|
Introduction:
To understand the NT we have to know about the influences of
the times.
Judaism, Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), Gnostism (knowledge),
the inter -testament writings found at Qumran, and the Gentile
religions, particularly Mithraism.
Without grasping the beliefs held in these one cannot understand
all the sayings of Jesus, John's writing, and Paul.
The OT contains examples of Kabbalah e.g.. the creation story,
Jacob's ladder (a picture of the ascent into heavenly realms),
Elijah's trip in the chariot, and Ezekiel's visions.
Jesus always referred to himself as " the son of man",
just like Ezekiel.
There are similarities in Jewish mystical ideas to the Eastern
mystical religions.
These parallels suggest they either learned from each other, e.g.
the Jews had contact with India and talked with Hindus, or that
there is a common source much older.
Kabbalah is a system of symbolic forms to aid in the knowledge
of God and the universe. It is not to be taken literally, and may
not all be a true picture anyway.
The point of this study is to show that the language of it is
found in many places in the NT.
Either the writers of the documents were mystics using language
familiar to them, (but would it have been understood by the common
people and gentiles?) or they are quoting the way Jesus spoke?
As for Paul; he wanted to impress and to make everyone think he
had been to the great schools of teaching in Jerusalem.
Jewish mysticism grew as time went on, having gained in Egyptian
magic (e.g. Moses and Aaron versus the Egyptian magicians) and
accumulated ideas from Babylon in the exile (demonology, angelology,
and astrology).
These have to be born in mind when looking at the NT writings.
The middle ages in Europe saw a great deal of addition of western
magic and the branching into the occult (Tarot etc.) that has given
it a bad name in Christian circles.
Kabbalists say that the first chapter of Genesis is the Kabbalist
way of describing how creation came about. The tree of life was
represented by Moses in the menora candlestick with its central
column, the foot representing the kingdom, and the arms on the
left are "form" and the arms on the right are "force";
as there is yin and yang in the east as the active and passive.
All these are held on balance on the tree.
That these higher worlds, or heavens has the first, or lowest,
as the kingdom of heaven, with the highest, or seventh heaven,
suggests Jesus was saying the Kingdom of heaven is available to
you if you follow my teaching : i.e. you can start on the journey
up the ladder of Jacob, as some Kabbalists call it. (Ladder instead
of tree).
Every person, anywhere in the world, who is a mystic and reaches
up for the seventh heaven, is part of the spiritual Israel. Jesus
said he came to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 10, and sent
his disciples to such, yet he taught Gentiles (the woman of Samaria
in John 4), and they went to Gentiles too (e.g. Philip and the
eunuch Acts, who would not be allowed into temple worship because
he was not an entire male: Deut. 23 v1). So this mysticism is for
all.
The fall of man is so called, according to Kabbala, because man
fell from one world above to a lower, and the way back to paradise
is guarded by angels. "Adam Kadmon" being the prototype
of man who began as pure light, but materialised into flesh when
he fell. He contained both male and female in one, as does God,
but later became separated into the male and female. The idea of
this perfect "son of God" became one of the aspects of
messiah in later thought. Does Jesus fulfil this in Paul's writing
about a first and second Adam?
Kabbal suggests an older, direct way to God without the superstructure
and intermediaries built up by the priesthood in Judaism. Is this
what Jesus was saying - to go back to it? Go my way, my yoke is
easy, my burden is light! (end of Matt. 11)
Once the temple and sacrifices were gone, as he said to the woman
at the well in Samaria, one would have to learn how to worship
the God who is Spirit in spirit and in truth (John 4.) without
all the sacrifice and ritual of the temple.
Many wanted Jesus to be the Messiah who would by force restore
Israel to her former glory by defeating her enemies, as David had
done. But he told them not to say this. (e.g. Matt. 16 v20 This
was not his message. It was a spiritual kingdom for the lost sheep
of Israel (being all those who were spiritual anywhere and of any
race.) It was entry to the kingdom at the foot of the tree of life
which lead to the crown of life at the top where God dwelled.
