Editor’s Note: I know I stated that my next post would resume part two of the series on God’s two witnesses, but Anny submitted this to me today and I thought it was a good addition to some of the concepts we learned about in the last post. I decided to publish this before part two of my series since it’s on topic and definitely gives some additional insight into God’s two witnesses! Her article is below.
Recently, Joshua posted an article about the identity of God’s Two Witnesses as mentioned in the Bible verses quoted below.
“And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man hurt them, fire proceedeth our of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.” (Rev. 11:3-5).
I had never looked at this Bible verse from the esoteric standpoint before. (I never knew where to start). As I did so today, I was totally surprised about what unravelled. I want to share it with you.
As was already stated, the two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks. They stand before the God of the earth. This last phrase seems to imply that there are more Gods and indeed in the Kabbala knowledge about different Names for God in the different worlds is revealed. The Kabbala mentions four worlds, which are desribed as a hiearchy:
- The first world is called Olam ha Atsilut, the world of nearness you might say. It is the world that is closest to the Ein Soph, total oneness where nothing can be distinguished or defined. It is the world of the non-manifested. This is the realm of the ONE true God (pure potential), where all other worlds and manifestations manifest from.
- The second world is called Olam ha Beria, the world of creation. This is the world of concepts and ideas.
- The third world is called Olam ha Jetsira, the world of creating shape and form.
- The fourth world is called Olam ha Assia, the world of doing things. This is the material world into which Man descends after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is the world in which Man receives his physical body, the Hebrew name of which, ‘or’, 70-6-200, can also be read as ‘iwer’, blind. Man has become blind to unity and oneness/love and become aware of duality and polarity. The one eye in the stern has been replaced by two eyes. In this fourth world the higher consciousness rests and the lower consciousness first descends even further into matter, getting to intimately know ego and emotions in the process. In the second half of the cycle it starts ascending again by facing and crucifying ego and emotions.
The God of this fourth world, the God of the earth, has the four letter Name JHWH, which is never pronounced by the Jews. The witnesses are also four together: two olive trees and two candlesticks. The fact that there are two of each stands for the fact that they both accompanied Man into duality.
It stands to reason that the first two, the olive trees, which symbolize Love, stand for the descending phase of the cycle (involution), while the second two, the two candlesticks, which symbolize Wisdom, stand for the ascending phase (evolution). It takes great Love to accompany man into duality and leads to Wisdom after crucifixion and resurrection of the ego.
It is a great comfort to know that during the phase of involution and increasing suffering, there are those two trees that already symbolize the eight (after seven, or completion) of the beginning of the world of higher awareness. There is Love and Hope all the time, even if we have become unaware of it. We are not left to our own devices. The fruit of the trees, the olive, is the bitter fruit that in the end, after a long process, produces the oil that anoints the messiah, the force that, after the deepest point of the cycle has been passed, will drive us upwards again. However, at the deepest point of the cycle these olive trees stand for Gethsemane, the oil press, where the oil we need is produced under immense pressure. This pressure is needed to turn the downward force of the serpent into the upward force of the messiah which will turn into the fiery serpent when the Kundalini is ready to rise.
The second two witnesses are the two candlesticks. Candlesticks are meant to be lit. This lighting of the candlesticks takes place on Golgotha during the process of crucifixion which then turns the messiah into the fiery serpent by the resurrection after which the fiery serpent rises. These candlesticks obviously stand for the ascending phase of the cycle.
The following quote confirms that:
“And after three days and half the spirit of life from God entered in unto them, and they stood upon their feet…” (Rev. 11:11).
Three and a half is the half of seven. The fourth world is also known as the world of the seventh day, the day on which God rests and mankind works its way through the phase of the material world.
After three and a half days man has reached the bottom of the pit and the turning point of the cycle. He is delivered from the slavery in Egypt and crosses into the desert of Sinai. There he starts the ascending phase of the cycle and so has to face the crucifixion of his ego first. It is very reassuring to read that at that time the spirit of life from God already enters by the anointment of the messiah with the oil that was produced by the witnesses of the descending phase, the olive trees. This messiah is from then on in charge of the ascending phase, so we are not alone. The messiah raises us to our feet after which the fiery serpent starts to rise up.
This ascending phase as such of course also symbolizes the rising of the Kundalini or Holy Spirit, although the first part of it is preparation so to speak.
It is during the lowest part of the cycle—slavery in Egypt—that the beast of our desires rises up out of the bottomless pit and seems to kill the two witnesses. However, they are resurrected when God delivers us from the slavery and in the end the beast itself is killed by the fiery serpent.
Then Love and Wisdom have been restored to their former glory with increased insight and Man has gained conscious awareness of all the Knowledge of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Again it becomes clear that the same story of the process of our involution and evolution is being told over and over again, which makes it become clearer every time if we only have the insight to recognize it!
Hi, Josh!
“Then Love and Wisdom have been restored to their former glory with increased insight and Man has gained conscious awareness of all the Knowledge of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
Are there and have there been human beings on earth that have reached the above state?
