New Testament

© Marinus Jan Marijs
Index        (Click on the links here below to select the stories)

1. The return of prodigal son
2. The holy Trinity
3. Book of life
4. Baptising
5. Jesus walking on water
6. Changing water into wine (Cana)
7. Glorification
8. Rendering of the veil
9. Ascension
10. Holy spirit
11. Pentecost
12. Kosmic battle
13. Resurrection
14. Collective sin
15. The heavens opened
16. Kingdom of God
17. The holy city
18. Heaven and hell
19. Redemption
20. Purgatory
21. Angels
22. Kosmic  transformation / Omega point
23. The Apocalypse

 

1. The return of prodigal son

Apotheosis – Alphonse Mucha  (1860-1939).

Synopsis:

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the parables of Jesus and appears in Luke 15:11–32. Jesus Christ shares it with his disciples, the Pharisees and others.

In the story, a father has two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance and after wasting his fortune, becomes destitute. He returns home with the intention of begging his father to be made one of his hired servants, expecting his relationship with his father is likely severed.

The father welcomes him back and celebrates his return. The older son refuses to participate. The father reminds the older son that one day he will inherit everything, and that they should still celebrate the return of the younger son because he was lost and is now found.

Narrative

The parable begins with a young man, the younger of two sons, who asks his father to give him his share of the estate. The implication is the son could not wait for his father’s death for his inheritance, he wanted it immediately. The father agrees and divides his estate between both sons.

Upon receiving his portion of the inheritance, the younger son travels to a distant country and wastes all his money in extravagant living. Immediately thereafter, a famine strikes the land; he becomes desperately poor and is forced to take work as a swineherd. (This, too, would have been abhorrent to Jesus’ Jewish audience, who considered swine unclean animals.) When he reaches the point of envying the food of the pigs he is watching, he finally comes to his senses:

But when he came to himself he said, “How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'” He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran towards him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

— Luke 15:17–20,

This implies the father was hopefully watching for the son’s return.

The son does not even have time to finish his rehearsed speech, since the father calls for his servants to dress him in a fine robe, a ring, and sandals, and slaughter the “fattened calf” for a celebratory meal.

The older son, who was at work in the fields, hears the sound of celebration, and is told about the return of his younger brother. He is not impressed, and becomes angry. He also has a speech for his father:

But he answered his father, “Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.”

— Luke 15:29–30,

The parable concludes with the father explaining that because the younger son had returned, in a sense, from the dead, celebration was necessary:

“But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.”

— Luke 15:32,

Interpretation:

This story has several levels of interpretation:

The first is the traditional interpretation, that someone who lost his faith and finds it back, will be welcomed back.

The second is an interpretation which refers to the soul, which by taking on a physical life, loses its contact with the higher world, the metaphysical world in which it existed before birth and then returns to it after death.

The celebration after returning back, refers to returning  to the divine world, to the “father”.

The “brothers represent the higher angels.

The father represents the Heavenly Father.

2. The holy Trinity

Mignard, Pierre (1612-95)

Synopsis:

The Holy Trinity

Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Hebrew Scriptures: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The earliest Christians, however, had to cope with the implications of the coming of Jesus Christ and of the presumed presence and power of God among them—i.e., the Holy Spirit, whose coming was connected with the celebration of the Pentecost. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were associated in such New Testament passages as the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19); and in the apostolic benediction: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Thus, the New Testament established the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three and their unity were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons.

Introduction of Neoplatonic themes

The Johannine literature in the Bible provides the first traces of the concept of Christ as the Logos, the “word” or “principle” that issues from eternity. Under the influence of subsequent Neoplatonic philosophy, this tradition became central in speculative theology. There was interest in the relationship of the “oneness” of God to the “triplicity” of divine manifestations. This question was answered through the Neoplatonic metaphysics of being. The transcendent God, who is beyond all being, all rationality, and all conceptuality, is divested of divine transcendence.

To maintain a formal understanding of the oneness of God, the sameness of essence of the Son and the Holy Spirit with God the Father, is stressed by theologians.

Interpretation:

Theologians often spoke of a “Beatific Vision,” a blessed vision of God. In the history of Christian mysticism, this visionary experience of the transpersonal “Godhead” behind the personal “God” (as in the works of the medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart)—also called an experience of:  The “divine ground,” “groundlessness,” the “abyss” and the divine “nothingness” —. The attempt of the 20th-century theologian Paul Tillich to reduce the Christian idea of God to the impersonal concept of “the Ground of Being,” or “Being Itself,” pointed toward an understanding of the pre-personal depths of the transcendence of Godhood.

The “Absolute” is the ground of being, beyond space and time, one without a second. The Holy Spirit is the creative force which functions within space and time. The “Son” is the divine force which manifests itself on the highest level of existence as well on the physical level of existence in an individual.    

3. Book of life

Synopsis:

In Christianity and Judaism, the Book of Life is the book in which God records the names of every person who is destined for Heaven or the World to Come.

Interpretation:

The concept of the book of life can also to be found within Hindu philosophy as the Akasha chronicles.

It refers to a kosmic memory, in which everything that has ever happened is registered.

Related to this is that according to a very ancient Hindu tradition, the sages of ancient times composed the Vedas by means of an impersonal type of inspiration through cosmic vibrations.

4. Baptising

Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734)

Synopsis: 

Baptism, is a sacrament of admission to Christianity. The forms and rituals of the various Christian churches vary, but baptism almost invariably involves the use of water and the Trinitarian invocation, “I baptize you: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The candidate may be wholly or partly immersed in water, the water may be poured over the head, or a few drops may be sprinkled or placed on the head.

