REVELATION CHAPTER 1 - 4

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

The Book of Revelation was originally a liturgical prophetic text that prepared a persecuted faithful to face the ravages of the establishment. But because of its colourful apocalyptic language, it has been susceptible to many far-fetched interpretations, very possibly my own included. The Ethiopian church has seen it as a symbolic representation of the course of events in the world from creation to the day of judgement, with each slot in the several cycles of sevens representing an era. This fairly early Christian view that the chronology begins anew with each cycle of seven is at the basis of the historicist interpretation. The historicist interpretation was emphasized by the Protestant Reformation in justification for its divorce from the Roman Church, and thus is tainted at the outset by impure motivations and a lack of objectivity. It is further weakened by its arbitrary chronology in following some but not all of the cycles of seven, departure from the stated geography of the book, and failure to focus on the religious events of Jerusalem specifically and the Middle East in general. The method is further marred by its arbitrary expansion of allegorical interpretation, even when the text does not require a symbolic understanding.

The Preterist interpretation, which relates the events in the book to the beginnings of Christianity, was used by the Jesuit Alcazar in the seventeenth century in order to counteract the Protestant attack on Rome. As such, it cannot be considered seriously as an objective attempt to understand the book, despite the advantage of giving a largely contemporary application and thus dispensing with the need to rely on confidence in prophetic revelation of the future. Needless to say, the latter advantage is quickly grasped by the liberal scholar who wishes to read Scripture without reference to divine intervention.

The Futurist interpretation relegates nearly everything to the future. It is fostered by Evangelical Christianity, although it is also a historical Roman Catholic attempt to deflect Protestant criticism of Rome by focusing on the future. Of course Rome is right in objecting to the Protestant views. After the fall of the Roman Empire it is of little significance to the religious situation of the Middle East, and thus of prophetic books concerned with the state of Jerusalem. The book of Revelation does not mention the Papacy at all, simply because it is part of the polytheistic pagan tradition outside both the relevant geographical area and the development of Middle Eastern monotheism. The Reformation had no effect on this at all, and merely affirmed and continued the non-Biblical tradition despite its claims to sola scriptura.

Christians who despair of clarity on the morass of bias often appeal to a spiritual interpretation. While the spirituality of the book cannot be denied, it is also statedly a book of prophecy and ought to be conceived as such.

Despite the enormous amount of commentary that has been done on the Book of Revelation from the faith perspective, little of it is of consequence because of the lack of systematic hermeneutical principles. Such cannot be said of academic study of the book, however. Much of linguistic and cultural relevance has certainly been discovered. But few have had the courage to look at the book from a faith perspective and apply a rigid and systematic set of interpretive principles to the text. What follows is based on such an attempt to be as systematic as possible.

The commentary below takes conscious consideration of the following reasonable principles. 1) While the book is obviously liturgical, it also intends to be prophetic and to reveal the things shortly to come to pass. 2) The events portrayed as future to the writer should be found to occur after his time in the geographical areas mentioned in the book itself, and not in fancifully suggested other areas of the world. 3) The book should be taken in order and assumed to be chronological, except where the context is clear in making a temporary flashback or flash forward, only to resume its historically consistent time-line. 4) The book should be interpreted literally where possible and symbolism only appealed to when the context demands it. The objective reader will immediately understand the advantage of these principles. They are simple and reasonable. When the book speaks of a place by name, the primary significance of the passage must be that place and not Rome, Russia or the United States in arbitrary order. The simple assumption that what comes first in the book comes first in time, and what comes later in the book comes later in time, is obviously far superior to the arbitrary application of one passage to one time and another to another, just because it seems to fit the news of the day. The objective reader will immediately understand that falling into the practice of giving symbolic meaning to words when the text does not require it cannot fail to create chaos. The failure to apply these simple principles, along with the clear biases and political motivations of Christian interpreters of all stripes, is the reason for the chaotic misunderstanding of the Book of Revelation, and not the difficulty or obscurity in the text.

The book is structured around cycles of seven, but there are interpolations of other material as well. Furthermore, the number symbolism of the book is far more complex than that, building in addition to 3 + 4, also on 3 x 4 and half of seven in various expressions. This numerical symbolism goes back to the first chapter of the book of Genesis. All numbers in the book of Revelation should be seen as consistently symbolic when they are situated in this system. The system is symbolic, and one does not have the right to pick one area of it for literal interpretation and another for symbolic.

The book is also structured around two different figures: 1) the glorified human figure of Jesus Christ and 2) the theriomorphic figure of a lamb. Christian interpretation has conflated these figures into one and referred both to Christ on the basis of John 1:29 et al. This, however, is not valid, as the Greek text uses two distinct words for the lamb here, words that could conceivably even have been used of different species in the common speech of the time and place, and the connexion can only be made in translation, where both Greek words are collapsed into the one word lamb. The Jesus passages are 1:1-3:22; 12:17; 19:10; 20:1-21:8; 22:16-21. The figure of Jesus is always associated with the word of witness or martyrdom. The boundaries of the internal passages are unclear, especially in 20:1-21:8. Since the beginning and the end of the book are armed with these passages, it is possible that they are the products of a second editing, and that the original book consisted of the lamb passages while these are additions. Thus two visions may be collapsed into one writing, with the integrity of the original largely preserved.

