After this I, John, looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
——————–
This is the designated “First Lesson” presented by a reader, en lieu of the place normally held for the “Old Testament” reading. It is the purposeful selection because it will be read aloud on All Saints Day. It will next be read on Sunday, November 1, 2020. That date will represent the twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost.
It is important to realize that All Saints Day is always November 1, with All Souls Day always being on November 2. Those recognized Church events do not usually fall on a Sunday, so the Sundays that are neither November 1 or 2 (the closest Sunday to them, post-Halloween) becomes a combo-Sunday for Saints and souls.
Every living human being has a soul. Not every living human being is a Saint. According to the Wikipedia article entitled “All Soul’ Day” the distinction between the two is officially stated. They report this: “In the Catholic Church, “the faithful” refers specifically to baptized Catholics; “all souls” commemorates the church penitent of souls in Purgatory, whereas “all saints” commemorates the church triumphant of saints in Heaven.”
While “Purgatory” is from the imaginations of men wearing religious robes over their flesh animated by a soul and not a real place [ask the reincarnations of Pharisees who believed in Sheol], their assessment is still worthwhile, simply because it states a belief that souls are denied “Heaven,” while saints are not. This should be realized as why the Episcopal Church sets aside a special Sunday in the middle of the Ordinary season after Pentecost, for the express purpose of recognizing the backbone of any true Church is its Saints.
This means every reading selected is meant to convey this importance. Whoever ran the Church long ago and established the lectionary schedule first, he or she was certainly filled with the Holy Spirit – therefore a Saint. The goal of ALL Christians is to be a Saint. Anything short of true sainthood is failure and failure is rewarded with the imaginary place the Roman Catholics call “Purgatory” [and long gone Pharisees called Sheol]. All Saints Day is designed so sheeples don’t lie on their deathbeds and feel the tap of an angel on their soul, hearing a voice saying, “Time to come out the vaginal opening and try again. Maybe the next seventy human years will make it easier to realize being a Saint is much better than being just another soul.”
This is where the original Church was not some organization that hired people to run a business, but a gathering of Saints and those who wanted to become the same. Just to use the example of the educational system, where “teachers” are expected to graduate students, not expected to forever see the same failures back in their classroom, year after year; a true church is expected to graduates Saints. Since that system has been replaced with souls who are not teaching other souls to be Saints [it takes one to graduate one, as there is no other way to that end], the same people sit in pews year after year, thinking their soul is going to heaven.
Please, take this as me simply stating my opinion and nothing more. Prove me wrong by reading what I will present about Revelation 7:9-17 and then go to your church of choice and see a reader pleading with you as he or she reads the words of John [his first letter is also scheduled to be read], as a Saint speaking with the same power as had Peter and the eleven on Pentecost Sunday. Then, listen to the priest read great emotional feeling into the Beatitudes [Matthew 5:1-12]. Hear his or her sermon that says the blood of Jesus Christ flows within, so a Saint is truly standing in your midst. If that is your experience, then you should be ready to go spread the Gospel message to others after church.
I wish you the best and pray there are Saints about everywhere.
This reading is very deep. All Scripture has the same power of depth, but the writings of the Apostles [i.e.: Saints] cannot be read quickly and simply. It is the expansive nature of the Holy Spirit guiding their minds to write the most meaningful words that come from the Mind of Christ, direct from God.
I will now present the above reading in a new format, one I have used here before [often with Paul’s letters], so it should be seen that a whole day could be spent reading, discerning, and discussing this reading. A whole day [the purpose of the Sabbath, which God intended to be twenty-four hours of prayerful recognition of God and His Word] could be spent just on Revelation 7:9-17. It is so important because it is John writing of his experience with God and His Saints. That says John is explaining what God said to him, to tell others what it takes to be a Saint. Please keep that in mind as you read this new format.
For anyone who has read my posting here regularly, you will know that I say the Greek use of “kai” is not the common conjunction “and” being stated. It is a marker word that signals the reader to sit up and take notice, because everything that follows the word “kai” is most important to remember. In this presentation, notice there are twenty-nine uses of the word “kai,” both capitalized (extra importance noted to follow) and lower case, with some in the middle of a line (not following a comma mark or semi-colon).
This is a literal translation, so no liberties are taken to not translate some words (prepositions deemed not translatable), nor use the most common translation (those shown by the NRSV), when there is a better choice to use. I translate literally, based on the case of the written text [shown in the Biblehub.com reproduction of the Greek], so I only capitalize what was capitalized, without exception [even though Biblehub will imply “Him” as meaning God or Christ, when “him” is written]. I maintain all punctuation as shown in the Greek text, without exception.
Keep in mind that John was out of body at the time of his experience, which means he had entered the spiritual realm. He wrote while possessed by God’s Holy Spirit [he might even have been blind at the time his Apocalypse was written, so it was orally transmitted to another human writer], so every word reflects the truth of Jesus Christ within John’s vision.
A classic story of how to become a Saint. A king possesses God on the throne within. Removing the sword from that stone is easy with God’s presence within – as one chosen by God for marriage. Possess the sword and possess the right to be king. However, a king without a sword is a land without a king.
