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[21:10] In the spirit the angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
[21:22] I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. [21:23] And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [21:24] The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. [21:25] Its gates will never be shut by day-- and there will be no night there. [21:26] People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [21:27] But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
[22:1] Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [22:2] through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. [22:3] Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; [22:4] they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. [22:5] And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
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This is the Easter season Epistle reading from Revelation, which will be read aloud on the sixth Sunday pf Easter, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. This will follow a mandatory Easter reading from Acts, where we read, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us”. That will precede a sing of Psalm 87, where David wrote: “Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.” All will accompany a Gospel reading from John, either from his fourteenth chapter or his fifth chapter. From the fourteenth we read: “Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.” In John’s fifth chapter he wrote, “Jesus said to [the lame man at the pool of Bethesda], "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath.”
The prior Sunday the Revelation reading was verses one through six, of chapter twenty-one. Today we begin by reading verse ten; but then we skip over lots of verbiage that details the new “holy city of Jerusalem.” As that metaphor [remember this is a divine vision witnessed by John’s soul, not his physical eyes] is so difficult it would be easy for script writers for productions of Ancient Aliens to twist everything into so vision of John being taken aboard some flying saucer, it is best not to delve into those verses in a church. Priests had a hard enough time dealing with any reading from Revelation; so, do not expect any Episcopal priest to send thirty seconds talking about anything coming from these readings – which are the mandatory Epistle for the Year C Easter season.
In every divine vision had by any apostle-saint-prophet in the Holy Bible, it is most vital to understand nothing is detail physically. Everything is as physical as dreaming you found a treasure chest filled with solid gold coins and ingots. Even if you dreamed you put your sweaty little hands all over the gold and exclaimed, “Mine! All mine!” when you wake up you find absolutely nothing you dreamed is in your bed. Therefore, everything detailed by John is not to be taken literally, as physical descriptions. Instead, everything is to be taken as metaphor for something spiritual, which can only be describes in physical terms, which pea brains can understand.
To begin to understand verse ten, one must know what is written in verse nine. There, John wrote, “Kai came one of the seven angels.” This must be understood symbolically as an “elohim” [read Psalm 67 for this], where the number “seven” is symbolic for the final inner presence that brings “rest” and “completion.” With that understood, John then said this inner Spirit (or soul of Jesus) said to John’s soul, “Come [a capitalized word of divine importance] , I will teach your soul [“you” or “yourself”] this bride , this wife of this of Lamb .” That says John’s soul had married Yahweh, received His Spirit, became His “bride” and “wife,” to whom was born “of this of Lamb,” which is the soul of Jesus. Thus, by translating the Hebrew “deixō” as “I will teach” (a viable translation, according to Strong’s usage), the following word “Jerusalem,” which means “Teaching Peace,” will make more sense.
In verse ten is a usage of “edeixen,” which is a third-person singular, Aorist Indicative Active form of the same root as “deixō” (which is written in the first-person Future Indicative Active) – “deiknumi.” This says what was told to come (future) has now come, with John’s soul “having been carried away within Spirit.” Rather than be physically taken out of his physical body, the soul of John delved deep “within” (from “en”) his soul, due to it being married to his soul. This vision of inward awareness then allows one to fathom “a mountain great” as a fixture of Yahweh’s, which is divinely “high” or “elevated.” Because there can be no possibility of a “city” deep within one’s soul, that word needs to be realized as meaning “the inhabitants” that are of the same kind, where “city” should be grasped as meaning “a lifestyle.” This was then the “assembly” of all like souls who had been deemed “holy, sacred, set apart by Yahweh” (“hagian”); and, the title for such an “assembly of inhabitant souls” was “Jerusalem,” a name that means “Teaching Peace.” Because this word is capitalized, it is divinely elevated to be the meaning behind the name, which is what the soul of John was “taught” this “city” stood for.
