Ways of Christ

After the "1000 years of peace" for the judgement of the dead "books were opened" - showing the events, "and ... the book of life" - which shows one's resulting state. Only after the subsequent consuming fire on the newly tempted army and the ejecting of the "devil" into the "fiery lake of burning sulphur" (Revelation, after 19,19-20,3 now in 20:11-15) the New Heaven and the New Earth approach. The actual length of the periods of time remains an open question.

The motto of Christ is "Behold, I make all things new" - without exceptions (Revelation 21,5). This "new creation" is, however, similar to the immortal values previously unfolded both in each individual and on the large scale. Current action also remains important for those who expect apocalyptic events to happen soon.

In the New Heaven - mentioned in the text before the earth and the New Jerusalem - something like a cosmic Ascension is pointed to. (Cf. the chapter "The Ascension" and Luke 24, Mark 16,). The emphasis of the description had been up to now on the earth; but now the importance of the events for the visible and invisible "heaven" comes to the foreground. Here the eternal Heaven of God beyond space and time is not meant - this remains unchanged - but worlds that have been created. The small planet earth might prove to be more than a "developing country" even on the cosmic scale; but resolving its problems might be a highly specialized, far-reaching task. The problematic nature due to great human freedom and great entanglement in material affairs can not be found in all possibly "inhabited" worlds, according to Lorber and others. The negative powers that were flung onto the earth, and now into the "lake of burning sulphur" according to the visions of John can't be found in all worlds. Just as Jesus had an effect on mankind, in the same way a transition of the whole of mankind or earth with Christ would certainly have a further, extended effect.

The then renewed "New Earth" and the connected event of the "New Heavenly Jerusalem" coming down to earth can be compared with the Whitsun event of the Acts, but here also on a cosmic scale. This is not the geographical Jerusalem. The earth is in exchange with the surrounding cosmos at various levels.

"There will be no more curse" /other translation "there will no longer be banished things""…no more negative powers", "no more darkness" (Revelation 22,3). Consequentially that means, here the negative powers are also delivered, the divided world is now over. For the first time the world appears as a conscious whole, a state, which can be foreseen ('close to God') in visions and so forth, but indescribable. A weak copy of this state would be when, starting from some point in inner life, all other points could be filled with life, which is an experience that can occur on the path; "All In All". In God himself the higher unity of everything is already there.

The divine model of creation - the A(lpha) - and the new creation with all beings consciously re-connected with everything in God – the O(mega), the beginning and the end, become congruent, and nevertheless the A and the O remain. So the "end" is more than the beginning, although the beginning already contains everything. As a tendency to become congruent in small parts e.g. of the human being which is going through everything continuously, even this direction of events is already recognizable. 

You may see the table "Archetypes (models, symbols) from the earliest history - elucidated by the Bible - to Jesus, and to the future".

It is additionally pointed out here, that e.g. according to the vision of R. Steiner, the events of the "new earth" relate to one of three new "earth incarnations", following each other in gigantic periods of time. Without attempting to comment this, it is at least mentioned here that the nature of the biblical "New Earth" also comes from another process than an incarnation rhythm as calculated, e.g. in Hindu Cosmology also for planets and so forth and the whole cosmos. If once taken seriously, it exceeds the kind of Becoming and Decay we have known or presumed to be true up to now and enters higher and higher "octaves" or "spirals".

Even in contrast to the experiences possible today, the opinion of some theologians that the revelation only contains admonishing parables without reality fades completely.

The parables of Jesus in the Gospels were taken from the lives of the people in order to illustrate certain aspects. Later, but still during his life on earth, Jesus stressed in contact with his disciples that now he would no longer talk in parables, but openly. The Revelation does not come from human life; everywhere, where the text itself gives interpretations, there are direct "correspondences"; that is, on that level of consciousness, the things seen "really exist", like experiences of contemporary spiritual investigation, e.g. of R. Steiner. The apocalypse admonishes, however, too; e.g. in order to proceed from a theo-logy to a "theo-practice"; to look at what "is in the air" and "to let God also appear at each present time". God also acts through people - but not through arbitrary actions of people: human beings are not to play God or the Apocalypse. Man can develop more and more along the lines of God's Plan for the world - the Creation Program.