By C.Hunter
Revelation to this day is one the strangest books in existence, esoteric, ambiguous, and filled with Abyssal monsters and destruction. It compares Jesus to a monstrous-looking being and yet also brings a new and better world in the wake of the destruction of it. The Book of Revelation is first and foremost a book about a cosmic War for earth. With Jesus in the middle of it all. First, let’s examine the Lamb. We are introduced to Jesus’s Heavenly appearance possibly in the form of this:
“Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look inside it. And I began to weep bitterly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look inside it.
The Lamb Is Worthy
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne.-Revelation 5:1-6″
This Lamb combines the disturbing and innocent feel of such a creature perfectly. But there are many things in this verse, what is the scroll? And what are the Seven Spirits of God? Well, the scroll could be simply full of knowledge that the earth hasn’t known yet about God, or this could be referring to a book we haven’t seen yet on earth. One of Divine Knowledge that only the Lamb could open and give. This could also be a reference to Christian Wisdom literature such as The Gospel of Thomas.
And the Seven Spirits of God seem to be referenced in Isaiah as:
The Spirit of the Lord
The Spirit of Understanding
The Spirit of Wisdom
The Spirit of Counsel
The Spirit of Fear
The Spirit of Might
The Spirit of Knowledge
Now, these all correspond in some way to the Kabbalah of the Tree of Life or the Sefirot. And the Spirit of Daa’th or knowledge is one I’m going to focus on. Da’ath corresponds with the Abyss in the Tree of Life and is described in it like this:
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).-Revelation 9:7-11
Abaddon is the Angel that rules over the Abyss and the entropic monsters that dwell in it. Now, what is the Abyss in Kabbalah? Basically it is the shortcut to Ein Sof, Bythos, or the Trans-Infinite God, the Endless Being that dwells in the Center of All Infinity surrounded by an etheric Infinite Ocean of Colors, and Archangels that sing praises to it for all eternity. But the Abyss could be described as the entropic side of Ein Sof by Kabbalists which desires all creation to return to it.
Ein Sof created through making Adam Kadmon or the Word of it. It then proceeds to create the Tree of Life or Spirits of God through using Divine energy to fill the 10 Spheres of the Tree. And the Abyss is considered the eleventh Sphere or hidden one. It’s that shortcut to complete dissolution into God instead of going to every sphere to get to God.
Now, what would God of Revelation be on the Tree? Well, this would most likely be Kether which is the crown or sometimes described as a throne of Adam Kadmom. This would fit into the idea that God comes to earth and makes his dwelling place amongst the New Jerusalem which is described as a “she” and God’s bride.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.-Revelation 21:2
This seems to correspond with the Feminine Binah which is considered sometimes to be the lover of God and corresponds with Understanding. She is most likely a form of Asherah from the First Temple period of Judaism before she was kicked out. She also is named Wisdom in Proverbs as being “formed in the beginning”. This could be the Queen of Heaven in Revelation 12 that births the “Lamb”.
At the end of Revelation the world as we know it has collapsed and now God’s Kingdom can dwell on earth in the new temple along with Binah. Which is described as:
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.-Revelation 22:1
Now lastly what is the “Alpha and Omega” that is constantly being used to describe God and Jesus? Alpha and Omega means the First and the Last, but what is he first of? And what is he last of? Well, this could correspond to Adam Kadmom or the Heavenly Adam which is the first thing to be created, and in end the last to be uncreated by Ein Sof.
In Revelation there still isn’t a complete destruction of the world unlike some Kabbalists predict, it follows the belief in Shekhinah which means that Heaven and Earth are now or will be one and coterminous. The Malkuth which means the material universe has been replaced by the Yesod which means the Aether or realm of Dreams.
In Sethian Gnostic theology, as it’s well known Jesus was the Serpent in the garden. Jesus himself speaks in the Secret Book of John as being the Serpent in which he says:
As for the tree called ‘The Knowledge Of Good And Evil’ It is the Epinoia of the light. They commanded him not to eat from it, Standing in front to conceal it, For fear that he might look upwards to the fullness And know the nakedness of his indecency. However, I caused them to eat.
And in another verse in Matthew 10:16 when Jesus says “be as wise as serpents”.
So we know that from multiple sources that Jesus is either a snake or holds snakes to high value. Quite contradictory to what orthodoxy says about Jesus.