When this collection of inhabitant souls are then known to be the ones “Teaching Peace,” this is then sensed by John’s soul as “descending out of of this spirit [“heaven”] away from of this of God”. This says “descending is being placed on the physical plane of the earth, in order to take knowledge of Yahweh’s possession to the souls that are still lost and have not been “Taught Peace.” This is that which is stated in verse ten. This becomes a divine statement (in vision terminology) that Christianity is the ‘new Jerusalem,’ which is only “inhabited” by souls married to Yahweh, having all been reborn as His Son – “the one” of the “angels” [“elohim”] representing “completion,” as a creation of Yahweh. A soul that has not met these heavenly requirements has not been “carried away” in divine marriage, to the “mountain great and lofty.” Without having reached that “height,” one’s soul cannot see the truth of Christianity as it being the saved “Teaching Peace” to the unsaved.
When the strange metaphor that follows is skipped over, one comes to verse twenty-two, which literally translates as saying, “Kai [another capitalized signal word of great importance to follow] temple (or “sanctuary”) not I saw within to itself”. This is not a statement that John was looking at a physical city named Jerusalem. John saw that of the “descended,” where souls gather in a sea of souls, all lost, in need of being caught by fishermen of souls (Apostles and Saint). What John was allowed to understand was how none in the sea of souls had made his or her soul in a body of flesh be a “tabernacle-temple-sanctuary” where Yahweh’s throne was in the midst, with the Lamb in the center of that throne. The Greek word “autē” is the third-person Dative Feminine personal pronoun that translates as “it” or “itself,” where ‘self’ equates to a ‘soul.’ Thus, what John was shown was a sea of souls (all feminine unengaged bride-souls), which had no “one of the seven angels” [Yahweh elohim – Jesus] as Lord of “itself.”
Following a semi-colon mark, where there followed a separate but related statement to this lack of divine possession [“descended” can then be seen as “the dead in need of raising”], John confirmed this lack as being without “a Lord,” or “God,” or “the Almighty” presence of the divine, so no one “existed” as “a sanctuary-tabernacle-temple,” therefore none was led by “the Lamb.” All of those capitalized words state an absence (from “not” in the first statement) of the divine possession that brings a soul salvation.
When this verse is seen as a prophecy shown to John’s soul, of the reality on the physical plane, the absence or lack of John being shown a “temple” is not his soul being shown a fallen Jerusalem, after the Second Temple had been destroyed. It was a prophecy of times when a building would not be where the truth would pour forth. An example of this can then be seen in the Acts reading, where Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia, where he stayed in a fortress without a synagogue. He left the gates of that place and walked to a river, which was where Jews (and possibly others) gathered to pray. There was no need for a “temple” being there, as Paul was himself the “temple” raised to serve Yahweh and His Son. This is another way to read verse twenty-two.
Verse twenty-three then is the soul of John being taught by Jesus that Christianity means no need for an external source of light. The “sun” is the light of truth always; so, reading the Holy Bible becomes the symbolic meaning for the “sun.” Other written matter, that which is less clear and more obscure (including all writings held as divine by many religions on the earth), they symbolize the lesser light of the “moon,” which has no inner source of light. The moon merely reflects thoughts sourced in truly divine material, having not been written from a true prophet, saint, or apostle, whose source was Yahweh and Jesus (His Son resurrected within a soul). This is stated following a semi-colon, where John wrote: “this indeed renown this of God giving light their souls [“themselves”] , this lamp of their souls [“themselves”] this Lamb .” All of the light of truth comes to Apostles-Saints-Prophets from within their possessed [Genitive case “of themselves”] souls.
Verse twenty-four then says, “kai [important to know] will walk this the peoples on account of of this of light of their souls [“themselves”] ,” where “will walk” is the Future Indicative Active use of “peripateó,” which means “will conduct a life” or “will live.” (Strong’s usage) This means “walking” is “on account of” a soul having been possessed [the Genitive case usage] and led to the “paths of righteousness.” The Genitive that says, “of this of life of their souls” says it is the inner light of Yahweh and Jesus that lead true servant-wives (and mothers, as divinely married to Yahweh, being where His Son’s soul is resurrected) from an inner “light” of truth. When one has that inner light, one does not go to a building (a “temple”) to hear opinions on religions by hired hands and false shepherds. One goes out as the source of the truth for seekers thirsting for salvation to consume. Thus, true Christianity is only priests of Yahweh, led by the light of Jesus within.