Baptism, as the initial rite, was the covenant sign and a legal injunction rather than a sacramental ordinance.

Ritual immersion has traditionally played an important part in Judaism, as a symbol of purification or as a symbol of consecration (in rituals of conversion, accompanied by special prayers).

According to the Gospels, John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Although there is no actual account of the institution of baptism by Jesus, the Baptism occupied a place of great importance in the Christian community of the 1st century, but Christian scholars disagree over whether it was to be regarded as essential to the new birth and to membership in the kingdom of God or to be regarded only as an external sign or symbol of inner regeneration.

Confirmation, Christian rite by which admission to the church, established previously in infant baptism, is said to be confirmed (or strengthened and established in faith).

Though the widespread conception of the sacramental principle is an ancient heritage, in all probability going back before the dawn of civilization, it acquired in Christianity a unique significance. There it became the fundamental system and institution for the perpetuation of the union of God and man in the person of Jesus Christ through the visible organization and constitution of the church, which was viewed as the mystical body of Christ.

In the 12th century the number of sacraments of the Western Christian church was narrowed by the theologian and bishop Peter Lombard to seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper), penance, holy orders, matrimony, and extreme unction. This enumeration was accepted by St. Thomas Aquinas, the Council of Florence (1439), and the Council of Trent (1545–63). These rites were thus affirmed by the Roman Catholic Church as sacraments that were instituted by Christ.

Baptism

Those who received baptism in early Christianity were adult converts. There is no scholarly consensus as to whether children, including infants, were baptized alongside their parents. By the 4th century the practice of infant baptism was universal.

Confirmation

With the development of infant Baptism, the regenerative initial sacrament was coupled with the charismatic apostolic laying on of hands as the seal of the Spirit in the rite of confirmation (Acts 8:14–17). By the 4th century, confirmation became a separate “unction” (rite using oil) administered by a bishop or, earlier and in the Eastern Church, by a priest to complete the sacramental baptismal grace already bestowed at birth or on some other previous occasion.

The Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper

Together with Baptism the greatest importance has been given to the Eucharist, both of which institutions are singled out in the Gospels as dominical (instituted by Christ) in origin, with a special status and rank. Under a variety of titles (Eucharist from the Greek eucharistia, “thanksgiving”; the Latin mass; the Holy Communion; the Lord’s Supper; and the breaking of the bread) it has been the central act of worship ever since the night of the betrayal of Jesus on the Thursday preceding his crucifixion. It was then that the elements of bread and wine were identified with the body and blood of Jesus in his institution of the Eucharist with his disciples and with the sacrifice he was about to offer in order to establish and seal the new covenant. This “presence” of Jesus has been variously interpreted in actual, figurative, or symbolical senses; but the sacramental sense, as the anamnesis, or memorial before God, of the sacrificial offering on the cross once and for all, has always been accepted.

Not until the beginning of the Middle Ages did controversial issues arise that found expression in the definition of the doctrine of transubstantiation at the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This definition opened the way for the scholastic interpretation of the eucharistic Presence of Christ and of the sacramental principle, in Aristotelian terms. Thus, St. Thomas Aquinas maintained that a complete change occurred in the “substance” of each of the species, while the “accidents,” or outward appearances, remained the same.

Penance

In its formulation, the Christian doctrine of conciliation, which, as St. Paul contended, required a change of status in the penitent, had to be made sacramentally effective in the individual and in redeemed humanity as a whole. In the Gospel According to Matthew (16:13–20, 18:18) the power to “bind and loose” was conferred on St. Peter and the other Apostles.

Ordination

Most Christian theologians have claimed that the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons derives its authority and sacramental efficacy from Christ through his Apostles. In the Roman Catholic Church it has been maintained that a special charismatic sacramental endowment conveying an indelible “character” has been conferred on those who receive valid ordination by the laying on of hands on their heads by bishops (who thus transfer to them the “power of orders”), prayer, and a right intention.

Marriage

In the Roman Catholic Church the institution of matrimony was raised to the level of a sacrament because it was assigned a divine origin and made an indissoluble union typifying the union of Christ with his church as his mystical body (Matt. 5:27–32; Mark 10:2–12; Luke 16:18; I Cor. 7:2, 10; Eph. 5:23ff.).

Last unction

In Christianity anointing of the sick was widely practiced from apostolic times as a sacramental rite in association with the ceremony of the imposition of hands to convey a blessing, recovery from illness, or with the last communion to fortify the believer safely on his new career in the fuller life of the eternal world. Not until the 8th and 9th centuries, however, did extreme unction, another term for the final anointing of the sick, become one of the seven sacraments. In Eastern Christendom, it has never been confined to those in extremis (near death) nor has the blessing of the oil by a bishop been required.

The sacraments

The interpretation and number of the sacraments vary among the Christian churches of the world. The number of sacraments also varied in the early church. At the Council of Trent (1545–63), the Roman Catholic Church formally fixed the number of sacraments at seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, holy orders, matrimony, and anointing of the sick. The theology of the Eastern Orthodox churches also fixed the number of sacraments at seven.

Interpretation:

Baptising symbolises a purification process.

There are five levels:
1. Baptising with water,
2. Baptising with pneuma,
3. Baptising with fire,
4. Baptising with blood,
5. Glorification.

These refer to the five mystical levels.

If one goes beyond symbolism, than this process on a deeper level refers to several spiritual developmental stages.

Baptising is a symbol of a mental purification by which spiritual energy of a higher ontological level is activated.

5. Jesus walking on water

Julius Sergius von Klever [1850-1924]

Synopsis:

Jesus Walks on the Water

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Interpretation: 

The narrative of Christ walking on water can be seen as a literal story by which an extraordinary person creates a miracle by which the laws of nature are transcended.

