect and are known as Created Ones. In the adjourning height, there is a replica of the Isle of Patmos also called Patmos. Whatever happens in the upper Patmos is reflected simultaneously in the lower one. John the Baptist is active in this lower part as well. There John the Baptist has as its head John’s namesake.

I have gone this far so that Patmos in the highest height of the Spiritual Realm is not to be mistaken for the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea during John the Baptist’s earth life. It cannot, therefore, be a surprise that it was he who proclaimed the Lord Jesus, as the voice of the one crying in the Wilderness. He was also to prepare the way of the Lord.

Zachariah and Elizabeth, his earthly parents, were told by an Angel that they would have a son “whom you shall call John. He will be great in the Power of God, great like Elijah. He will teach men and lead the apostates to God. He will prepare the way for Him to come, and Blessing will be with him.”

In response to fears Zachariah expressed about their advanced ages, the Angel said “God sends me. You must be content with that…” Part of John the Baptist’s activities included preparing all the other seven realms down to this earth for the promised coming of the Son of Man. John the Baptist received the Revelation in Isle of Patmos in the Primordial Spiritual Realm and passed it on to a human being on earth who was spiritually open for it and who translated it into earthly words. That human being on earth was John the Apostle.

What most modern priests, clerics and scholars have been unable to grasp is that there is a structure of Creation. The Primordial Creation is the highest. Yet there is Divine Realm which is not part of Creation. Between the Divine and the Throne of Grace is an ocean of flames. Only the Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit being Parts of God, bearing His Radiation which gave rise to the flames in the first place can cross.

In the Primordial Realm is John the Baptist’s plane where those to be sent out in the service of the Light are trained and prepared in order to be able to give support to Light missions. The planes above this are for the issuing of radiation powers because they are nearer the Throne of the Holy Spirit Who is the Son from God to Man hence the Son of Man, the eternal Mediator! He is at the summit of Creation. In the Isle John the Baptist lives is the uppermost step. Helpers in large numbers surround him. We are talking of planes with vastness and beauty totally inconceivable and incomprehensible to us human beings.

As I explained last week, it was only John the Baptist standing in the plane of the highest Spiritual Realm that could look down to the material worlds, the universes to transmit the messages to them from the height of his abode and field of activities. John the beloved Apostle of the Lord did not have the capacity to transmit messages to other universes separate from his own, Ephesus which is no more than a speck of dust, in spite of the sun being one of the billions of stars in our galaxy, Milky Way which in turn one of billions of galaxies our universe, Ephesus.

As it is in Ephesus so is it in other universes. John the Apostle was not so equipped as nothing, indeed, no one can go beyond his point of origin. The intellect with which he decoded what he received and transmitted the message could not go beyond this earth and the Beyond, the ethereal planes of the World of Matter for those who may have been trapped there from guilt arising from abuse of speeches, gossips etc, and thoughts—Medium Gross Matter and Fine Gross matter.

After leaving the wilderness where, like Moses, he had gone into seclusion surviving only on fruits and honey, and attired in an animal skin after years of learning at the feet of Rabbi Sholem, John the Baptist began his ministration. He began speaking for the first time at a market town in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and multitude gathered to listen to him.

“I am a voice from the wilderness, a voice that is to ring aloud across the lands. I would prepare the way for the Lord, as commanded by God, Whose servant I am. If you hearken to my voice and act according to my words, you will be allowed to behold the Anointed of the Lord!” The crowd yelled: “Speak! Tell us more! When will He come—He Who was awaited even by our fore-fathers?”

From the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, John the Baptist moved to Jordan. Everywhere he was asked: “Who are you a prophet or a preacher? On whose behalf do you speak such mighty words?” His response was untiringly: “I am not a prophet. I am merely the voice of a preacher in the wilderness. Without ceasing I must cry: ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord, our God. Repent, so that the Coming One will find you prepared.’ You ask on whose behalf I speak? I am a Messenger of God, the Almighty. He has deemed me worthy to proclaim His Kingdom.”

In the end John the Baptist was arrested and imprisoned on the orders of Herod and at the urging of Princess Herodias his wife and to please his daughter, Salome. John’s offence? He said to Herod, upon their meeting after much procrastination by the Tetrarch: “Herod, you know where your sin lies! It is not right that you made your brother’s wife your own. Send her away and serve God with a contrite heart!” Bruticus committed the insane murder. After he saw the ethereal figure of John the Baptist who told him that he name would change from Bruticus to Barnabas.

The aim of the column is to arouse human souls to the new, to higher knowledge spreading on earth today and to stimulate deep reflection and introspection on all issues of life and existence, in the conviction that the beginning of development is when man has reservations about life and begins to ask himself questions and to seek answers to them. “Who am I?” is a question which stares every human being in the face, for example. Where does my path lead me after this earthlife?

The Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece in the days of old charged all men with the inscription: “Know thyself” Didn’t renowned philosopher, Socrates say: “The unexamined life is not worth living”? And the Lord Jesus Christ admonished mankind: “Seek and ye shall find.” Not ye will find, but shall find; he who seeks earnestly must find! The new in reference answers all questions of life and existence.

Therefore, the column invites dabbles into all and every subject of life in a new light, beaming the luminous Light of Truth on them, be it politics; formation of nation states; nation building; political arrangements; economic matters; corporate governance; science and technology as well as social and cultural issues, above all the spiritual as every human being is a spirit, the body no more than a garment he wears for only some time. The garment he drops at death.

The old knowledge can no longer suffice; it is limited. Mankind today has been blessed with so much that man has no excuse to stand on the same spot, going round in circles, but getting to nowhere in particular.