In the translation of the first segment in verse twenty-four, the Greek word “ethnē” has been translated as “the peoples.” The tendency is to translate this as “the nations,” but there can be no “nations” without “the peoples” that are unified as one. This leads to John marking separation with a comma, to then write importantly (use of “kai”) of “these kings of this of earth they bring forth this renown”, where the repeating of “doxan” reflects back to the “renown” (from “doxa”) written in verse twenty-three (“this indeed renown this of God giving light their souls”). In “kings of this of earth” should not be interpreted as those “rulers of nations of people,” but John speaking metaphorically of each individual soul within “the peoples.” Each soul is “this ruler of this of earth,” where “of earth” means a soul encased in a body of flesh. Each soul then rules over his or her body of flesh; but as that ruler, each soul will have submitted its rule to Yahweh and His Son Jesus. It is this submission that “brings forth this renown,” which is the presence of Yahweh and Jesus.
In the middle of this segment of word, not clearly represented by the NRSV translation above is John writing something like an aside (more like a divine whisper), which is enclosed within angle brackets. That written is like this: “<kai timēn tōn ethnōn> .” This importantly states (use of “kai”) that “the perceived value of this of the peoples.” The Greek word “timēn” can equally state “the price” or “the perceived honor,” which becomes a hidden statement that sacrifice has been made for this transformation of “these peoples.” As it is enclosed in angle brackets, it is a decision made by the “kings” or “rulers” of “the people” who “bring forth” this “honor” of Yahweh and Jesus upon their souls [“themselves”] willingly. The “price perceived” to receive this divine “renown” is servitude to a higher power, in exchange for eternal salvation of their souls.
It is then after a period mark, which denotes a complete statement has been made, when John the completed this verse twenty-four by adding: “of their souls [“themselves”] into one’s soul [“it” or “itself”] .” This is a separate statement that says “the kings” and “the peoples” are all souls that willingly allow the divine possession {Genitive case – “of their souls”] within [“into”] the Spirit of Yahweh, allowing for His Son’s soul to resurrect “into” a host soul.
In verse twenty-five, John literally wrote this: “kai these passageways of one’s soul [“itself”] not lest shall be shut of day , night indeed not will exist there .” This importantly says the opening to a soul that (gates to many souls) is the presence of Jesus, who said, “I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7) That opening, where “pulón” meant the “the passage which led from the street through the front part of the house to the inner court” (HELPS Word-studies), is the protection a soul uses to prevent unwanted entrances. Once one’s soul surrendered access to the inner self (soul), then Jesus take residence as that protection that only allows in that which is wanted. That allowed in is the light of truth (“day”), so the lost ways of “night” will no longer “exist there.”
Verse twenty-six then states what will be allowed within each soul, where the Greek word “oisousin” follows a capitalized use of “Kai,” showing great importance must be seen in that “to bear, carry, bring forth.” The third-person plural Aorist Indicative Active says Jesus being their “gate” “will bring forth” in “their souls” the “renown” that has been stated as Yahweh, twice before. When the word is also seen as related to meaning “to conduct,” this essence becomes a reflection that the “paths of righteousness” will be that “brought forth,” as the way one “conducts” his or her life.
Following that which will be allowed within, John added another use of “kai,” marking it important to understand that “this value of these peoples into one’s soul [“oneself” or “itself”].” Here, the repeat of “timēn” usage (as in verse twenty-four) says the “price” one’s soul pays for this new protective “gate” is submission to the Will of Yahweh and His demand for a righteous lifestyle.
Verse twenty-seven then confirms this state of righteousness is the intent, as John wrote, “kai not lest shall enter into one’s soul [“itself” or “oneself”] all unclean”. When the concept of souls is understood, the aspect of “entrance” has to be seen in the same level of spirits. That which is “common” or “defiling,” as “unclean,” is demonic spirits that is the reason a protective wall surrounds all souls. The whispers of sin come from demon spirits; and, human beings are quite capable of being tricked into opening the “gates” that let demon spirits possess souls. When a soul has become married to Yahweh, cleansed of demon spirits by His Spirit, then the ”gate” becomes His Son’s soul, which forever forbids demon spirits from “entering” one’s soul.