The book presents a coherent whole, however, and this is made all the more coherent by the martyred Jesus passages. The first Jesus passage situates the rest of the book as chronologically arising in the aftermath of the apostasy of Christianity described in chapters two and three. Although the seven “churches” must be seen as literal, they also represent in their literal character the progress of Christianity towards apostasy. It is anachronistic, however, to speak of Christianity at all. The Book of Revelation only recognizes Jews of the synagogue of Satan and “true” Jews of the “churches” or groups of called out ones as the literal Greek implies, from the synagogue of Judaism, and perhaps metaphorically from the heathen world. There is no full-fledged Christianity at all, merely groups of called-out ones who preserved the message of Jesus to varying extents until they became the pallid last representatives in the Laodicean church. Apostate Christianity passes out of relevance to the book of Revelation and becomes a part of paganism with its polytheism and human sacrifice.

The new divine revelation, of which the Book of Revelation is the prophecy, appears as a book in 5:1. A new figure, the Lamb, opens this book for the world. The only relevant religious movement in the Middle East at the time of the period of Christian apostasy is of course Islam, and the book is the Qur’an. The Lamb is the figure who mediated and interpreted that revelation to humankind. The first four seals (6:1-8) present in accurate symbolism the eras of the first four caliphs, beginning with powerful conquest and ending with civil war. The fifth seal, given its chronological slot, fits the events of Karbala with the martyrdom of Hussein. The sixth seal (6:12-7:17) expresses the effects of that martyrdom on heaven and on the faithful on earth. The effects of that martyrdom on the earth among those who were not faithful to God are expressed in the seventh seal, that is the seven trumpets in 8:1-11:19. The birth and occultation of the twelfth Imam is described in chapter 12. Chapter 13 gives the imperial history of the Middle East under the symbolism of two beasts or empires who dominate the religious and economic situation. Beginning in chapter 14 the subject is the day of judgement, its preparation, the chaotic state of the world as it draws near, and the rewards and punishments of its aftermath.

The players in the drama, especially those of significance to the faithful, are obscure in human history, so that the details of their activities as portrayed here are not easy to disengage from historical sources. The fate of the mother of the Master of the Age in chapter twelve, for example, is much more clearly described in prophecy than in history. Few have been interested in the figure of Narjis, but her claims to fame are well delineated in the record books of God.

Early literature in reference to Jesus is varied in how it relates to his supposed death. Some Gospels ignore the question altogether. Others maintain the crucifixion. At least one denies the death of Christ. This confusion on the part of early followers of Jesus suggests quite simply that they did not know. The Book of Revelation is one of those that maintain the physical death of Jesus. For the most part, the book tends to focus on the death and resurrection as a victory over death that encourages the follower of Jesus who faces the possibility of martyrdom. Unfortunately theological conflicts arising long after the book was written have moulded thinking either to see the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice for sin on one hand, or to deny his crucifixion altogether on the other. Few are open to realizing the question objectively, and this will prevent most readers from achieving any understanding of the Book of Revelation. One resolution to the problem of the martyred Jesus, to the extent that it must be seen as a problem, might be to see the Jesus passages as a later interpolation, and the Lamb passages as the original. Personally, I find no reason for rejecting the integrity of the book, but then I do not share the Islamic prejudice against the belief in the crucifixion, nor the Christian prejudice against Muhammad and Ali, peace be upon them.

O my Beloved, I sit in quandary
And wonder that all the world must hate me,
And yet I set myself upon Your word
Against beliefs beloved by common herd.
It's only right the Jew hates me because
I love both Jesus and Muhammad’s claws.
It's only right the Christians hate me for
My praise to the Qur'an in holy store.
It's only right the Muslims hate the way
I let Christ die and resurrect in clay.
I only wonder at the Catholic crowd
Who love to read my scattered words aloud.
The world is topsy-turvy, that I see
As I spin out into eternity.

Christian interpretation of the book of Revelation has always neglected an essential feature. The book is clearly a liturgy as described in 1:3. It has the structure of the liturgies of Sts. John and Basil, surrounding the quotation of Isaiah 6:3 in 4:8. It is obviously set among competing liturgical texts, for it tries to preserve itself by laying a curse on anyone who would change the liturgy (22:18,19). The book should have been read by a reader to the congregation gathered for worship regularly so that the followers of Christ would have been ready to recognize the development of apostasy in Christianity and the rise of Islam both in its “beastly” and true forms. The failure of the Christian Church to do so, and the incorporation of other liturgies in place of the Book of Revelation, is part of its apostasy.

REVELATION 1

1 The Revelation of the Christ
Jesus, which God gave him, bespiced,
To show his servants what comes soon.
He sent and signified its tune
By angel to his servant John,
2 The one who bore his witness on
The word of God, and martyrdom
Of Jesus Christ, all that had come.

Beloved, You send Your universal word
By hand of Christ, angel, and prophet stirred,
To show Your servants what will happen soon.
Without such witnesses I bow at noon
To find not public messages You share
With humankind through ages everywhere,
But whispers loving to my ear alone
Unheard by any other flesh and bone.
And yet those messages of word of God
And martyrdom bring tears and joys to prod
My soul to that oneness Your words imply.
I lift my soul up to the empty sky
To bring down once again earth’s words of life
Before I step out into raging strife.

3 Blessed is the one who reads and those
Who hear the words these lines propose,
And keep those things that here appear
Wrote down, because the time is near.

In olden times readers were few and far
And had to function like an honoured star.
The books were also scattered on the hills
And rare indeed was that letter that kills.
A blessing You, Beloved, pronounce on those
Who have the book and share the word it shows.
This is liturgy more than prophet’s look
At future things to write down in a book.
The faithful servants gather on a day
To hear one read what they can only say.
Such worship gathered on the sacred word
Raised hearts in love, and souls were deeply stirred.
I too seek here the reader’s promised blessing
And bow with hearers in blessing’s confessing.