One could say that this miracle results from an interaction between the physical world and a transcendental reality.

The story can also be seen as a description of the mystical state, by which a mystic no longer is at the mercy of psychological conflicts but at a permanent state of serenity, tranquillity, here symbolised as jesus walking on water.

6. Changing water into wine (Cana)

Vladimir-Makovsky   (1846 – 1920)  

Synopsis:

John 2:1-12

The Wedding at Cana

2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^{[a] 7} Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

¹² After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers^[b] and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Interpretation:

The story of Christ who changed water into wine at a wedding, is generally seen as a miracle by which one liquid changes into another liquid of a complex chemical composition.

However the story can also been seen as allegorical story by which the wedding can be seen as a mystical union.

The water that changes into wine, can be seen as the clear mind that changes into a state of mystical ecstasy.

7. Glorification

Giovanni Battista Gaulli  (8 May 1639 – 2 April 1709)

Synopsis:

Glorification is the final stage of the ordo salutis and an aspect of Christian soteriology and Christian eschatology. It refers to the nature of believers after death and judgement, “the final step in the application of redemption.  Biblical verses commonly cited as evidence for this doctrine include Psalm 49:15, Daniel 12:2, John 11:23-24, Romans 8:30 and 1 Corinthians 15:20. The theological doctrine of glorification goes on to describe how believers will be resurrected after death and given new bodies that have a degree of continuity with their mortal selves.

Interpretation:

The glorification as the total transformation of the whole Kosmos is the central theme of Christianity and many other spiritual teachings.

There are two different glorifications:

1. The temporary individual (by Christ at the mount Tabor), and

2. The permanent collective glorification of the whole kosmos in the future (Omegapoint).

8. Rendering of the veil

William Bell Scott  (1811 – 1890)

Rendering of the veil: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27:50–51)
In the Levitical system, the high priest offered daily sacrifices for the sins of the people (Hebrews 7:27:), and once a year would go behind the veil to offer a sacrifice in the “Holy of Holies” (Hebrews 9:3, 7, But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11–12) 

The symbolism behind the story, that Jesus entered the “Most Holy Place” (behind the veil), means that he did enter the highest ontological level; the divine, the presence of God. The blood of Christ means the higher subtle energies of this mystic that have the ability to transform collective or even kosmic processes. They remove the barrier between humanity and the divine.

9. Ascension

Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

Ascension, in Christian belief, the ascent of Jesus Christ into heaven on the 40th day after his Resurrection (Easter being reckoned as the first day). According to the first chapter of The Acts of the Apostles, after appearing to the Apostles on various occasions during a period of 40 days, Jesus was taken up in their presence and was then hidden from them by a cloud, a frequent biblical image signifying the presence of God. Although belief in the Ascension is apparent in other books of the New Testament, the emphasis and the imagery differ. In The Gospel According to John, the glorification described by the Ascension story seems to have taken place immediately after the Resurrection. The imagery of the account in The Gospel According to Luke is similar to that of Acts, but there is no mention of a period of 40 days.

Interpretation:

The Ascension as a translocation to a higher ontological realm, generally called heaven, has multiple issues;
while this is a vertical ascension, it is not a physical ascension.

Out of the Body Experiences and Near Death Experiences make clear that this ascension isn’t a unique experience of an extraordinary high level mystic, but an universal experience, when the human soul leaves its physical body.
This process takes place immediately.

10. Holy spirit

Thomas Cole  (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848)   

Synopsis:

The Holy Spirit is one of the most elusive and difficult themes in Christian theology, because it refers to one of the three persons in the Godhead but does not evoke concrete images the way “Father” or “Creator” and “Son” or “Redeemer” do. A characteristic view of the Holy Spirit is sketched in The Gospel According to John: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit takes place only after the Ascension of Christ; it is the beginning of a new time of salvation, in which the Holy Spirit is sent as the Paraclete (Counsellor) remaining behind in this world.

Interpretation:

Contact with the Holy spirit yields what is called Revelation, the disclosure of divine or sacred reality or purpose to humanity. In the religious view, such disclosure may come through mystical insights, historical events, or spiritual experiences that transform the lives of individuals and groups.

11. Pentecost

Pentecost, by Jean Restout  (26 March 1692 – 1 January 1768)

Synopsis:

Pentecost, (Pentecost from Greek pentecostē, “50th day”), major festival in the Christian church, celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day after Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples following the death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and it marks the beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world.

Interpretation:

The descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples by which energy from a very high spiritual level came down upon the followers of Christ.

The tongues of flames upon their heads are reminiscent to the kundalini fire.

12. Kosmic battle

19th-century-painting-ivan-konstantinovich-aivazovsky-  (29 July 1817 – 2 May 1900)

Synopsis:

Armageddon, (probably Hebrew: “Hill of Megiddo”), in the New Testament, place where the kings of the earth under demonic leadership will wage war on the forces of God at the end of history. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible only once, in the Revelation to John, or the Apocalypse of St. John (16:16).
The Palestinian city of Megiddo, located on a pass commanding a road connecting Egypt and Syria, was probably chosen as a symbol for such a battle, because it had been the scene of many military encounters owing to its strategic location.

Interpretation:

The term Armageddon has often been used to refer to an impending cataclysmic struggle between the forces of good and evil.

The story is about the ultimate battle between the forces chaos and order, in which the forces of the highest ontological level will go into a final battle in which the whole Kosmos will be transformed.