This concept is clarified in the subsequent segment, which includes two uses of “kai,” showing importance to behold. John wrote here: “kai this causing abomination [or detestable acts] kai untruth”. Here, the two important elements of demon spirits is they lead souls (become their lords) to do “detestable acts” that break the Laws of Yahweh. They do this by spreading “lies,” meaning they become “false shepherds” over souls, teaching souls to follow “false religions.”
This led to the final segment of this verse and this chapter, as John wrote: “if not those having been written within this book of this of life of this Lamb .” This begins with a conditional “if,” which is saying souls without the protection of Jesus as their “gate,” then prevention of demon spirits will “not” be. It is most important to realize that “this book” is Revelation, which is the vision shown to John by Jesus (his protective “gate”). It is wrong to read this segment as saying, “those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.” It is wrong because divine possession is implied through the final words being written in the Genitive case, as “of this of life of this Lamb.” The Revelation tells of the souls who marry Yahweh and are resurrection wombs for His Son’s soul. Those who meet this condition (“if”) are then the souls receiving eternal “life.” That “value” comes at the “price” of servitude to Yahweh, with His Son becoming one’s Lord. This makes one’s soul be one of Yahweh’s sheep, whose Good Shepherd is the Lamb; and, Jesus will prevent all thieves from sneaking into a soul and killing it with “abominations and lies.”
At this point the reading flips over to the beginning of chapter twenty-two. A new chapter means an entirely new vein of thought, again as a new vision shown to John. When he wrote, “Kai [great importance to follow] he showed my soul [“me” or “myself”] a river of water of life”, this must also be seen as metaphor and not a physical stream. The metaphor of “a river” is an endless flowing, which is sourced from within, at high places. To state “of water,” the Genitive says one’s soul is “of Spirit,” which is the breath coming from Yahweh at birth. The esoteric meaning “of water” is that which is emotional in nature, which is always changing course to the path of least resistance and changing states due to the environment. This says being in possession of a soul is “of water of life,” which flows like “a river” from Yahweh (the high and hidden source) into the flow of mortality.
For John to then state this “river” was “clear as a crystal,” that speaks of the unseen soul that has the power “of life” as its inherent nature, which lies dormant unless the source of that power is called upon. The source of that power is then said to be “flowing from out of of this throne of this of God kai of this Lamb .” Here, the Genitive case states covertly the divine possession of the “crystal of life” that all souls can call upon.
In verse two, where the NRSV shows that John wrote, “through the middle of the street of the city,” there is no word used to denote a “city.” This becomes misleading, forcing minds to recall the use of “city” in chapter twenty-one, so they relate chapter twenty-two as a continuation of that line of thought. In reality, John wrote this: “within to midst of this of wide road of one’s soul [“it” or “itself”] kai of this of river .” When one reads “within to midst,” this must be read as within one’s soul, which is that “flowing from out of of this throne of this of God kai of this Lamb”. To say the soul flows as “a wide road,” where the tendency to translate “plateias” as “street,” which leads the NRSV to imply “streets” are in cities, the “wide road” is the length of one’s soul in a mortal state of existence. This “width” is then includes all the times the same soul has died physically of flesh, but then been reincarnated. This is like a river seeming to disappear, when it has merely taken the least path of resistance and become an underground stream, to resurface elsewhere. The importance [from use of “kai”] is the continued “flowing” “of this of river.”
To then place a comma and write “on this side kai from that place,” verifies this coming and going of the “river of life” that is a soul. Still, it becomes metaphor for there always being two sides to the “flow,” one to the left and one to the right. When the “kai” states the importance of “from that place,” where “ekeithen” is the source that is Yahweh , “on this side” is John stating where true Christians spring forth. Following a comma of separation, John then wrote “tree of life,” which says the ”river flowing on this side,” importantly from the source of Yahweh, waters the “tree of life,” which can only be seen by souls allowed into Eden.