Worship consists from the beginning of
Hearing the divine voice of You in love,
Even if my soul still hides in the garden.
I seek Your mercy and Your offered pardon
In prayer, sacrifice, circumambulation,
But still the heart of worship’s reading’s ration
And hearing of Your Scriptures and their heeding.
I fought my way with guile, begging, and pleading,
And recitation of the Qur’an till
I walked free and abluted on the hill
Of the dome and Al-Aqsa and found there
The same sweet worship surrounded by prayer,
The reader of the Scriptures sitting still
And those who hear surrounded to the fill.

4 John, to the seven groups of called
Out ones in Asia: Grace bethralled
To you and peace from the Existing
God who was and comes still persisting,
And from the seven spirits who
Are before His throne at their cue.

There are just seven valid churches in
The holy land of Asia without sin,
Now huddled in the vastly state that’s now
Called Turkey by the low- and the highbrow.
The many ways and means around the earth
That search to find the spiritual in berth
Are futile now that e-mail makes the search
Alive to every bird upon its perch.
Beloved, I bow where true faith still is found,
And find it on my whirling round and round
The steeps of Anatolia and ground
Where Hasan Dede used to raise the sound.
I step no more in search, Beloved, for You
Stepped out of Turkey and into my view.

5 And from Jesus Christ, faithful witness,
The firstborn from the dead with fitness,
And ruler of the kings of earth.
To him who loved us for our worth
And loosed us from our sins in his
Own blood, 6 and made us kings that is
And priests to his God and his Father,
To him be glory and power rather
Forever and ever. Amen.

Witness and martyr are one word in Greek,
And Jesus is both of these things men seek.
There seems to be no wish so prominent
Among this humankind where I am sent
As looking for the proof of what one knows
Or thinks one knows, and looking for the glows
Of fire that burns the bodies of one’s foes.
Give me the grace and peace, Beloved, You share
With seven groups of people in the air,
And seven spirits burning at Your throne,
And the one martyred son You call Your own.
Thus I shall join the thousand thousand throng
That are kings and priests with a holy song
To You, his God and Father come along.

This text’s the only construed reference
To death of Jesus to wash sins’ suspense
Away in blood to be found in this book.
There’s very little explanation’s rook
In these words, perhaps because at the time
There was no thought of an atonement’s rhyme
Nor any care to deny or defend
The fact historical of the death send.
The words prevent the masses now from knowing
What this book’s message may be in the showing,
Since those who must have human sacrifice
And blood atonement find their desires nice,
And those who deny Jesus’ death abuse
To read anything but their own short fuse.

Truth is that Peter set the pace when he
Announced to Jewish folk jubilantly
That they were guilty of the blood of Christ.
It was surprising for those intersticed
With Roman rule. The fact is Romans willed
Those who were killed when righteous blood was spilled.
But proclamations of what such neglect
To save their own meant in guilt so select
Was shocking enough for some to repent,
And that is what both Peter and John meant,
Not that the slaying was a sacrifice,
But that the death of good men should suffice
To make all people everywhere stop short
And turn to You, Beloved, from wicked sport.

7 Truly he comes with clouds again,
And every eye will see him then,
Even the ones who pierced him, and
All tribes of earth will mourn in band
Because of him. Even so, Amen.

The promise when Christ left to go to You
Couched in the words of angels sent on cue,
Was that he would appear once more to be
The king in sight of every eye to see.
The one who thrust the spear in sacred side
Is wakened from the dust to see astride
The rushing clouds the one they crucified.
They see Your sent one once again to mourn
And wish that he or they had not been born.
I too shall raise my eyes to see that form
Revealing to the human eye Your norm,
And pray that when I do I shall not fail
To find joy in the visage and the grail.
Let me laugh last with nothing to bewail.

The question in my mind is that the cross,
Or torture stake if we must check the boss,
Is matter merely of old history
And cuts no ice whether true or falsely.
But I would suggest this verse does not right
Oppose the Qur’an in the bookish fight
By saying Roman soldiers pierced the wight.
In any case the Jews that taunted those
Poor Christians before Muhammad’s bare toes
Did not kill any Christ despite their boasts.
They all can rest on laurels and on toasts.
Let those who pierced him see the fearful sight
Of him returning to judgement’s delight
And even if mere myth regret the night.

8 “I’m the alpha and omega,
The start and finish,” says Lord God,
“Who is, who was and who for a’
Shall wield all power by My rod.”

The concept of divinity is sound
It seems no matter where one treads the ground.
The older revelation has a view
Less tri-part in the time it takes to do.
Besides Your being almighty in power,
The word finds You to be more than an hour.
Eternity is not here seen as void
Or wandering among the asteroid.
Instead it follows merely dot and line
From past to now to future carabine.
Even my own poor soul is well aware
That time is just a cloak, Beloved, You wear
When You show presence to the praying soul.
Time is Your servant too, and not Your goal.

9 I, John, both your brother and friend
In tribulation to the end
In kingdom and patience of Christ
Jesus, was on the isle surpliced
That’s called Patmos and for God’s word
And for the testimony spurred
Of Jesus Christ. 10 The lordly day
I was under the spirit’s sway,
And heard behind me a loud voice,
As of a trumpet, 11 saying choice,
“I am the alpha and omega,
The first and the last and no beggar,”
And, “What you see, write in a book
And send it out for them to look
To the seven groups of called out ones
Which are in Asia on their buns:
To Ephesus, to Smyrna, and
To Pergamos, Thyatira’s land,
To Sardis, Philadelphia’s stand,
And to Laodicean band.”

What lordly day was that, my Dear, that he
Heard the loved voice behind him in the lee?
I seek that day, whether the Sabbath rest
Or the great day of Judgement of the blessed,
Or any day on which Your name’s confessed.
The place I know, but that will make no show,
It is a very weary way to go.
My feet are too frail to conquer aquatic.
To meet You on a day’s more democratic,
It takes no travel in a world not static.
But time nor place have no hold on the bar,
The spirit is the thing that near or far
Recites the voice I long to hear from You,
At mouth of Christ, or in the steady pew.

