In part 1 of this series we focused on the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. Today we’re going to dissect the rest of Revelation chapter 11 beginning with the first verse. This chapter contains some awesome symbolism as it pertains to the physiological, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the human soul!

No doubt many will find fault with this interpretation, but there are certain key verses within this chapter that traditional interpretations could never encompass, especially the verse related to Jesus Christ. As we’ll see in a moment, Christ is best understood as the result of a powerful transformation within the individual psyche rather than the watered-down traditional ones we have been given.

The Temple of God

Let’s begin with verse 1:

“And there was given unto me [John] a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”

We need to break down the meanings of the temple of God and the symbolic meaning in act of measuring. In the previous posts I have stated that the temple of God represents the human mind and body. This shouldn’t be a surprise to the Christian; the Apostle Paul tells us we are the temple of God and the Spirit. But even Paul’s blatant statement about the true meaning of the temple of God are obscured by the doctrines and ideas we have been given through religion. The physiological, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the human all comprise God’s temple. Once you get past the idea that the temple is a physical building, you can begin to understand a knowledge in ancient times that has been lost in today’s Christianity. Yes, there were literal temples in the past that people worshiped in, but the Biblical temples in mentioned in scripture are layouts of the human soul. For example, the very size and amount of materials that went into Solomon’s temple as it is explained in the Bible exclude the possibility of its being literal (learn more about there here).

Although the temple of God represents the mind and body, we can more specifically say that it is a symbol for the causal body. The causal body is the most important temple we are to build up through mental, emotional, physical endeavors (All of which are spiritual!). The causal body, or temple of God, is the aggregate of the human experience from life to life. It is the great immortal storehouse, and within contains the blueprint that helps build the personality in each existence. At first it starts out like a small embryo, and as we grow in consciousness the causal body expands. We can even say that the temple of God is being built up, strengthened, and evolved as you live your life.

In the first verse of Revelation chapter 11, John is asked to measure the temple. The act of measuring in scripture indicates the process of scrutinizing the qualities of a particular thing. These qualities that are being measured are the qualities of the human soul. We have confirmation of this in the fact that in Revelation chapter 11 verse 1 John also tells us to measure the altar. The altar is symbolic of the willingness and function to build the emotional and mental qualities necessary for conscious growth. As we lay our egos down on the altar outside of the temple, a process of transformation can begin. More on this in a moment.

The Real Meaning of the Gentiles

Verse 2 in Revelation 11 states:

“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”

We need to break down several more symbols here: the outer court, the Gentiles, and the significance of the number forty and two months as it is used specifically in this verse.

The outer court contained the bronze laver and brazen altar. These were for the purification of the heart and mind. They dealt with sin committed in the heart, mind, and body—i.e., the astral, lower mental, and physical aspects of who we are. The physical, astral, and lower mental bodies are not immortal like the causal body (temple of God). They are the vehicles through which we come to learn higher consciousness, the vehicles through which we express thought, emotion, and the experience of the lower five senses. As it says in this chapter of Revelation, it is the “Gentiles” who trample the holy city underfoot. This signifies the actions and lower consciousness of a person, known scripturally as a Gentile.

The scriptural New Testament meaning of the Gentile is one who has not yet developed the higher mental qualities, as opposed to the Jew, who has. This has nothing to do with an ethic group. Paul stated that the Jew was neither male nor female, bond nor free, Jew or Greek, but one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28). Paul also states “That the Gentile should be fellow heirs…and partakers of his promise in Christ” (Eph. 3:6). In other words, the Gentile will eventually cross over to the status of Jew when they have developed higher consciousness. In a sense, everyone begins a Gentile and attains the spiritual status of Jew. Again, this has nothing to do with your bloodline. It is completely spiritual.

As Gentiles, we are apt to “trample under foot” the outer court of the God’s temple. As we raise consciousness and begin attaining the spiritual status of Jew (One in Christ Jesus), the two witnesses (love and wisdom), are at work.

The holy city of Revelation is also symbol for the human soul and all that it encompasses. The Gentiles trample it underfoot for forty and two months (3 ½ years) because as the Holy Spirit / Kundalini lays dormant in 3 ½ coils at the base of the human spine. As long as it lays dormant here, the vivifying force has not yet become active in purging the lower qualities within the soul. The actions of lower consciousness are still in effect, trampling underfoot the true potential of all that we are. Again, this is why John was told to measure the state of the soul in verse one. When the qualities of the human soul are measured in the Gentile, they come up wanting to God’s standards.

The Earth and Plagues

We have already discussed the exact meanings of the two witnesses in part 1 of this series involving Revelations 11:3-5, so I will not rehash it here. We will skip over those verses and continue with Revelation 11:3:6, which states:

“These (the two witnesses) have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”

The earth is a symbol of the lower self and physical body. Plagues symbolize the division between the lower and the higher self. The fact that the two witnesses (love and wisdom), or attributes of the higher self, have entered the picture, symbolizes the higher qualities from God which are diametrically opposed to the desire that drives our lower nature (the beast of Revelation).

Hence the next scripture:

“And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make ware with them…and kill them” (Rev. 11:7.)