So why am I assuming that Jesus is also another name or form of the messiah? Well, the evidence might surprise you. Of all the Old Testament Yahweh is the most vilified in Job, for he is directly cruel and ignorant as he believes Satan incorrectly that Job is a sinner and proceeds to torture Job mentally and physically by killing his family, giving him diseases, and much more. As Carl Jung puts it “in Job, God forgets to converse with his omniscience”. In Job, it could be said that it’s more a criticism of Yahweh, and less of a praise. So it would make sense that if any book in the Torah was going to name a figure more powerful than god than it would be in Job. What is Leviathan? The best description is found in the lengthy:
Job 41:18-26 ”
His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.
Out of his mouth do flames go, sparks of fire escape.
Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, As a blown pot and reeds.
His breath setteth coals on fire, And a flame from his mouth goeth forth.
In his neck lodge doth strength, And before him doth grief exult.
The flakes of his flesh have adhered — Firm upon him — it is not moved.
His heart [is] firm as a stone, Yea, firm as the lower piece.
From his rising are the mighty afraid, From breakings they keep themselves free.The sword of his overtaker standeth not, Spear — dart — and lance.”
There are many juicy tidbits from these verses, one is the “sneezing causes light to shine”. This to me is a reference to the Leviathans Divinity, as even its sneezing causes Light as mentioned to be made. In Genesis light seems to part of Elohim’s creation potential, but the effort it requires to create takes seven days, with one day to relax. But for the Leviathan it can simply sneeze Light. Another tidbit of the quote “From rising are the mighty ones afraid”. The most interesting tidbit is what are the mighty ones? And why are they afraid? Well, it turns out that one of the names of Yahweh is a mighty one. As Joshua 22:22 says “the mighty one, god”. So why is Yahweh so scared of it? Well, a verse back in Job says “The sword of his overtaker not”. As Yahweh began as an old Canaanite god, he was often depicted as a god of war. The national god of Jerusalem, he also is depicted as having a sword with him all the time. So I have come to the conclusion that the gods of the Canaanite’s all fear the Leviathan, and this being is not alone amongst the god killers of Canaan mythology. For they depicted many sea monsters as beings that existed before creation, things that lurk in the Seas of the Primordial Chaos below the world, the Tehom as they describe.
So why do I equate this immensely powerful Chaos Monster with Jesus, well the reasons are simple. The Monad or Bythos(deep) that the Gnostics refer to is Incomprehensible, beyond knowing, and existing before creation. This reminds me of the Primordial Chaos before creation which is also unknowable and contains all things, as does the Pleroma which means Fullness. But this being also called The Primal One by the Valentinian Gnostics, is also the Father of Jesus. For Jesus is the Logos of it, descending the material plane. Jesus Christ is known for being Individualistic by his quotes such as “know thyself” and “the Kingdom of God is within you”. Which seems to be starkly against the orthodox theology who promote a more corporatist and collective church. Well, it just so happens another name the Leviathan “King of the Son’s of Pride”. One must remember in its positive connotation pride means “self confidence” or “self-assurance”.
Personally, to me, it seems that the Leviathan is another emanation or form of Jesus coming from the watery Chaos that surrounds creation.
A place that Gnostic’s referred to as the Pleroma, as its Fullness is Infinite.
Most Gnostics view the OT as having no hints to what the Supreme God is, but in actuality, in Genesis and other verses, the Gnostic Monad is mentioned in a secretive manner. In Genesis 1:1-3 it states “1 In the beginning of God’s preparing the heavens and the earth 2 the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, 3 and God saith, `Let light be;’ and light is.” This is a classic bible verse that is severely underlooked as it implies a pre-existence before Elohim the High God, the Hebrew word for Tehom means Deep or Abyss as it is formless and Infinite. An interesting fact is that the Gnostic sect called the Valentinians called the Supreme Formless God the Bythos which translates in greek to Deep.
Now the Deep is described as being Infinite and full of Primordial Chaos monsters like Leviathan and Rahab, that is without order until Elohim says “let there be light: which creates order. In John verses 1:1-3 we get a creation account that explains what the Light is, its the Word of God. “1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was with God in the beginning. 3. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” In John 8:14 we also get an explanation for what Jesus is when he calls himself “The Light of this World”.