A visit to any of these fair towns
In Turkey now still filled with their renowns
Will bring the soul into touch with the faith
That still burns brightly witness against wraith.
In Ephesus today, in Sardis too,
In any of the seven to be true,
A man can find a representative
Living nearby to show the way to live.
Beloved, I trek the villages that greet
The eye in search of beauty and I meet
In every place a fount to wash my feet,
A carpet where to lay my head in prayer,
The sound of the muezzin high on the air,
The hope of holiness’ scent everywhere.

12 Then turned to see the voice that spoke
With me, and having turned I woke
To see seven golden lampstands there,
13 Among the seven lampstands fair
One like the son of man, and dressed
With garment down to his feet blessed
And girded round the chest with band
Of gold. 14 His head and hair untanned
Were white like wool, as white as snow,
His eyes like fiery flame did go,
15 His feet were like fine brass, refined
In a furnace, his voice combined
As sounds of many waters rushing,
16 He had in his right hand seven crushing
Stars, and out of his mouth went sharp
Two-edged sword, and on epicarp
His countenance was like the sun
Shining in its strength on the run.

I follow in the image of the Christ,
The living Master once emparadised.
I have not reached the level of the sun
That shines out from my countenance or bun.
Too many colours disappear from sight.
But I have finally achieved the white
Or almost white of sacred beard and hair.
I have no sharpened sword to spar and scare,
Nor star nor lampstand, golden belt or robe.
But I have grizzled hair upon my globe.
I follow Your sent one among the stars
And walk with him where lampstand avatars
Awaken me to hear reciting voice
Sword-sharp regale me with room to rejoice.

17 And when I saw him, I fell down
At his feet as dead on my crown.
But he laid his right hand on me,
Saying to me, “Fear not decree.
I am the first, I am the last.
18 “I am he who lives, though in past
Was dead, and indeed, I’m alive
Forevermore, I do not jive.
Amen. And I have Hades’ keys
And Death’s keys also, if you please.
19 “Write down the things which you have seen,
And the things which are, and have been,
And the things coming after this.

Your sent one speaks in very words You use
To show the deity by which You choose
To touch my mind. He speaks as though the life
That You are from beginning of the strife
To end is also coursing in his veins.
Your giving him Yourself is his self-gains.
The first and last are not to You alone
Or to him limited in flesh and bone,
But also come to play upon the sheep
And goats before Your judgement hold and keep
Where first shall be last and the last shall be
First, Beloved, through Your love’s eternity.
When once unlocked, it seems that death’s dread door
Has no more power to strike one to the core.

He claims that he was truly dead and done
After the Roman spears went through his bun.
He says he conquered death and rose again
To bring the keys of hell safely to men
And fill the heart with hope, even the heart
That stands before the threat and evil part
Of martyrdom. And so significance
Of death and resurrection to the dance
Of the cosmos or Roman street or sound
Of New York is that fear’s thrown to the ground.
Beloved, whether I fear that death or not,
I do not seek the martyr’s blessèd plot.
I seek Your face and leave the promise bare.
I live to find Your presence everywhere.

20 “The mystery of seven stars’ bliss
Which you saw in my right hand, and
The seven golden lampstands grand:
The seven stars are messengers
To the seven groups of called out fers,
And the seven lampstands which you saw
Are the seven groups called out in awe.

I stepped into a world full of surprise
That held up mysteries before my eyes.
A simple lamp, a sword or star in sky,
A golden belt, a woollen cloak, a sigh,
All hold in common places in the dark
A glowing meaning for those in the park.
I take both star and hand and in my left
I thus empower Self not the bereft.
Beloved, as I step in the rampant row
Of growing lights upon the ground below,
I find that my bare feet in coolness show
More mysteries yet than the books bestow.
Book, vision and the common, shallow treat
All fill with mystery my brazen feet.

REVELATION 2

1 “To the messenger to the group
Of called out ones, Ephesus’ troupe,
Write, ‘These things says the one who holds
The seven stars with hots and colds
In his right hand, who walks among
The seven golden lampstands sung:
2 “I know your works, your labour, and
Your patience, that you cannot stand
Those who are evil, and you’ve tried
Those who say they are sanctified
Apostles and are not, and found
Them liars, 3 “and you have come round
And borne aloft, and laboured for
My name’s sake and have not footsore
Been weary. 4 “Yet I have a thing
Against you, that you’ve left the spring
Of your first love. 5 “Remember then
From where you’ve fallen, and like men
Repent and do first works again,
Or else I’ll come to you right soon
And take your lampstand golden hewn
From its place, except you repent.
6 “But this you have, I do relent,
That you hate Nicolaitans' deeds,
Which I also hate, and their creeds.

The people of Asia drew the complaint
From self-styled apostle and sinner saint,
The man Saul of Tarsus, that they did not
Accept his claims to apostolic plot.
Whether he is the grand prevaricator
That is counted here among gnome and satyr
I cannot say, perhaps You in Your sight
Know Paul better than I or any wight.
If Paul affirms Your covenant and word
Once sounded on fair Sinai and that stirred
Hearts then as mine is now, then I accept
Him as a truthful son and an adept.
But if not, then I take Ephesian crown
And tumble him and every prophet down.

