The Book of Revelations is no end-of-the-world scenario. Jesus Christ is not coming back with a tattoo, riding a horse, and swinging a sword to declare war on the unjust and herald the end of everything. Pastors who teach and preach this are reading into things too literally or regurgitating Biblical commentaries.
It’s a little uncanny how often literal scripture reading conveys the very opposite meaning than what was intended. While most people assume Revelations is about the future, it’s really about the eternal NOW. Jesus Christ declares that he is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, throughout this book of spiritual revelation. These phrases are indicative of the eternal NOW. The past, present, and future are of no concern to the higher self. The soul should not be something that is thought about being liberated at some future date. All thoughts concerned with being “saved” at a later date miss the entire truth of the soul’s purpose for experience, which should be focused on moment to moment. Every one of these precious moments is the soul’s journey back to God.
In the bigger picture time has no meaning to the higher self. The soul will experience forever. It cannot end. It cannot die. Therefore it really has no beginning. Our lives are simply about self-limitations being unveiled to the greatness and goodness of God on higher and higher conscious grades. It’s pure bliss to discover divinity all over again. Sure, we humans make mistakes and get stuck in traps of the ego sometimes. These traps become our literal hells. But in the bigger picture of eternity, what does it really matter? What should matter to you is the moment you are in right NOW. What’s your conscious experience, and how can you change your perspective to make it better? The Book of Revelations has the ability to help us see this truth within our own experiences and bodies.
What’s all that scary imagery in Revelations about?
Religious leaders thinking the Book of Revelations is about the end of the world isn’t the only tragedy. All that war, doom, and gloom imagery we read about has really scared a lot of people, especially churched children. Although these symbols can seem scary when interpreted literally, they are really about the great strides that are being made within the soul as it journeys back to God. Each trumpet blast and each vial of judgment poured out from the angels symbolize cleansings and openings within our spiritual gateways called chakras. This is the process of unveiling higher consciousness as the Holy Spirit rises within us. It isn’t about devastation, destruction, and the end. It’s about new birth and life in the conscious experience. It’s about the purging of lower thoughts and emotions in order to awaken to our higher natures. The stigma that has come with the Book of Revelations needs to be lifted.
The incompatibility between the egoic lower self and nature of our higher self is very real, albeit a very natural one. It is this divine tension that enables life as we know it to unfold. We should embrace it. It allows for the development of our thoughts and emotions. We should not fear the process, for in the end:
“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Rom. 8:28).
The Return of Christ in Revelations
What’s really been the point for making all the war, doom, and gloom imagery in Revelations about an end-of-the-world scenario and the return of someone who’s going to make everything glorious? Hasn’t history taught us, over and over, that the only time humans make things right is when we except responsibility for our own actions, whether they have caused pain and suffering or joy and contentment? The return of Christ and the higher mind in many individuals has taught us this in all the great religious texts of the world.
We punish ourselves. We uplift ourselves. The results are the choices, conscious or unconscious, that we make each and every moment. Ever thought, emotion, and action we engage in are causing ripple effects to the eternal NOW.
We don’t need another interpretation of a religious text telling us what’s coming down the road. We need an interpretation that shows us what is happening within the mystery of consciousness now.
The New Jerusalem
Revelations closes with the new heaven and new earth, in which the new, heavenly Jerusalem descends from above. Again, nothing literal here. The New Jerusalem represents the abode of higher consciousness, centered in the causal body in the upper mental plane. It isn’t a place we go to live, it’s a state of being that we become. There is no need for the sun or the moon there because there is no longer the great division between our individuality and our personality, the lower and the higher self, represented by the sun and the moon respectively. In the New Jerusalem we are ONE with Christ and with God. (More on this in future posts).There are no more tears, death, and pain in this conscious state because there is no lower self or ego to war with anymore.
Revelations, then, is now so much about what’s going to happen as it is about the unveiling of who we are, where we’re headed (consciously), and what happens as we approach.
In the next post we’ll delve into Revelations chapter one and two, picking out the most important points. Revelations is an enormous book with more spiritual information than what’s already contained in this blog, but I’ll try to fit it in concise posts. As I write the post, I will probably learn as much if not more than I will be sharing. It should be a promising journey for both of us! J
Yes, i had found a couple years ago that the book of life is full of symbology to teach us about that so we can better understand the last book, Romans being one of the hardest to say the least has some key points and then Galatians that can be a revelation of thought in itself.
Looking forward to hearing more.
Thanks Motla.
Joshua, Well written post,I cannot add to this as you have covered everything,well done 🙂
Thanks, Selina. It should get interesting as we delve deeper.
I think some of the wording is vitriolic precisely because most of the time when one goes about trying to make a change or a clearing out, there is a sense of “death”. You might not literally see horses and gloom and doom, but you might WISH you were if your purging is particularly painful. It’s that journey into the underworld to be “reborn” that’s the less than fun part of the ride.
Interesting point, Joe. This process is usually a painful experience in some way.
Joshua, I could not agree with you more.
You write: ‘In the New Jerusalem we are ONE with Christ and with God. (More on this in future posts).There are no more tears, death, and pain in this conscious state because there is no lower self or ego to war with anymore.’
Yesterday I wrote in a comment on The Esoteric Meaning of Solomon’s Temple: ‘When Solomon decides that it is time to build this temple he goes to the king of Lebanon (in which you can find the words lev (heart) and nun (fifty) whom he asks to supply the trees needed as building material, and he tells him that the time is there to start the buildingproces as there is no adversary (satan) anymore and no more attacks by evil (ra, which is the opposite of er, awake).’