13. Resurrection

Alphonse Mucha  (1860-1939)

Synopsis:

Resurrection, the rising from the dead of a divine or human being who still retains his own personhood, or individuality, though the body may or may not be changed. The belief in the resurrection of the body is usually associated with Christianity, because of the doctrine of the Resurrection of Christ, but it also is associated with later Judaism, which provided basic ideas that were expanded in Christianity and Islam.

Ancient Middle Eastern religious thought provided a background for belief in the resurrection of a divine being (e.g., the Babylonian vegetation god Tammuz), but belief in personal resurrection of humans was unknown. In Greco-Roman religious thought there was a belief in the immortality of the soul, but not in the resurrection of the body. Symbolic resurrection, or rebirth of the spirit, occurred in the Hellenistic mystery religions, such as the religion of the goddess Isis, but post-mortem corporeal resurrection was not recognized.

The expectation of the resurrection of the dead is found in several biblical works. In the Book of Ezekiel, there is an anticipation that the righteous Israelites will rise from the dead. The Book of Daniel further developed the hope of resurrection with both the righteous and unrighteous Israelites being raised from the dead, after which will occur a judgment, with the righteous participating in an eternal messianic kingdom and the unrighteous being excluded. In some intertestamental literature, such as The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, there is an expectation of a universal resurrection at the advent of the Messiah.

The Resurrection of Christ, a central doctrine of Christianity, is based on the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion and that through his conquering of death all believers will subsequently share in his victory over “sin, death, and the Devil.” The celebration of this event, called Easter, or the Festival of the Resurrection, is the major feast day of the church. The accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus are found in the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and various theological expressions of the early church’s universal conviction and consensus that Christ rose from the dead are found throughout the rest of the New Testament, especially in the letters of the Apostle Paul (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15).

According to the Gospel accounts, certain woman disciples went to the tomb of Jesus, which was located in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish religious court) and a secret disciple of Jesus. They found the stone sealing the tomb moved and the tomb empty, and they informed Peter and other disciples that the body of Jesus was not there. Later, various disciples saw Jesus in Jerusalem, even entering a room that was locked; he was also seen in Galilee. (Accounts of the locations and occasions of the appearances differ in various Gospels.) Other than such appearances noted in the Gospels, the account of the resurrected Lord’s walking the Earth for 40 days and subsequently ascending into heaven is found only in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
Zoroastrianism holds a belief in a final overthrow of Evil, a general resurrection, a Last Judgment, and the restoration of a cleansed world to the righteous.

Interpretation:

The concept of resurrection has several distinct interpretations:

– Physical resurrection at the end of time.

– Physical reincarnation, generally thought of as several decennia or centuries after the death of the previous physical body.

– No physical reincarnation but a direct non-physical body in a higher world.

– Kosmic resurrection.

14. Collective sin

James Jacques Joseph Tissot  (15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902)

Synopsis:

Original sin, in Christian doctrine, the condition or state of sin into which each human being is born; also, the origin (i.e., the cause, or source) of this state. Traditionally, the origin has been ascribed to the sin of the first man, Adam, who disobeyed God in eating the forbidden fruit (of knowledge of good and evil) and, in consequence, transmitted his sin and guilt by heredity to his descendants.

The doctrine has its basis in the Bible. Although the human condition (suffering, death, and a universal tendency toward sin) is accounted for by the story of the Fall of Adam in the early chapters of the book of Genesis, the Hebrew Scriptures say nothing about the transmission of hereditary sin to the entire human race. In the Gospels also there are no more than allusions to the notion of the Fall of Man and universal sin. The main scriptural affirmation of the doctrine is found in the writings of St. Paul and particularly in Romans 5:12–19, a difficult passage in which Paul establishes a parallelism between Adam and Christ, stating that whereas sin and death entered the world through Adam, grace and eternal life have come in greater abundance through Christ.

Interpretation:

The concept of original sin finds its origin in the biblical story of Genesis.
This is an allegorical narrative in which the spirit and the soul, personified by Adam and Eve, live in a sinless state, in a higher ontological world.

In this story the spirit and the soul, in search of knowledge, leave the paradise world and are born in the physical world.

Being born in the physical world, one becomes for a very great part determined by instinctual forces.

Going back to the concept of ”sin” that refers to a situation in which lower instinctual forces are activated without the logical, social or moral basis of higher level functions.

While instinctual forces are absolutely necessary to function in life, they can lead to antisocial or even criminal behaviour if they are used in the wrong circumstances.

If what is called “sin” is instinctual, than because of the fact that instincts by their very nature are inherited, one can speak indeed of inherited sin. 

15. The heavens opened

Govert Flinck (Kleef, 25 januari 1615 – Amsterdam, 2 februari 1660)

Synopsis:

Portals Established Over Individuals

Jesus

Portals can also be established over a person life as we find over Jesus’ life.

“And He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jn. 1:51

“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,” Lk. 3:21

 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove {and} lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Mat. 3:16-17 

Apostle John

While John was in exile on the isle of Patmos, a portal opened and he began to receive great mysteries of things to come.  This is a great example of a portal, door or ancient gate opening between the third heaven  and a great example of how God uses a portal to establish revelation of His mysteries to man.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door {standing} open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like {the sound} of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”’ Rev 4:1

“And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.”’ Rev. 11:12

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it {is} called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. “ Rev. 19:11

Interpretation:

What is described here are interdimensional connections to higher ontological worlds.
They are experienced as connections with, and perceptions of light worlds.

16. Kingdom of God

Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

Kingdom of God, also called Kingdom Of Heaven, in Christianity, the spiritual realm over which God reigns as king, or the fulfillment on Earth of God’s will. The phrase occurs frequently in the New Testament, primarily used by Jesus Christ in the first three Gospels. It is generally considered to be the central theme of Jesus’ teaching, but widely differing views have been held about Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God and its relation to the developed view of the church.