I turn my spirit and my foot toward
Ephesian lights above the prophet’s sword,
And find the first and greatest of true churches
That binds the heart of all men on their perches
To You, Beloved, since the day Ali came
To wash the body of the prophet’s fame.
The faith that rose with fair Muhammad’s brood
And spread with the folk of the house that stood
Beneath the mantle of the prophet’s care
Is still found bowed three times a day in prayer.
Beloved, I rush into the mosque and seek
The treasures of Your justice and a peek
At twelve imams who whirl upon the day
And on the night with everything You say.

7 “He who has an ear, let him hear
What the Spirit says for their fear
To the groups of the called out ones.
To him who overcomes in runs
I’ll give to eat from tree of life,
Which is planted and without strife
In midst of Paradise of God
Above the river on the sod.”’

Beloved, the Nicolaitans are a thing
That has been centuries for wondering
Of who they are, and yet I think the word
Is clear not who but what they do’s inferred.
Let me know what evil things such folk did
That You despise their works unspirited.
They followed Balaam’s trail in worshiping
Idols and meat offered in idols’ name,
And committing acts of nakedness’ shame.
Beloved, may I respect the marriage vow
And avoid eating the unclean somehow,
So You will not despise my act and deed.
Beloved, I come to You for plough and seed
And planting time and watering for feed.

The group of called out ones at Ephesus
Existed at the time and without fuss
Despite the fatal loss of their first love.
But Ephesus is more than the above.
It represents the followers of Christ
At earliest days when their pure faith sufficed.
It represents the first step down the road
To an apostasy that would corrode
The faith until the government stepped in
To define and to force them into sin.
Do not, Beloved, look harshly on that crowd
Who left Your faith in procession allowed
Over five centuries, the Muslims took
Only an afternoon, prophet forsook.

8 “And to the messenger sent to
The group of called out ones, the few
In Smyrna write, ‘These things says he
Who’s first and last and faithfully,
Who was dead, and came back to life:
9 “I know your works, I know your strife,
And poverty (but you are rich),
And I know the blasphemous pitch
Of those who say that they are Jews
And are not, but sit in the pews
Of Satan’s synagogue and views.

And yet do not, Beloved, blame Muslims over
Harshly for their apostasy in rover.
The Christian world was first a called out race
From synagogue of Satan to the place
Of “true Jews” after which they gain no grace
Of their own epithet before the dance
Apostate entered in and closed their chance.
There never was a pure faith Christian known
Between the true Jew and the gnawing bone
Of Islam. Its descent into the false
Started in second century with a waltz
While they were still known as Jews of a sort.
Forgive, Beloved, the human cast of sport
That leaves You bereft of prayer and alone.

I whirl about the Turkish ways to find
The church of Smyrna in sweet things combined
And find the breath of Sabbetai Zvi is still
Scented upon the Smyrnan grove and hill.
The Doenme still cast up their secret prayers
In holiness upon the sea’s affairs,
And still confess the mystery of life
Before the evil world of sin and strife.
Beloved, I call a blessing on the few
Who remain true to that faith and to You
And wend their silent ways unseen by crew
Of state or merchant, tourist, man with knife.
And as You bless Your own, Beloved, arise
To write their faithful name upon the skies.

10 “Do not fear any of those things
Which you will suffer in the rings.
Indeed, the devil soon will throw
Some of you into prison stow,
That you may be tested and tried,
And you will have trouble to bide
Ten days. Be faithful until death,
And I will give you in one breath
The crown of life. 11 “Who has an ear,
Let him hear what the spirit dear
Says to the groups of called out ones.
He who overcomes in his runs
Shall not be hurt by second death.”’

The ten days of the Diocletian reign
Of terror were so done with crush and pain
The echoes filled distraught patmotic brain
And taught the tongue to prophesy not vain
The coming of destruction and insane.
The ten days of the Diocletian wrath
Come just before the stepping from the path
Into the irrevocable reward
Of empire and the preaching of the sword
Instead of gatherings in homes to read
The book of Revelation and not creed.
Beloved, the emperor for ten days tried
To kill the body, then he set aside
That to destroy the soul in false faith’s tide.

If Diocletian set the warning pace
Of persecution of Your folk and race,
It reached as far as Doenme in the trace,
As far as the expulsion of the one
Who spoke Your name despite Rabbinic dun.
Ten years upon the face of hidden fame
Your blessed son took a humble sort of claim,
But left a place of visitation’s flame,
A tomb, a mountain fastness and a name.
Beloved, I follow the ten silent years
Of desecration of Your love and fears
And while so many still revile the man,
Though sleeping in a doubful tomb, I can
Find gaps torn by his life in the veil’s span.

12 “And to the messenger sent out
To the group of called out devout
Pergamos write, ‘Now these things are
What he says who has scimitar
Of sharp two edges: 13 “I know your
Works, and where you live at the door
Where Satan’s throne is. And you hold
Fast to my name, and you were bold
For my faith even in the days
In which Antipas man to praise
Was my faithful martyr, though killed
Among you, where Satan’s wrath swilled.

This era of the called out ones of Christ
Is that of when the government has sliced
Into the congregation, taken over,
Set up its church councils where now the clover
Is carpet on Nicaea’s church’s floor
And broken walls stand where was once the door
By which king Constantine came to restore
The unity of empire with the help
Of those martyrs maimed by the Caesar’s whelp
A decade gone. Beloved, I too sit here
In Satan’s seat beneath the Roman gear
That’s raised each Sunday with never a fear
That You will step in and say now’s enough
Idolatry, polytheistic stuff.

14 “But I’ve a few things against you,
Because you’ve there those who hold true
The doctrine of Balaam, who taught
Balak to put a stumbling blot
Before Israel’s folk, and to eat
Things sacrificed at idols’ feet,
And to fornicate for a treat.
15 “Thus you also have those who hold
The Nicolaitans doctrines bold,
Which thing I hate. 16 ‘Repent, or else
I’ll come to you quickly for welts
And fight against them with the sword
Of my mouth and the righteous Lord.