In the remaining segments of verse two, the number “twelve” is important to realize mystically. The numerology of the number “twelve” is a higher octave of the number “three,” where 12 => 1 + 2 = 3. A three represents initial completion, which is mortal life (birth, life, death). A “twelve” is then reflective of a higher state of life, as one who serves Yahweh – the source of all life. Thus, the twelve months equate to one season of life, with “fruits” produced each month being due to one’s divine elevation into service to Yahweh. There is no cessation of “fruit” production, once a soul has married Yahweh, as John becomes a reflection of “fruit” produced when he was ninety, blind, and imprisoned on a remote island. Each Apostle then becomes a ‘tree of life,” such that the “leaves” it produces being the Word of Yahweh sprung forth to heal the souls of the lost.
Verse three then literally states, “Kai [great importance to follow] every curse not there will exist further .” This relates back to John having said in verse twenty-seven of chapter twenty-one, “kai not lest shall enter into one’s soul [“itself” or “oneself”] all unclean”. When a soul finds the living waters flowing that bring forth the tree of life, the inner sanctum of Eden (heaven on earth) will be a place where nothing is allowed that is an “accursed thing.” Nothing of a “destructive” nature is allowed near this holy sanctuary. This is deep within the soul, not a physical place.
Following the period mark of that complete statement, John then added in verse three: “kai [importance to follow] this throne of this of God kai of this of Lamb to one’s soul [“itself”] will exist , kai [more importance to follow] these slave of himself [God and the Lamb] they will serve to himself [God and the Lamb] .” This says the “flowing river of life” that earns one’s soul eternal life [from the “tree of life”] will produce the ‘fruits” and the “leaves” that come forth by Yahweh and Jesus, given to His wife-servants, who are the Apostles-Saints-Prophets risen by the soul of Jesus. All willingly and lovingly serve God and the Lamb, because they “exist” as eternal souls in service – the “price” a soul pays for eternal life.
Verse four then literally states, “kai [importance to follow] they will experience this face of himself (God) , kai [more importance to follow] this name of him (God) upon of this of foreheads of their souls [“themselves”] .” This says that all souls who have submitted to Yahweh in divine marriage, receiving His Spirit and the soul of Jesus resurrected within their souls, they importantly will all bow down before Yahweh and receive His “face” to wear, in replacement to their own souls. Once this is done, then importantly they will take on “the name of him,” which is “Israel” – meaning “Who Retains Yahweh as His elohim.” Once reborn as Jesus, his name will be “upon the foreheads of their souls,” so the names of their prior bodies of flesh will be replaced by the “name” of Jesus, who will become the Lord of those souls.
In verse five John then wrote: “kai [importance to follow] night not there will exist further , not they possess need of light of a lamp kai [more importance to follow] of light of sun , because Lord this God he will give light upon their souls [“themselves”] , kai [more importance to follow] they will reign as kings unto these ages of these of ages .” This is restating that said prior, in verse twenty-three of chapter twenty-one. It is the promise of divine “enlightenment” to a soul, so it will be eternally saved and forever be led by Yahweh and His Son, “ruling as the kings” of all saintly souls.
As the Epistle selection from Revelation in the Year C Easter season, one has to see the meaning relative to souls being raised from the dead. John was not given a vision of the End Times. That can only be true when one sees how each individual soul – at all possible times forevermore – has an End Time that will literally be a mortal death, but also be figuratively as the willing sacrifice of self to Yahweh, so one’s soul can be reborn as His Son Jesus. This vision details that willing sacrifice, which then becomes a soul’s ‘End Time,’ for selling itself to demons and the lies and abominations they bring to souls. This is presented as a vision of a “city” what is in reality the true “inhabitants” of Christianity. This is a way of life, not a religion. Its only “temple” is each individual soul and its body of flesh. This lesson should lead all who think sitting in a church pew will save their souls a cold shiver down their spines. This reading says there is a price to pay for salvation, as the true value of being cleansed of past sins demands a new “gate” be installed and willing servitude that brings the fruits of the tree of life so others can be led likewise.