Jesus said he would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to
Peter, did he mean "I will teach you mysticism" ?
He also spoke of working in the daylight and in Kabbal this means
in the spiritual light given as opposed to darkness without understanding
spiritual things.. Being awake means spiritually awake, and asleep
being spiritually dormant or dead. This gives the meaning of the
parable of the ten virgins in Matt. 25. Virgins in Kabbalah are
spiritually so because they are not yet born, and so are uncontaminated
by this world.
This would mean the 144,000 in Revelation 14 are spiritual virgins.
The crown is the understanding and wisdom at the top of the tree
of life in Kabbalah. Jesus said he would give his disciples the
crown of life. Jesus is saying he will teach them all the tree
of life has in it; which is all the laws that govern the manifest
universe. If that is the case then no wonder he could control the
elements, multiply bread, and heal the sick and raise the dead,
and rise from the dead himself!
Jesus spoke of a place called Gehenna where people were suffering
and angry. This one of the pits at the bottom of the tree, in Kabbalah,
where the evil of creation is cleansed and returned upwards after
a time. It is similar the purgatory, and nothing stays there for
ever.
Good souls come to this world again too, so was John the Baptist
really a reincarnation of Elijah?
Some souls return to the world to live again to try to do better,
which is similar to the reincarnation and kharma of Hinduism. This
may be the idea in the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke
16. The rich man is in Gehenna and suffering in the pit, but Lazarus
is in Sheol (or Paradise) with Abraham, can some one go back and
tell others, warn them? Not even if someone was to rise from the
dead and go to warn them because they do not listen to Moses and
the prophets. They had been warned by Elijah and John.
John's writings (i.e. those attributed to "John")
contain much about light and dark and much kabbalistic symbolism.
In caves 1,2,4 and 5 at the Dead Sea scrolls were found about
the war between the children of light and those of darkness - this
is a way of saying those who are spiritually awakened and enlightened
are at war with those who are not (rather as Jesus said about ones
enemies being even in your own family).
He also speaks of seeing through a door or gateway into heaven.
(Rev.4) to the throne room with emerald throne and sapphire floor..
There are many "sevens" in Revelation with a temple,
souls of martyrs, seven lights, the elders of Israel, seven angel
with seven seals, and a heavenly city with the tree of life growing
there. All these are Kabbalah symbols.
In John 14 Jesus speaks of his Father having many mansions, and
that he was going to prepare a place for them. In Kabbalah there
are seven palaces, or chambers, in the heavenly realms, and one
can pass through these by effort to pass the angels with the seals
guarding the gates, to reach the uppermost where one enters a chariot
to be lifted to ecstasy of knowing God.
Is this the chariot that came for Elijah?
All of the writing attributed to "John" has these kabbalistic
symbols and is why the gospel is so different and more spiritual
than the other gospels. He uses seven discourses and seven examples
of miracles in the gospel, and often refers to light and dark,
being symbolic of being awake or asleep spiritually.
Can the mysterious remarks in John ch. 6 be in Kabbalah code?
There are spiritual originals in the heavens which have their replicas
on earth. Manna, or bread of heaven, is one. This was, with the
menora as the tree of life, placed in the tabernacle, representing
spiritual light and food.
This spiritual food gives eternal life if eaten. The strange thing
is that there seems to be no teaching in Kabbalah about eternal
life, as such, only about the tree of life, which if one eats of
its fruit imparts eternal life. It is as though Jesus is saying
he is a fruit of that tree and one must eat him!
(v 33 " For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world." And v 27 " Do not work
for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life,
which the son of man will give you."). Really it must
mean that he is giving them words that must become food and drink
to them they are so necessary to find the way up the tree of life.
They are the keys of the kingdom. They must be fully digested and
become part of you.
The end of John ch. 1 has Jesus promising Nathaniel, a true Israelite
(i.e. a truly spiritual man) that he would see angels ascending
and descending upon the son of man. In other words he would see
Jacob's ladder, the way to reach God.