I feel it is most important for each individual see him or her as called to do as John did and have a conversation with God. Knowing that “the throne of God” is not in some magical place, like in outer space or in the clouds, but in your hearts; you provide the seat upon which God sits, in your heart. You are therefore called to be “the Lamb,” which means you are expected to sacrifice your soul on the altar at the temple that is you, as an offering to God that is pleasing [the sacrifice of marriage]. A soul cannot also be a Saint. It is one or the other. Since you already have a soul, you need to realize that soul serves your flesh and not God, until your soul changes [“You cannot serve two masters.]. Please, read this slowly and meditate on what John’s word say to you.
9
After these things I looked ,
kai behold ,
a multitude great ,
which to number it no one was able ,
out of every nation ,
kai tribes ,
kai peoples ,
kai tongues ,
standing before the throne kai before the Lamb ,
having been clothed with robes white ,
kai palm branches in the hands of them .
10
kai they were crying aloud in a voice great ,
saying : This salvation thereupon God of us ,
thereupon sitting on the throne ,
kai thereupon Lamb !
11
Kai all them angels made to stand around the throne ,
kai the elders ,
kai the four living creatures ,
kai they prostrated before the throne the faces of them ,
kai worshiped thereupon God ,
12
saying ,
Truly !
this praise ,
kai this renown ,
kai this wisdom ,
kai this gratitude ,
kai this honor ,
kai this ability ,
kai this strength ,
thereupon God of us ,
to the ages of the ages !
13
Kai spoke one from out of the elders ,
saying to me ,
These this having been clothed with the robes the white ,
who are they ,
kai from where have they come ?
14
Kai I said to him ,
Lord of me ,
you know .
Kai he said to me ,
These are them coming out of the affliction of the widest sense ,
kai they have washed the robes of them kai made white them in the blood of the Lamb .
15
because of this ,
They are before this throne this of God ,
kai serve him day kai night in thereupon temple of him ;
kai he sitting on the throne will have his tabernacle over them .
16
not they will hunger anymore ,
neither will they thirst anymore ,
neither none shall fail above them the sun ,
nor any kind of burning heat ;
17
because this the Lamb in the center of the throne will shepherd them ,
he will lead them to the living fountains of waters ,
kai will wipe away every tear from the eyes of them .
Just as an aside, the Episcopal Church only places importance on John’s Revelation in a limited capacity. According the Reverse Lectionary for the Episcopal Lectionary, reading from Revelation come most frequently during the Easter season, when not on All Saints Day. This connection becomes important to see as a statement (without words) that points out how Easter is less about remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus each year and more about it marking the death of a soul in the flesh and resurrection of Jesus Christ in a Saint, in a way that is deeply personal to a true Saint every year, even though the date of personal transfiguration is different for each Saint.
The readings selected from John’s Revelation for church reading only come from chapters 1, 5, 7, 12 and 21. To me, that avoidance says the Church is afraid of the nerves touched when an unprepared soul [a priest] is trying to avoid an End Times theme, while preaching to potential donors. Instead, a true church [anywhere two or more are gathered as Saints] should be teaching the Word, no matter what the Word says about the common failures that make it routine for souls not to become Saints. Certainly, that downfall has been ongoing for quite some time, to the point that few Saints still hang out in church buildings.
Now, let me briefly go through this very deep reading. What I am about to offer is by no means everything that could be said. It is what popped into my mind as I re-read the Biblehub.com Interlinear version of Revelation 7, looking for the “kai“s. I wrote notes on a Word document, which I could copy and paste at the end here. You might want to print the following on a sheet of paper (or two) and then re-read the new format presentation, glancing at the notes offered here. I will do this according to the “kai” number – 1 through 29.
1 – the importance of seeing in a way you had never seen things before.
2 – the importance that Saints are not limited to any one race of people.
3 – the importance that Saints are not limited to characteristics that define “people” – men-women; rich-poor; well-sick.
4 – the importance that Saints are given an ability to speak in the divine language of God.
5 – the importance of the word “before” (“enōpion”), where the flesh is before the throne that is within oneself; but the face worn is your flesh that is before what is underlying, hiding from view the Lamb – Jesus Christ. That signifies one’s sacrifice of self to be reborn in that name.
6 – the importance that one become the fruit of the vine or the branches that bear fruit (dates from a palm). The fruit of the Lord comes from the work of His servants … His holy hands.
7 – the importance that Saints do not hide Christ under a basket. They cannot be stopped from crying out with joy.
8 – the Greek word “tō” translates as a conjunction as “then, thereupon,” meaning “kai” marks the importance of having become the “Lamb,” as “thereupon” the Lamb has come to one.
9 – capitalized “Kai” shows the great importance ALL Saints become the “angels” of the Lord, where the word “angeloi” means “messengers.”
10 – the importance of understanding that Saints become the leaders of all churches – “the elders.”
11 – the importance of knowing a Saint becomes the foundation of a church [the symbolism of “four”], which turns dead flesh into “living creatures.” The use of “four” says Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of a Saint.