Interpretation:

The phrase refers to the Kingdom of God that has arrived during Jesus lifetime, with the glorification on mount Tabor.
This was on an individual and temporary basis and would be realised later on a collective and permanent basis.
When Christ was asked when this would take place, Christ said:
” It will come as a thief in the night when nobody expects it.”

17. The holy city

Synopsis:

Revelation 21  ² And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

³ And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Interpretation:

This is a symbolic description of a mystical experience.
The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, is an experience which has been described as the glorification, the rainbow body and so on.
It is a temporary individual experience, of an very high level, of which there are several descriptions within the spiritual literature.
Here in Revelation 21, a future situation has been described when this is no longer a temporary individual experience, but a collective permanent experience.

18. Heaven and hell

Gustave Doré    (Strasburg, 6 January 1832 – Paris, 23 January 1883)

Synopsis:

Heaven, in many religions, the abode of God or the gods, as well as of angels, deified humans, the blessed dead, and other celestial beings. It is often conceived as an expanse that overarches the earth, stretching overhead like a canopy, dome, or vault and encompassing the sky and upper atmosphere; the Sun, Moon, and stars; and the transcendent realm beyond.

Hell, in many religious traditions, the abode, usually beneath the earth, of the unredeemed dead or the spirits of the damned. In its archaic sense, the term hell refers to the underworld, a deep pit or distant land of shadows where the dead are gathered. From the underworld come dreams, ghosts, and demons, and in its most terrible precincts sinners pay—some say eternally—the penalty for their crimes. The underworld is often imagined as a place of punishment rather than merely of darkness and decomposition because of the widespread belief that a moral universe requires judgment and retribution—crime must not pay. More broadly, hell figures in religious cosmologies as the opposite of heaven, the nadir of the cosmos, and the land where God is not. In world literature the journey to hell is a perennial motif of hero legends and quest stories, and hell itself is the preeminent symbol of evil, alienation, and despair.

Many English translations of the Bible use hell as an English equivalent of the Hebrew terms Sheʾōl (or Sheol) and Gehinnom, or Gehenna (Hebrew: gê-hinnōm). The term Hell is also used for the Greek Hades and Tartarus, which have markedly different connotations. As this confusion of terms suggests, the idea of hell has a complex history, reflecting changing attitudes toward death and judgment, sin and salvation, and crime and punishment.

Interpretation:

The concept of life after death within ancient Greek thinking before 700 BC  was very limited. Some vague ideas about hades but nothing more.
In the axial period, the Greek philosophers developed more elaborate ideas about life after death, including concepts as the psyche, pre-existence, reincarnation and so on.

Within Judaism, in the old testament, the concept of life after death  was also very limited. With the arrival of Christianity this was about to be changed.
Life after death became suddenly central to religious thinking.

Most of the theological concepts related to life after death were highly speculative.

This changed when what is called Out of the Body Experiences were taken into account.
Plato described in ”The myth of Er” an Out of the Body Experience.
This no longer was a highly speculative approach but an empirical way to look in to the question of life after death.

St. Paul mentioned an Out of the Body Experience by himself (2 Corinthians 12).

The idea is that if a human soul can temporarily leave its physical body, that could give information about a permanent state after death.

If there is life after death, than the question is what is its quality?

When a human soul is born in a physical body, it becomes dependent to an enormous amount of physiological and biological programs, of which only a small part is conscious.

While reflexes, automatisms, instincts and algorithmic programs are generally seen as primitive, it should be understood that if these programs where not automatic and would need to be under conscious control, humans would not be able to develop higher mental capacities.

This brings us to what in religious writings is called “sin”.

What traditionally is called sin, is any action, feeling, or thought that goes against moral or spiritual norms or transcendent values.
In the Bible’s original languages, the words for sin mean “to miss a mark,” or a target.
This means that sin is lower level instinctual behaviour which should be replaced with a higher level functioning.
So on one hand these lower level subconscious functions are absolutely necessary, but on the other hand higher conscious functions should transcend the lower.

After death the soul goes to a higher ontological world, like in an Out of the Body Experience, but now permanent.
The soul comes in an environment in which each produced mental activity attracts similar activity in its surroundings. So for example here a feeling of compassion is a form of subtle energy that has spatial dimensions, is visible as colour and movement patterns and attracts similar activity in its surroundings, and by that creates its own heaven or hell.

If this environment would be negative because the produced mental activity is negative, than a change to a positive mental activity shall in a very short time change the surroundings in a positive way.

19. Redemption

Synopsis:

The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.

Interpretation:

Redemption as a spiritual process has to do with transcending patterns of functioning which one has cultivated, conditioned and developed in one’s lifetime. This redemption is realised mainly by making direct contact with transcendent forces on higher ontological levels.

      20. Purgatory

                                                 Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl (1860-1933)

Synopsis:

Purgatory, the condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which, according to medieval Christian and Roman Catholic belief, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven. Purgatory (Latin: purgatorium; from purgare, “to purge”) has come to refer as well to a wide range of historical and modern conceptions of postmortem suffering short of everlasting damnation.

Purgatory in world religions

The idea of purification or temporary punishment after death has ancient roots and is well attested in early Christian literature. The conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the achievement of medieval Christian piety and imagination. Beliefs and practices relating to purgatory profoundly affected Western society in the Middle Ages and beyond. As the focus of a complex system of suffrages (intercessory prayers, masses, alms, and fasting on behalf of the dead), penitential practices, and indulgences, purgatory strengthened the bond between the living and the dead, provided motivation for works of social philanthropy as well as for pilgrimages and Crusades, and furnished abundant matter for visionary and imaginative literature.

