Revelation's Little Book | series post #7

REVELATION 10

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land" 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, "Take and k eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey" 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

The Concealing of the Concealment

<>>>> MCK notes: This eating by Yochanan of the little book is the seal of the concealment of the word of G-d in the earth. What Yochanan heard from the voice of the seven thunders came from this little book. Now he eats it. Because the revelation of the Mashiach is here concealed and the concealment is sealed by the prophetic act of the prophet eating the little book, that act results in a famine of the word of G-d in the earth at this point of judgement, a spiritual darkness.

Amos 8:11 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God,"when I will send a famine on the land -not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,but of hearing the words of the Lord. "when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea,and from north to east;they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

The voice of the seven thunders will not be heard again until it thunders out of the belly of Yochanan— that is to say, out of the belly of the body of the bride of Mashiach, redeemed corporate Israel with the first harvest of nations already within her. For this is the body of which Yochanan is here the ear.

Until the concealment of Yehoshua HaMashiach at this point is taken away in the final judgment, darkness will cover the earth with regard to the heart of the Book of the Revelation of the Messiah of Israel. For the essence of the Revelation is revelation of mercy in judgment toward the Adam, that is to say, Humanity. And the core of these judgments is the mystery that those sealed in Israel with the name of the Father of Mashiach are protected from the judgments, as the camp of Israel was protected from the judgments in Egypt. And the secret of this mystery is made known through the seven thunders. But Yochanan conceals this secret prophetically within his belly, in the same way that Ezekiel did before him. This spiritual darkness is like smoke that arises from the open abyss.

While the power and authority of each principle of the judgments reaches back from the endpoint into the ages before the endpoint, so that each of them began through the ages since the coming of Mashiach into the world to be manifested as the footsteps of Mashiach approaching, when the endpoint comes each judgment comes in full. When this endpoint comes the spiritual darkness of the demonization of the world comes in full, and nothing can stop it then except the voice of the seven thunders being heard openly through the mouth of redeemed Israel. This is promised to Yochanan in the next verses.

Exodus 10:21 Then the Lord said to Moshe, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. "

The Future Glory of Israel

Isaiah 60:2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

Reading From the Siddur (ArtScroll adapted): KAPOROS / ATONEMENT

Children of the Adam, who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, shackled in affliction and iron. He removed them from darkness and the shadow of death, and broke open their shackles. The fools — because of their sinful path and their iniquities they were afflicted. Their souls abhorred all food, and they reached the portals of death. Then they cried out to HaShem [the One G-d, whose name is made known in Israel] in their distress; from their woes He spared them. He dispatched His word and cured them, and let them escape their destruction. Let them thank HaShem for His kindness and for His wonders to Humankind. If there will be for someone but a single defending messenger [of HaShem] out of a thousand to state a person's justifying righteousness on his or her behalf, tHe will be gracious to him or her and say, 'Redeem this person from descending to the Pit; I have found atonement.'

Revelation's Little Book | series post #6

Reading of the Torah, Aish Synagogue, Tel Aviv, Israel.  Wikipedia

"Passage of the Red Sea",  St. Nicholas "Nadeina" church in Yaroslavl (Wikipedia)

All who have eaten the word of G-d, as Yochanan/John ate the word of G-d, are able to hear the voice of the seven thunders, which the world as a whole will not hear until the final hour comes upon us.  Those who have eaten the word of G-d, but whose hearing is impaired by something other than the word of G-d, are hearing the seven thunders at all times but may not be able to hear clearly what the seven thunders are saying.  To them, the thunder of certain judgment seems to be like a rolling thunder in the distance.  The sense of distance is an illusion which has been created by the impairment of their hearing.

The bitter root of spiritual hearing impairment is the bitter root of terror.  This is the terror that comes to someone who looks down from a high, narrow bridge.  It is just as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says, "This world is a narrow bridge.  The main thing is not to be afraid."  The fear of spiritually falling comes from our own sight, from looking down and imagining what would happen if we fall.  Israel saw what happened to Pharaoh and to Egypt.  They knew they had crossed the Red Sea on a narrow spiritual bridge.  Miriam led all Israel in a song of joy and praise!

But immediately then they found themselves in the dead wilderness and when they finally came to water it was poisonously bitter.  In Miriam's merit, G-d showed Moshe a sweeting tree to cast into the waters, to make them pure to drink.  This was an object lesson for Israel.  It is an object lesson also for all who have entered into the redemption that is in Mashiach Yehoshua of Israel.  We will learn that the bitter waters, the waters of Marah, are the waters of our own sight and imagination and fear of spiritually falling from the narrow bridge of this world.