Also in Genesis 49:25 we have Elohim(who is different from the lesser god Yahweh) being connected with the Deep, “because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Shaddai, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb.”
According to Basilides, the First Principle as its mentioned in Genesis is Abraxas, the Great Aeon. Basilides refers to him as “ineffable and more powerful than the powerful and wiser than the wise, and superior to any beautiful things you might mention,”. He would correspond with Elohim in Genesis as the First Principle to emerge from the Deep. Basilides describes Abraxas as bursting forth from the Bythos “While, therefore, the firmament which is above the heaven is coining into existence, there burst forth, and was begotten from the cosmical Seed, and the conglomeration of all germs, the Great Archon and Head of the cosmos…” He is described as being the God and father of Jesus, who is sent by Abraxas to fix the world from Yahweh’s oppressive laws. He rules the 365 heavens of the celestial spheres. He is also referred to as an Ogdoad which is a name for the eight Egyptian deities to emerge from the Deep.
In Romans 11:33 we also get where the term Bythos might have come from for the Valentinians:
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Now one of the most Important verses as well is John 1:18 which says
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Which affirms to the reader that the god Moses saw “face to face” in Exodus 33:11 is not the same as Jesus’s God. But why does Jesus and Paul(2 Corinthians 4:4, Galatians 3:19) speak harshly against Moses and the “god of this world” and his laws and not Abraham’s? As we can see in Daniel 7:9-10 Abraxas could be a reference to the Ancient of Days which appears separate from Yahweh. Abrahams God was most likely the Transcendent El from Canaanite myth as i have discussed in previous posts and scholar Margaret Barker says the same thing in her book The Great Angel, and Abraxas could a revitalization of him. But John 1:18 is right if it references the Bythos, whom no one has seen, as too see it would mean complete dissolution. So Abraxas and the Word may have secretly appeared in the OT under different guises.
So in a sense, we have a Trinity, one of the Formless Infinite God Tehom, his creation agent Elohim and the Word or Light which is Jesus. Also, the analogy of Jesus walking on water is most likely a reference to Jesus’s ability to control the Deep waters of creation.
One of the biggest mysteries in Christianity is John’s Gospel, its esoteric, incorporates a powerful version of Jesus, and of all the Gospels is the most Gnostic as it features a battle between two different divinities, one the Logos or Word of creation, and the Father of the Devil. As April Deconicks discusses in her essay https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/75007/hiding-Gospel-of-John.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y, the translation of John 8:44 is misread and should say this:
44 You are of the father of the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do; he was a man-slayer from the beginning, and in the truth he has not stood, because there is no truth in him; when one may speak the falsehood, of his own he speaks, because he is a liar — also his father.
So obviously the Prince of this World mentioned in John 14:30 must be either the Devil or his Father Yahweh. And Jesus Father is unknown to this world as mentioned in John 1:18, and as I have discussed before its possible that only the Logos has been seen in the OT and not Jesus’s Unknown Father. One verse that intrigued me is in John 5:47 in which Jesus says to the Pharisees “Moses wrote of me”. But how can Moses write of a being whom John’s Gospel describes in a less than positive manner? John 1:17 says “for the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. But what I realized was a key verse that mentions Jesus and his connection to his staff in John 3:14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up”. Could this be a reference to when Moses wrote of Jesus? Well, this rabbit hole goes deeper. In Matthew, we have this 10:16. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” So it’s obvious that Jesus holds serpents in high regard, but there is more. In Numbers 21:19 The bronze serpent or staff of Moses is described as being mounted on a pole, which could be why the early Christians thought so much of the cross.
An important note is that in the Hebrew language is written the geometrical value, called gematria. Letters have great mathematical significance in the Jewish culture, and words like Messiah would be chosen under careful consideration. Well, it just so happens that the words Messiah and Nachash meaning serpent in Hebrew have the same gematria value of 358.
Now, what does this mean? Well, in some Sethian tales Sophia or Christ is described as the serpent in the garden helping mankind achieve gnosis, and in other Gnostic tales, an Aeon is described as outmaneuvering Yahweh and helping mankind. It would not be too far fetched to assume that some of the NT writers thought of Jesus as being the Bronze Serpent mentioned in the OT.
C. Hunter is an avid reader of all things with Gnostic and Lovecraftian themes. He lives in Florida with his family and his cat Petra. Also is currently studying to be a theologian