I am aware of Budda, Jesus, and various yogis down through history.
What happens to a persons spirit or soul that has reached that state after the body dies?
Would a person that has reached that state of being reincarnate? I could see a person reincarnating to teach as did Jesus.
Jesus incarnated, correct? For the first time. Are the teachings that Jesus brought to the earth the highest level of consciousness that is to be attained or is there more?
If there were other enlightened beings that achieved the above state why was there still a reason for Jesus to come? Did Jesus do something different than prior enlightend beings? I’ve never read any other religious books that speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection.
I guess I’m curious to understand why it has taken so long for the esoteric meaning of things to manifest. When I think of God – in an esoteric or exoteric sense ,why has humanity been held up? I realize that I’m still gaining understanding but isn’t that like God holding God up within us? Has there been a deliberateness on mans part to hold humanity up?
“Again it becomes clear that the same story of the process of our involution and evolution is being told over and over again, which makes it become clearer every time if we only have the insight to recognize it!”
When you say told over and over again- are you referring to all religions sharing a similar story?
Hi Betty,
Although you address your questions and comment to Josh, I think I should at least also answer you as I am the one who wrote the article, initially as a comment to Joshua’s article.
First of all I want to make clear that although I have learned to see the patterns of the cycles in the Bible, or at least some of them, I by no means have the answers to all the questions that arise out these patterns. I am just as much a student as you obviously are and right in the middle of all these processes.
You ask:
• “Then Love and Wisdom have been restored to their former glory with increased insight and Man has gained conscious awareness of all the Knowledge of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Are there and have there been human beings on earth that have reached the above state? I am aware of Buddha, Jesus, and various yogis down through history.
I think that you already answered your own question. They are examples but I am sure there have been many more who might not all have become so well known.
•Would a person that has reached that state of being reincarnate? I could see a person reincarnating to teach as did Jesus.
I believe that in that case you have the choice to reincarnate, in which case you would be called a bodhisattva in Buddhism, or to make another choice. I do not really know anything about that as I think that it goes beyond the level of the material in the Bible which is meant to teach us how to progress through this phase of incarnation on earth.
•Jesus incarnated, correct? For the first time. Are the teachings that Jesus brought to the earth the highest level of consciousness that is to be attained or is there more?
There are many people who believe that neither Jesus nor Buddha or any of the other ones were historical persons but personally I believe that they were, most of them if not all of them. But I cannot prove that. I do not believe however that his life as Jesus (or rather Jeshua) was his first incarnation. I think he had completed a cycle and experienced everything before. He might not have been able to completely understand the human condition otherwise. But again, I cannot prove that. I do think that the teachings that Jesus brought to the earth were meant to enable us to reach the highest level of consciousness that can be reached while we are still incarnated on earth. There is more but that will come in the next phase and we do not know anything about that, nor do we need to. We have quite enough on our plate as it is.
•If there were other enlightened beings that achieved the above state why was there still a reason for Jesus to come? Did Jesus do something different than prior enlightened beings? I’ve never read any other religious books that speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection.
There have been many enlightened beings that reached that state and many of them have come to earth again when there was a need for them. Every time when mankind had lost its way again, one, or maybe even more of them incarnated in order to show us the way again. Not to save us, they cannot do that. I think everyone of them adapted his or her teaching to the culture or the time in which they incarnated. The problems of the time might also be different.
There are stories that are comparable to the crucifixion story (I remember one about a king being hung on a tree for three days) although not every story has that form. Crucifixion is a symbol or a metaphor for a process, which is why we use it, but the process can also by symbolized by other metaphors. I do believe that the stories in the Bible are not historical records but metaphors but that does not necessarily mean that Jesus was not a historical person, nor that he was not crucified. As lots of people were crucified in those days, it would not surprise me at all if it had happened to someone like Jesus.
•I guess I’m curious to understand why it has taken so long for the esoteric meaning of things to manifest. When I think of God – in an esoteric or exoteric sense ,why has humanity been held up? I realize that I’m still gaining understanding but isn’t that like God holding God up within us? Has there been a deliberateness on mans part to hold humanity up?
Well, here your guess is as good as mine. I personally do not believe that the esoteric meaning of things did not manifest before. There have always been people who have known about it. I do not think that we have been held up exactly but it has been a long and difficult process and I think we have often been unwilling to face it. Believing that someone else did the job for us was definitely an easier option! I guess that now the time is ripe, now that we have entered the age of Aquarius.
•“Again it becomes clear that the same story of the process of our involution and evolution is being told over and over again, which makes it become clearer every time if we only have the insight to recognize it!” When you say told over and over again- are you referring to all religions sharing a similar story?
By this sentence I meant that this same story is told over and over again in the Bible, but actually all religions do share, even if not the same or a similar story, the same universal knowledge of this process that we are slowly gaining access to again.
Love,
Anny
Hi Anny!
My apologies for the delay in replying to your comments; actually, I’m just now reading your reply.
I do thank you for your comments in response to my questions!