The fornication was not just the run
Of striptease or what one-night stands get done
After the bar, it was a sacred state,
A rite to make the crops grow and the mate
Of cattle fertile, and it had its clue
In empirical, scientific view.
Your faith ignored the scientific plot
And left the faithful lost in their own thought
That babies came from You, and prayer was better
Way to get pregnant than Balak’s free setter
Of princess and Israelite man who went
To copulate under a sacred tent.
Beloved, I do not reject science when
I choose You alone in the face of men.

If Abdul Sultan Balim came to cast
An allegory and ungrateful mast
Before the place of gallows and repast,
I still must protest here, Beloved, the rate
Of accusation on his people’s state.
The candle is not blown out so they mate
With partners indescriminate as said
By neighbour and by enemy unled.
That calumny of fornication rises
From wicked heart alone for shame despises.
Beloved, I take hold of the blessed name
Of Hajji Bektash Wali and I claim
For him if not for each that gives him shame
The blessings of abundance and surmises.

17 “Who has an ear, let him hear what
The spirit says to groups astrut
Of called out ones. To him who wins
I’ll give hidden manna from bins
To eat. I’ll give him a white stone,
And on the stone new name alone
Written which no one knows except
He who’s received the stone and kept.”’

The first Bektashis were Jacob and his
Uncle Laban who raised white stone for kiz
Who claimed to be without idolatry.
That guard stone was there for all folk to see
That Jacob and Laban’s musahiblik
Was ancient and always managed to stick.
When Hajji Bektash multiplied the wheat
He gave the hidden manna from his seat,
And when he took the Bektashi stone white
He crowned it with a new name and a light
That still remains the secret of the night.
Beloved, I take the gulbent and the stone
Twelve-fluted and bowing before Your throne
Find that You are Allah and You alone.

18 “And to the messenger sent nigh
The group of called out ones in Thy-
Atira write, ‘These things says son
Of God Messiah, he’s the one
Who has eyes like a flame of fire,
And his feet like fine brass and wire:
19 “I know your works, love, service, and
Your faith and patience to command,
And as for your works, the last are
More than the first to shine as star.

Here is one of the rare occasions when
Your messenger calls Christ not son of men
But son of God, whereby the clear sense rises
That he’s Messiah that the world despises.
A technical term for Messiah taught
To priest and demon and at long last sought
By John, though not by others, it reveals
Jesus who conquers death and with life heals.
And yet John himself shows in Gospel rate
That Jesus was anointed on the pate
Not with anointing oil but with the dove
Of Your spirit alone and with Your love.
So technically he’s not even messiah
Since then existed no anointing fire.

20 “Nevertheless I have a few
Things against you, and because you
Allow that woman Jezebel,
Who calls herself prophetess, well
To teach and seduce my servants
To commit fornication’s dance
And eat things sacrificed to idols.

The beginning age of church music starts
To appal John who hears the flash and farts
Within the church walls built to gather in
The crowds to hear the priest encourage sin,
Adultery of worshipping in din
Of sensual display the Trinity.
Since Charlemagne there has been unity
On the platform of gross idolatry
By which three gods are all given one name
And take the throne and sceptre of Your fame.
The cults of Baal and Jezebel revive
In every sort of Christian now alive
Who mucks his way through drumset to the jive,
Contemporary Christian music’s hive.

21 “And I gave her the time in bridals
To repent of her fornication,
And she did not repent fixation.
22 “Indeed I will cast her into
A sickbed, and also those who
Commit whoredom with her into
Great tribulation, unless they
Repent of their deeds of the day.
23 “I will kill her children with death,
And all the groups called out by breath
Shall know that I am he who searches
The minds and hearts of folk and churches.
And I’ll give to each one of you
According to your workings’ due.

No one ever repents of an addiction,
And Baal worship is that sort of affliction.
The way that Jehu dealt with Baal worship
Was not to missionise with hand on hip
And exhort them to give up fiery sip
Of wine of fornication at the lip.
He did not come to reason with the crowd
And priest who dealt in pseudo-science loud,
But rather used deceit to bring them all
Under one roof and to a fraudful call
To worship Baal. And when he had them there,
He ordered men to kill them and not spare.
A Christian rock rave’s what we need now where
The whole crowd is laid down to slaughter’s share.

24 “Now I say to you and the rest
In Thyatira of the best
Who do not have this doctrine, who
Have not known Satan’s depths of stew,
As they say, I will put on you
No other burden. 25 “But hold fast
The things you have until the last
And I come. 26 “He who overcomes,
And keeps my works at premiums
Until the end, to him I’ll give
Power over the nations to live.
27 ‘He shall rule them with iron rod,
They shall be dashed down to the sod
In pieces like the potter’s crock.’
As I’ve also received from my
Father, 28 “and I’ll give by and by
To him the morning star. 29 “He who
Has ear, let him hear what the true
Spirit says to called out ones few.”’

Even in those days when the papacy
Was taking the inheritance and see
Of Rome to establish the heathen state
Of forced worship before the ruined fate
Of faith, even in those days of the past
There were some faithful in the wicked blast.
There were some honest ones who came to You
Alone and did not worship pagan crew
Of trinities with wild rite and with mock
Human sacrifice on the altar block.
Even in those days there were faithful few,
Beloved, but what of now, tell me, be true,
Is there any who with a heart unstained
In innocence worships You unrestrained?