In general, the origins of purgatory may be sought in the worldwide practice of praying for the dead and caring for their needs. Such ministrations presuppose that the dead are in a temporal state between earthly life and their final abode and that they can benefit from the generosity or transferred merit of the living. Purgatory answers the human need to believe in a just and merciful cosmos, one in which ordinary people, neither hardened sinners nor perfect saints, may undergo correction, balance life’s accounts, satisfy old debts, cleanse accumulated defilements, and heal troubled memories. Since these are universal concerns, there are parallels to the Christian conception of purgatory in many religious and cultural traditions.

Christian traditions

Among Christians, the biblical warrant for purgatory is contested. Supporters of the Roman Catholic belief cite biblical passages in which there are intimations of the three major components of purgatory: prayer for the dead, an active interim state between death and resurrection, and a purifying fire after death. These texts yield a consistent notion of purgatory, however, only when viewed from the standpoint of the formal Roman Catholic doctrine, which was defined at the councils of Lyon (1274), Ferrara-Florence (1438–45), and Trent (1545–63) after a prolonged period of development by lay Christians and theologians.

Interpretation:

When the human soul takes on a human body, it becomes under the influence of a great number of unconscious processes.

These processes include instincts, reflexes, processing of sensory information, repressed feelings, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, thoughts, habits, and automatic reactions, complexes, hidden phobias and desires and so on.

Not only does one become under the influence of unconscious processes, it would be impossible to function on a high mental level if these automatic processes had to be regulated by conscious processes.

After death, when the soul returns to the higher ontological world, many of these processes of which some can have a residue, have to be eliminated.
The nature of the subtle energies the soul is composed, is  such that this spiritual process takes only a limited amount of time, as one can see easily  in out of the body experiences. 

21. Angels

Synopsis:

An angel is generally a supernatural being found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God’s tasks. Within Abrahamic religions, angels are often organized into hierarchies, although such rankings may vary between sects in each religion, and are given specific names or titles. The term “angel” has also been expanded to various notions of spirits or figures found in other religious traditions. The theological study of angels is known as “angelology”. In fine art, angels are usually depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty; they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings, halos, and light.

Interpretation:

While the existence of Angels seems just a poetic idea, there are notable supporters of the concept of Angels. Next to basically all founders of religion there are:    
– Aristotle: Called them secondary movers, disembodied intellects.
– Descartes claimed that an angel appeared to him in a dream.
– Leibniz: Wrote about angels superior to man.
– Alfred Russel Wallace; “For Wallace, life in all its varied abundance could only be explained by the actions of higher beings: -“I believe it to be,” he said, “the guidance of beings superior to us in power and intelligence. Call them spirits, angels, gods, what you will.”
– The mathematician Georg Cantor believed that his theory of transfinite numbers had been communicated to him by an Angel.
Alexander Fleming, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for his discovery of penicillin suggested that an “Angel” had “stirred up the waters” for the Penicillium mould to mix with S. aureus on the Petri plate.
– The greatest logician of the last century, Kurt Gödel: “There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind.”

If one wants to place angels in a conceptual framework, they have to be placed on a higher level of existence.
They consist of subtle energy in the same way the human soul does.

22. Kosmic  transformation / Omega point

Synopsis:

The Omega Point is a spiritual belief and a scientific speculation that everything in the universe is fated to spiral towards a final point of “divine” unification.^[1] The term was coined by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).^[2] Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, namely Christ, who draws all things into himself, who in the words of the Nicene Creed, is “God from God,” “Light from Light,” “True God from true God,” and “through him all things were made.” In the Book of Revelation, Christ describes himself thrice as “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

Interpretation:

In many mystical traditions there are concepts relating to the Ultimate destiny of humanity and the kosmos.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit, described what he called “Omega point”. With this concept he expressed a process in which consciousness and existence evolves towards an ultimate convergence point, a final unity that he called the Omega point.

This kosmic process has a meaning, a direction and a goal and when this Omega point is reached, it is irreversible. This final unification of the world was, in his words: “Not only survival but as super-life” (in: “The phenomenon of Man”, 1950), meaning it was not just life after death, as in some permanent ‘out of the body’-state is experienced, but a much higher superior form of Life. Sometimes he refered to the unification of planetary consciousness, but in the end he characterized it as a kosmic event affecting the whole kosmos. Within this collective process he saw it as the work of Christ to lead the material world into kosmic redemption.

The concept of Omega point falls in the field of eschatology, the part of theology and philosophy concerned with “the study of” the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humanity.

23. The Apocalypse

Introduction:

The Apocalypse, or Revelation of John, the last book of the Bible, is one of the most difficult to understand because it abounds in unfamiliar and extravagant symbolism, which at best appears unusual to the modern reader.

Symbolic language, however, is one of the chief characteristics of apocalyptic literature, of which this book is an outstanding example. Such literature enjoyed wide popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles from ca. 200 B.C. to A.D. 200.

This book contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. This much, however, is certain: Symbolic descriptions are not to be taken as literal descriptions, nor is the symbolism meant to be pictured realistically.

Synapsis and interpretation:

The Book Of Revelation

1. 12-13

¹² I turned round to see who was speaking to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands ¹³ and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold.

The son of man refers to the Messiah, and the seven golden lamp-stands symbolises the seven chakra’s who connect the soul and the spirit to the physical body.

1.    16

¹⁶ ………..and his face was like the sun shining with all its force.

The nimbus.

1. 19-20

¹⁹ Now write down all that you see of present happenings and what is still to come.²⁰ The secret of the seven stars you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp-stands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches themselves.’