It is written that when Moshe had cast the tree into the waters and the waters had become sweet that, "[G-d] made a statue and an ordinance for them there and tried them.  And He said, If you carefully listen to the voice of Hashem your G-d, and you do what is right in His eyes, and you pay attention to His commandments, and keep His statutes, I will not put on you all the plagues that I have put on Egypt, for I am Hashem your Healer."

We can understand from this that G-d was making it clear to Israel that it was through His Torah that they would be sealed from the judgments that He would bring upon the nations, which He had begun to demonstrate upon Egypt.  We can understand that He was making it clear to Israel that their crossing of the Red Sea was not the end of their redemption, but only the beginning of it.  The promise of the redemption was not only that Israel would be redeemed from Egypt and from the judgment of G-d upon the world and its empires.

The promise of the redemption was that Israel would be redeemed from its own evil inclination, from whatever prevented it from being transformed from the ways of sin to keeping the Torah of G-d from the heart.  For, if this redemption of the heart and hearts of Israel did not come there would be no redemption at all.  Even the redemption out of Egypt would have been in vain.  For without Israel being sealed in heart and mind by the Torah, in the end, all the plagues that came upon Egypt would all come upon Israel as well.  Just as the waters of Egypt were turned to poison and blood, so Israel would find only poisonous, bitter waters to drink.  However, the redemption of Israel would not fail.  It was begun by G-d's word and it would be completed by G-d's word.  It was guaranteed by G-d's word to Abraham.

If the Jew looks down from the hight of the narrow bridge of the covenant of G-d with Abraham and his offspring and sees Pharaoh and his armies, and many other enemies of Israel, falling into the depths of the sea of G-d's judgments and then imagines themselves slipping and falling they could be overcome with the fear of their imagined fall.  Those also who have been redeemed from the idolatry in their heart by the offering up of that lamb, Mashiach Yehoshua of Israel, have also been elevated to the high point of that high narrow bridge of redemption, and if they consider that high elevation through the understanding of their own sight they can be overcome with terror.

The deepest darkness of separation from G-d is a long way down.  Even the nations who are living in darkness are afraid of this darkness.  Those who have been raised up out of such darkness could not see it clearly before they were redeemed out of the nations.  Now, if they depend on their sight, the temptation to terror is overwhelming.  So now, the voice of G-d speaks to them, saying, Don't look down!  Yet they do look down and are overcome with fear.  And the fear deafens them to the voice of G-d.  And they do not clearly hear the promise of G-d that seals Israel, and would seal them, against the plagues which He brings upon Egypt and the nations.  They hear only the rumbling of the certain judgment that is coming and do not hear clearly what the voice of the seven thunders is saying.

Here is the fear that has deafened the nations, even those who have been called out of the nations, (for all of this is a testimony to Israel):  the nations see that Yehoshua came to his own, to the Jewish nation, and his own did not receive him... immediately, they look down into the depths of the darkness and do not look upward to the Redeemer of Israel.  The frightened nations see that to as many as receive him he gives the power to become his brothers and sisters, the children of G-d.  They do not hear the voice of the Spirit of G-d telling them that this is the sign of G-d's mercy to Israel.  In their fearfulness they imagine that this is the sign of Israel's condemnation for having rejected their Messiah.  As they measure, so it is measured to them.

Instead of being comforted and reassured through the certainty of the covenant of G-d with Israel, they begin to imagine that the Torah is a word of condemnation and not a word of promise.  From then on, they begin to be overcome by fear of loosing their own grip on the narrow bridge of redemption, of somehow slipping away...  Their fear grows and spreads to their neighbours.  They have heard the word of G-d, but immediately, because of their fear of the chastisement of Israel have turned that chastisement into condemnation in their own imagination, and thus their fear impairs their further hearing of the voice of the word of G-d to Israel, comforting her and reassuring her in her chastisement.  They cannot find the tree that purifies the bitter waters of judgment which is in the hand of Moshe.

It is impossible, therefore, to hear clearly what the seven thunders of judgment are saying if we are in any way looking down upon Israel, or upon the stumbling of Israel.  For the secret of what the voice of the seven thunders is saying is the secret of comfort and reassurance that the Comforter sent by Yehoshua is whispering in the ear of Israel.  It is impossible to hear this whisper unless one's ear is very close to the Torah ear of Israel.  Only from that position will it be possible to go on to the next post in this series.  Believe, therefore, in the prayer of Yehoshua for the forgiveness of the nation of Israel, as G-d defines that nation through His Torah, and let us go on...