5th November Trinity
Revelation 21:9 - 27
And there came to me one of the seven angels who
have the seven bowls filled with the last seven plagues of the world; and he
spoke with me and said, “Come, I will show you the eternal Feminine, the bride,
the wife of the Lamb.”
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| The New Jerusalem |
And he carried me in spirit-form up to a great high
mountain, and let me see how the Holy City, Jerusalem, the City of Peace,
descended out of the spiritual worlds, coming forth from the being of God,
wrapped in the most intimate splendor of the revelation of God.
Her shining is like that of a precious gemstone, like the
stone jasper, clear as crystal.
Her walls are of mighty size and height; she has
twelve gates and at the gates stand twelve angels. On the gates are written the
names of the twelve sons of Israel; three gates from the East, three gates from
the North, three gates from the South, and three gates from the West.
And the wall of the City rests on twelve sacred
foundations, and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb work in them.
And he who spoke with me carried a golden measuring
rod, in order to measure the City and her gates and her walls.
And the City is spread out in a square; her length
is the same as her width. And he measured the City with the measuring rod. It
measured twelve thousand miles; the length and breadth and height were alike.
And he measured her walls at one hundred forty-four cubits [ells], the measure of a man, which now the angel was
using.
The covering of her walls was of jasper, and the City herself of
purified gold, clear as glass. And the sacred foundation of the wall were
adorned with every precious stone:
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| Topaz |
the first, a jasper,
the second, a sapphire,
the third, a chalcedony,
the fourth, emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth, carnelian,
the seventh, chrysolite,
the eighth, beryl,
the ninth, topaz,
the tenth, chrysoprase
the eleventh, hyacinth,
the twelfth, an amethyst.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each of
the gates made of a single pearl. And the city was of purified gold, like a transparent
crystal.
I did not see a temple in the City, for the Lord
God, Ruler of All, is her sanctuary, and the Lamb.
And the City needs neither sun nor moon, for she
shines from within; for the shining revelation of God is streaming brightness
in her, and her light is the Lamb.
And all nations shall walk in her light, and the
rulers of the earth will carry their spiritual treasures into her. And her
gates will never be closed by day, for there, night will be no more.
And all the shining treasures of the revelations of
the world, and all the spiritual worth of the nations will be brought into her.
And nothing can enter which is not spiritualized,
nothing which perverts the image of Man, nothing which remains under the power
of the Lie, but rather only those who are written into the Book of Life of the
Lamb.
5th November Trinity
November 24, 2013
Revelation 21:9 – 27
Today’s reading describes a
beautiful bejeweled city. Who has built this city? One hint is that it is laid
out according to the measure of a human being.
This city’s foundations are
layered and named after the twelve apostles. For together the twelve apostles
represent all the potential virtues of humanity, gifted to us from the stars. The
sun-gold of the heart is here transparent. The twelve gateways are formed of
pearl, which is the lustrous outcome of suffering endured.
This future city will have
been built by human beings, out of the treasure house of all human work, of all
noble thought and feeling. It is the city that humanity as a whole is even now
in the process of building. We are laying the gem-like foundations with the
development of our virtues. We are fashioning the gateways with our suffering.
We are ensuring the transparent sun-gold light by offering our heart’s best to Christ.
We are building our future
home. All of this is being harbored in the heart of God. And when time is ripe
it will emerge from God’s heart as the place where heaven and earth are joined,
the new earth. It is the place where humanity and the divine dwell together,
within one another.