The author of the apocalypse indicates here that the seven lamp-stands and the seven churches are different symbols for the same subject, also the seven stars and the seven angels.

2. 7

⁷ Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: those who prove victorious I will feed from the tree of life set in God’s paradise.”

The tree of life is a symbol that is to be found in many cultures. It is a symbol for what the Hindus call the nadi’s. Paradise is the super-sensory world. The nadi’s are, although they are within the human body, not of a physical nature.

3. 4

⁴ There are a few in Sardis, it is true, who have kept their robes unstained, and they are fit to come with me, dressed in white.

The robes unstained refers to the aura that is purified.

4. 2-5

² With that, I fell into ecstasy and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne,³ and the One sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling the throne, and this looked like an emerald.⁴ Round the throne in a circle were twenty-four thrones, and on them twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads.⁵ Flashes of lightning were coming from the throne, and the sound of peals of thunder, and in front of the throne there were seven flaming lamps burning, the seven Spirits of God.

The throne signifies the highest level of existence, the rainbows the activated subtle energies.

5. 1-5

¹ I saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that was written on back and front and was sealed with seven seals.² Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’³ But there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it.⁴ I wept bitterly because nobody could be found to open the scroll and read it,⁵ but one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so he will open the scroll and its seven seals.’

The scroll that was written on back and front signifies the Kosmic memory, the Akashic chronicle of the Hindus. The opening of the seven seals is the opening of the seven chakra’s by which one gets access to the akashic records,  the Kosmic memory and the higher levels of existence.

Pictures of the chakra ‘s  ↓

“The Chakras”  Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854 – 1934)
The colours and the structure of the seven chakra’s (colour correction M.J.M.)

 The seven seals of the Apocalypse, are the seven chakra’s.

1. 9

⁹ They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation…. ¹⁴ the sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places.

Further on is described that the lamb opens the seven seals whereby a conflict occurs between good and evil forces. This is the struggle against the lower nature and it is the purification of the essential nature of the mystic. This is symbolized by four horses that cause the final battle.The earthquakes signify the great mental shifts.

 

The opening of the sixth seal – Francis Darby  (1793 – 1861)

6. 15-17

¹⁵ Then all the kings of the earth, the governors and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains.¹⁶ They said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb.¹⁷ For the Great Day of his retribution has come, and who can face it?’

This signifies the elimination of the lower elements within the mystic.

7. 1-3

¹ Next I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the world to keep them from blowing over the land or the sea or any tree.² Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea,³ ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’

Here first four angels are mentioned and slightly later a fifth angel. The winds of the earth are the pneuma’s which means breath as well as spirit, together the five mystical elements. The seal on the foreheads is the forehead chakra.

7. 13-14

¹³ One of the elders then spoke and asked me, ‘Who are these people, dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?’

¹⁴ I answered him, ‘You can tell me, sir.’ Then he said, ‘These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

This symbolises the purification of the soul.

7. 15

¹⁵ That is why they are standing in front of God’s throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent overthem.

This is about having access to the higher levels of consciousness.

7. 16

¹⁶ They will never hunger or thirst again; sun and scorching wind will never plague them
The mystic is now free from worries, cravings, desires and anxiety.

Franz von Matsch (1861 -1942)

8. 2-5

² Next I saw seven trumpets being given to the seven angels who stand in the presence of God.³ Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. A large quantity of incense was given to him to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that stood in front of the throne;⁴ and so from the angel’s hand the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God and with it the prayers of the saints.⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar, which he then hurled down onto the earth; immediately there came peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, and the earth shook.

The seven trumpets signify the seven chakras and the angels signify the subtle energies that circulate in the chakras. The golden censer represents the crown chakra.

John Martin

8. 8-9

⁸ The second angel blew his trumpet, and it was as though a great mountain blazing with fire was hurled into the sea: a third of the sea turned into blood,⁹ a third of all the living things in the sea were killed, and a third of all ships were destroyed. 

The fire was cast into the sea represent the higher activated subtle energies that eliminate the psychological complexes in the subconscious.

9. 1-2

¹ Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss.² When he unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss,

The Abyss represents the subconscious.

Last Judgement    Michelangelo   Sistine Chapel

9. 13-14

¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice issuing from the four horns of the golden altar in God’s presence.¹⁴ It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet, and said, ‘Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates.’

The sixth angel blew his trumpet signifies the activation of the sixth chakra. ‘Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates.’ Signifies the activation of the kundalini in the sushumna.

10. 1-3

¹ Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were pillars of fire.² In his hand he had a small scroll, unrolled; he put his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land³ and he shouted so loud, it was like a lion roaring. At this, the seven claps of thunder made themselves heard

“Wrapped in cloud, with a rainbow over his head” refers to the subtle energy field, the aura. “His face was like the sun” is the nimbus, the golden yellow  energy which goes through the heart chakra and the throat chakra  and ascends to the brow chakra where moves outwards as a golden yellow energy sphere.

11. 1-5

¹ Then I was given a long cane like a measuring rod, and I was told, ‘Get up and measure God’s sanctuary, and the altar, and the people who worship there;² but exclude the outer court and do not measure it, because it has been handed over to gentiles — they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.³ But I shall send my two witnesses to prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lamps in attendance on the Lord of the world.⁵ Fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies if anyone tries to harm them; and anyone who tries to harm them will certainly be killed in this way.

A long cane like a measuring rod signifies the sushumna, and the two witnesses, the two olive trees refer to the ida and pingala, the nadi’s which are described by Christ as the streams of living water. The olive trees and the lamps refer to the chakra’s with their connections, the nadi’s. The energy that comes out of it eliminates the lower elements. This last part was borrowed from:

     Zacharias  4. 1-3 and 4. 11-14

The Gold Lampstand

1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2 And said to me, What sees thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick: all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which were upon the top of it. 3 And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side.