Do you see that we are talking about exactly the same here? This message was already there in the Old Testament. Both mean the final stages of awakening, I think, at least as far as we are able to comprehend right now. I believe that spiritual evolution will continue forever but we have no way to even find words or images about that yet as it will go beyond those.
Excellent points, Anny. It’s interesting when one learns that the Old Testament and New Testament convey the same meanings, albeit different stories and names with a different language.
Great post, Joshua, and very timely with my current posting series on the activation of Kundalini. I quoted part of this post (with a link to this post) on my recent entry (Cracking the Seals). Hope you enjoy and thanks!
Kent,
I do appreciate the links. Looking forward to catching up on your latest posts! Blessings.
Finally! I’ve been looking for a good blog that analyzes the book of Revelation the way you did all day, and haven’t been able to find any that are still updated within the last year or so. I’m glad to have found a fellow blogger writing about the very topics that I wish to, like the Holy Spirit/Kundalini, the 7 Churches of Revelation/7 Chakras, etc. Definitely subscribed!
Although I got to point out real quick, that I agree with you 100% on the apocalypse being coded for more of a Buddhist annihilation type of scenario within allegorically rather than the fear mongering literal interpretation that has mankind in much hysteria these days. Yet it does seem rather apparent that there is some sort of literal, physical manifestation of Revelation coming to a head. Probably like most things, mans’ perception (at least within the last 5,000 years or so) is very dualistic and manifests physically first before it’s truly manifested spiritually as intended in the scriptures. Whether it be self fulfilling prophecy pushed by the alleged elitist secret societies, or prophecy fulfilled due to the collective consciousness of mans’ projected fears from centuries of literal interpretation, it’s happening. But at least the world’s starting to come together in community and knowledge thanks to rising awareness of the age, and according to the same scripture and plenty of others, we can all expect a Golden Age ahead of us once the dust settles.
Keep up the solid posting!
Kevin,
Good to see someone else commenting with a blog. I look forward to checking out what you do with it in the future. Thanks for commenting here and many blessings.
Great topic and post Joshua! Glad to see someone tackling the Book of Revelations and unveiling the deeper interpretation.
Re: “This process is usually a painful experience in some way,” I feel it’s the painful experience that one cannot resolve using the resources one already is aware of that forces one to search deeper within (this is the beginning of the awakening process) until one finds the higher self and the guidance it provides….
At least that’s what I experienced. As one connects and integrates with the higher self, the pain lessens and gets interrupted by moments of bliss, until fulfillment and true happiness become the predominant experiences. How fast this happens depends on the individual and how fast they trust in their inner guidance such that they follow through with it promptly and consistently (meaning, take right action).
Thanks for an incredible post!
Christine
One of my earliest memories of church is my mom’s boss taking me to her Pentecostal church – and this and the tenth plague were the first things I ever learned of the Bible. It took me 32 years to gain any modicum of peace in my soul – in no small part because I was never able to reconcile the horrific slaying of children and the destruction that I was taught Revelations was about with any sort of God that I would want any part of. I wish I could find a church that taught more along these lines.
I would have gotten better much sooner if I had.
Lo,
I know the feeling. I came from a Pentecostal background as well. I remember going to Rock Church in Va. Beach with my grandmother at the age of 8 and 9. I sat on those benches for hours sometimes listening to the same kind of thing and wondering what kind of a God was like that. I accepted it for a long time, but as I grew older and began to think, I realized that this view was incompatible with the deeper message of the scripture. Thanks for sharing.
Josh,
What a beautiful interpretation of a book that has caused me nightmares since childhood! Thank you. Can’t wait til you write your book. It’s going to free a lot of people.
David,
Thanks for your comment. I understand your past fears over the Book of Revelations. The language is confusing and other-worldly. Trying putting it into the context of modern day church talk and it becomes very concerning. Literal interpretations of ancient scriptures will always cause these feelings, but the higher meanings always bring a sense of relief.
Blessings.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and learning more and more on this view of scripture.
What exactly is your view on hell then and heaven ( when we die)?
Joshua incredible work here man, I’m amazed! I remember being 8 years old and some folks from the church stopped by at home for one of those home preachings. I was listening to them reading The book of revelations and as a child all I could understand was the literal meaning of course. I had a newborn niece by then and I remember embracing her and start crying,afraid she was gonna die in the apocalypse. My sister then told me that I wasn’t supposed to be hearing, that wasn’t stuff for children to hear. It has been only recently that I started seeing it more as a metaphor and your articles shall cleanse this little trauma in me lol many blessings!
Joshua incredible work here man, I’m amazed! I remember being 8 years old and some folks from the church stopped by at home for one of those home preachings. I was listening to them reading The book of revelations and as a child all I could understand was the literal meaning of course. I had a newborn niece by then and I remember embracing her and start crying,afraid she was gonna die in the apocalypse. My sister then told me that I wasn’t supposed to be hearing, that wasn’t stuff for children to hear. It has been only recently that I started seeing it more as a metaphor and your articles shall cleanse this little trauma in me lol many blessings! Vinicius
Will you ever start a series on the Book of Revelation as you suggested in this post. I would love to read a breakdown of that Book, chapter by chapter.