The two witnesses send plagues not only to mark the division, but serve as symbols to drive the rise in consciousness. Of course as we mentioned in the last post, the desires of the lower self always kill out love and wisdom (the two witnesses) during the first cycles of our spiritually evolutionary journey in life. But in the end, the spirit of God (the Holy Spirit / kundalini) vivifies these attributes which help to unite the lower and higher consciousness, thus helping to build the temple of God, or our higher bodies. As always, we have to do our part and be faithful to the spiritual path.

The Deeper Meaning of the Crucifixion

The next verse is perhaps one of the most revealing about the higher meaning of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Revelation 11:12 states:

“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”

Did you get that? The author of Revelation is giving us a major key to esoteric wisdom in one of the few places of the Bible that it isn’t even hidden! Why would the author state that Jesus Christ was spiritually crucified in Sodom and Egypt? In the literal text, Jesus was crucified at Cavalry (Golgotha), in Jerusalem.

Check out this excerpt from Wikipedia about the theories of why Jesus was crucified at Calvary:

“Calvary as an English name for the place is derived from the Latin word for skull (calvaria), which is used in the Vulgate translation of “place of a skull”, the explanation given in all four Gospels of the Aramaic word Gûlgaltâ which was the name of the place where Jesus was crucified. The text does not indicate why it was so designated, but several theories have been put forward. One is that as a place of public execution, Calvary may have been strewn with the skulls of abandoned victims (which would be contrary to Jewish burial traditions, but not Roman). Another is that Calvary is named after a nearby cemetery (which is consistent with both of the proposed modern sites). A third is that the name was derived from the physical contour, which would be more consistent with the singular use of the word, i.e., the place of “a skull”. While often referred to as “Mount Calvary”, it was more likely a small hill or rocky knoll.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus#Place_of_the_crucifixion).

None of those theories are correct because too much emphasis is being placed on the literal interpretation instead of its deeper spiritual significance. Is the author giving us a hint about the true meaning of Christ’s crucifixion here? Yes! Golgotha means “the place of the skull,” which means the crucifixion really takes place in the mind and the psyche first!

If the author was stating that Jesus was spiritually crucified at Sodom and Egypt, it’s obvious that the author believed these two locations had a deeper spiritual significance.

Both Egypt and Sodom are symbols for the two main aspects of the lower nature. Sodom represents self-love, and Egypt represents the object of desire. These are the two driving forces behind the lower ego. Jesus Christ is said to be spiritually crucified in Sodom and Egypt because it is exactly this lower plane of manifestation that his crucifixion really deals with.

We continue with Revelations 11:9 which states:

“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”

The two witnesses, or Love and Wisdom, cannot be put in graves because these divine attributes can never really be killed. They are always at work behind the scenes and they symbolically resurrect during the later evolutionary journey of the soul. We have already seen in our former post how the rise upon their feet symbolizes the Holy Spirit / Kundalini rising within us (in the spinal column). This process begins a major transformation in the human soul, effecting us psychologically, physiologically, and spiritually.

Revelation 11:12 states:

“And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud…”

The symbol of heaven and the cloud bring us back to the causal body. Ascending on the clouds always symbolizes this higher realm of the immortal soul. Clouds are the realm of heaven, the realm of the higher self. After the death of the lower ego and desire, the attributes of Love and Wisdom raise up by the Holy Spirit.

When this happens in our lives, we can count on the great tribulations to begin. Upheavals take place on the psychological level. This is why the next verse states:

“And the same hour was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were frightened, and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Rev. 11:13).

More Psychological and Physiological Processes.

One of the great truths of the tree of life that is not discussed except in esoteric circles is that it represents human spine. There are etheric channels within it where the conscious energy of kundalini / Holy Spirit travels up to the human brain. Even the position of the Hebrew characters in the beginning of Genesis point to this (I’ll write more on this in the future).

These last verses in Revelation chapter 11 point to the process of kundalini / Holy Spirit rising into the brain, causing the kingdom of the world to become the kingdom of God and Christ (within us, of course)! The tree of life is not mentioned until the end of Revelations, once we have become one of the “pillars” in the greater temple of God, but I still mention it here because the process applies to some of the verses I quote below:

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, Saying, We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thee thy great power, and hast reigned…And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple of the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail” (Rev. 11:15-19).

The twenty-four elders mentioned above represent the pairs of 12 cranial nerves in the brain, totaling 24. In the Old Testament, the 12 tribes of Israel which camped around the tabernacle (brain) also represent the 12 cranial nerves. In Revelations the number jumps from 12 to 24 (signifying the 12 pair) because we now also have the 12 Apostles. Each of the twelve, from both the leaders of the tribes of Israel and the Apostles, symbolize different qualities of the human soul. They are pairs of 12 representing the same thing told through different times and stories.

From a physiological standpoint, our cranial nerves are responsible for how we interpret reality through the senses. In Revelations verse 16, these elders bow down because as cosmic energy of kundalini / Holy Spirit rises into the brain, a great spiritual transformation takes place as consciousness expands. They are giving obedience to the God within us and the higher senses which perceive that which is the greater, higher self.

From other scriptures in Revelations we know that these 24 elders wear crowns of gold and are dressed in white. Crowns of gold symbolize the control of the lower nature through wisdom, a divine attribute developed during the rise of kundalini.

That’s it for Revelations chapter 11 for now. At some point in the future we’ll take back up with chapter 12. I have some other articles to post first.

Blessings!