The Sinnite empire thrust along the shore
Of Turkey as far as Sudanese gore
May give a sop indeed to Jezabel
And follow Aysha’s blood-curddling in spell,
But You Yourself must once admit it’s true
That Hanafi madhhab turns from the view
Of ahadith and flees back to Your Word,
The Qur’an recited holy and stirred.
So Thyatira to this very day
Has those who rise to follow You and say
Now La ilaaha illallaah and pray.
I hear the call to prayer and rise to go,
Beloved, before the righteous and the show,
And stand upon the straight line, bow and know.

REVELATION 3

1 “And to the one sent to Sardis
To the group of called out ones this
Is what to write, ‘These things says he
Who’s got the seven Spirits of God
And seven stars above the sod,
“I know your works, a name to be
Alive, but you are dead. 2 “Take care,
And strengthen what remains your share,
That is ready to die, for I’ve
Not found your works perfect alive
Before God. 3 “So remember how
You received and heard, hold fast now
And repent. Therefore if you’ll not
Watch, then I shall come to your plot
As a thief, and you will not know
What hour I shall break in your show.
4 “You have a few names even in
Sardis who have not spoiled with sin
Their garments, and they’ll walk with me
In white, for they’re surely worthy.
5 “Who overcomes shall be clothed in
White garments, and I’ll not begin
To blot out his name from the Book
Of Life, but still I undertook
To confess his name before my
Father, before His angels fly.
6 “Who has an ear, let him hear then
What spirit says to groups of men
Called out to serve the Lord again.”’

When pagan polytheists make the claim
To represent You by sacrifice shame
To re-enact the Roman deed of blame
Upon the mythic cross, I wonder that
Any can be blinded to believe scat.
The Roman soldier thrust the lance to kill
The prophet set up on the gallows hill,
And then the Roman priest comes in his place
And takes the lance up there before Your grace,
And there are still crowds who see ne’er a trace
Of blasphemy in that. I hide my face
For wary shame. Beloved, I turn to You
And to the recitation of the true
To find pure faith in simple grass and dew.

The Alevi steps quietly upon
The sound and scent and light of breaking dawn
And follows the rays to the sudden tomb
With its green dome giving the saint his room.
The sacrifices of the little goats
Stir up the heart to dance beneath where floats
The purple sky where Abraham once walked,
And where the prophet Job remained and talked.
Beloved, grant blessing on the faithful few
Who rise from circle prayer to give Your due,
And overlook neglect of any law
They may forget to perform in Your awe.
The heart is true, the hand is for each guest:
Of faiths the Alevi’s among the best.

7 “And to the messenger vouchsafed
To the group of called out ones strafed
In Philadelphia now write,
‘These things says he who is a wight
Holy and true, “He who has key
Of David, he who opens ley
And no one shuts, and shuts and no
One opens the shut door”: 8 “I know
Your works. See, I have set before
You an open and not shut door,
And no one can shut it, for you
Have a little strength, have kept due
My word, and not denied my name.
9 “Indeed I will make those who are
Of Satan’s synagogue, who claim
To be Jews and are not the star,
But lie, indeed I’ll make them come
And prostrate at your feet like scum,
And to know that I have loved you.
10 “Because you’ve kept my command cue
To persevere, I’ll keep you too
From hour of trial which shall come on
The whole world, to test those who live
On the earth. 11 “Indeed, I am drawn
To come quickly! Hold fast, don’t give
Up what you have, that none may take
Your crown. 12 “Who conquers for my sake
I will make him a pillar in
The temple of my God begin,
And he shall go from thence no more.
And I will write on him in score
The name of my God and the name
Of the city of my God’s claim,
The New Jerusalem, which comes
Down out of heaven from my God’s sums.
And I’ll write on him my new name.
13 “Who’s an ear, let him hear what fame
The spirit says to the groups of
Called out ones to enjoy my love.”’

The true Jew and true Christian (though the name
Never rose up to height of righteous claim)
Is the one who walks through David’s vast door
Open into the Psalms to sing the store
Of love and light and faith to overcome
The foe that slinks into the tent with scum
Of sacrifice to Molech, David’s son
Himself brought in the trip, and yet he gave
The best greetings to Ahmed from the pave
Of pearl and beryl. I know yet to save
Only the ten commandments and the throne
That seats You surely and casts bleary bone
Of swine out to the dogs whose only treat
Is to lick Jezebel’s blood under feet.

14 “And to the angel of the group
Of called out ones that do not stoop
Of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the amen, the right
Faithful and true witness martyr,
Start of God’s creation, the fer:
15 “I know your works, that you are not
Either cold or even too hot.
I could wish you were cold or hot.
16 “So then, because you are lukewarm,
And neither cold nor hot in form,
I’ll vomit you out of my mouth.
17 “Because you say ‘I’m rich in drouth,
Have waxed increased in goods, and need
Nothing,’ and yet do not take heed
That you’re wretched, miserable, poor,
Blind, and naked, 18 “ so I adjure
You to buy from me gold refined
In the fire, that you may be rich,
And white garments, that in the stitch
You may be clothed, well wined and dined,
That shame of your nakedness may
Not be revealed along the way,
Anoint your eyes with my eye salve,
That you may see. 19 “Those that I have
Loved, such I shall rebuke and chasten.
Therefore be you zealous and hasten
To repent. 20 “Indeed, I stand at
The door and knock. If any’s at
Home and hears my voice, opens door,
I will come in to him, what’s more,
And dine with him, and he with me.
21 “To him who overcomes in fee
I’ll grant to sit on throne with me,
As I also conquered and sat
On the throne where my Father’s at.
22 “He who has an ear, let him hear
What the spirit makes to appear
In hearing of the groups called out
To worship God with prayer and shout.”’”

