User:BrianBalke/sandbox/Revelation

Ecological Interpratation All interpretations of scripture are influenced by the focal concerns of the reader. Extant interpretations of Revelation focus on the concern of human redemption. The concerns of the Creator of the Universe, of course, are broader. At the very least, the scope of our interpretation should consider the redemption of the world.

To be redeemed is to be reunited with Love. This is a point made by unique force in John's Gospel: God is Love. Jesus was the human personification of that principle, and stated that he would remake Heaven and Earth. As John was the only apostle to witness the crucifixion, he was enmeshed in the spiritual energies that surrounded Jesus as that work was accomplished. This privilege qualified him to enter the heavenly realms, where he was shown the full scope of that work.

Revelation is confusing in no small part because that work occurs on many scales. While those concerned with human redemption interpret it as a linear tale, in fact it is a telling of the same story from many perspectives, starting with the angelic and passing through Darwinian evolution and human culture before merging the storyline at its conclusion. The retellings are synchronized at their conclusions through the use of repeating imagery, for example the 144,000.

This viewpoint is cemented by the unusual wording of certain passages. John's invitation at the opening of Revelation 4 states: “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (emphasis added). John is shown not just the future, but provided justification. And at the conclusion of Revelation 11: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings” (emphasis added). Some information is history, and some is prophesy.

Accepting that the scope of the book is the history of Life on Earth, we conclude the following:


 * Revelation 4 describes the initial conditions of the Divine Project from the perspective of the angels. The "elders" represent the principalities of the heavenly realm, initially separated from love by a barrier that cannot be penetrated. Twelve of the elders are associated with the masculine principals Biblically associated with the Tribes, Apostles, and gates of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. Twelve are feminine principals, seen in the tiara of the Sacred Mother in Revelation 12 and as the fruit of the Tree of Life in Revelation 22. 144,000 is then understood as the combination of all possibilities between those principals (12x12 = 144), with the multiplier of "1000" having the Biblical interpretation of a "countable many."
 * Revelation 8 and 9 recounts the interventions that bring the days of Creation to a close. The challenge of loving is exploitation of tendered gifts that unbalance Creation, disturbing the chemistry that supports life. The table correlates Creation, the exploitation that bottlenecked evolution, and the natural disaster (described as "trumpets") that liberated life to new possibilities.