A Celestial Revelation: Uncovering the Mystery of Ancient Christian Prophecy

By Andrew G Frew

A Celestial Revelation explores the link between the Zodiac, the constellations and the prophecies particularly in the book of Revelation. The author looks for many answers about the future of man and the second coming of Christ in the Revelation of St John the book that closes the Bible. In this new study, which gives amazing explanations for many extraordinary events, we rediscover the original teachings of the early Christians.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew G Frew
• Release date: Jun 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393720003

Book preview

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John the Apostle on Patmos

Jacopo Vignali

THE APOCALYPSE OF

ST JOHN THE APOSTLE

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

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Revelation 1:1-3

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The Time Is At Hand

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St John says the time is at hand, an inference to count the hands and to direct us towards a symbol universally found in the Gnostic scriptures, the hermetic wisdom literature and in the Chaldean Oracles. A shape Pythagoras knew as the tetractys while in the Jewish Kabbalah it is known as the Tetragrammaton. The ten digits of the hands, which geometrically, represented forms an equilateral triangle a shape that in ancient cosmology was believed to contain ‘the whole number,’ (Cosmology in Antiquity. M.R. Wright. Routledge1995.) This symbol encapsulates the whole book of revelation because it reveals a blueprint of a time to come when ‘The Kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ’ Rev 11:15. The wisdom of this is given to us in the last of Christ parables, the parable of the ten virgins, which he spoke as a symbol for the end of the age ‘Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.’ Matthew25: 1-2. The bridegroom in this context is the heavenly Christ and the lamps are symbolic for the number of celestial spheres apparent at the end time, which will total ten (10) a number, which through numerology we can derive One the whole number found within the great law of the Torah

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord ’Deut 6:4.

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John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

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Revelation 1: 4-6

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Seven Spirits

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John begins the apocalypse with a trinity of greetings from God, the seven spirits and Jesus Christ the faithful witness. The focus is on Christ but the message is essentially an eternal one from a Christian point of view. But the question arises who or what are the seven spirits before the throne? It appears they are specialised forms of this one life. We find them in the seven lamps of Zech 4:2 and the seven eyes of Zech 4:10 ‘which run to and fro through the whole earth’ symbolised in the seven-branched menorah and as we shall soon discover to be found in the seven Epistles and the Ten Commandments of God. In ancient mythology these seven spirits were recognised as the divine beings embodied in the luminaries of the sky – sun, moon, mercury, Venus, mars, Jupiter and Saturn. In ancient cosmology each of these seven orbs were seen to pass through twelve constellations known as the zodiac each of these signs were named and given an orb ruler through which the ‘spirit ’ or nature of its influence was obtained.

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Numerology

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John introduces the ancient practice of numerology the same numbers recurring time and time again adding Gods reassurance that what appears to be chaos is underneath all part of the divine plan ordered by number. The early Egyptians, Babylonians and Jews all recognised the power of numbers, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras 532BC establishing numerology in his school curriculum. John begins by using his favourite number the number seven the number signifying fullness which is frequently used throughout the apocalypse along with the number twelve, which is the product of three and four the sum of seven. A reference is made to both these numbers in Mark 8:19-21. Numbers were particularly important to the Jews as demonstrated by the Hebrew numerology system known as gematria where each Hebrew letter possessed a numerical value.

The magical use of numbers or numerology was no doubt a reflection of the times John lived in Acts 19:19. He uses the Alpha and Omega: the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which means the sum of all things as if to encapsulate the books underlining theme.

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Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

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Revelation 1:7-8

Daniels Vision

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The apocalypse was written so it could be read aloud to the congregations in seven churches in Asia Minor but no doubt to be studied in greater detail later like the letters of Paul for much of the work contains references to the Old Testament prophets. The words ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds’ is a refrain from the book of Daniel 7:13. At the trial before the Sanhedrin Jesus said ‘After this shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven’ Matt 26:64. This confirms the conviction that the understanding of the visions of Daniel 7:1-28 are indispensable to the interpretation of Revelation. Daniel like John speaks of four kingdoms that will arise from the earth, each following the other until they give way to a little horn with ‘eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.’ During his rule the saints shall be handed over to him for ‘a time, times and half a time’ (a cryptic number) after which he shall be destroyed. Then the authority, glory and sovereign power of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the saints the people of the most high.

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I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

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Revelation 1:9-11

The Seven Letters

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There is no evidence that the Isle of Patmos was a roman penal colony (Revelation J. Sweet 1990). It is more likely that it was a place of exile used by governors of the provinces to banish undesirables. John was probably sent there by the Proconsul of Asia on the evidence submitted by the authorities at Ephesus. Though the early church father Tertullian reports that the apostle John was brought before Domitian in Rome ‘after suffering no hurt from being plunged in boiling oil, was remitted to his island exile’ (De Praescriptione Haereticorum; Stevenson). If so John would have suffered from deportation, which was among the capital penalties, involving greater degradation, which was exacted only by the Emperor or the city prefect. Whatever the case may be it was here on the Isle of Patmos laying in the Aegean Sea 65 miles from Ephesus John wrote the seven epistles to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Turkey). The letters show familiarity with the geographical area of each church and the particular problems that each of the local Christian communities face in keeping the true faith. They are composed in the spirit of the risen Lord as if Christ himself were speaking asking for steadfastness, patience and the practice of true Christian doctrine.

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The most unusual feature of the letters is why there are only seven there were many more churches in Asia. Why concentrate on the special needs of just a few communities to the exclusion of others, why did not John embody the teachings in just one covering letter to all the churches surely that would of sufficed. The answer is not far to seek if one ciphers the teachings in respect of a near eastern document of two thousand years ago. Careful examination of the letters reveals that each ‘spirit ’ or angel of the church is a character representation of one of the seven luminaries found in the ancient practice of prognostication through astronomy or astrology. The ancients believed that the sphere of mortality began with the seven planets. The same ideas are to be found in the mystery schools, the Pythagorean brotherhood and in Plato’s exposition of the theory of the universe (Timaeus). The Epistles are the systematic treatises on the subject inscribed with the doctrines of Christianity.

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And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

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Revelation 1: 12-20

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A Vision of Christ

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The apostle is told to ‘Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be after this’ so here we are given the theme of the book a disclosure. John as a preliminary introduction to each of the letters uses each part of the vision as a starting point for all its other contents (F.J.A. Hort. The Apocalypse of St John 1908) The letter to Ephesus begins ‘These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands’ the letter to Smyrna ‘These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive’ the letter to Pergamos ‘These things saith he who hath the sharp sword with two edges’ and so on and so forth.

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The apostle is told to explain the mystery of what he sees in the hand of Christ ‘seven stars’ if the seven stars are symbolic for the seven luminaries or planets known in John’s time then the purpose of the apocalypse will be to reveal the unfolding of the universe in ours. Throughout human history the planets were seen to have an influence on the affairs of men, the star in the east seen before Jesus