The Two Olive Trees

11 Then I answered, and said to him, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon its left side? 12 And I answered again, and said to him, What are these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

{The author of the this prophecy is Zacharias. The time of part first is the second and fourth years of the reign of Darius in Babylon (520 and 522 B.C.). The time of part second is probably toward the end of the reign of Darius or the beginning of that of Xerxes (485 B.C.).}

Woman of the Apocalypse  in the pilgrimage church of Maria Birnau, Germany.
Gottfried Bernhard Göz (1708 – 1760)

12. 1-6

¹ Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.² She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth.³ Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet.⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born.⁵ The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne,⁶ while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.

The red dragon refers to the lower nature who wants to devour the higher human nature (represented here as a child).

12. 7-9

⁷ And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels,⁸ but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.⁹ The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.

The elimination of the lower elements in the human psyche.

15. 8

⁸ The smoke from the glory and the power of God filled the temple so that no one could go into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

This refers to Isaiah, the smoke (ashen in Hebrew) signifies the subtle energies.

16. 4

⁴ The third angel emptied his bowl into the rivers and springs of water and they turned into blood.

The bowl represent a chakra, the rivers represent the nadi’s. Nadi means river or stream in Sanskrit. 

20. 1-6

¹ Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key of the Abyss in his hand and an enormous chain.² He overpowered the dragon, that primeval serpent which is the devil and Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years.³ He hurled him into the Abyss and shut the entrance and sealed it over him, to make sure he would not lead the nations astray again until the thousand years had passed. At the end of that time he must be released, but only for a short while.⁴ Then I saw thrones, where they took their seats, and on them was conferred the power to give judgement. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having witnessed for Jesus and for having preached God’s word, and those who refused to worship the beast or his statue and would not accept the brandmark on their foreheads or hands; they came to life, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.⁵ The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over; this is the first resurrection.⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection; the second death has no power over them but they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for a thousand years.

The resurrection doesn’t mean life after death, but deliverance, salvation.

John Martin

20. 7-10

⁷ When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison⁸ and will come out to lead astray all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilise them for war, his armies being as many as the sands of the sea.⁹ They came swarming over the entire country and besieged the camp of the saints, which is the beloved City. But fire rained down on them from heaven and consumed them.¹⁰ Then the devil, who led them astray, was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and their torture will not come to an end, day or night, for ever and ever.  

20. 11-15

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace.¹² I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing in front of his throne while the books lay open. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, as their deeds deserved.¹³ The sea gave up all the dead who were in it;¹⁴ Death and Hades were emptied of the dead that were in them; and every one was judged as his deeds deserved. Then Death and Hades were hurled into the burning lake. This burning lake is the second death;¹⁵ and anybody whose name could not be found written in the book of life was hurled into the burning lake.

This describes the final battle that leads to the coming of the kingdom of God, collective salvation.

21. 1-5

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.² I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband.³ Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them.⁴ He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.’⁵ Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. ‘Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, “What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true.”

“There was no longer any sea”: The subconscious with its psychological complexes is no more. “The holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” is what Aurobindo describes as Supramentalisation → a new heaven and a new earth.

John Martin   (1789 – 1854)

21. 10-11

¹⁰ In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.¹¹ It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.

The Holy City refers to an energy field which consists of highly activated subtle energies.

21. 18-21

¹⁸ The wall was built of diamond, and the city of pure gold, like clear glass.¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall were faced with all kinds of precious stone: the first with diamond, the second lapis lazuli, the third turquoise, the fourth crystal,²⁰ the fifth agate, the sixth ruby, the seventh gold quartz, the eighth malachite, the ninth topaz, the tenth emerald, the eleventh sapphire and the twelfth amethyst.²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate being made of a single pearl, and the main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

A symbolic description of the higher aura fields.

22. 1-14

¹ Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear.² Down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the nations.³ The curse of destruction will be abolished. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him,⁴ they will see him face to face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.⁵ And night will be abolished; they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever.⁶ The angel said to me, ‘All that you have written is sure and will come true: the Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent his angel to reveal to his servants what is soon to take place.⁷ I am coming soon!’ Blessed are those who keep the prophetic message of this book.⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I had heard and seen them all, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me, to worship him;⁹ but he said, ‘Do no such thing: I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of your brothers the prophets and those who keep the message of this book. God alone you must worship.’¹⁰ This, too, he said to me, ‘Do not keep the prophecies in this book a secret, because the Time is close.¹¹ Meanwhile let the sinner continue sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let the upright continue in his uprightness, and those who are holy continue to be holy.¹² Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone as their deeds deserve.¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.¹⁴ Blessed are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city.

John’s revelation, which is the last book of the New Testament, gives a graphic description of a cosmic end battle. Although it is put down as a power struggle between good and evil forces in the outside world, it describes a symbolic allegorical way  the mystical inner processes that occur during a mystical transformation.
The references within the interpretations to Sanskrit terms from the Indian philosophy doesn’t mean to suggest that the author of the apocalypse had knowledge of these literary sources. He obviously hadn’t, but as he was clearly a mystic and while the mystical processes are extremely rare, when they happen, they are universal. That is why he experienced the same processes as the Hindu mystics.   

The four horseman represent symbolically the psychological or social phase transitions.
And the associated conflicts are the movement across adaptive valleys to a higher adaptive level within those transformational processes.
This means, in order to go from one state to a better state, one often has to go to through what is called an adaptive valley, that is a state that’s worse.
And it’s only by going through the worse state that we can actually go through the phase transition.                                                                    

The four horseman