In Konya I turned out before the shrine
To find the mosque of prayer before I dine.
And as I turn I hear behind my ear
The ney in melodies of love and fear.
The last of true faiths on the earth appears
While Shams ud-Din turns back on helps and tears,
And slays the sun-god with hammer on brass
To walk out on the shimmering, singing grass.
Mevlana’s breath still heals though quietly
And without any sort of pageantry,
And You, Beloved, still honour every foot
That turns upon the wooden floor to put
A step between the soul and wickedness
With love of universe to Your address.

At this day and age of which Your Christ speaks
The group of called out ones no longer seeks
You, but is neither hot with zeal to strike
Down idols in the temples of the shrike,
Nor cold toward the pagan trinities
That wave their golden flags upon the breeze.
The day has come for You to send again
A prophet to reform the faith of men.
The last call to repent goes here unheeded,
The last door of mercy closed and receded.
The world is poised to see the vision clear
Of Your throne and of Your Lamb sent and dear.
Beloved, I wait with bated breath to find
The book opened before the wined and dined.

REVELATION 4

1 After these things I looked, indeed,
A door open in heaven’s mead.

I rush to enter in the open door
Of David’s proclamation to restore
His tabernacles in the cantillation
Of Your sweet name in every place and station.
The secret of the ages lies enfolded
In David’s Psalms, the Sabbath Psalms blindfolded
In every age to miss the guidance set
That people should disbelieve the word met
At Ahmed’s lips. Beloved, I rush to keep
The sacred prophecies and not to sleep
Upon the duty to believe and follow
While institutions founder, sink and wallow.
An open door to heaven shows a book
Sealed with seven seals, I come to take a look.

And the first voice of which I heard
Was like a trumpet speaking word
With me, and saying, “Come up here,
And I’ll show you things to appear
After this.” 2 And suddenly I
Was in the spirit in the sky,
Indeed, a throne set in the sky,
And One sat on the throne foreby.

The vision of the throne I set before
My face to overprint the rightful score
Of birch and fir and aspen here that grace
The stony worlds that make my living place.
I do not rate creation poor because
I need a vision of celestial laws,
But that I find a unity to bind
The seen and the unseen to human mind.
Beloved, I set the throne before my face
Not just to praise Your sovereignty a space,
But also with a curious ear to hear
What things You propose to reveal as near
In their fulfilment. What is great enough
To set out in advance and in the rough?

3 And He who sat there was like to
A jasper, sardius stone in hue,
A rainbow was around the throne,
Like to an emerald ingrown.

There are a lot of people on the stir
Who claim to love the rainbow and infer
From seven colours how the world is made
To revolve in a new age for waylaid.
There are some people who chose Noah’s laws
Despite ambiguity at the claws
Of rabbis not content to let us pass
Beneath the Decalogue as clear as glass.
I choose the rainbow merely for the scent
Of new rain on the cloud and willow spent,
And for the swish of water on the road
And for the lady’s mantle in new mode.
I did not dream the rainbow made your throne
A part of the dew sparkle in my zone.

4 Around the throne were twenty-four
Thrones, and on the thrones seen before
Twenty-four elders sitting there,
Clothed in white robes, and they had fair
Crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from
The throne proceeded lightnings, rum
Thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps
Of fire were burning off the damps
Before the throne, which are the seven
Spirits of God set up in heaven.

The sons of Jacob and the loving sons
Of Ishmael come to lift their corns and buns
To rest on heavenly thrones, all quarrels lost
Because they had better things for the tossed.
The twenty-four meet on the redeemed bank
To don gold crowns and white dishdashas’ rank
To listen to the music of the thunder,
You can’t have rainbows without such, no wonder
The voices spring to seek the lamps and earn
A light and spirit from You where they burn.
Beloved, the twenty-four blessed elder’s wait
Beside the visions of the golden grate,
And find the key to turn both voice and sound
Toward the well-garmented and the crowned.

6 Before the throne there was a sea
Of glass, like crystal. On the lee
And in the midst of the throne, and
Around the throne, were set in hand
Four living creatures full of eyes
In front and in the back as wise.
7 The first living creature was like
A lion, and the second strike
Of living creatures like a calf,
The third live beast had face not half
Like a man, and the fourth live beast
Was like flying eagle at least.

The way to produce visions is not to
Wait for the voice and sight to fall in view
On Patmos or in any wooded place.
It is enough to choose Ezekiel’s race
And bend the figures in a new mould till
The seraphim and cherubs foot the bill.
How often have the four faces inspired
The prophet and the lesser guide and fired
With words to catch the symbols of the past
And paste them on the future with a blast.
Four angels or four men of the redeemed,
The colours weave and frazzle on what seemed
Until the crystal sea rises in tide
Of hurricane refreshing after tried.

8 The four living creatures, each had
Six wings, were full of eyes not bad
Around and within. And they do
Not rest day or night, but on cue
Sing: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, who was implored
And is and is to come!” 9 And when
The living creatures give like men
Glory and honour and thanks to
Him who sits on the throne on cue,
Who lives forever and ever,
10 The twenty-four elders prefer
To fall down before Him who sits
On the throne and with all their wits
Worship Him who lives forever
And ever, cast their crowns before
The throne, saying on every score:
11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to get
Glory, honour and power yet,
For You created all things, and
By Your will they exist and stand
And were created by Your hand.”

Ezekiel may suffice for winter store
Of figures to illuminate the door,
Iconostasis and the bleating shore,
But for the songs to rise Isaiah must
Be quoted from the throne vision to dust
The memories of saints who find the wings
Of seraphim burn bright as questionings.
Some men must sing a new song every day
So boredom does not come to wail and sway.
But angels find glories enough to rate
The singing of a single song of fate.
Beloved, all liturgies begin with these
Bright holies and end in the arboured frieze
Of fire on altars, thrones, and rainbow breeze.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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