12 – the importance of knowing a Saint must prostrate oneself to become the throne of God by sacrifice of self-ego. A “face” not raised (lowered) means the face of God is worn by a Saint.
13 – the importance of knowing a Saint totally worships God and nothing less.
14 – the importance of knowing the “praise” a Saint gives to God recognizes His being their source of “renown.”
15 – also the source of their wisdom coming from the Christ Mind.
16 – also a Saint gives God all credit, with great gratitude.
17 – all the “honor” of being a Saint comes posthumously, as persecution and rejection comes with the “price” paid by a wife of God, as recognition as righteousness can only be seen in hindsight by common souls.
18 – all “abilities” possessed by a Saint come from God.
19 – all “powers” possessed by a Saint is God’s Holy Spirit flowing through a servant.
20 – a capitalized “Kai” states the great importance of letting the “elder” within (Jesus Christ) do all the speaking, just as Jesus only spoke what the Father told him to speak.
21 – the importance of realizing a Saint was once a sinner, just as all who are not Saints.
22 – a capitalized “Kai” states the great importance that a line of communication is held by a Saint and Jesus Christ, where understanding is taught, with one always speaking with understanding.
23 – a capitalized “Kai” states the great importance of knowing a Saint does the speaking of Jesus Christ, as a vehicle of God.
24 – the importance of knowing a Saint is “washed” through baptism of the Holy Spirit.
25 – the importance of knowing a Saint is made pure through baptism, never again to be soiled by sin.
26 – the importance of knowing a Saint serves God as the light brought to the world (the “day”).
27 – the importance of knowing a Saint has found the death of “night” by self-sacrifice, becoming the temple of the Lord.
28 – the importance of knowing a Saint has been led to eternal life (“living waters”) by Jesus Christ.
29 – the importance of knowing that a Saint has had all the tears of sins and human failures to serve God totally have all been “wiped away,” when one has become a Saint.
I hope you also read the article that I posted some time back about the Beatitudes. I felt called to write deeply about Matthew 5:1-12 when it was not a scheduled reading. Before I realized that reading was the Gospel selection for All Saints Day, I read the Beatitudes with new eyes. I saw the repetition of “Blessed” as being Jesus’ way [speaking for God] of stating the various “blessings” he named can only come from having become a Saint. I have not re-read that article, but I recall I transformed every place where is read “Blessing to those” as saying something like “A Saint is those.” Check it out.
Again, All Saints Day is a mega-important day that should be realized. It comes the day after All Saints Eve, also called All Hallows Eve or Halloween. I know people who dedicate many hours of their time, putting much energy into decorating their houses, preparing for trick or treaters, and dressing up themselves in costumes. In essence, they are making their worship be (symbolically) to the charade of life, where dead souls walk in human flesh that seems to be alive, but is not. From all that effort to be able to tell the world, “I love the sin of zombies and ghouls,” how many have any time to deeply study the lessons of All Saints Day?
How many of you will spend the majority of All Saints Day pondering what it takes to become a Saint?
All Saints Day is not fantasy or wishful thinking. It is about your soul being told the End Times story of your fate. Saints exist for the purpose of carrying serious messages from God to the world … near (family) and far (beyond across the street). They all say: “Hear! Believe! Act! Only Saints get to Heaven! Unrighteous souls get recycled back to the earthly plane! That is an important message sent by God to you!”
If you reject a Saint’s message, they go into the streets and declare, “The kingdom of God has come near!” Then, once your soul has left your deathbed (if you make a Saint give you that warning), the scales of justice will ask your soul to remember the times you rejected God’s messengers. AND your soul will have perfect memory of them all. All souls know the judgement of God is fair, as all the gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness is self-caused.
And that is why I hold the opinion that Christianity has become as lost as the blind leading the blind can get lost. The hole they will eventually stumble into is called a grave. For all the avoidance of the End Times, everybody has an end time coming. It should not matter if one dies individually, due to accident, old age, disease, or disgust with living. Likewise, it should not matter if one is vaporized instantly, along with millions of other souls in the same vicinity, from some nuclear holocaust. Death is death and there is no safety in numbers. Death always means one soul leaves one body of flesh. Matter is constantly changing its state of being; so losing a soul means nothing to clay. A soul is immortal and cannot die; but to stay on the earthly plane it needs fresh clay. Still, a souls knows it must change spiritually, before God kisses its spiritual cheek and sends it into reincarnation, which means a soul is aware of the need to kick its addiction to flesh.
So, if you want to avoid the Purgatory that will be created when mankind has finally found a way to destroy the entire planet, when returning wayward souls will no longer be able to get lost in the beauty of a paradise made by God’s Hand, only able to find an immortal soul wandering a destroyed environment … the reality of Purgatory will be where zombies are souls returning to animate some nuked-out carcass of death. Dragging a dead body around for eternity becomes a soul crying out for someone to blow its dead brain away! If being a Saint in this life is too boring or too hard, well then just imagine that scenario!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! TRICK? OR TREAT?
R. T. Tippett