Revelation: the Mystic's Journey - Part V: Fourth & Fifth Vision

Nov 16, 2003 by Rev. Christine

This week I'm continuing on the Journey of the Mystic through the Book of Revelation; the very last book of the New Testament. Genesis foreshadows Revelation: Revelation recapitulates Genesis. The intervening Books of the Bible trace the results of the Fall into the world of duality and points the way to man's redemption by outlining the life and works of some who have forged ahead and stepped out as teachers and leaders of the human race. Revelation recounts the experiences of these pioneers and their preparation for the Second Coming - "Christ in You the Hope of Glory!"

The Book of Revelation is an account of a mystical spiritual experience that the disciple John had. Being a mystical experience it is written in the language of symbolism. There were a total of seven visions. Seven is the number for spiritual completion. This book is about the regeneration of the soul, through resurrection and ascension for a new race of spiritual mankind.

Today we unfold the fourth vision of "The Woman Clothed with the Sun." This is the New Birth, in Rev. chapter 12, "And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

And there appeared another sign in heaven; and behold, there was a great fiery dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail cut off a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, so as to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a male child, who was to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there a thousand and two hundred and three score days.

 

And there was war in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but did not prevail, neither was their place found any longer in heaven. Thus the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast out on the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

This is a wonderful picture of symbols, a woman pregnant with new life - the son of new understanding of the Christ. She has the Sun above her and the moon under her feet. The woman as clothed with the sun, is wearing a shield of light of her new understanding of spiritual matters. The moon being under her feet represents her victory over her emotional and mental nature. While in prayer, in silence, in communion with the most high, we are protected - shielded from the outer world of effect.

She is giving new life to a new idea in consciousness - that of the Christ ideal in each and everyone of us. This is Eve risen in her rightful place; the world mother or feminine principle of love, compassion, and new life. The earth representing the physical nature, our body, separation, and beliefs in duality.

Its not easy to give up our old ways to bring in the new, it can be a most painful difficult birth. Giving up our old habits, addictions, beliefs and attitudes - we have had a long hard struggle, but victory is always assured, and yet we must continue to face our demons head on. The great fiery dragon represents our old desires that have had hold on us. It has had great power over us, our soul. This dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon its heads, shows how much power we have given over to this dragon. Allowing it to rule over us, keeping us bound to our fears and shortcomings.

When we give birth to a new spiritual ideal, we must carry it close to us. Protect this child or else our prior beliefs and attitudes will take over, convincing us that the old way is easier, and kill this precious child - our new understanding of the Christ within - the "I" that I Am.

She did flee into the wilderness, this is a place to strengthen and be nourished; wilderness is a foreign place to the material consciousness. It is the silence of communion, and so it is left behind.

12:10 -17, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the deliverance and the power and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have been accomplished; for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before God day and night, is cast down. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not spare themselves even to death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the Devil has come down to you; and his wrath is great, because he knows that his time is short.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to a son. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly from the presence of the serpent to the wilderness, into her place, where she would be nourished for years and months and days.

Then the serpent sent a flood of water out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the water which the dragon had spouted out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged at the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus."

The dragon has lost its power to rule over us, its only power is in the realm of duality; or that power that we turn over. But we have the choice now to take our own new power and be lifted by the wings of a great eagle to that safe place, our holy temple within.

The dragon sending forth a flood, represents the emotional nature sweeping over us, and the earth is our mental attitudes based in physical laws of fear and limitation. After we have gone to a high place in consciousness, giving birth to new ideas, we come back vulnerable to losing what we have gained if we go back to our old ways - being tempted by desire, and it will raise its ugly head until we have solidified our new nature. Just as we give up any habit it takes repeated effort to replace it with something better, or we fall back. Each person, disciple on the journey is faced by this dragon and does battle, but again we know the victory is assured for the dragon's rule is short.

The 5th vision of "The Beast that Rose Out of the Sea." Rev. 13:1-10, "And as I stood on the sand of the shore, I saw a wild beast rise up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads blasphemous words. And the wild beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

And one of his heads was as though mortally wounded; but his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered about the wild beast. And they worshiped the dragon because he had given power to the wild beast, saying, Who can prevail against him to fight him?

And there was given to him a mouth, that he might utter boastful things and blasphemies; and power was given to him to make war for forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling place and those who dwell in heaven.

And power was given to him over every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation, and it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And all who dwell upon the earth shall worship him, even those whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If any man has ears, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

We are again tempted to misuse our new found spiritual powers for personal power and gain in the world. If not truly grounded within us, this truth can become convoluted, our ego can take over. Some will want to use this power to control others, force others to believe as we do, to make rigid ritual and statues to worship, back to the letter of the law or the living word that can only come from our own experience - not through someone else's.

This messages is again conveyed by another beast in Rev. 13: 11, "And I beheld another wild beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and hew spoke as a dragon. And all the power of the first wild best before him was exercised by him, and he caused the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he performed great wonders, to such an extent that he could even make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Beguiling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And he had power to give life to the image of the wild beast, and to cause all those who would not worship the image of the wild beast to be killed.

And he compelled all, both small and great, rich and poor, freemen and slaves to receive a mark on their right hands or on their brows, So that no man might buy or sell unless he who had the mark of the name of the beast or the code number of his name. Here is wisdom: Let him who has understanding decipher the code number of the beast; for it is the code number of the name of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six."

This second beast is the power of materiality, born through linking mind with desire. It came into being through the fall of man into the emotional plane with its attendant causation through fear. Mind was a gift to be used as a rainbow bridge whereby he might pass from earth to heaven. Instead, he linked it with his desire nature, and so adhere more closely to the animal kingdom than to the realm of the gods, or spiritual man.

Mind, the most powerful of man's possessions, must of necessity become a mighty force for good. In the second beast we see the ideal man as the lamb, but with the speech of a dragon which is mind function on the lower planes of consciousness. We process truth through the mind, or our subconscious which is filled with all kinds of beliefs; as Jesus said to put new wine in old wine skins will ruin the new wine or the new truth. We end up with ½ truths or less.

Throughout the year, and especially in the last 20 years, there has been much concern over this vision. Especially concerning the sign of the beast upon the right hand or forehead. There has been much speculation as to who is this beast and how this code is going to be assigned. Some say by computer chips, bar codes to be used by the government for buying, selling and keeping track of everyone as Big Brother. Some say it was Hitler or Nero, but for many as time moves on it still lies in the very near future.

We are reminded that the true message of this vision is about our unfolding consciousness from beast of human to spiritual god man or Christ. Our human nature is represented by 666, or it adds up to a 9. Six being our human physical nature, and 9 as our spiritual nature. We have the choice in which one we are serving.

Its interesting that it is mentioned that the code is in our name, our name being the inner nature of who we are. In the science of sacred numbers each letter of the alphabet has a corresponding number, and we add these to a single digit to find the nature of a person. That which they came in to this life to unfold and express. We can express the negative or unrealized aspects of the number or its positive in fullness of living it out.

Six is not bad, a matter of fact it represents the 6th position on the Tree of Life, it is Beauty, the Christ, and connects to the upper consciousness to be expressed in the kingdom of earth, but not of it. Six is service to family and loved ones, while the Nine is brotherhood. When we have experienced out the service to one another in our families, friends and work, then we are ready for the 9 of brotherly love for everyone everywhere, even of our enemies.

 

Therefore, we find 666 when reversed or fulfilled is 999, or when added together is still a nine. Our victory is promised and at hand, for our spiritual nature is our true nature and has been all the time.

Next week we shall unfold the 6th and 7th visions of the Book of Revelation; the last of this series.

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