Paul teaches the reverse of the Kabbalah picture of the
heavenly spiritual body being first and the material replica after
in 1 Cor. 15 saying that the material body will be resurrected
as a spiritual body. v 47 " the first man was of the dust
of the earth, but the second man from heaven."
Paul speaks of going to other heavens in 2 Cor. 12,and being seated
in heavenly places in Ephesians 2, and seeing through a glass darkly
to what is beyond in 1 Cor, 13 v 12. These are all terms from Kabbal.
He speaks of being transported to the third heaven, which is two
above the first of the kingdom of heaven! This is the place where
incarnate man rises during prayer and is instructed in the mysteries
of creation. The second heaven below it is the place of paradise
where one learns about the purpose of existence, and himself. The
first level is the kingdom of heaven (or God) which veils (the
dark glass) the others and for an incarnate being is the highest
manifestation of himself. It is a state only occasionally reached
in life when one is fully awake spiritually. This is what Jesus
promised his followers. Paul boasts he has reached two levels above
that.!
He talks in Corinthians about having the mind of Christ, which
means having the mind of Adam Kadmon, the first Adam who is perfect
man and a spiritual being, and is the state we should all be trying
to attain. He (or it) lives in the fifth heaven. It was through
him, that is light, that everything was made. His being is like
that described in John one as the word. It seems both John and
Paul thought Jesus was this being, Adam Kadmon, the prototype spirit
man, incarnate.
It seems strange that Paul is using Kabbalistic language when
writing to gentiles, having said they did not need the Jewish laws,
but these are things of the spirit for all, and exist in mystical
thinking in all religions. He was mixing it with Mithraism. This
Pauline mixture is what the church follows today rather than the
pure teachings of Jesus.
Hebrews, whether written by Paul or not, shows kabbalist
language. In ch. 11 we have the heavenly city and country - the
template for the earthly Jerusalem and land of Israel. This is
the place to which Paul aspired and John saw where there is no
more night (i.e. one is always awake spiritually in the light of
God). John saw it come down to earth to be with all the tribes
of spiritual Israel This would be the kingdom of God on earth.
Mark is full of accounts of Jesus freeing people of demons.
The idea of evil spirits was taken into Judaism in the Babylonian
exile. In Kabbalah the Name of God or scripture was used to send
them away into the place for them in the pit. This was practised
in Judaism at the time of Jesus. So what Jesus did was not unique.
Luke has the story of Jesus as a boy going to learn from
the religious teachers and becoming better educated then his family,
was it then he began his journey into mysticism?
Matthew has a different birth story with a star
and "wise" men from the east, which is full of Kabbalist
symbolism.
Revelation is full of Kabbalist symbolism.
In the caves at the Dead Sea an Aramaic scroll was found speaking
of the New Jerusalem in a similar way to ch. 21 and 22 of Revelation.
All the numbers used are highly significant in mysticism, especially
seven and its multiples, and twelve and its multiples (1260 and
42 and 144,000 and 24).
The close connection with the books of Daniel and Ezekiel, which
are written at the time of the exile in Babylon,or later,is clearly
showing the mystical thread still running.
This book cannot be understood without knowing the symbolism of
Jewish mysticism.
Virgins are spiritual, the twelve tribes of Israel are all those
who are enlightened into the kingdom of heaven, and they are warred
upon by those who are not.
They will be citizens of the city of the new Jerusalem that comes
down from its place in the heavens. The types of things in the
heavens of those in the temple or tabernacle are there.
The candlesticks are menoras, which are the tree of life; and
this is promised to those who keep the faith. They are promised
a place in paradise, which is in the fourth heaven, and will be
given hidden manna to eat etc.
One thing not spoken off in the OT or Kabbalah is eternal life,
of which there is much in the NT.
The Jews understood that the soul is eternal, but not that the
body would rise physically.
That has been added to orthodox Judaism at a later date.
The idea in Kabbalah is more as it is in Hinduism: that there
is a recycling of both matter in bodies, and of spirits.
next section : A Question of Q
|
